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.
This Porsche 917K was the “hero” car driven by Steve McQueen in the movie Le Mans before eventually being raced for real by subsequent owners.
Michael McCafferty, courtesy of Mecum Auctions
“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.
Jerry Seinfeld recently commissioned a multimillion-dollar, presale renovation to bring this car back to the condition it was in for the film Le Mans.
Michael McCafferty, courtesy of Mecum Auctions
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.
The 4,494 cc V-12 is mated to a four-speed manual transmission.
Michael McCafferty, courtesy of Mecum Auctions
Attwood kept the 917 for over two decades, during which time he repainted the car in the striking red-and-white livery of the Salzburg 917K that he and German F1 star Hans Hermann drove to victory at Le Mans in 1970. Attwood decided to sell in 2000, entering the car in that year’s RM Monterey auction, where it set a record for a 917 with a sale price of $1.32 million. Its buyer was renowned New Jersey Porsche collector Frank Gallogly, who held on to the car for just eight months, selling to Symbolic International who put the car on display at its showroom in Los Angeles. Reportedly, that’s when the car came to Jerry Seinfeld’s attention.
As the story goes, Symbolic invited Seinfeld to the Willow Springs racetrack to see the car in action, piloted by McQueen’s son Chad. Despite one of the Porsche’s front wheels falling off during a demo run, Seinfeld decided to buy it. Since 2001, Seinfeld has shown the Porsche at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in 2009 and again in 2021, and exercised it on track at the Porsche Rennsport Reunion in 2015.
Steve McQueen’s signed message of gratitude to the car after filming ended.
Michael McCafferty, courtesy of Mecum Auctions
Prior to making the decision to auction the car at Kissimmee, the comedian sent the car for a comprehensive overhaul to top marque specialist Cavaglieri Restorations in Van Nuys, Calif. Experts at Ed Pink Racing Engines, also in Van Nuys, were tasked with a complete engine rebuild of the 5.0-liter V-12. The overall work, which included a full repaint, was completed in August of this year.
“The unbroken chain of ownership, and A-lister ownership, is what is so remarkable about this car,” says Kraman. “That and the fact that there are no question marks about its originality; with so many high-profile former race cars, you never know how much is original, or how much has changed. This is the real thing.”
This car will likely set an auction record for any Porsche.
Michael McCafferty, courtesy of Mecum Auctions
The Mecum analyst also predicts the car might be the first to attract the attention of a much younger buyer who is captivated by the Steve McQueen connection and the mystique surrounding the legendary 917K, without doubt the ultimate air-cooled Porsche.
As for a potential record price at auction, another 917K, chassis No. 917-024, owned by Jo Siffert and leased to Solar for use in Le Mans, sold at Gooding & Company‘s 2017 Pebble Beach auction for $14.08 million.
Click here for more photos of Steve McQueen’s Porsche 917K from the movie Le Mans.
This Porsche 917K, formerly owned by Steve McQueen and currently by Jerry Seinfeld, will be offered through Mecum Auctions on January 18.
Michael McCafferty, courtesy of Mecum Auctions