Bonhams Miami 2025 provided a fascinating take on the US market. Held on May 3 at the Miami International Autodrome, the auction saw plenty of business, but only one car above $1m sold on the day, with another following after the sale’s completion. There was certainly bidding appetite beyond $1m, but not quite enough to secure some of the highest lots.
At the time of writing, several cars were close to their low-estimates so a final percentage is still to be determined, but the Orange Collection all sold, and thus the sell-through looks good; however, it is notable that most of these cars were below $300k. The sales figure totalled $12.6m.
Resto-mods were a big theme of this year’s sale, with the first Singer Reimagined 911 Turbo (main picture) and Alfaholics Alfa Romeo GTA-R coming up for sale alongside other tweaked 911s (and 911 adjacent) cars from Gunther Werks and Ruf. On the day, the Singer, which had starred in a Chris Harris video about the Turbo project, proved to be the highest sale of the auction, achieving $1.68m against a $1.75m-$2.25m estimate, while the Alfaholics machine sold for $392,600 against a $400k-$500k estimate. The 2008 Ruf R-GT was bid to $625k against a $750k-$950k estimate and went unsold, while the Gunther Werks 911 Speedster was bid to $1.05m against a $1.2m-$1.4m estimate and didn’t sell.
It was a sale of big contrasts, with cars north of $1m appearing to struggle. Just one car – the Singer – sold for more than $1m on the day, though the above Bugatti was bid to $1.22m against a $1.45m-$1.65m estimate, and is now shown as sold on Bonhams’ website. Notable no sales included Jenson Button’s Brawn F1 car, driven by Rubens Barrichello in period rather than himself (more details here). Estimated at $4.5m to $6.5m, it was bid to $3.8m and didn’t sell.
Bonhams did very good business with its collection of orange cars, most of which were modern. The biggest result was no surprise in the uniquely specified 2019 Ford GT (pictured above), selling for $828,800 against a $750k-$1m estimate. This collection were the best performers in terms of result relative to estimate, usually ending up within estimate or slightly above. A 2014 Ferrari 458 Italia sold for $257,600 against a $170k-$220k estimate, a 2021 Mercedes-Benz AMG GT Black sold for $369,600 against a $275k-$325k estimate and a 2023 Lamborghini Urus Performante sold for $268,800 against a $200k-$250k estimate.
On the subject of Ford GTs, a 40-mile MkII edition from 2022 sold for $722,400 against an $800k-$1.1m estimate.
While the Singer Turbo took a lot of the sale’s attention, aircooled 911s elsewhere really struggled. Only one 911 sold, a 1978 930 Turbo 3.3 ($252k against a $250k-$300k estimate). The selection was interesting enough, ranging from the one-of-six Rubystone Red 964 Turbo 3.3 ($400k-$500k) to an early 911 2.0 Coupé (est $250k-$300k) and a 1996 993 GT2 RGT2 R (est $800k-$1m). They were bid to $360k, $210k and $700k, so not a million miles away from low estimate. Perhaps the entirely Porsche-themed Air|Water sale from Broad Arrow focused Porsche buyers’ minds elsewhere, or maybe the sellers weren’t quite ready to let them go.
The two Nissan Skyline GT-Rs we previewed here both disappointed compared to their estimates. The above 1999 Nissan Skyline ‘Type R34’ GT-R NISMO R1 came closest, its $229,600 set against a pre-sale estimate of $250k-$350k. The 1995 Nissan Skyline ‘Type R33’ GT-R V-Spec N1 ‘400R Tribute’, however, had a bit of a shocker. Offered at no reserve with an estimate of $300k-$500k, it ended up trading hands for little more than half the low estimate at $162,400.
Why the disparity? In our preview piece, we mentioned how the JDM world’s taste for modification is at odds with the traditional classic world, and that may be at play even within the JDM scene itself. The R34 had been modified, but it was a build that used NISMO parts; the R33 400R tribute had been built by an Australian tuning firm. A tuning firm of good repute, but it appears the market prefers its Japanese tuner cars to be tuned in Japan, or at least using Japanese parts (as we also noted in the preview). The 400R tribute was also an R33 – the middle and perhaps least revered of the 90s/00s GT-R lineage, despite its motor nsport history; nevertheless, this was a painful result showing just how no reserve can bite.
The Italian exotics had a mixed time of it at the Bonhams Miami 2025 sale – the above unrestored 1973 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 sold for an estimate-busting $498,400 (est: $375k-$450k) but a manual F430 Spider and an 1971 Dino 246 GT failed to find new custodians. A 1991 Testarossa sold for $156,800 against a $120k-$140k estimate, and a 2005 575 Superamerica sold for $403,200 against a $400k-$500k.
In the Lamborghini quarters, however, two examples of the breed in Miami-appropriate white failed to find homes. A 1987 Countach 5000 QV stuttered stopped at $660k against a $750k-$950k estimate, while a 2022 Countach LPI 800-4 was bid to $1.6m against a $1.9m-$2.4m estimate.
Further details
For more information on Bonhams Miami 2025 sale, head here.
