Latest news with #AmeliaIslandConcours
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
2025 Amelia Concours Overcame Bad Weather for Another Spectacular Show
Sometimes it's going to rain on your parade. But when it does, just move the parade to a different day. That's what organizers of the Amelia Island Concours did and things seem to have worked out just fine. When forecasts for the Sunday concours called for rain—100% it said on all the weather sites, with those little dark cloud images with rain slanting down beneath—it was the best thing to do. This has happened before at Amelia, in 2017 and 2018, and in 2003 a storm forced entrants into the Ritz-Carlton ballroom for an impromptu indoor show. So a Saturday show with a high of 72 degrees and only a few clouds was actually quite nice. This year's Amelia Concours d'Elegance highlighted more than 275 historically significant vehicles in more than 35 classes, including Corvettes at Sebring, Alfa Romeos of the 1930s, and Formula 1 Cars from 1950 to the Present. Indeed, a Formula 1 car took top honors as the Concours de Sport Best in Show. But not just any F1 car. It was Jim Clark's 1967 Lotus 49. It was the first car ever to get the soon-to-be-famous Ford Cosworth DFV V8, the first Grand Prix car to have the engine as a stressed member of the chassis, and one of the few to win its first race right out of the box, with Clark winning the '67 Dutch GP from eighth place on the grid. Plus, the winner had the best quote ever upon winning: 'Blow me down,' said Chris MacAllister, whose name sounds like he might be a fellow Scot to Clark. Best of Show Concours d'Elegance (there are two winners at Amelia, twice the fun!) went to a gorgeous 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Cabriolet, Stabilimenti Farina. Almost everything else scheduled for the weekend went off without a hitch, despite the lost day. RADwood, which is part of the Cars and Community celebration, moved forward as planned because it took place on its own fairway. Concours d'Lemons went off, too, thank gawd. 'Our event was on Friday afternoon, so the date change didn't affect the jointly held Concours d'Lemons or Classic Motorsports Kickoff Party,' said Lemons founder and chief lugnut Alan Galbraith. 'Friday was a stunning, sunny, warm day, and we had droves of spectators and a full field of cars.' Also unaffected by the weather was the Werks Reunion and the auctions, including the newly merged Gooding Christies, as well as Broad Arrow Auctions, owned by event owners Hagerty. A mile south of the concours, Gooding Christie's sold a resounding $67 million with a 93% sell-through rate, including almost $2 million for a 1935 Avions Voisin C25 Aerodyne, $2.3 million for a 1931 Duesenberg Model J Convertible sedan, and $2.5 million for a 1963 Ferrari 400 Superamerica Series II Coupe Aerodinamica. Both a RUF CTR2 and a 959 cleared $2 million. Top seller was a 1955 Ferrari 375 MM Berlinetta that hammered for just under $9.5 million. At the Ritz Carlton, Broad Arrow, the official auction of the concours, sold a 1959 Ferrari 250 California LWB for $9.5 million, a 1971 Lamborghini Miura P400 SV for $4.5 million, and a '54 Jaguar D-Type for $4.3 million. If you include the RM Sotheby's results from the week before at ModaMiami, the total for Florida auctions was $190.3 million. Not a bad start to the year. The rest of the weekend was splendid, too, from Thursday's Reverie party to the jam-packed Friday and Saturday activities. Many car lovers started the week down at ModaMiami then drove up the coast to Amelia. Next up on the big car-lover calendar is the Alfa Romeo Club Car Show at the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles March 29. Or maybe Villa d'Este on the shores of Lake Como May 23-25. Or both. See you there.
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Amelia Island Concours 2025 Photo Gallery
For the fourth time in 30 years, rain affected the Amelia Island Concours, but not too badly. With Sunday a washout, organizers moved the big concours day to Saturday. Only the Cars and Community had to be canceled. They'll be back next year. There were 275 cars on the field. 1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB Berlinetta taking part in the Eight Flags Road Tour presented by ReliableCarriers traveled through some of the most beautiful scenery and interesting driving roads of the Amelia Island area. Best of Show winners: A 1967 Lotus 49 and a 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C Corvette vs. Mustang. Porsche 911s. Reverie. Ferrari F40 Jim Clark's Lotus 49. 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C. The two winners. The Eight Flags Road Tour presented by ReliableCarriers traveled through some of the most beautiful scenery and interesting driving roads of the Amelia Island area. This driving tour includes breakfast, a coffee stop, and lunch. The tour was reserved for Concours entrants and special guests only. Eight Flags Road Tour. Bugatti. Porsche 918. Broad Arrow Auctions returned to the Ritz-Carlton for its third annual Amelia Auction on March 7-8, the official auction of The Amelia. The two-day sale featured 150 desirable collector cars, from pre-War American and European classics to motorsport icons and modern supercars. Early highlights for the sale are led by a 1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider Competizione, chassis no. 1451 GT. The second of only eight aluminum-bodied examples ever produced, 1451 GT is arguably one of the most significant competition Ferraris extant. The car's combination of Le Mans racing history and concours success make it a perfect fit for The Amelia weekend. Additional auction details are available at IROC Camaros will also run at Rolex Monterey Motorsport Reunion. Lamborghini Countach. 1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider Competizione. Revelers. 1954 Jaguar D-Type "OKV 2" Works Competition.
