We Lived Like A Car-Loving Billionaire For The Weekend at ModaMiami... And It Was Wild (2024)

Mar. 08, 2024 12:59 PM ET by Jared Rosenholtz Car Culture / 3 Comments

It's not often that a humble car lover gets to peek behind the curtain to see how the one-percenters celebrate the hobby, but that's exactly what CarBuzz experienced last weekend at the first-ever ModaMiami concours event. The weekend-long shindig, hosted by auction house RM Sotheby's, was designed to function as an East Coast Pebble Beach: a weekend full of fancy food, art and fashion, and of course, expensive cars.

We did our very best to soak in every element of the ModaMiami experience to convey it back to you, the reader. Here's what went right in the event's first year, where it can improve, and what was on everyone's mind for the duration of the weekend.

Our weekend begins not at ModaMiami itself but at The Concours Club in Miami, a country club racetrack where members can relax in their garage/loft or blast around a private circuit. CarBuzz was given an exclusive tour of the facility, starting with lunch at the track's Verge, curated by world-renowned chef Brad Kilgore, where we ate some $45 chicken parmesan that was the best we've ever had. In addition to the restaurant, the club will feature five-star amenities, including a spa with a snow room because "cryo chambers are out right now," according to Aaron Weiss, President of The Concours Club.

Members also have access to racing and aviation simulators, a skid pad, mechanics, and professional driving instructors. Weiss describes the club as a place where members "join to indulge their passion for automobiles. They don't want to be waiting around. That's why we handle laundry, housekeeping, prepping the car... everything!"

There are other private tracks with similar business models, but The Concours Club's close proximity to the Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport means members can fly private and drive right across the street to their cars. "We will bring your Ferrari to your private jet, cleaned and full of gas," says Weiss.

The track itself is just over two miles long, with enough tricky corners to challenge drivers. We had a chance to do some lead-follow laps in the new 2024 Maserati GranTurismo Trofeo, which is powered by the company's latest twin-turbocharged Nettuno V6 engine producing 542 horsepower. Though the GranTurismo is a GT car not necessarily designed for a race track, it was pretty fun to whip around. The Concours Club also had a few owners running laps around the track, but we could imagine the day growing to include more support from manufacturers, dealers, and ModaMiami participants.

Membership is exclusive, with a $375,000 entry fee, and every member needs to be vetted prior to joining. The yearly maintenance fee is a surprisingly low $35,000, though the price can increase depending on how many cars you have to store. Though it's not required of members, you can purchase a private Auto Loft garage, which can house up to 12 cars with lifts. We had the privilege of touring one of the lofts, and it looks exactly like the garage a car enthusiast might cook up in their lottery fever dream.

Hosted at the historic Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, ModaMiami opened up to attendees on Friday, March 1, 2024. The first event was the ModaMiami Cruise, a police-escorted drive through Coral Gables and Coconut Grove for over 50 cars registered to take part. The selection of cars including everything from a vintage Packard to a modern Ford GT. Though we didn't get to take part in this particular event, watching this bizarre assortment of cars take off from the Biltmore was still a sight to behold.

Saturday morning opened with Magic Hour at Moda, a chance for participants to stroll onto the lawn before the general public to view all of the 250-plus cars on the lawn. Unlike other Concours events like Amelia Island or Pebble Beach, ModaMiami clearly skewed toward a younger crowd, with many vehicles from the 1980s through the 2000s. There were pre-war Bugattis and Duesenbergs too, but we gravitated more towards the cars from our youth. Some of the highlights included an assortment of Lamborghini Diablos, a Ford RS200, a Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR, three Vectors, and much much more. A customer even took delivery of a brand-new McLaren Solus GT.

For a younger car enthusiast, ModaMiami did not disappoint.

We were already impressed by the number recognizable cars on the lawn that would never be allowed at an event like Pebble Beach because they are "too mass production." But on Sunday, that excitement reached critical mass when the 100 Club strolled in. Over 100 supercars and hypercars rolled onto the lawn after attending a private Cars & Coffee at the University of Miami. This jaw-dropping lineup included heavy hitters from several decades, including a Ferrari SP3, Ford GTX1, Lamborghini Sian and Centenario, Gemballa Porsches, RUFs, a Koenig Mercedes SL 72, Apollo Intensa Emozione, and more.

