Amelia Island 2024: Preliminary Auction Results
Sean Rooks | March 4, 2024

As we write, the 2024 Amelia Island auctions and concours week events are in the rear view mirror. Celebrations are surely in swing, with high bidders excited to take delivery of their new acquisitions and Sunday’s concours winners toasting their success on the field.
We have a gargantuan amount of data, insights, photographs and more to sift through over the coming days and weeks, but in today’s Market Monday we’ll share a few early impressions from our in-person attendance at auction results for the big 3 houses.
Bidding Struggled at Bonhams

It gives us no pleasure to report that the Bonhams sale was a disappointment this year. The storied auction house had only 83 vehicle lots on offer in 2024 contrasted with over 100 last year. As with all houses, vehicles ranged from pre-war to modern classics.
Using industry-provided auction results data, we calculated the sell-through rate at the Bonhams event at a dismal 69%. For a number of lots, some of which were desirable, bidding action just didn’t materialize.

The story at Gooding & Company’s event was much better. By our estimate, Thursday’s sell-through-rate stood at 86% with Friday bringing a slightly depressed 82%.

If success were only about sell-through-rate, Broad Arrow would be the winner with an 89% sell-through on Friday and 84% for the final day on Saturday.
Sell-through Doesn’t Tell the Whole Story
Auction houses use sell-through-rate, or cars sold against those that didn’t meet reserve, as a primary metric of their success. No doubt an auction’s purpose is to move metal, and it certainly helps the bottom line to actually sell the cars consigned to collect lucrative buyer’s fees.

We look at more data points to get a holistic picture of auction results, however. While we have more numbers to crunch, our impression was that a significant number of cars at Bonhams, Gooding & Company and Broad Arrow sold for below their low estimates, whether listed with a reserve or not. To us, the changing market was clearly felt in the auction tents.
How our Top 10 Cars Performed
We’ll do a few auction house-specific reports after reviewing more data, but in the meantime let’s see how the top 10 cars from last week’s post performed as they went across the block.

As we noted last week, a number of Zwitters missed their reserves recently and we suggested this car could be a steal at no reserve. With the car selling for $33,600 including buyer’s premium, it would appear we were correct. This result is below its 2018 sales price of $40,700, representing a sizable loss for the seller after fees.

We felt this car would be right on the money at $2 million in our post last week, and the market would seem to agree. This car was a no-sale with a high bid of exactly $2,000,000. The car is now asking $2.65M in Broad Arrow’s post-sale corral. We feel it will sit unsold for some time at that ask.

Our affection for this car, and assertion last week that originality trumps all, seems to have been shared by bidders. This original-condition Porsche 356A hammered sold for $257,000, or just over the low estimate.

Poor “Lucybelle” is once again left seeking a dance partner. After a reserve-not-met result at Gooding and Company’s Monterey auction in 2022, this 1959 718 RSK was a no-sale at Broad Arrow with bidding to $3.2M. Perhaps a deal can be made, as it’s now listed at $3.25M in the post-auction corral.

After a no-sale in Monterey last year, in our post last week we felt that this gorgeous Lancia 037 Stradale was guided at a more realistic estimate at Amelia. The rally-bred red rocket hammered sold at $588,000, near the high end of its guide.

While it’s true the winning bidder of this Canepa-restored Porsche 959 Komfort paid the second-highest price at auction for a 959, we think its $3,085,000 sale price is probably a bit under the seller’s (and Bruce Canepa’s) expectations. We’re still not sold on the wisdom of modifying these rare beasts, but having seen the work in person we can say it’s exceptional.

Last week we expressed our love for the overall look of this 1990 Mercedes-Benz 300E, but reservations at its estimate based on condition. This one sold for $39,300 including buyer’s premium, which is just under its low estimate. We appreciate the car, but consider this well sold.

And we quote from our opinion on this car from last week: “This car is estimated at $55,000-65,000 which just seems very optimistic for a 996 with 64,000 miles and a worn interior.” We inspected this car in person and it had visible wear, clearly repainted front and rear bumpers and other flaws. We consider this well sold at $44,800 including buyer’s premium. Even in this market, we may want to snap up a 996 before they go higher…

Our take last week: “It will be interesting to see if the market has truly returned to ‘pre-pandemic’ levels or if it’s just plateaued. If this sells anywhere in its current estimate range, we’ll have our answer.” We do indeed: the market has retreated. This lovely 2004 Porsche Carrera GT was unsold at $1.3M.

As absolute a visual knockout in person as it is in photographs, this Porsche 935 factory tribute to the legendary race car clearly moved bidders. Exclusive cars like this one, especially from Porsche, are market-proof in our opinion. This beast sold for $1,517,500 or just above the low end of the estimate.
With so many external factors at play in addition to the specifics of each individual lot and the makeup of bidders on any particular day, predicting auctions is anything but a sure thing. That said, we’re proud of winning predictions for how these selections performed against our expectations at Amelia Island.
Our Initial Impression
In closing, our biggest takeaway from the auction results at Amelia Island is that the market has most definitely retreated to pre-pandemic levels for anything but the most desirable machinery. We aren’t so reckless as to call it a “market collapse” as many do, but we feel confident in saying that the collector car price bubble inflated by Covid has definitely popped.
We hope to share more insights and experiences from Amelia Island Concours Week with you in the coming days. If you enjoyed this article, please subscribe to stay informed on all the latest news from Wolf and Mare.
Wolf and Mare provides car finding, appraisal and listing services for sellers and buyers of collector European cars. If you’re interested in acquiring a special vehicle, give us a call or drop a line!