Chrisities

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By FRANK SWERTLOW

Staff Reporter

Talk about sticker shock.

A dark-red 1934 Alfa Romeo P3 Grand Prix racing car going for between $2 million and $3 million. A 1947 166 Le Mans Ferrari Berlinetta, believed to be the second Ferrari ever built, running between $900,000 and $1.2 million. A 1958 Cadillac Eldorado once driven by Frank Sinatra fetching up to $120,000.

These and many other classic car offerings are expected to generate between $5 million and $7 million when Christie’s puts them on the auction block on June 19.

“There is crazy money out there,” said David Gooding, senior vice president of Christie’s International Motor Cars.

The auction, to be held at the Petersen Automotive Museum in the Fairfax District, is part of the four-day “California Classic” event that includes a classic car rally to Santa Barbara and a concourse on Rodeo Drive.

While the Christie’s automobile division is based at the firm’s Beverly Hills office, it has not held an auction here since 1983 because other venues were viewed as stronger draws. But the city’s soaring discretionary wealth, largely from the entertainment industry and Wall Street, has steered Christie’s back to L.A.

“When we car folks think of automobiles, we think of Los Angeles,” said David Brownell, technical editor of Hemmings Motor News. “It is the car capital of America. Detroit builds them, but L.A. worships them. Christie’s is the top auction house and Petersen’s is the top museum for cars. It’s the perfect marriage.”

Christie’s annual Pebble Beach auction remains the preeminent classic car sales event in the United States. High-end automobiles often are sold there for more than $1 million. The other major venue has been Christie’s auction in Tarrytown, N.Y., just north of New York.

But now the auction house has decided L.A. has sufficiently rebounded from its early-’90s slump. “We definitely felt there was room for another car auction,” said Gooding. “There is a lot of room for cars that sell for $50,000 to $100,000.”

Not surprisingly, cars that were driven by celebrities are prominently featured at the upcoming auction and many of them have interesting histories. Sinatra, for example, was stopped by a California Highway patrolman for speeding in his Eldorado during a run from Las Vegas in 1958. Years later, the patrolman’s brother, a car collector, bought the car and gave it as a gift to his sibling, who is now selling the car.

Another star car is Jack Nicholson’s pale green 1948 Chevrolet Fleetmaster convertible used in the film “Two Jakes.” Paramount Pictures, which produced the movie, gave the actor the car as a gift. Christie’s estimates it will sell for between $30,000 and $40,000.

Estimating the value of a celebrity’s car is dicey, especially when it comes to Sinatra who since his death has been at the center of a nostalgia boom. Prices can soar way beyond the realistic value of a vehicle. Sinatra’s 1989 Jaguar XJS was expected to sell for $10,000 to $15,000. It sold for $168,000 after his death.

“(The high price came because it was) his car, and not because it was a great Jag,” Gooding said.

Perhaps the most beautiful car is a claret-colored 1937 Delahaye 135m Drophead convertible. The French-built car, with its sleek and curved lines, is expected to sell for $350,000 to $400,000. Another classic is a 1969 orange Chevy Copo Camero. The 425-horsepower muscle car is expected to sell for $45,000 to $65,000. One oddity is a 1959 VW microbus that is expected to fetch $18,000 to $25,000.

“It’s nostalgia,” said Miles Morris, vice president Christie’s International Motor Cars.

Christie’s expects car collectors from all over the world to participate in the auction because the United States is currently the best market for classic cars. Morris said today’s collectors are much more astute than their 1980s counterparts, who pushed the market to astronomical heights, grossly overpaying in many cases.

“Now, they know their history, they trace back the owners,” Gooding said.

So with Wall Street shivering on inflation fears and the local housing market cooling, are classic cars a good investment?

“I never advise anyone to buy a car for an investment,” Morris said. “Buy a car because you love it, enjoy it. Buy from the heart, and if you make money, it’s a bonus.”

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