Most live auction events end on a Sunday, which is why these market reports are released at the start of the week. After two years of consistently posting Market Monday content, I’m experimenting with some changes. Behind this report is the same robust research and analysis, but I’ve used fewer images and focused more on results data in my write-up. My hope is that these changes will create a quicker and more informative read. Today, I’m analyzing the results for Mecum Kissimmee 2026. Let me know what you think!

Mecum’s Kissimmee sale took place from January 6-18 and was held at Osceola Heritage Park in Florida. It’s the first major live auction event of the year and therefore the first temperature check on the state of the car market. Major is a good word for it, as the sale lasts nearly two weeks and features thousands of lots of cars, trucks, and motorcycles. The results are sending quite a few shockwaves through the industry, so let’s get into the early analysis to see what’s up.

Mecum consigned fewer cars year-over-year, with 3,813 vehicles on offer versus 4,447 vehicle lots in 2025. The sale catalog included both reserve and no-reserve listings and the sell-through-rate for this year was a solid 74% — a slight increase over last year’s 72% STR.

While lots consigned was down, total dollar volume from the sale is up — way up. This year, Mecum raked in an impressive $431.4 million compared to $215.4 million in 2025. To what do I credit this amazing result? Read on to find out.

Mecum Kissimmee 2026 could’ve been named “The Ferrari Sale” as 10 of the top 12 sales were cars built in Maranello and Saturday was basically Ferrari day on the block. Every car in the top 12 sold for over $6 million, with the top sale of a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO bringing in $38,500,000 after buyer’s premium. Many of the Ferraris for sale were from the Bachman Collection and there’s a lot of online chatter about what drove the draw-dropping results for those sales. Some claim the big bids were a result of potential tax write-offs due to proceeds going to the Bachman Foundation. Without knowing the particulars of how the collection was consigned or the agreement between Mecum, the Foundation and the buyers we won’t know for sure. It does certainly look like bids could have been boosted by the potential charitable nature of the collection’s sale.

This car was the featured lot of Mecum Kissimmee 2026. It’s the only Ferrari 250 GTO painted from the factory in white and was largely unrestored (though it had been maintained and touched up over the years). Third party estimates predicted a sale between $50M and $70M, but the final hammer price was $35,000,000.

Much pontificating will be done by automotive outlets as to the reason for this “disappointing” sale. Mecum did some wonderful advertising for the car, including beautiful driving footage and photography as well as much PR, so I can’t fault them.

The auctioneer started the action at a $50M opening bid, but raised paddles failed to appear until the starting bid reached $25M. Succeeding bids progressed at $1M and then $500,000 increments until bidding stalled. After what seemed like an eternity sitting at $34.5M, and many fake gavel slams, the car eventually received its final winning bid. This was a reserve auction and the call of “reserve is off” only came after the final $35M bid.

I frequently and staunchly hold the opinion that right-hand drive cars, as this was, do not have the same appeal in left-hand drive countries. This might seem a trivial consideration in the rare air of Ferrari 250 GTO ownership, but when you are wealthy enough to afford a 250 GTO, you’re probably not used to compromising on your wants. Larger factors almost certainly included the car’s replacement engine and unrestored condition. While it had a nice race history, it was generally on par with many other GTOs and therefore not a differentiating attribute.

The high bidder was noted Ferrari collector David Lee, who immediately shared his excitement at adding this car to his collection. One certainty is that the car will be cherished and driven by its new owner.

Below are a handful of cars whose results leapt off my spreadsheet and led to raised eyebrows. Sometimes it was both of my eyebrows in surprise, other times just one eyebrow in Spock-like curiousity.

There were a number of impressive sales at Mecum this year outside the Bachman Collection, and the internet is abuzz with why. Experts will be debating this for months and it’s too early in the season to say if this is an indicator of the year to come. Based on my research, there were plenty of market-correct prices paid by bidders across the almost 3,000 cars sold, but those cars don’t generate the conversation of the bonkers sales. That said, there were few bargains to be found.

This seems elementary, but I state it here as a reminder. Aside from the potential charitable benefits from the Bachman Collection, the cars in that collection were special in specification and condition and were overall very low miles. The collection drove significant dollar volume for Mecum, but this is frequently true when a high profile collection (such as the White Collection of Porsches) comes to market. Special cars elsewhere in the catalog also performed well.

I pulled a cross-section of cars from my 2026 segments to watch, which include traditional classics, 90s-2000s cars, Rad-Era cars, SUVs, six-figure cars, and customs. Mecum Kissimmee’s results were strong and consistent with my predictions, in my opinion, but confirmation bias is a thing and it’s much too early to make any conclusions.

When strong or spectacular results like this are seen, there are often cries of shenanigans. I refuse to speculate and will instead be studying the results from the Scottsdale auctions this week and Amelia Island in March before making any judgements. Mecum’s results could have been a blip or a real trend worth noting.

One thing’s for sure, every dealer selling a Ferrari 360 — even an uninspiring silver F1 transmission variant — will be marking it up based on this over $1M result for a 327-mile Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale. It’s not right, but it is expected. My advice is to arm yourself with comparable sales data for the specific car you’re interested in. If a dealer doesn’t budge, keep looking. Too many cars, too little time.

Have a great week, everyone!

Wolf and Mare provides car finding, appraisals, and auction services for buyers and sellers of collector European cars. If you’re interested in acquiring an overseas car, give us a call or drop a line!