Here Are the 10 Best Cars From This Year’s ModaMiami

Rolls-Royce showcased a number of cars produced during its nearly 121-year existence as an automaker, from a prewar Phantom II Tourer to the new, all-electric Black Badge Spectre. But the car that immediately caught our eye was a 1950 Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn Drophead Coupe. Owned by Miami-resident Rose Lewis, the example features distinctive coachwork by Park Ward. “After World War II, what [Rolls-Royce] wanted to do was start building a more identifiable coach identity,” says Spahn. “So Silver Dawn was one of the first cars to come out, hence the name. It was all about that reemergence in the world from the darkness.” Spahn notes that of the 28 Silver Dawn dropheads built, he knows of only three that exist in the U.S.

Rolls-Royce designer Can Karaismail comments on the model’s “timeless elegance and the timeless beauty.”  According to Karaismail, “what is drawing a lot of inspiration from the Silver Dawn, for example, is this very bold and upright front end, and then towards the rear, everything becomes much more flowing. So, this upright to flowing gesture is something that I think is really important for Rolls-Royce, even now.”

One of the most beautiful and influential convertibles in history, the Ferrari 250 GT Long-Wheelbase (LWB) California Spider was born from feedback given by stateside Ferrari importers Luigi Chinetti and John von Neuman, who both new the droptop grand tourer would be an automotive tour de force coveted by Tinseltown elite and all of the West Coast’s motoring cognoscenti. The majority of the model variant, built by Carrozzeria Scaglietti and in production from 1958 through 1960, were comprised of steel paired with certain panels made of aluminum. Its V-12 engine delivers 236 hp at 7,000 rpm, and allows for a top speed of more than 156 mph.

The example presented at auction through RM Sotheby’s, chassis No. 1431 GT, has been in the stewardship of among the world’s most noted collectors, and has a winning résumé that, according to the auction house, includes the FCA Platinum Award at the 2008 Cavallino Classic and the Stother MacMinn Most Elegant Sports Car Trophy at the same year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. One of only 50 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spiders made, the matching-numbers car hammered for $7.045 million.

This past Friday evening, one of the most anticipated cars of the RM Sotheby’s Miami auction, this 1992 Ferrari F40, crossed the block with an opening bid of $4 million. According to the auction house’s lot description, chassis No. 93892 was “one of the final Ferrari F40s built at Maranello” and has less than 882 miles on it. After its initial delivery to an owner in Italy, it went to Sweden in 1999, where it remained until 2024, when it was acquired as part of the Drift Capital Collection.

“I think we’re seeing a shift in the market as wealth transfer figures move through generations,” says Eden Cooper, founder and managing partner of Drift Capital, which, on its website, is defined as “an asset management firm that invests in the world’s rarest and most valuable cars.” Cooper tells Robb Report that “people are looking to what their cars were as the poster cars” and says that “the F40 is a perfect example.” Cooper goes on to explain that the F40 “was a car that was really Enzo Ferrari’s swan song—at the time, it was unbelievably significant . . . the most powerful car ever made, first road-going car to go over 200 mph; it represents a lot more to people than just a vehicle.” When the hammer finally fell, chassis No. 93892 fetched $5.23 million.

Mercedes-Benz was a key participant at this year’s edition of ModaMiami, with a display commemorating its history, which really begins with what many consider the first true automobile, the 1886 Benz Patent Motor Car, of which a replica was on hand. Bookending the marque’s legacy was the Mercedes-AMG One hypercar, arguably the closest equivalent to a street-legal production version of a Formula 1 racer. But one of the models we were most intrigued by was the private-owner 2010 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Stirling Moss. According to its display placard, this was the last of only 75 built to commemorate “the 300 SLR that Stirling Moss campaigned to victory in the 1955 Mille Miglia.” The approximately 632 hp open-top torpedo is fit with a 5.5-liter supercharged V-8.

“Stirling Moss was delighted about it,” Marcus Breitschwerdt, chairman of Mercedes-Benz Heritage, told Robb Report, adding, “I had it in December in the Emirates at the Mille Miglia Experience UAE . . . a wonderful car,” commented Breitschwerdt about the rare model in general.

Christian von Koenigesgg’s magnum opus, at least to date, the boundary-breaking Koenigsegg Agera RS rockets along either road or racecourse with a total of 1,160 hp owed to its 5.0-liter V-8 engine. “Not this particular car, but this model . . . still holds a speed record today, going 277.9 mph on a public road,” says Jonathan Weizman, owner of the example on the ModaMiami show lawn that caused us to linger longingly. “The record has since been broken in closed tracks, but that public road record still holds,” says Weizman.

As for the dual nature of the model, of which only 10 cars can be found stateside, Weizman assured Robb Report, “I’ve done four- or five-hour drives with it, gotten up, and had no problem. But it can also move into a very aggressive mode very, very quickly.” He notes that when “it goes into track mode, it stiffens the suspension, it lowers the suspension, the aero wing, of course, is active, so you can really start to hit it when you’re up there in the revs, or you can drive it chill.” Regarding the latter, though, Weizman acknowledges, “when you’re trying to drive it chill, you know that it constantly wants to push you further.”

