Welcome to the ‘gist.

Hi it’s Anthony and this is the ‘gist. Today I’m sharing musings following travels in Miami for Moda last month as well as a general status check on the market, what with the uncertainty surrounding tariffs.

Miami is the IRL Version of
Online Car Culture

Whether you like it or not, the vast majority of car culture is consumed online. That is compounded significantly if you don’t live close to a city with a strong network of likeminded enthusiasts. Car culture has always had an accessibility problem, but the silver lining to social media is that a kid in rural Iowa can now start an Instagram page and become a De Tomaso subject matter expert.

As our online & offline lives have become increasingly blurred, the way we engage with our hobbies has also rapidly changed. If you’re a car enthusiast in 2025, you likely spend more time scrolling Instagram and watching YouTube than you do at actual IRL (in-real-life) car meets.

Through this shift, Miami has emerged as a powerhouse of American car culture. Let me explain why…

Miami is probably one of the most unapologetically status-oriented cities in the world. It’s a place where material wealth matters a ton and the hustle to realize those ambitions for the flex is just part of the city’s cultural language.

There is a boldness in the approach that I deeply appreciate: from the way women do their nails to how people dress. It also translates in how residents interact with one another: be it through conversation, dance, or a passing look… this is what gives the city its unique vibrance, flavor, and playfulness.

So what does this have anything to do with cars? At the moment, it feels like no other city’s car culture echoes the times we find ourselves in. As much as we might trick ourselves into believing that our automotive passion is one of untainted innocence— status, for better or worse, is at least partly baked into it.

From a macro-perspective, we’ve entered an era of “peak-status” in Western culture. Not only in car circles, but everything including watches, homes, travel… all thanks to social media. We are living in an era whereby the importance of such things and the status they convey are intrinsically tied to our identities and how others perceive us.

Nowhere else in America does peak-status feel more apparent than in Miami. The city has 75% more millionaires than it did a decade ago and with all that yolo energy being thrown around, it’s easy to see why it’s become a hotbed of activity in the automotive scene.

So here’s the gist: we cannot downplay Miami’s importance in our industry as a culturally significant hub. The city represents the real-life wonderland that millions of us see through our social media feeds. It distills the online and translates that to an IRL experience which resonates with people because it feels familiar. For many, Miami’s car culture is car culture, and for that reason alone, its impact cannot be ignored.

If you’re a millennial like me who read DuPont Registry in the ‘90s, full page ads from The Auto Toy Store, RENNtech, and Champion Motorsports afforded South Florida an almost mythical status. That legacy continues today with the community galvanized around organizations like Curated, RMC, and Squadra Lupo. Visibility is so crucial that several European dealers and brokers have even opened offshoots of their operations there. The Miami Grand Prix and private members clubs such as The Concours Club also speak to how the city’s massive wealth engages with the industry.

With all this said, it’s surprising the city hadn’t hosted a major car event sooner, given the appetite and audience for it. Moda is a collaboration of sorts led by RMSotheby’s and is geared as a more youthful alternative to The Amelia Island auctions taking place in Florida a week later. This was RM’s second swing after a successful proof-of-concept in 2024 and the event has become a marquis attraction on the now shuffled automotive spring calendar. There are whispers of an emerging “Florida Car Week” with side-events like the Florida Mille Miglia surrounding the lead-up to next year’s Moda and Amelia, but we’ll see how all that plays out.

The weekend’s strategy is clear: host an auction in one of America’s buzziest markets and throw a car show teeming with influencers to develop a fanbase of core young followers. The organizers know their audience and when perusing the show-field, it actually did kind of feel like walking around Instagram: “wow a Senna GTR, oh there’s Hoovie, cool an Aston Martin Bulldog, hey look it’s shmee”…

Taking place at the Biltmore Hotel, the historic building’s stunning architecture provided an incredible backdrop to the weekend’s festivities. As I mentioned in my last newsletter, building experiences around these kinds of purchases really does reinforce the mood for them. There is a tremendous amount of budget being thrown around at this level, but it’s par for the course.

Coming from Paris for Rétromobile a few weeks earlier, the contrast between whisper wealth and eff-you money was exactly the culture shock I was craving.

Despite similar formats - both have car shows & auctions hosted by the same organizations - the events were as different as cheese & tequila. This is what I love about the hobby: context plays a huge part in the variety and expression of a city’s car culture. Driving a wrapped G-Wagen means something much different in Miami than it does in Paris.

Hot off the heels of Ferrari announcing that 40% of its new car buyers are under 40, Moda is clearly tapping into a similar collector profile. It was probably the youngest auction I’ve ever been to by demographic and selection of cars. 

