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The iconic machine, which has been owned by comedian Jerry Seinfeld since 2001, will be sold through Mecum Auctions on January 18.
The collector-car world is currently in a frenzy. The legendary Porsche 917K that Steve McQueen, Hollywood’s “King of Cool,” owned and drove in his 1971 movie Le Mans, is coming to Mecum’s Kissimmee auction on January 18, and it’s anyone’s guess as to how much it will fetch when it crosses the block.“It’s the question everyone is asking,” says John Kraman, longtime Mecum Auctions TV commentator and analyst. “All we are sure of is that it’s set to become the highest value car Mecum has ever sold, and the highest-ever-value Porsche in history.” To hint at a potential selling price, Kraman points to the 1968 Ford Mustang from the McQueen movie Bullitt that Mecum sold at its 2020 Kissimmee auction.
“Here was an essentially rusted and beaten-up 1968 Mustang, typically worth around $20,000, that brought $3.74 million because it was the Bullitt car and driven by Steve McQueen. The 917 from Le Mans is in a whole different league.”
Another factor is that the car is being sold by comedian and famed Porsche collector Jerry Seinfeld, who has owned the vehicle since 2001 and recently commissioned a multimillion-dollar, presale renovation to bring it back to the condition it was in for Le Mans. The car, chassis No. 917-022, was built in 1969 and delivered the following year, not to a race team, but to Steve McQueen’s Solar Productions company in Hollywood. Painted in the legendary Gulf Oil livery of powder blue and orange, the car was shipped to France’s famed Circuit de la Sarthe for a starring role in the 1971 movie.
During filming, it was the so-called “hero” car driven by McQueen himself in the key action sequences, and specially outfitted with brackets for mounting cameras inside and out. Remarkably, those brackets remain today, adding to the car’s authenticity. After shooting for Le Mans wrapped, 917-022 began a new career as a full-fledged race car, being sold to German motorsport legend Reinhold Joest, whose Joest Racing team campaigned the 917 in eight races. Its best finish was second place in the hands of Swiss Formula 1 star Jo Siffert at the GP Repubblica contest in Italy, and a fourth in the Spa 1000 km with Joest at the wheel. In 1975, the car changed hands again, this time being acquired by Porsche factory driver and Le Mans veteran Brian Redman. The price he paid? A mere $15,000. He kept it for two years before passing it on to his friend Richard Attwood, a fellow Porsche driver and a winner at Le Mans.
read more: https://robbreport.com/motors/cars/...917k-le-mans-movie-mecum-auctions-1236002780/
