Clark Gable’s car, Rolls Royce from ‘The Great Gatsby’ part of Conn. celebrity car auction

Celebrity classic cars auctioned in Connecticut

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Clark Gable loved beautiful cars, but his 1938 Packard convertible was apparently too popular with his legions of female fans.

The actor was so overwhelmed by women following him whenever he drove the car that he sold it after a few months, according to the auctioneer Bonhams.

“I think he eventually bought a sedate sedan that was enclosed that he could hide in,” said Rupert Banner, vice president for Bonhams. “It’s rather sad.”

Gable’s car is among those with celebrity connections that will be sold Sunday at the annual Greenwich Concours d’Elegance auction. Its estimated value is $175,000 to $225,000.

A 1928 Rolls Royce Phantom 1 Ascot Tourer driven by Robert Redford in the 1974 movie of “The Great Gatsby” to symbolize the roaring 1920s is expected to fetch $150,000 to $175,000.

A 1939 Cadillac limousine featured in the 2006 Robert Deniro film, “The Good Shepherd,” is also for sale. Greer Garson used the car earlier, so the rear compartment was appointed in red silk to match the starlet’s favorite color.

The auction, expected to generate $5 million to $6 million in sales, will feature more than 80 collector cars spanning 77 years from one of the earliest Fords to a 1980s Aston Martin. President Woodrow Wilson’s Rolls Royce Silver Ghost is for sale.

“This is going to be one of the biggest sales of the year,” said Maria Writesel, a Bonhams spokeswoman. “It encompasses the whole history of the automobile. We’re going to get bidders from all over the world.”

Among the cars with celebrity connections, most were owned by the late Ted Leonard, who owned a car dealership in Seekonk, Mass.

“To assemble so many cars with that celebrity connection would be near impossible today,” said Banner, who noted that the Internet has broadened bidding. “It would be almost impossible to be the winning bidder on each of these cars today.”

Leonard’s daughter, Cindy, said her father taught Redford how to drive the Rolls Royce, which had a choke and mechanical controls on the steering wheel.

“I think he called him a heavy foot or something like that,” Leonard recalled her father saying of Redford. “It is very, very difficult to get used to.”

Leonard said her father loved beautiful and rare cars.

“He was always looking out for the best of the best,” she said. “It showed his romanticism, his passion for beautiful things and his passion for life.”

The cars drew plenty of stares, waves and horn beeps.

“My kids would always say when they were with Grandpa they felt like celebrities,” Leonard said.

Leonard said the family decided to sell the cars after her father, who began his collection in the 1960s, died two years ago. About a dozen of his cars are for sale at the auction.

Rick Carey, who researched the cars for the auction house, said Gable’s car was unique with a long hood and other features designed by Howard “Dutch” Darrin. Gable showed up to see the car being built with his actress wife Carole Lombard, “which completely distracted work in the shop,” he said.

Darrin said Gable and the black car with a red leather interior were so instantly recognizable that he would get followed, according to Carey.

Cars with celebrity connections have a higher value, Carey said.

“The fact that it was owned by Clark Gable and driven around Hollywood, that makes it appeal to a much much wider group of people,” Carey said.

As for The Great Gatsby car, “They’ve seen Robert Redford driving this car on screen,” he said.

On the Net:

bonhams.com/greenwich