At the auction at the Greenwich Concours, a 1965 Ferrari 275 GTB was sold for $1.25 million, a record price for a car sold in New England., according to Bonhams, the company that held the auction. A 1973 Ferrari 365 GTB that was once owned by the rock star Rod Stewart came in just shy of its estimate but sold for $330,000, including the auction house commission.

“The one thing I always tell people who are collecting cars is that if you go out for a drive and you’re not having fun, if you don’t look back at the car when you park it, then the love is gone,” Mr. Carini said. “It’s time to sell it.”

Many collectors are drawn by memories of a car they once owned or coveted. “Our market is all about nostalgia,” said Rupert Banner, head of the motoring department at Bonhams , the auction house with offices in New York. Right now, for sellers, this can be good, he said. “In troubled times, people look backward more than they look forward.”

But what that longing does to value is tougher to say. Mr. Banner said showing a car in events like the Greenwich Concours did not necessarily increase its value. What may help it, though, is knowing that the car was in such good condition that it stood out for the judges and won a prize. (Mr. Marano’s Packard won best in show for American cars.)

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