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As I have alway said when the prices get out of the realm of sanity that those folks have "More Money then Sense".

If someone has the means, and that was their dream car, I could see spending more than it was worth if you planned on keeping it forever.

Buy personally, I think some of these auctions are really just a big dick waiving contest where it is not so much about the cars, but to say my wallet is bigger than yours.

I was always more of a fan of the 55/56 Caribs, and the Bathtub Convertibles.

AMEN BROTHER

you won't find any grease under those finger nails

I think the '55 and '56 V8s should be worth more money than the earlier cars with a straight 8....so how much should a '55 or '56 be worth?

I would think quite a bit less. The fact these went for such a sum makes me wonder why--and who were they bought by. I didn't watch any of auction but were the usual high dollar cars going for such large amounts. To me, it's been amazing the number of people at car shows (even Packard folks) that think anything postwar is second class and barely worthy of the Packard name. Anything not built on Grand ave, rates lower than that. Even in the crazy market of a few years ago with Cads and Chevys going for huge amounts, the highest I ever saw for a V8 Caribbean convertible was in the 60-70k range.

I wonder if it just another example of what happens when speculators enter the market looking for an alternative to falling real estate,stock markets or the US dollar against other currencies. This has happened before in the 70's and'90's or when ever inflation and/or recession fears come to the fore. In other times it was 55-57 Chevies, 63-67 Corvettes and more recently Big block or Hemi Mopars that have been the focus of this speculative buying frenzy. I recall that even the Wall Street Journal recommended "investing" in antique cars in the late 1980's and for a couple of years prices skyrocketted. Now maybe it is the post war Packards turn to shine like gold. Eventually the bubble will break and the money will move along to something else whenever the stock market etc. tanks. The old Full Classics seem immune to such huge fluctuations much as good solid company stocks don't usually get battered during these episodes of insanity. If I owned a 53-54 Packard convertible right now I think that I would look for a well heeled buyer and if I wanted another I would wait a few years and buy another once at more realistic price once the speculators have moved on to chase the next golden goose.