Eight-Figure Ferraris Crash Kissimmee’s Muscle Car Mania
The world’s biggest collector car auction, Mecum Kissimmee, got bigger again in 2024. The 13-day mega-sale, which concluded last weekend, offered over 4000 vehicles for the first time (4283, reported by Mecum). For the third year in a row, total sales topped $200M. This year’s reported total of $275M passed well above 2023’s $222M, while the sell-through rate was down from 79% in 2023 and 86% in 2022 to 70% in 2024. As we’ve talked about a cooling collector market, Mecum Kissimmee at least seemed to show signs of stability.
While there is always something for everyone and for every budget in Kissimmee (including an astounding 524 Corvettes ranging from $4950 t0 $2.5M), one segment that made perhaps the biggest impression were the top-tier, Enzo-era Ferraris. Mecum offered a trio of ultra-rare eight-figure cars from Maranello in Kissimmee, something they’ve never done before. One failed to meet reserve on the block and didn’t sell, one didn’t meet reserve but is reportedly being sold post-block, and one sold at a healthy price. The simple fact that these big Ferraris were part of the show is a notable development for this ever-growing sale. That’s especially true considering January’s other big auction event—Arizona Auction Week—which is conspicuously not getting bigger and bigger.
What might have been the top sale in Kissimmee was a 1964 275 GTB/LM Competizione Speciale. Essentially the successor to the 250 GTO, the one-of-three GTB/LM sold at the Monterey auctions nearly 10 years ago for $26.4M but couldn’t get past $23M in Kissimmee and failed to find a new owner. The two other top-shelf Ferraris, formerly in the renowned collection of Dr. Rick Workman, were a different story.
The silver 275 GTS/4 aka the NART Spider was the ninth of 10 commissioned by New York Ferrari dealer and owner of the North American Racing Team (NART) Luigi Chinetti. We hadn’t seen a NART Spider sell at auction in over a decade, and the last one that did brought $27.5M. In Kissimmee, the NART hit $23.5M on the block and was reported not sold, but Mecum currently reports a sale pending for the car at an unconfirmed price. We’ve heard rumors that a $22M offer was turned down, but a post-block sale in the $20M range still counts as a sale, and would be between the NART Spider’s condition #2 (“excellent”) and condition #3 (“good”) value in the Hagerty Price Guide.
The 250 GT California Spider, meanwhile, ticked a lot of the right boxes. As a short wheelbase (SWB) car with covered headlights, it wears the most attractive bodywork in a series of universally gorgeous cars, and it was represented as the very last of the only 106 total Cal Spiders built from 1957-63. Despite its 20-plus-year-old restoration and a color change (delivered with black interior, it now has a tan one), it sold for an impressive $17.875M, which is well above the car’s condition #1 (“concours”) value.
For several years now, we’ve been watching Mecum Kissimmee grow while the Scottsdale auctions, which are older and more established as the first big auction event of the year, have waxed and waned. These Ferraris make for an even bigger contrast between the two.
Mecum hasn’t sold any cars like them before. Last year’s top results in Kissimmee were all in the $1M-$3M range, and so were 2022’s top cars. In Scottsdale, meanwhile, the top car in all the auctions there since 2020 combined was a $6.825M Mercedes-Benz 300SL Alloy Gullwing. The second-highest was a $4.845M Simplex. A grouping of eight-figure Ferraris is typically the kind of thing reserved for the Champagne tastes and budgets of Monterey Car Week. In fact, had they sold not in Kissimmee ’24 but Monterey 2023, the NART (presuming it sold in the $20M range) and the California Spider would have been Monterey’s second and third most expensive cars, respectively.
In 2021 we asked, “Is Mecum the new king of January?” The 2024 numbers push things even further into the “yes” camp.
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Italian lumps i can almost see the I’ll-matching seams on from here with solid axle rear suspensions which date back to Model T technology and motors constantly requiring carb tuning every stop sign and overheat every stoplight even if you rev them maddeningly;
knew there was something missing in my garage;
Would be interesting to hear why you think Mecum Kissimmee is growing the way that it is (especially in terms of the quality of cars).
The 275 GTB/LM Competizione Speciale is beautiful. Curious to see what it might sell at.
I have been attending this auction for many years, even before they held it indoors. The last couple of years I have been posting my “reports” focusing on my favorite brand Pontiac. I have been restoring, racing, cruising Pontiacs for over 30 years. Generally I take several pictures of the more “high profile” cars and even do videos and post them on my YouTube Channel (link below). I have to agree that this event has grown considerably. The number of vehicles has increased, though a lot are what I call “filler cars”, cars you could find at a local dealership. However the last couple of years there has been an increased presence of high end collections being sold at Kissimmee. Last year it was the Como Collection that brought us the most paid for a Pontiac (1970 Orbit Orange Judge convertible RAIV automatic). The year before was the most winged Mopars every offered at one venue. This year the 1966 GT 40 and the Ferrari’s took the event in a new direction. I too noticed sell through was down and pricing for the more common cars seemed to have slipped a little. However the premiere cars still command strong money and the demand is not waning. Next year I hope to continue my “reports” and expand on the narrated videos. I do take note of other brands but the sheer number of cars is overwhelming to try and take in all the details. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRhldOm5isR-wOqSVHXkqQHAh5xESetw9&feature=shared
Though I’m a through and through lover of red Ferraris (my 308 is Rosso Corsa) I found the above 275 GTB/LM Competizione Speciale stunning in the two-tone grey and silver it carried for some years. I remember that livery really stood out in the ballroom display at RM when it was auctioned in Monterey. It carried an elegance that has not seemed to follow on with the current Rosso Cina red and beige leather interior.
Not often mentioned about this car is the incident that occurred during TourAuto in 1997 (?) when Derek Hill left the road resulting in a damaged left fender. Co-driver was his father, Phil Hill.