It's not often you get two household names in one headline, but that's what happened at Mecum's annual collector automobile auction season kickstarter in Florida this week, with a who's who of motorsport stacking the provenance of the same car.
Mecum's Kissimmee auction always throws up a major headline act, and this year it was a double act as two of entertainment's most resonant names are now associated with the same vehicle ... and it was for sale ... at an undisclosed reserve price.
The Porsche in question was the star car in Steve McQueen's famous 1971 movie Le Mans - a movie so iconic and compelling that it most likely has played a role in the life of anyone who grew up aspiring to participate in motor sport in the last half century.
Jerry Seinfeld is another deeply loved entertainer who has collected Porsches and indulged his motorsport passions like few others. Elevated to billionaire status by Bloomberg in compiling it's 2024 Rich List, some reports number his collection at 150+ cars, and as one of the world's best-known and highest-earning celebrities, he has been developing one of the world's best Porsche Collections for several decades.
Seinfeld is obviously a fan of McQueen's Le Mans movie, as he has owned both of the star cars from the movie. In 2011 he paid US$1,375,000 for the Porsche 911 driven by McQueen in the three-minute opening sequence of the film.
Bidding in Kissimmee for the McQueen Le Mans Porsche 917K began with one of the highest bids ever placed on a Porsche at auction – $15 million. That was where the bidding stopped when the Gulf Oil #22 car (chassis 917-031/026) from the movie (the car that won the movie race) went to auction at RM Sotheby's Monterey Auction in 2021, but that car had an official estimate of $16 to $18.5 million and the bidding stopped $1 million short of the $16 million that we presume would have had it accepted.
The only other time a Porsche has reached such grand bids at auction was when the original Porsche Type 64, built by Ferdinand Porsche in 1939, opened with a bid of $13 million and progressed in million-dollar increments to $17 million, while the auction display read "$30 million" ... then "$40 million" ... then "$50 million" ... then "$60 million" ... then "$70 million" ... then the auction got called off, so we're not sure if those bids really count.
Bidding for Steve McQueen's 917K in Kissimmee proceeded in million-dollar increments from $15 million until it reached $25 million, then stopped.
If the $25-million bid had been accepted, the bidder would have paid a 10% buyer's fee to make the total cost $27.5 million, and this car would have earned a spot in the 10 most expensive cars of all time.
Jerry would have taken home the $25-million hammer price minus a seller's fee, usually in the same order of magnitude as the buyer's fee, perhaps a bit less if you're a valued customer with one of the world's finest car collections. Let's say he's charged 7% of the $25-million hammer price, that equates to $1,750,000.
Hence the frictional losses of an elite auction sale can make a lot of difference – $27.5 million is paid and the seller gets $23.25 million, plus he's just spent a king's ransom getting it restored to exactly as it was when it starred in the world's most authentic motorsport film. In bringing the car back to new, an original Porsche 917 fuel cell was fabricated, the frame was pressure-tested, repaired as necessary and repainted, and the brakes and suspension were magnafluxed and refurbished too.
Jerry Seinfeld began his romance with this car in 2001 when he privately acquired it from another famous Porsche collector, Frank Gallogly. Gallogly had purchased the car for $1,320,000 (inc buyer’s premium) at RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction in 2000.
Following the filming of the movie, Porsche Chassis #917-022 was purchased by Reinhold Joest and raced during 1971 by Joest, Jo Siffert and others. Joest’s provenance is almost as significant as Seinfeld's in the context of this car, as he would go on to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans 15 times in roles varying from driver to owner, and became the 'go-to guy' for endurance racing excellence in all its guises. He is one of motorsport's all-time greats, and he sold it to friend and Porsche factory driver Brian Redman who sold it to friend and Le Mans-winning Porsche 917K driver Richard Attwood in 1977.
Attwood refinished #917-022 in the red and white 1970 Salzburg 917K paintwork in which he secured Porsche’s first overall victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. That's quite a story if you think about it. The fellow who actually won Le Mans in 1970 (where the movie was primarily filmed), driving an identical Porsche 917K, then went out and bought this car, the McQueen car that finished second in the race in the movie.
Attwood regularly campaigned 917-022 in his own colors in European historic racing events throughout his 23-year ownership, but returned the car to its Gulf Oil movie persona prior to RM Sotheby’s 2000 Monterey auction where it fetched $1,320,000 (inc buyer’s premium).
If the $25-million bid had been accepted in Kissimmee, this Porsche would have become the most expensive Porsche of all-time. The previous most expensive Porsche was one of this car's sister cars from the movie – 917-024 fetched $14.08 million in 2017, so this car would have nearly doubled the record price for a Porsche at auction.
Porsche was building exquisite lightweight sports cars long before the 917K came along, but the incidence of drivers who drove one in period who then went and bought one later in life is an interesting correlation. The car that currently holds the Porsche record was commissioned as Jo Siffert's road car for a large period of its life.
Even more fascinating is that the three of the four highest bids ever made on a Porsche at auction are the three Gulf Oil cars from the movie – $25 million (917-022 | not accepted), $15 million (917-020 | not accepted) and $14.08 million (917-024 | accepted).
Following its breakthrough win in 1970, Porsche won the world's most famous race again in 1971, then 1976-1977, 1979 and from 1982 every year to 1987. The only other Porsche ever to sell for more than $10 million at auction came from this following period of dominance.
