Mecum Nashville 2026: $115K Broncos, Rare Hemis, New Powerhouse Sale

MECUM NASHVILLE OPENS WITH $115K BRONCOS

Mecum Auctions opened its first-ever Nashville sale this week, and the message from the floor has been loud and clear: the Southeast has its own headline collector-car event now. Running September 22–26 at Nashville Superspeedway, the inaugural Mecum Nashville brought roughly 1,750 vehicles across 17 collections to the block — and the early results say a lot about where buyer money is actually going in 2026.

By mid-Wednesday, Mecum had already moved 207 lots — 155 vehicles, 21 motorcycles, and 52 pieces of Road Art — for a combined $3.5 million, with the true headline cars still to come later in the week. And the pattern in those early sales was hard to miss: trucks and restomods, not numbers-matching originals, were setting the pace.

Roughly 30 of the early lots were pickups or Broncos, and buyers paid real money for them. A Coyote-powered 1968 Ford Bronco brought $115,500, while an LS-swapped 1978 Chevrolet K10 wasn't far behind at $110,000. A 1979 Pontiac Trans Am 10th Anniversary edition, reworked with a modern LS3 V8, sold for $68,200 — proof that a great restomod build is now competing directly with factory-original cars for bidder attention. That said, documentation still carries weight: a fully-papered 1969 Camaro RS/SS Pace Car convertible brought $71,500, a reminder that a thick file of original build sheets and window stickers still moves the needle when the car is the real thing.

THE HEADLINE IRON STILL TO CROSS THE BLOCK

Mecum saved plenty of firepower for the back half of the week, with several genuinely significant cars scheduled to sell as the sale wraps up Saturday, including live coverage on ESPN+ starting September 24.

COLLECTIONS WORTH WATCHING

Seventeen distinct collections gave this sale real depth beyond the headline lots. The Roush Automotive Collection traces Jack Roush's motorsports legacy, including a 1995 Mustang Cobra that won the Rolex 24 at Daytona and a 1997 Trans-Am racer that helped Tommy Kendall to 11 wins in his championship season. Johnson's Horsepowered Garage Collection leans into custom builds and hands-on muscle car creativity, while the Steve Meadows MSM Global Collection spans more than a century of automotive history, from brass-era classics to golden-era muscle. The Joe Bradtke Collection adds a run of Tri-Five Chevrolets and vintage automobilia to the mix. A couple of pop-culture curveballs are in the field too — a "Back to the Future"-tribute 1986 Toyota pickup signed by Christopher Lloyd, and the 1955 Pontiac Chieftain once used by Buddy Holly and the Crickets.

WHY IT MATTERS FOR BIDR BIDDERS

A brand-new, seven-figure regional sale landing in the Southeast is a big deal on its own — it gives buyers in Tennessee and the surrounding region a major auction they no longer have to travel far for. But the early numbers out of Nashville also line up with what we've been watching in the broader 2026 market: money is rotating toward usable, modern-powered classics and trucks, while pure originality alone isn't the guaranteed premium it used to be. Documentation, build quality, and drivability are doing a lot of the work in setting hammer prices right now — worth keeping in mind whether you're consigning or bidding on your next build.

OCTOBER PREVIEW: WHAT'S COMING TO BIDR

Nashville is just the start of a busy fall. Here's a look at what's rolling onto the BIDR block in October:

1966 Shelby GT350H

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1964 Shelby Daytona Coupe

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2025 Caterham 620R

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