Pebble Preview: Gooding tests the market with Phil Hill’s Packard and a prince’s Duesenberg

July 30, 2009

Filed under: Convertible, Sedan, Auctions, Misc. Auto Shows, Ferrari, Luxury

Gooding & Company star vehicles for Pebble Beach 2009 — Click above for high-res image gallery

Pebble Beach regular Gooding & Company will be bringing three special cars to this year’s auction and the vintage rides are said to carry not only the requisite pedigree, but are expected to be barometers of the classic vehicle market at a time when values are, at best, variable.

Included are a 1927 Packard 343 Convertible Sedan owned and restored by the late, great racer Phil Hill and being auctioned by his estate. It won Best of Pebble in 1977 and has never been auctioned before. Joining it will be a 1935 Duesenberg SJ Roadster (pictured) that was a gift from an heiress to a Georgian nobleman (Soviet Georgia, that is). Finally there’s a car we can’t help but love: a 1962 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider. We don’t care if it has a story or not. We want it. Desperately.

If you dig classic auctions and can’t make it to Pebble, there will be a live webcast on the Gooding site at www.goodingco.com. Yet although David Gooding said “Today’s records become tomorrow’s bargains,” we don’t expect to see any bargains at this year’s show. You can read about all the automobiles after the jump and check out the gallery of high-res photos below.

Gallery: Gooding & Co Pebble Preview ‘09