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Buying This Pair Of 6.0-Liter AMG Hammers With Manual Transmissions Is The Best Way To Spend $4 Million
It's been amazing to see the rise of 'youngtimers' in the car market, cult classics from the 1980s and '90s that are seeing huge surges in popularity both on social media and at high-end car shows and auctions. At the upcoming Amelia Island Concours next month, Gooding & Company is auctioning off a host of youngtimers, including what might be the finest Ruf Yellowbird in existence. But my two favorites from the sale are a pair of seemingly unassuming late-'80s Mercedes-Benz E-Classes that, upon closer inspection, are actually monstrous six-liter AMG Hammers — and both have super-rare manual transmissions. If you've got about $4 million burning a hole in your pocket, I can't think of a better way to spend it. Yes, I said $4 million. Gooding estimates the 1988 300E 6.0 sedan will go for $1,250,000-$1,750,000, while the even rarer 1989 300CE 6.0 coupe will sell for $1,500,000-$2,000,000. Is that pretty nuts? Yes and no. These things used to trade hands in the very low six-figure range, especially for the lowlier 5.6-liter Hammers, but in recent years they've jumped up closer to the million-dollar mark. A 1991 300CE 6.0 coupe sold for $885,000 at Amelia Island two years ago, for instance. It's the manual transmissions and overall provenances and conditions of these two Hammers that have pushed their prices into the stratosphere. Italian industrialist Raul Gardini commissioned AMG to build the pair of cars with a bespoke five-speed Getrag manual. They are the only two 6.0-liter cars known to feature a manual transmission from the factory, as every other Hammer came from the factory with a four-speed automatic, though some have been converted after the fact through the aftermarket. 'Standard' Hammers with the 5.6-liter engine were a $17,000 upgrade over a normal 300E when new, but going for the bored-out 6.0-liter would cost you an additional 40 grand, and you'd need another 14 grand to get the full suspension package and then shell out $18,000 to have the car actually built. The Blue Black Metallic 300E sedan left the Mercedes factory on October 6, 1986 and was shipped directly to AMG's headquarters in Affalterbach, where it started to go under the knife. In addition to shoving in the 6.0-liter M117 V8, which put out 370 horsepower and allowed for a top speed of over 190 mph, AMG's Hammer transformation included a new exhaust, a long-range fuel tank, monoblock wheels, lowered suspension, a body kit, special wood trim, a new steering wheel and Recaro seats covered in Buffalo brown leather. Gardini took delivery of the sedan in April 1988, but the manual wasn't put in until 1989. Following Gardini's suicide in 1993 after he was involved in a political corruption scandal, the Hammer was sold to 'infamous' Italian car collector Luigi Compiano, who 'registered the Hammer in the name of his Padova-based private security company – a business that went bankrupt in 2013 after he had siphoned corporate funds to amass a personal collection of 450 cars, 80 boats, and thousands of motorcycles.' After Compiano's collection was seized by the Italian government, his cars were put up for auction in 2016, where the Hammer sedan was then acquired by an American collector who had the car recommissioned by Europa Imports in Winnetka, Illinois and had the engine rebuilt by Blue Ridge MB of Lilburn, Georgia. As it sits, the Hammer sedan has around 34,800 miles on it. The Anthracite Grey Metallic 300CE coupe doesn't have quite as interesting of a history, but it's definitely the cooler car. It left the Mercedes factory in January 1988, also being immediately sent to AMG where it got the extremely awesome widebody kit, three-piece wheels, and all the other Hammer accoutrements before being delivered to Gardini in August 1989. Like the sedan, it was sent back to AMG in 1989 to receive the manual transmission, and it actually didn't get the 6.0-liter engine put in until October 1992. After Gardini's death the coupe was purchased by a Faenza-based Mercedes dealer who quickly sold it to an organization that racing in Italy's Formula 3 championship. The car was later owned by Elene Faroni 1994 to 2014, after which it was acquired by a German collector and then its current owner, an American collector. Gooding says the Hammer coupe has undergone a concours-level detailing process and has just under 37,000 miles on the odometer. Both of these Hammers have been 'inspected, physically verified and researched' by the AMG Classic team and brand specialists MKB Manufaktur, and both come with certificates confirming all of the build details and part numbers. Each car also has its original owner's manuals, brochures, first aid kits and other corresponding documents. For fans of pre-merger AMGs, it's hard to think of a more desirable pair of vehicles. Gooding is offering the two cars as separate lots, but I kinda hope they're bought by the same person — these Hammers deserve to be reunited in the same garage once again. The two-day Amelia Island auction kicks off on Thursday, March 6, ending the following day on Friday, March 7. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
