Photo Credits: Mecum Auctions
Mecum Auctions’ 2025 tour made its annual May stop in Indianapolis Indiana earlier this month. Their 9-day residency at the Indiana State Fairgrounds saw 1,785 collector cars, trucks, motorcycles, and more find new ownership. Overall, 77% of all items offered were sold. All that adds up to a 5th consecutive year with sales of over $100 million.
The overall top seller was a 2014 Ferrari LaFerrari that sold for $3.85million. Along those lines, 11 other cars either bid to or sold for over $1 million. The mix of cars in Indianapolis included 268 Corvettes representing the 1953 – 2024 model years. As we’ve come to expect, the Corvettes covered the entire range from drivers to meticulously restored classics to high-end restomods.
Perusing the results on Mecum’s website we see that 199 of the available Corvettes found new homes for a sell-through rate of 74.2%. A closer look at the numbers reveals that 66 Corvettes, or 24.6% of the Corvette docket, bid to $100,000 or more. Of those pricey rides, 49 changed hands (18% of the Corvette docket).
Now on to the Top 11 Corvette sales from Dana Mecum’s Spring Classic (Mecum Indy) 2025. As always, our numbers below include the 10% buyers fee and note that a few cars are shown on the Mecum site as sold, but don’t have a value listed.
The title of top selling Corvette in Indianapolis was tie between a 1,240-mile Torch Red 2019 ZR1 convertible with the ZTK package and a Fathom Green 1969 L88 Coupe. Both cars hammered sold at $330,000. A L88 and a C7 ZR1 at the top of the charts? No surprise here. Next was a great looking 1967 restomod coupe changing hands at $302,500 to claim the final podium spot. A pair of 1963 coupes rounded out the top 5 with a silver fuelie selling for $286,000 and a silver-blue 340hp car selling for $280,500. 2 more fuelie SWC’s made the top 11 selling for $264,000, and $258,500 respectively. Seeing a pattern here?
Other residents of the top 11 Indy Corvettes include 1953 #131 at $269,000 and an unrestored 1967 435hp coupe at $253,000.
Overall, the top 11 Corvettes commanded $3,091,000 which was down about $200k from Indy 2024. The average cost of each car comes out to $281,000, also down slightly from 2024. While the values are down some, the mix of cars in the top 11 is pretty much in line with what we’ve seen at recent Mecum auctions. Again, the first 3 generations dominate with the occasional C7 ZR1 showing up. We also see 4 1963 split window coupes. In fact, 8 of the 9 SWC’s offered sold at an average price of $218k. A trio of restomods make the list while the remaining cars are factory-correct examples.
Top 11 Corvette Sale from Mecum Indy 2025
1. Lot F158 – 2019 Corvette ZR1 Convertible – $330,000
2. Lot S144 – 1969 Corvette L88 Coupe – $330,000
3. Lot F203 – 1967 Corvette Coupe – $302,500
4. Lot S120 – 1963 Corvette Split Window Coupe – $286,000
5. Lot F143 – 1963 Corvette Split Window Coupe – $280,500
6. Lot F214 – 1953 Corvette Roadster – $269,500
7. Lot S123 – 1965 Corvette Restomod – $269,500
8. Lot F190 – 1963 Corvette Split Window Coupe – $264,000
9. Lot F171 – 1963 Corvette Split Window Coupe – $258,500
10. Lot F228 – 1967 Corvette Coupe – $253,000
11. Lot S202.1 – 1960 Corvette Custom – $247,500
Expanding on the Corvette docket we see the usual smattering of 1967 Corvettes. 23 of them showed up in Indy and just 13 went home with new owners. We mentioned that C7 ZR1’s are still on fire and all 4 of them sold at an average of $221k each. A Matrix Gray ZTK coupe was the lowest sale at $165,000 bookended by the top-selling Torch Red ZTK convertible at $330,000. Finally, the cars of Mecum’s John Kraman did exceedingly well with the orange 1972 selling for $77,000 and his 2020 1LT coupe selling at $93,500. These values and those of his other cars speak to both the quality of his cars, but also what he meant to the collector car hobby.
Other notable sales included a rare 1971 LS6 convertible in yellow that sold for $178,700, a great looking silver and red 1960 big brake fuelie at $129,500, and 2023 70th anniversary coupe VIN 001 at $110,000. We love the unique Corvettes and 2 of our favorites found new garages in Indy. A 1990 ZR1 Active Suspension prototype sold for $48,400 and the 1980 Duntov Turbo convertible sold for a reasonable $29,700.
Several Corvettes brought huge bids but failed to meet reserve. Leading the “Bid Goes On” category once again was the red/red 1967 L88 coupe which did not meet reserve at $2,700,000. That’s up from the $2,500,000 bid it received at Kissimmee earlier this year. Both numbers are well down from the $3.85 million it sold for at Barrett-Jackson back in 2014.
A bid of $240,000 wasn’t enough to take home a 1957 airbox fuelie and 1953 VIN #215 closed at $200,000. A phenomenal unrestored 1967 350hp, AC, convertible stunned with a final bid of $200,000 while not meeting its reserve. A freshly built 1962 restomod stalled at $275,000 while a 4k-mile 2024 E-Ray coupe returned home with the current owner after a $85,000 high bid.
Last AND least is our traditional El Cheapo award for the most cost-effective Corvette. Unsurprisingly, it’s a C4 again. This time a black 1990 convertible changed hands for the bargain price of $5,500.
That wraps up our look at the Dana Mecum’s 2025 Spring Classic auction in Indianapolis. Based on our patent pending and semi-famous Top 11 list, the market appears to be holding its own. Rare cars in great condition with a solid pedigree still bring top dollar. 1963 SWC’s and 2019 ZR1’s continue to be red hot. We may want to keep an eye on big block C2’s. All the no-sale 67’s in Indy bid to well over $100k, but did not meet reserve. Is that just a function of overly optimistic sellers or is that part of the market starting to see a bit of a correction? We’ll keep an eye on all of this as the year goes on.
If you’re looking for more results from Indianapolis, head over to the Mecum website where you can search, sort, and study all day long with your free My Mecum account.
Next up on the Mecum calendar is Mecum Tulsa which takes place June 6th and 7th at the SageNet Center at Expo Square where 600 vehicles are expected.
Source:
Mecum Auctions
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