As we’ve stated previously in our coverage of the Bugatti Bolide, “At a time when certain sedans and SUVs boast 1,000 hp or more, the term ‘hypercar’ seems to have lost a bit of its identity as a descriptor for truly exotic machines with otherworldly performance. The nearly 1,600 hp Bugatti Bolide, on the other hand, is the type of near-mythic model that the word came into existence to define.” Yet even that opinion feels like an understatement after seeing one firsthand, which we did as lot No. 157 took the stage at the RM Sotheby’s auction on Friday night.

The track-only Bolide, which is limited to 40 examples, is fit with an 8.0-liter W-16 responsible for 1,578 hp—at 7,050 rpm—and 1,180 ft lbs of torque. That power plant enables the car to reach a top speed of 236 mph and cover zero to 62 mph in 2.2 seconds. The Bolide that was auctioned had less than 77 miles on it and, according to the lot description, that figure “represents factory test mileage only.” Although Sotheby’s notes that the cost when new for this specific car was more than $5.4 million, it ended up going to its new owner for $4.955 million.

Arguably the most innovative automaker in the world at present, Southern California–based Czinger is single-handedly attempting to redefine the manufacturing process, not only for automotive production, but industry of every ilk. The proof of concept for parent company Divergent Technologies’ AI-based design system, 3-D-printing, and robotic assembly, is Czinger’s 1,250 hp 21C hypercar, of which only 80 will be built—each with a starting price of $2.35 million. The model is made in two versions, a track-focused high-downforce car with a top speed of  219 mph, and the highly aero, road-favoring 21C V Max (which Robb Report recently tested) that can reach 253 mph. An example of the former is what Lukas Czinger steered us toward. The 31-year-old wunderkind is the founder, president, and C.E.O. of both Czinger and Divergent, the latter of which he cofounded with his father Kevin.

“This car was really a bespoke colorway and livery that was both a classic but also an American icon,” Czinger said of the example we were standing next to on the show field. “When you look at it, you’ve got the blue and the white, very prominent, and then you’ve got the American flag. And that’s not a decal, that’s actually hand-painted on.” Of the owner, Czinger mentioned; “He’s a track driver, he’s a car collector. He’s got a huge amount of pedigree, both on the track and in his collection  . . . He sat down with us and said, ‘You know, blue-and-white American spec, what can we do that’s classic and iconic and is going to live for decades to come?’” More than any livery could accomplish, though, it’s the game-changing build process and record-breaking performance that, in our book, makes any 21C a blue-chip collectible as soon as it’s built.

As we’ve mentioned previously in our coverage of the revered Alfa Romeo 8C model line, Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili (A.L.F.A.), helmed by Nicola Romeo, was founded in 1910, forging a reputation early on in motorsport, but the 8C 2300 really put Alfa Romeo (as it was soon known), on the map in 1931 with regards to the consumer market. The name for the model comes from the engine’s number of cylinders and its volume—in this case a straight-eight mill with a little over 2,300 cc of displacement. The “Lungo” moniker refers to the fact that it’s a long-chassis variant, as opposed to the short-chassis Corto version. Bodied by Eagle Coach Works and currently owned by Joe Novogratz of Chanhassen, Minn., this stunning example from 1934 was named the Best of Show—Classic Winner on Sunday.

Back in the summer of 2018, we compiled a list of the five most collectible convertibles in the world, and nearly eight years later, it holds up just fine, especially when it comes to the Ferrari 275 GTS/4 N.A.R.T. Spider. As we mentioned at the time: “The 300 hp spider—with a four-cam V-12 and five-speed manual transmission—owes its existence to Louis Chinetti, the first Ferrari dealer in the United States. It was Chinetti who convinced Enzo himself to create an open-air automobile specifically for his stateside clientele. Bedecked with North American Racing Team (N.A.R.T.) badging, the model not only starred at the 12 Hours of Sebring (finishing second in class) but also on the silver screen alongside Steve McQueen in The Thomas Crown Affair.”

With its exquisitely shaped body built by Carrozzeria Scaglietti, and one of only 10 produced, the example that graced the ModaMiami exhibition is part of the Jaeger Family Collection in Cincinnati, Ohio. According to the display placard, it was the third example built and was “originally sold to John H. McGeary of Florida.” The judges were so taken by the Rosso-colored roadster that they named it Best of Show—Post-War Winner.  

A couple of years ago, during Monterey Car Week, we spoke with automotive visionary Gordon Murray about his masterwork, the Mclaren F1. When asked why he feels the F1 resonates so much with both the collector market and with enthusiasts in general, he credited its level of innovation across multiple fronts. “It had so many firsts. It was the first all-carbon-fiber structure with a central driving position, it had the best V-12 built at that point, it had other innovations in it . . . that’s probably half the story,” Murray told Robb Report at the time. “And then of course it went on to win Le Mans its first attempt . . . I think that’s combined, over the years, to make it sort of an iconic motor car.” That’s putting it mildly.

The fact that, according to McLaren, only 106 examples were built of the benchmark, the example on display was a frontrunner for ModaMiami’s Best of Show in the Modern category from the moment it was entered by the Revs Institute, whose collection it now belongs to.