Every March, the collector car world descends upon the coast of northeast Florida. For one week, Amelia Island becomes the epicenter of automotive culture. It remains one of the most important weeks on the collector car and auction calendar on the East Coast, right up there with Monterey in August.
Following ModaMiami’s rain-soaked weekend in Coral Gables just weeks earlier, Amelia Island up north was thankfully blessed with far better weather. Clear skies greeted collectors, historians, and enthusiasts arriving from across the United States and beyond.
Things kicked off with auction previews and enthusiast gatherings that gradually built momentum toward the main events. Collectors filled preview halls to examine the automobiles that would soon cross the block.
Friday morning delivered one of the week’s most recognizable traditions, the Porsche Club of America’s Werks Reunion. Hundreds of Porsche models were present at the Amelia River Golf Club fairways, representing everything from early classic 356s and air-cooled 911s to modern GT3 and GT2 RS models.
Saturday marked the centerpiece of the weekend as the 31st Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance field opened along the oceanfront grounds at the Ritz-Carlton. Over 250 historically significant motor cars competed across 35 carefully curated classes spanning more than a century of automotive history.
Prominent figures from across the automotive community also attended throughout the weekend. Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner (2007, 2010, and 2012) Dario Franchitti served as the event’s honoree, while renowned automotive designer Chip Foose, who featured seven of his cars, and numerous collectors, historians, and industry figures, YouTuber personalities mingled among the crowds.
When the judging concluded, two automobiles emerged as the most celebrated winners of the weekend, which were in line with last year’s winners. The Best of Show Concours d’Elegance went to a 1931 Duesenberg Model J “Tapertail” Speedster by Weymann from the William Lyon Family collection. Designed by Gordon Buehrig, the car’s dramatic tapered tail, sweeping pontoon fenders, and short wheelbase chassis give it one of the most distinctive silhouettes of the classic era. The Best of Show Concours de Sport went to a 1969 McLaren M8B Can-Am race car, one of the machines that defined McLaren’s dominance in the Can-Am championship during the late 1960s.
In collaboration with the Revs Institute, the rare Porsche 550-01 also made an appearance. It was on display at the Retromobile New York stand. While the concours lawn celebrated automotive history, the auction rooms revealed the strength of the current collector car market.
At the Ritz-Carlton, Broad Arrow Auctions delivered the biggest headline of the week. Held across March 6 and March 7, 2026, the official auction presented 170 lots with highlights including 14 cars each from the Wellington Morton collection and the Bill and Patty Sperling collection offered without reserve.
A sell-through rate of 92 percent resulted in generating 13 record-setting sales and $111 million in total sales, the highest-grossing auction in the event’s 31-year history. Founder Bill Warner opened day two of the auction, with a “Ferrari 250 GT SWB” by Stanley Rose painting that sold for $16,000, with proceeds going to Spina Bifida of Jacksonville.
The top result was a single-owner nero 2003 Ferrari Enzo with fewer than 450 original miles, which achieved $15,185,000, a figure in line with low-mileage examples. The Ferrari Enzo carries a duPont REGISTRY Index (dRi) value of $6,922,500. Another standout result came from a Paint-to-sample Gulf Blue 2005 Porsche Carrera GT, which set a new world record for the model at $6,715,000. A 1972 Lamborghini Miura P400 SV, owned by a single family for more than five decades, also drew intense bidding before selling for $6,605,000.
Just a short distance away at the Omni Amelia Island Resort, Gooding Christie’s hosted its own two-day auction on March 5 and March 6, 2026. The sale featured 132 lots, including 128 automobiles and four motorcycles, and generated over $72 million in total sales with a 94 percent sell-through rate.
The headline sale was a rare hardtop-equipped 1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider, which sold for $16,505,000, making it the most valuable car sold during the entire Amelia Island auction week. Other notable results included a 1951 Ferrari 212 Export Spider, a 1932 Miller FWD Special, and another 2005 Porsche Carrera GT, each exceeding $3 million.
Combined, the two auctions offered more than 300 lots and generated over $180 million in total sales, a significant increase over the roughly $129 million achieved during the 2025 Amelia Island auctions. You can check out the top 10 highlights here. As with the mega-auction sales observed since the start of the 2026 Collector Car season, the trend of modern exotics and hypercars attracting capital from a younger demographic was once again reinforced.
Beyond the auctions and concours judging, Amelia week continued delivering events that celebrated every corner of car culture. RADwood brought the style and machines of the 1980s and 1990s back into the spotlight, while Cars and Caffeine closed out the weekend with a relaxed gathering open to hundreds of enthusiast-owned vehicles.
With record-breaking auction results and a truly diverse selection of automobiles across a myriad of action-packed events, the 2026 edition of Amelia Island once again demonstrated why it remains one of the most influential events on the global collector car calendar.
Images: @ameliaconcoursofficial, @hagerty, @goodingandcompany, @broadarow_auctions, @retromobile_nyc
