Rétromobile 2026 Auctions: Top 10 Results and Highlights

With Salon Rétromobile 2026 week firmly behind us, the results across four major auction houses and their respective Paris Sales provide insights into the collector car market and where interest lies at the moment. While there is a growing appetite for more modern metal, as highlighted in our 2025 market report, classic and vintage cars continue to dominate the top sales, with several model-specific records that were broken last week.

While Artcurial and Bonhams continued to lean on older models, both RM Sotheby’s and Gooding Christie’s had some top-tier modern cars in their dockets. We touched on the top auction cars to watch through the week, and the results are in.

Held at The Peninsula hotel on Jan 27th, Artcurial’s showstopper car at its Automobile Legends sale, was the 1992 Ferrari F92A Formula 1 car (Lot 25), driven by Jean Alesi, that sold for €2.94 million ($3.45 million) but the strongest result came from an unrestored 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing (Lot 33), sourced from a long-dormant Paris collection, that sold for more than €4.4 million ($5.4 million). The sale reinforced the value placed on originality at a time when restoration costs continue to rise.

The headline sale of the week came from RM Sotheby’s flagship European auction the following day on January 28th, where a 1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider (Lot 140) sold for just over €14 million ($16.7 million), with a 2004 Ferrari Enzo (Lot 193) going for €8.1 ($9.63 million), continuing the momentum that we saw at Mecum, just a few weeks ago. Another record sale was a 1997 Ferrari F50 that achieved €7.6 million ($9.04 million), the second-highest sale ever recorded for the model.

On 29th January, Gooding Christie’s results highlighted a growing interest in cars designed to be used, not just displayed. Competition and track-only Ferraris featured prominently, led by a 1984 Ferrari 288 GTO (Lot 67) that sold at €9.1 million ($11.1 million), a new high for the model, and a 2018 FXX K Evo (Lot 40) close to €7 million ($8.5 million), a record sale for this track-only variant.

Bonhams Cars’ Sale on 30th January, held at the Polo de Paris, operated at a lower price ceiling but showed steady liquidity. Its top lot, a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gull Wing (Lot 136), sold for just under €1.3 million ($1.6 million), reflecting continued confidence in the market below the headline tier. The runner-up sale was the 1934 Mercedes-Benz 500K (Lot 129) that crossed the block for €862,500 ($1.02 million).

Looking at the top 10 results, Ferrari accounts for seven of the ten highest-value transactions across the four major auction houses, with models ranging from mid-century classics to modern halo models, track-only cars (Ferrari Evo FXX K, Evo FXX), highlighting the prancing horse’s continued dominance across multiple eras. We had the Ferrari 288 GTO appear not once, but twice.

The remaining three in the top 10 were a 2024 Bugatti Bolide, €3,998,750 ($4,754,756), which is also a track-only model, a pre-war 1938 Talbot-La T150-C-SS that went for €6,755,000 ($8,032,104), and a 1971 Lamborghini Miura P400 SV at €3,380,000 ($4,019,024), rounding out the top 10.

Looking across the top 10 leading cars sold during the week across each of the four auction houses, broader patterns emerge. Ferrari made nearly 40 percent of the group by volume. In fact, just at RM Sotheby’s, you had eight cars from Maranello in the top 10.

Mercedes-Benz serves as the second most dominant marque, with the 300 SL being the most popular. We recently also did a deep dive on how the Gullwing became a blue-chip Benz. Taken together, Rétromobile 2026 served up a spectacular showing, opening up the European auction circuit in style, and we’ll have to wait to see if this momentum and these trends continue across other major auction events as the year unfolds.