It’s really to no one’s surprise that Miami is a great place to capitalize on hype. While it may seem like times of economic uncertainty may not be the best moment to splash out record cash on a car, the money being thrown around for some vehicles was nothing short of crazy. In contrast to some of the conversations I was having in Paris, the American buying behaviour seems largely focused on investment versus usage, where lowest possible mileage is one of the key factors behind a purchase. 

Questions have been raised as to whether the current state of the new Ferrari market, which is going through a bit an upheaval at the moment, will have an effect on the prices of older machinery. With dealers pulling teeth to sell remaining SF90 stock and tepid response to the new 12Cilindri, it seems like the buy-and-flip days for the tifosi are over. Even the lukewarm reactions to the new hybrid V6-powered F80 have been surprising for a halo product, which is something we’ve never really witnessed before. Will the F80 prove to be Ferrari’s XJ220? Only time will tell.

Despite these woes, the secondary market for its cars continues to roll. With attention drifting away from easy flips on newer stuff, I think we’re going to see more of an uptick in action on models we’ve already seen plenty of movement on in recent years: 355s, 360 Challenge Stradales, any late-2000s manuals, and of course the halo cars. Notwithstanding a near-new Enzo carrying a $5.5M-6M estimate which went unsold, the auction’s F40 hammered at $3,580,000 with their F50 breaking a model record at $5,532,500.

Meanwhile, Porsches also continue to play in a league of their own. While air-cooled cars like this 993 Carrera RS are still posting record prices (in this economy??), it’s numbers for more modern warfare that are raising eyebrows— $940K for a very bespoke 991 GT2 RS and $577K for a 992 Sport Classic speak to the anticipated collectability for standout examples of these models. Not entirely surprising to be honest, considering that cars ladled with PTS and CXX options are still having their moment as collector catnip.

One of my personal favorites from the show was a 1-of-14 (including the prototype) 968 Turbo S which went unsold— a telling sign that even in the realm of rarefied modern classic Porsches, the 911 reigns supreme as the surefire win for collectors. Despite the pedigree, there’s clearly still a gap between buyer interest and seller expectations for the brand’s more niche vehicles.

Coming back down to earth for a sec: it’s still possible to get a good deal in a place this insane. You just gotta dig deep. If you’re a discerning buyer looking for something specific, there are good opportunities to grab something overshadowed by the headliners. $79K all in for a 750 Record Monza Zagato seems like good value provided you can fit in it, as does a virtually new Viper GTS Final Edition for $75K. Looking at the Amelia auction results, there were a few gems hidden in plain sight in the name of some Sacco-era Benzes that went for reasonable money.

How Long Will Tariffs be the
Elephant in the Room?

In the month or so since Moda, the collector car market has braced itself for what Trump’s tariffs would mean for the industry. If importing a vehicle wasn’t already stressful enough, the race to get cars mid-transit and processed at the port before the April 2nd cutoff must have been unbearable. Vehicle air-freight from Europe to the US jumped more than double to as much as $30K per car. A tip of the hat for those of you who had years taken off their lives in the melee these past few weeks.

All of this of course was all for not and the industry gasped a huge sigh of relief when a last-minute exemption was carved out on cars more than 25-years old coming into the US.

How things will adapt in the coming months to the proposed changes, nobody knows. I personally believe it will drive prices up even further for vehicles that have already landed Stateside, due to the perceived uncertainty and friction of importation while the tariff conversation continues.

We are still waiting to get clarity on whether cars brought into Canada from the US will be affected but all signs point to yes. I imagine this will create more of a burden for Canadian buyers due to the limited supply of vehicles up here.

In the new car market, it has been reported that Porsche and other manufacturers will halt US imports until there is clarity on tariffs. This means you might be out of luck on that 992.1 GT3 you were hoping would depreciate with the release of the new model. There might even be a short window where the secondary market picks up for these kinds of cars despite the current economic instability.

We’ll keep track of how things unfold and the resulting market effects in an upcoming newsletter! Tally ho!

Upcoming

🔔 We’ll be in SoCal next weekend for Luftgekühlt’s Air|Water event and our first ever meet in Montreal is less than a month out so stay tuned for that!

This also seems as good a time as any to get our IG going so link us over there: @garagist.co

• 🇺🇸 L.A. @ Air|Water — April 26th

• 🇨🇦 Montreal @ TBA — May 18th

Moment of Zen

While many of us are just starting to take our cars out for the season, Co-Founder Amit has already gone racing: 4th overall/3rd in class at this past weekend’s ChampCar Enduro race at Gingerman in Michigan 🏁✌️

Until next!