In just a couple of days I’ll be backing our SUV down the driveway to begin the long drive down the Eastern seaboard for my annual visit to Amelia Island Concours Week. As an appraiser, Concours Week in Amelia Island is a great opportunity to study and examine hundreds of collector cars all in one place, so every hour between now and departure will be spent preparing my notes and “must see” lists. In this week’s Market Monday, I thought it might be fun to take a detailed look at the car demographics at the 2026 Amelia auctions to see what’s coming up.

In recent years, two major auction houses have vacated Amelia Island Concours Week for their own events either prior to or after Concours Week, leaving Broad Arrow Auctions and Gooding Christie’s as the only bidding tents in town. Broad Arrow hosts their preview and live sale at the Ritz Carlton Amelia Island, while Gooding Christie’s sprawling tentscape occupies Racquet Park at the Omni Amelia Island Resort. 

As of this writing, Broad Arrow has consigned 176 vehicles for this year’s Amelia sale, which is a handful more than last year. Last year’s top sale for Broad Arrow was a 1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider Competizione that hammered for $9,465,000. Looking at the catalog for this year, the top sale may be another Ferrari — a 2003 Ferrari Enzo estimated at $12-16 million.

A few miles down the First Coast Highway, Gooding Christie’s will be auctioning a total of 132 vehicle lots, a dozen or so fewer than last year. A 1955 Ferrari 375 MM Berlinetta was the big earner at last year’s event, and this year a beautiful 1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider is expected to bring $16-18 million.

For the first time, I conducted some analysis on the overall lots on offer in Amelia Island this week, breaking down the consignments on various dimensions including era, continent and manufacturer. Gathering this data may help me spot future shifts in the makeup of consignments due to new buyer demographics or market changes. 

As you can see, classics from the 1960s dominate at this year’s Amelia Auctions, with this era making up the bulk of lots at both auction houses. Representation for pre-war, classics from the 50s to 70s, RAD-era vehicles and modern cars is pretty consistent between Gooding Christie’s and Broad Arrow. The biggest deviation is in modern cars — cars built from 2011-present — where Broad Arrow has made a bigger bet. It’s worth noting that the number of lots hailing from the 1980s to today comes close to — or in the case of Broad Arrow — exceeds the number of 60s classics.

High-end concours events tend to be a showcase for high-end pre-war vehicles, and Amelia Island is no different. Naturally, pre-war cars are well represented at the big auctions. While auctions like Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale and Mecum Kissimmee were the place to sell an American-made classic this Spring, European cars built from the 1950s to 1970s dominate at Amelia Island.

Going deeper into brand representation, Porsche and Ferrari are unsurprisingly the hot makes at both sales. Interestingly, Gooding Christie’s has consigned more Porsches than Ferraris this year, with Broad Arrow doing nearly the opposite. This is likely attributed to Gooding’s consignment of the Tommy Trabue collection, which includes a sizable collection of classic air-cooled Porsches. The Trabue lots include quite a few lovely Alfa Romeos as well.

Cadillac is the American make with the highest number of total lots, with Ford coming in second. Broad Arrow continues to consign an impressive selection of Mercedes-Benz cars for its Amelia sale, including two Mercedes-Benz 300SLs. For both auctions, there’s a “long tail” of other makes comprising the remaining lots, such as Jaguar, Aston Martin, BMW, Bentley and others.

No less than 5 “barn find” unrestored cars are on offer at this year’s Gooding Christie’s Amelia sale. Of particular interest to me is a rather ratty but charming 1951 Porsche 356 “Pre-A” coupe, but Ferrari fans can choose between a 1951 Ferrari 342 America Coupe or a 1959 Ferrari 250 GT Coupe. A rusty 1955 Porsche 356 Speedster and a heavily patinated 1933 Morgan 3-wheeler round out the list. With the ballooning cost of restoration, I’ll be studying the performance of these lots very closely.

No less than 6 Porsches customized by the tuner company RUF are on offer at this year’s Amelia auctions. It’s been typical to see maybe one or two cross the block, but the collector looking to add a RUF to their collection has an abundance of choice this year, ranging from a 1987 RUF BTR Slantnose Coupe to a modern-era 2016 RUF Turbo Florio.

Values for the Porsche 968 have been steadily rising in recent years. These 4-cylinder front-engine/rear-wheel drive sport hatchbacks are great driver’s cars, but changing demographics and their general affordability likely has a lot to do with their increase in popularity. Prices have softened a bit of late, so it’s interesting to see two incredibly rare variants crossing the block in Amelia. Gooding Christie’s has consigned a 1993 Porsche 968 Turbo S, one of just 14 production cars ever built. Broad Arrow has managed to represent an even rarer car — a one-of-three 1993 Porsche 968 Turbo RS race car. Both are expected (hoped?) to bring nearly $1,000,000.

To make any conclusions regarding what this year’s Amelia auctions might signal about the changing demographics of the collector car industry, I would need to pull numbers for prior years. I can’t guarantee I’ll find the time to perform that analysis, but I will try. I can promise a full recap of post-auction results next week, however.

In the meantime, I’m looking forward to checking out all the events the week has to offer, connecting with like-minded enthusiasts and bumping into friends. In light of the recent conflict in Iran, I’ll be curious to see if this major geopolitical event will have an impact on bidders’ willingness to raise the paddle.

Have a great week, everyone. And you’re in Amelia Island this week, I hope to see you there!

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!