Last year, Bonhams Cars pitched its auction tent not at Amelia Island as they had typically done, but at Miami Gardens in conjunction with the Formula One Miami Grand Prix. This year’s sale took place on May 3rd, 2025 under the lights of the podium at the Miami International Autodrome. In today’s Market Monday, I break down the results for the 2025 Bonhams Cars Miami Auction and share my analysis.

I covered last year’s inaugural Miami Auction from Bonhams Cars, noting that the sell through rate was rather disappointing, but it was the first year and the total number of consignments was less than 30. Additionally, entrance to the bidding required a Miami Grand Prix ticket, a requirement which was lifted for this year’s sale. My analysis suggested the softening collector car market had an impact on 2024’s results, so how does 2025 compare?

Bonhams consigned 61% more vehicles for this year’s event, offering 37 total lots. This year’s sale seemed to lean a little further into the high-performance track and street car theme compared to last year, with the exception being a 2023 Ford Raptor R pickup truck. At the time of this writing, 25 of the 37 lots that crossed the block hammered sold for a sell-through-rate of 67%. This is a significant increase over last year’s results, but 18 of this year’s lots were offered at no reserve. Of the 19 remaining reserve listings, just 7 were sold.

Looking at the 12 listings with reserves that failed to sell, most of the high bids fell pretty close to market averages. House low and high estimates were set above the average market value for these cars, though several of the lots have few public sales to use as comps which may have led specialists to err on the high side. In my opinion, reserves on these cars reflected the market as it was 3 years ago, not as it is today.

Three cars did significantly underperform the market average, however. As auctions are wildly dynamic places with many variables at play that can influence bidding, I can’t be certain as to why these cars didn’t cause bidders to raise their paddles. That said, results for each car and my thoughts can be found below.

It appears this car may have sold for an undisclosed sum post-auction, but during the live auction it failed to sell with a high bid of $1,220,000. This is about a quarter of a million off the market average for similar Bugatti EB110 GTs, though this one does have higher mileage than comps. Most of the $2M sales took place during the pandemic boom in the market, which may be skewing expectations a bit. Recent auction data suggests these cars have lost about $500K in value over the last 2 years.

The last Gunther Werks Speedster to sell at auction was a 1996 model sold at RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction last year. The hammer price for that car, finished in silver with red accents, was $1,215,000. Prior to auction, the car offered in Miami was listed with Zweck for $1,475,000. I think the seller was right to hold out for more at the high bid of $1,050,000, but if I were him I’d take any offer close to $1.2M.

When new, the Lamborghini Countach LPI 800-4 had a starting price of around $2.6M. 3 years later we’re seeing a number of no-sales over the last 6 months, with bid-to prices around $1.8-2M. This exact car was offered on Bring a Trailer in February where it was bid to $1.8M. At Bonhams Miami on Saturday, it failed to sell with a high bid of $1.6M. Based on recent results and no-sales, it would appear these cars are a losing speculative investment — at least in the short term.

The sell-through-rate for this year’s Miami Auction is up pretty significantly over last year’s results, which is good news for the auction house. Due to some high-dollar no-sales and the withdrawal of a Mercedes-Benz 300SL, however, year-over-year dollar volume will likely be down.

Market turmoil, high interest rates, and other economic factors continue to put negative pressure on the market. If you have the means and interest, now is probably the best opportunity in the last 6 years to acquire a special car.

While Hagerty has recently determined we’re in a flat market, I’m not certain we’ve seen the bottom of the decline. In my opinion, a lot of retail and private seller pricing remains inflated based more on hope than on reality.

What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Wolf and Mare provides appraisal services for sellers and buyers of collector European cars. If you’re interested in acquiring a professional appraisal, give us a call or drop a line!
The opinions shared above do not represent financial or investment advice.