Mecum Auction will hold its inaugural Monterey Auction on Saturday, August 15, 2009, at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Resort in Monterey, California. Mecum’s Monterey Auction will feature more than 200 vehicles, 
including sports cars and investment-grade collector cars.
While the FIA Championship-winning 1965 Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupe is the clear headline of the sale, Mecum has assembled several other significant offerings.
A 1954 Packard Caribbean Convertible (Lot S63) with less than 69,000 actual miles will be sold Saturday at 12:30 p.m. The epitome of the fifties-era elite, this significant Packard Caribbean was owned by J. Lynn Johnston, who purchased the car while employed as General Counsel and Manager of Investment Research for Joseph P. Kennedy. Documented 1964 and 1965 letters from Johnston to its second owner Kenneth Farr, a car collector of Rochester, N.Y., verify that this Packard Caribbean was used by both Joseph P. and John F. Kennedy during the latter’s tenure as the junior Senator from Massachusetts.
Mecum will auction a 1940 Lincoln Zephyr Continental (Lot S79) on Saturday at 1:05 p.m. that is widely recognized as the car given to New York Yankees legend Babe Ruth by Yankees president Joe McCarthy. The car is known to have arrived in Canada during WWII in the ownership of an American sports writer, who claimed Ruth received several cars as gifts and had given the car to the writer. It subsequently was owned by several Canadian collectors and was displayed at the Cars of the Stars Museum in Niagara Falls and Toronto’s Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. It was then purchased by collector Michael Dingman, who had it restored to the very high standard it still exhibits today.
Conceived by Ford design chief Eugene Gregorie, the 1940 Lincoln Zephyr Continental was Gregorie’s answer to Edsel Ford’s wish for a “long, low, and rakish” convertible. One of 404 Continentals built in ’40, the car was equipped with the fabled Zephyr V-12 engine making 120 smooth horsepower.
Additional Mecum Monterey Auction Consignments:
* 1973 Ferrari 365GTB Daytona Spyder (Lot S80) – the best performing sports car of its era with a four-cam V-12 engine.
* 1963 Z06 Corvette Historic Delmo Johnson Race Car (Lot S78)
* 1965 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III H.J. Mulliner Convertible (Lot S108) – widely acknowledged by Rolls-Royce enthusiasts as the best Silver Cloud III built, this car was the last of 39 built.
* 1940 Packard Darrin Super 8 Convertible (Lot S87)
* 1961 Jaguar XKE Roadster (Lot S74) – the 110th built.
* 1955 Porsche Speedster Convertible (Lot S77) with 378 miles since its restoration.
Mecum’s Monterey Auction takes place at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Resort on Saturday, August 15th. Cars will be displayed outside on the Del Monte Golf Course, while the bidding arena will be staged in a 10,000 sq. ft. ballroom. The auction is open to the general public and begins at 10:00am.
For more information and a complete list of vehicles, visit www.Mecum.com.
[Source: Mecum Auction]
