by Wallace Wyss –
There’s been a change in the Who’s Who of car auction houses in America now that the Bachman collection has been auctioned by Mecum in Florida during their annual January auction and got astounding prices.
The change is that a lot of Ferraris that the public didn’t realize were quietly appreciating, went for bigger dollars than expected. So what does that mean? It means that one no longer has to go to one of the crème de la crème auction houses to find appreciating Ferraris, they can buy one at an auction house that is better identified with Shelby Mustangs and Camaro Z/28s. Like you can wear jeans and a t-shirt and not be looked at as a peasant. (Leave that ascot tie at home…)
Ferrari Enzo
Dana Mecum has been trying extremely hard for years to reach Ferrari fans with the news that, yes indeed Mecum sells collector Ferraris too and now he’s got their attention as several models sold for far more than at rival auction houses previously, perhaps indicating they were quietly accumulating a fan base.
Two examples are the F40—a supercar issued at the 40th anniversary of the Maranello automaker. One was almost delivery mileage at 458 miles, and sold for $6.6 million to become the highest selling F40 ever sold at auction. Another went for slightly less at $5.83 million but still higher than any F40 outside of that auction.
Give credit to Bachman for establishing some criterion on his own before he ever lined up this collection, such as low mileage. He had bought several cars based on low mileage. He also likes to buy the last of a particular model made.
Ferrari F40
Another criterion was color. Turns out Bachman loves yellow. In this case called Giallo Yellow on an Enzo with low mileage, 649 miles. There was a battle for the car, and it fetched $17.875 million, nearly three times the previous auction record and he knew this car because he was the original purchaser.
All the Ferraris in this 40-car offering were billed as a MECUM WHITE GLOVE OFFERING. The collection from Phil and Martha Bachman, both deceased. The proceeds will all go to their Phil and Martha Bachman Foundation. Every car was sold to the highest bidder. All cars were sold as is, where is, with no warranty to condition or authenticity. You would think some of the older Ferraris sold for record setting prices but ironically there were few examples of that.
This audience was new to the Ferrari world and eager to buy newer exmples, not cars from the ‘60s and’50s and their enthusiasm showed when a yellow 2003 Enzo sold for $17.875 million, with other models like the F50 ($12.21M), F40 ($6.6M), and 288 GTO ($8.525M) also setting new auction highs, leading one to conclude the special models, supercars, have won a new audience.
Ferrari F50
A very rare “Old Skool” alloy-bodied 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 sold for $6.3 million, but that was the same as Hagerty’s US Price Guide values for that model. Hagerty has theorized that the demographics of buyers of older models is aging, though there’s not enough data yet. But we can’t count on the above 75-year olds to buy their dream car now. Fortunately for Dana Mecum, he found that new audience.
Where did the new buyers get their money? I suspect it’s business owners unrelated to car business, say roofers, or condo builders, who had previously dabbled in Camaro Z/28s and Porsches but suddenly realized here is an auction house they are familiar with, now dealing in cars they had previously avoided for fear of not knowing what was collectable. This sale signifies a changing of the guard.
To sum it up, in 2026, Mecum had $441 million in overall sales, including $259 million on the Saturday when the Ferrari 250 GTO (not in the Bachman collection ) and the Bachman Collection Ferraris ($125 million) were sold. Many model records were broken and 54 lots sold for over a million dollars.
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
THE AUTHOR Wallace Wyss paints portraits of classic Ferraris. Now he’ll have to update his interpretation of “classic.”
Bachman Ferrari Collection
Photos compliments of Mecum Auctions.
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