Broad Arrow closes out the 2025 Florida auctions today with $41m+ at The Ritz Carlton

Expect more cars to find homes post-sale, but working on strictly provisional figures, the Hagerty-owned firm sold at least 82% of today’s 100-car offering, grossing around $41m. Which makes the combined total of classic car sales generated by Broad Arrow as official partner of The Amelia this year likely to exceed $56.5m.

Before the first car crossed the block, we learnt that several of Friday’s cars had been sold after the event, boosting that day’s gross to over $15.5m at 88 per cent sold by number. The opening day featured lower-value entries, though in addition to the top-selling Porsche 918 Spyder ($2.315m) there was a 1964 Shelby Cobra that sold mid-estimate for $1.242m and many modern supercars moving on including a 2019 Ferrari 488 Pista ‘Piloti Ferrari’ for $808k.

Saturday was all about the fate of the fifth place at the 1959 Le Mans 24 Hours, open-headlamp Ferrari 250 GT California Spider Competizione (above) and the ex-works Jaguar D-type. The former – bought for $17.99m in 2017 and, after a period in the owner’s preferred red, now back to as raced in 1959 – had been offered around for over a year. The latter did not sell five years ago at $12m to $15m. Neither was a ‘fire sale’, but the owners had clearly given the cars a go and an auction was seen as the means of last resort.

In the end, the Ferrari sold today for $9,465,000, the D-type for $4,295,000. We’ll be offering you some thoughts on the significance of these results next week when all the results are in.

At a glance (Saturday 8 March, provisional)

* Gross, motor cars: $40,946,220
* Percentage sold by number: 88%
* Top-selling car: 1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider Competizione $9,465,000 gross, $8,600,000 net (est. $10m to $14m)        
* Well sold? Given it comes from a less-favoured sector, and prices have been depressed across the board these last couple of days, the  sale of the 1935 Auburn 851 Super-Charged ‘Boattail’ Speedster was conducted skilfully to achieve a final value of $1,011,500 all-in Est. $850k to $950k.
* Well bought? Quite a few to choose from. For all its (clearly catalogued) faults, the ex-works Jaguar D-type OKV 2 still bears ‘the spirit’ if little else of the car driven by Stirling Moss in 1954. And no other 'D' claims its identity. We’d say it was quite a buy at $4,295,000 with premium.

Moving on to happier ground, the orange, German market spec, single-sump Miura SV (above) was fiercely fought over in the room and over the telephone before selling for $4,460,000, a figure that makes it the second most valuable Miura sold at auction, just pipped by chassis 4972, a LHD-to-RHD-to-LHD car finally receiving the right sort of Italian restoration before selling at RM’s ‘Dare to Dream’ sale in June 2024 for a heady $4,900,000. Experts can discuss the pros and cons of slightly different specs, but today’s SV was a better car with a consistent history.

The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL ‘Gullwing’ was sold just before the auction so was withdrawn.

As mentioned in a brief round-up last night, Broad Arrow had dressed up the homely ballroom with an impressive screen that really gave experienced auctioneer Lydia Fenet a dramatic and colourful background. Fenet was impressive, now really comfortable in the role at Broad Arrow, handling the saleroom with humour and authority. Broad Arrow, Gooding Christie’s and RM Sotheby’s are taking these events to another level, particularly on home ground in North America.

Other results of note (all prices gross):

* 1955 Alfa Romeo 1900 C SS Worblaufen Cabriolet, $235,200. An interesting coachbuilt Alfa shown at Pebble Beach in 2022. Reassuring to see a connoisseur’s model appreciated and selling well.
* 1965 Aston Martin DB5, $929,000. LHD, in original configuration of Silver Birch/red hide, with rare Normalair a/c and delivered new to Hollywood. All pluses, though lacking that all-essential recent restoration in the UK. On the money.
* 1961 Maserati 3500 GT Vignale Spyder, $555,000. These cars frequently hit $1m at the height of the last boom. Not in its original colours but still an attractive and punchy Maserati alternative to a DB4 or Ferrari 250 GT Convertible.
* 2018 Pagani Huayra Roadster, $3,415,000. US market car with one owner and 99 miles.
* 1970 Maserati Ghibli 4.7 Spyder, $665,000. One of the many North American cars, with smaller 4.7 engine, but is an original manual. As-delivered silver replaced with blue metallic. Hardtop a bonus.
* 1958 BMW 507 Series II Roadster, $2,122,500. A series II car that presented very well, having Rudge wheels and a hardtop but not its original engine or transmission.

STOP PRESS 9 March 2025: Several more lots were sold overnight taking yesterday's gross to $41.8m at 85% sold by number and the combined total to $57.8m at 87%.

Next stop for Broad Arrow on the international stage will be its debut event at Ville Erba in May. Updated results for all the Florida auctions to come on K500 in the following days.

Photos by K500