4 sales that broke our price guide at Amelia Island 2020

It has been a whirlwind week. With uneasy stock market trading and fears of the worldwide COVID-19 outbreak, we went into the Amelia Island weekend auctions with some uncertainty. Happily, fears were remedied by robust crowds at the events and spirited bidding on exceptional cars. While many cars sold on par with their Hagerty Price Guide values, a few sales were standouts. While it’s easy to write off these as flukes or outliers, a deeper look can reveal emerging trends.

Here are four vehicles that sold last weekend and broke our price guide, but they provide broader patterns we can extrapolate from.

1978 Volkswagen Transporter Campmobile

Sold at Gooding and Co. for $61,600

Hagerty Price Guide: $5200–$34,000

Early Type 2 Transporters have been a hot commodity for years now. The first six-figure sale was a stunning event, and exceptional examples have hovered in that range ever since. With many collectors priced out of the Type 2 bus market, the later “bay window” buses have been the natural next step. Granted, they aren’t as pretty or as iconic as the previous generation, but there has always been a reasonable following amongst hardcore enthusiasts. Prices have been quite attainable as well, with best-in-the-world examples only touching the $30,000 range.

Gooding & Company offered this very green example at its sale. The Sage Green exterior with Chartreuse plaid interior was one that drew crowds prior to the sale. Being original, the price was destined to surprise, but not as much as it did when the hammer finally fell. At $61,600 it far exceeded the average market for an excellent Westie. Most importantly, it may be a sign that the bay window bus is coming into its own. We’ll certainly be on the lookout for more exceptional examples coming out of the woodwork.

2004 Acura NSX-T

Sold by RM Sotheby’s for $162,400

Hagerty Price Guide: $58,000–$122,000

It is hard to overstate the impact of the NSX on the image of Japanese sports cars and especially Honda’s brand perception. Honda was built on a firm foundation of small economy cars; its introduction of a mid-engine sports car seemed like madness. Marketed in the U.S. as an Acura, the NSX was introduced in 1990 and carried through 2005. The obsessive design and practicality of the Japanese, as well as technical input from F1 World Champion Ayrton Senna, lent to the reputation of the NSX as a well-balanced and excellent-performing sports car.

As popularity of Japanese sports cars started to rise a few years back, the NSX led the initial charge. At the time, the Supra hadn’t come into its own and the R32 Skyline was not yet legal to import. For the past four years, the values of late first-gen NSXs, like the one offered at RM Sotheby’s, have remained stagnant. For an 8898-mile car, it would have been reasonable to expect a final price somewhere in the low-$100K range, but a result blowing past our #1 (Concours) value was completely unexpected.

Could this $162,400 result signal the NSX market is coming back to life? One thing is for sure—we’ll be keeping a close eye on these cars.

1993 Ferrari 512 TR

Sold by RM Sotheby’s for $229,600

Hagerty Price Guide: $118,000–$193,000

There’s been a lot of talk about the Ferrari market lately and not much of it is positive. Since Monterey, market values have been sliding, with few bright spots to be seen. Late 1980s and newer models have fared much better with mostly stagnant values, and a handful of models nudging upwards. The 512 TR has seen a bit of everything over the past few HPG updates; it experienced a drop in mid-2019 and has held steady since.

This example offered at RM Sotheby’s was a 10,000-mile example with an engine-out service performed about a year and a half ago. This 512 TR is a collector-grade example with a lot going for it. With a final price of $229,600, it blew past its #1 (Concours) condition value, but the price is certainly well deserved.

More importantly, this 512 TR sale shows that there are still positives in the Ferrari market. You just have to focus on newer models.

2006 Ford GT Heritage

Sold by RM Sotheby’s for $533,000

Hagerty Price Guide: $236,000–$450,000

The Ford GT is, without a doubt, one of the greatest American cars of the 2000s. When first announced, the concept came out of nowhere, and the reception was so positive that Ford decided to put it into production. The 550-horsepower V-8 was incredibly potent for the time, and the throwback looks to the original GT40 have aged extremely well. The 2006 Heritage edition wore the iconic Gulf Oil Racing livery first used on the 1968–69 Le Mans-winning car. While initially regarded as being ostentatious, this Heritage edition quickly became the version to have in your collection.

The example offered at RM Sotheby’s is about as close to freshly delivered condition you’re going to see out of a GT, and bidders at Amelia stepped up to the plate. At $533,000, this is the second-most expensive 2006 Ford GT ever sold at public auction. Coupled with the fact that several moderately driven examples (a rare occurrence in the GT market, since examples with less than 1K miles are fairly common) sold above their HPG values just this year, it seems fair to say that the ’05–06 GT market is active once again.

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