CLASSIC car sales in Florida this weekend hit US$181.67 million in preliminary results across four auction houses, according to industry tracker K500.

The number is up from 2023’s previous peak of US$178 million in a year that split sellers between Bonhams, Broad Arrow and Gooding & Co in Amelia Island, Florida, and RM Sotheby’s 644 km south, in Miami. The preliminary figure reflects live auction numbers and includes immediate weekend deals as of Mar 3. Ongoing post-auction sales are expected to boost the final tallies.

The top seller during the live auctions from Feb 29 to Mar 2 was a 1903 Mercedes-Simplex 60 HP Roi Des Belges at Gooding & Co, which achieved US$12.1 million including premiums. That beat its early US$10 million estimate and set a record for a pre-1930 car. A 1967 Ford GT40 that sold for US$4,405,000 total at Broad Arrow and a 1953 Ferrari 250 Europa Coupe that sold for US$4,295,000 at RM Sotheby’s rounded out the top three auction sales, according to data from K500.

All told, the average price of a car sold during the auctions at Amelia Island and Miami was US$384,954, less than 2023’s US$448,965 average; sell-through rates overall hit an estimated 82 per cent on 472 vehicles offered, down from 87 per cent on 454 vehicles last year, according to K500. But the lower numbers reflected a cooling in the market more than duelling auctions, according to multiple sources.

“The effect [of the multiple auction locales] on this year’s Florida sales has been negligible,” Steve Wakefield, the managing editor of K500, said.  

In an e-mail, Brian Rabold, Hagerty’s vice-president of automotive intelligence, said, “Initial results seem strong given the cooling market we’ve been witnessing over the last few quarters.”

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RM Sotheby’s inaugural ModaMiami, held during the same weekend as the traditional Amelia Island auctions, forced most big-time sellers to choose which auction house to support. But some insiders with the means and motivation visited both locations, most notably Sandra Button, who is been chairperson of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance since 2002; Donald Osborne, a noted car historian and curator; and Tyler Epp, president of the Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix.

Epp visited the Bonhams and Broad Arrow auctions on Amelia Island on Feb 29 and attended ModaMiami on Mar 2. (Bonhams recently announced it will hold an auction during the F1 Grand Prix in Miami in May.) He says there’s room for both concourses in Florida: “We’re trying to be a little bit of that melting pot for car culture.”  

Dispatches from both locales indicated generally positive outlooks with Hagerty reporting 27,000 attendees through the weekend of events, up 2,000 from last year. Rob Myers, chairman and chief executive officer of RM Group, estimated “several thousand” attendees at Sunday’s concours; final results over the ModaMiami weekend had not been tallied at the time of publication.

The strong sellers

Both RM Sotheby’s and Broad Arrow were standing-room only across multiple sales days as attendees pored over auction catalogues and predicted final prices. Figures on many individual sales suggest a slow but persistent generational migration as buyers are starting to look past cars from the 1960s in favour of those built after 1990. The average year of cars offered at auction this year was 1973, up from 1969 in 2023, according to K500. “The age of cars catalogued is getting younger,” said Wakefield.

Broad Arrow showed especially strong results with the first Hennessy Venom F5 to sell at auction. It beat its US$1.65 million high estimate and sold for US$2.2 million including premiums. A rare 2021 Lamborghini Sian went for US$2.6 million. And a 2022 Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport sold for US$4.04 million, setting a record for that variant.

The top seller at ModaMiami was a 1953 Ferrari 250 Europa that sold for US$4.295 million, although that was less than the low estimate of US$4.5 million. More spectacular was a 2007 Ferrari 612 that had been estimated to be worth US$125,000 to US$175,000 but sold for US$456,000 including premiums. That car was owned by Guy Laliberte, the Canadian businessman who co-founded Cirque du Soleil in 1984.

Gooding sold a Porsche 918 Spyder with Gulf livery for US$3.5 million including premiums, beating its high estimate of US$3 million. A 2011 Ferrari 599 GTO sold well at US$907,000 including premiums, also beating its estimate. “The atmosphere was enthusiastic, with good cars getting the attention they deserved from bidders,” analyst Greg Ingold reported from the auction.

The no-shows

Volatility was the theme of the weekend: Some cars punched above their anticipated values while others sold for half-price, or not at all.

Two of Broad Arrow’s star cars-notably from eras possibly fading from popularity-were left unsold when the auction ended: the 1966 Shelby Cobra 427 S/C at a high bid of US$2.7 million and the 1959 Porsche 718 RSK Spyder at a high bid of US$3.2 million.

Broad Arrow’s early 1968 Ferrari 206 Dino sold for just US$610,000-well below the US$967,500 a similar Dino 246 GTS took at Gooding last year and the US$918,000 Gooding got for a 246 GTS at Amelia Island this year.

At ModaMiami, a much-anticipated 1976 Lamborghini Countach LP 400 “Periscopio” in “Blu Tahiti” did not sell either. It is US$1.15 million asking price is listed on the website for anyone who wants it. RM saw a 2011 RUF 997.2 stall out, too, with a high bid of US$800,000. But it also had a 1998 RUF 993 Turbo R, one of 15 made, sell for a US$1.375 million hammer price and saw a 1966 Porsche 906 hammer for a respectable US$2 million.

Then there was Jerry Seinfeld’s 1961 Porsche RS61. It was a no-sell at Gooding with a high bid of US$3.1 million, under its estimated price of US$4 million to US$5 million.

Stephen Serio, a longtime dealer who attended ModaMiami in favour of Amelia Island this year, echoed what close observers have said since last year about the scattered results. “There’s still no other word for it,” he says. “It’s just chaotic.” BLOOMBERG