It's hard to get us truly excited to see supercars; we've become jaded from years of auto shows and drive events and become huge fans of attainable fun that can be enjoyed every day. That being said, the 100 Club was possibly the greatest collection of vehicles we've ever seen, made all the more exciting by watching them all drive onto the lawn one after the other.

CarBuzz had a chance to sit in on the RM Sotheby's Auction to watch some of the expensive cars go under the hammer. Over the two-day event, 122 lots crossed the auction block, with 84% selling, totaling more than $50 Million. $925,000 of that came from a Gunther Werks Porsche that a bidder sitting right behind us purchased. We leaned over to tell him we had just driven a Speedster version the day before and that it was one of the finest driving experiences we've ever had. He then proceeded to increase his bid by $100,000 and ultimately win it. What's $100k to a one-percenter?

Outside on the lawn, ModaMiami had a different way to award class winners in the concours event. "ModaMiami recognizes that the significance and importance of an object can only be truly determined by the reactions of the people who stand in front of it, admiring it. Knowing this, cars were not judged as they are at traditional Concours events, but rather reviewed, voted on, and celebrated as ''best of collection by peers."

The winning vehicles were:

• 1932 Duesenberg Model J Sports Torpedo
• 1931 Daimler Double Six 50 Drop Head Coupe
• 1933 Delage D8S Roadster
• 1937 Mercedes Benz 540K Special Roadster
• 1935 Duesenberg Model SJ "Mormon Meteor"
• 1932 Chrysler CH Imperial Custom Speedster
• 1924 Isotta Fraschi Tipo 8A Cabriolet
• 1936 Lancia Astura "Tipo Bocca" Cabriolet S III

Of those cars, the Duesenberg Mormon Meteor won Best of Show field, and the People's Choice Award went to the 1998 McLaren F1 LM-Specification, an easy favorite of ours. While the McLaren was easily one of the most fan-appreciated cars on the lawn, it would be far too new to win anything at Amelia or Pebble. ModaMiami felt a little more inclusive in that regard, letting attendees give an award for their favorite car.

While we greatly enjoyed ModaMiami, it was hard to ignore the topic on everyone's mind: Amelia Island. RM Sotheby's CEO Rob Myers was not shy about why his event took place the same weekend as Amelia Island. That Concours event is now run by Hagerty, which operates its own auction company called Broad Arrow. Hagerty ousted RM Sotheby's from the event, and Myers decided to retaliate by creating his own event on the same weekend.

An anonymous but high-level source in the Concours world told CarBuzz, "I hope RM and Hagerty can resolve their differences and hold ModaMiami and Amelia Island on different weekends. Even if it's back-to-back weekends, people can ship their cars to Florida and stay for two weeks on vacation."

In a post-event press release, RM Sotheby's said there were over 8,000 people in attendance at the first ModaMiami. But it never felt crowded. That number felt significantly smaller than Amelia Island, which typically attracts around 15,000 to 20,000 attendees over a weekend. On a positive note, ModaMiami felt more exclusive, and it was far easier to get photographs of cars without crowds of people in the background. The event clearly has room to grow, but for its first year, it was a strong start.

"The goal for ModaMiami's inaugural year was to cultivate our unique culture and atmosphere while establishing the weekend as a key event across the industry," said Rob Myers, CEO and Chairman of RM Sotheby's. "Thanks to the wonderful attendees, our hardworking team, incredible sponsors, vendors, and local officials, we accomplished that goal. The event was a huge success, and we can't wait to continue raising the bar for years to come."

Meyers clearly wants ModaMiami to become a yearly, must-attend destination for car lovers, and by that metric, he's got the foundations. We'd love to see the weekend grow with more driving events, more opportunities to see the cars moving, and even more fan interaction. That was what made ModaMiami feel more inclusive than other Concours events: seeing the cars roll in and being able to talk to owners without an overwhelming crowd.

Hosting it on a different weekend than Amelia Island is a must, as the two events obviously pulled from a similar pool of cars. Finding a balance between growing the event's reach and keeping it exclusive will be a fine line to thread, but we can't wait to see how ModaMiami evolves in the coming years.