The Porsche 917K can rightly be considered the single most iconic Porsche of all time. It’s the car that gave Porsche its first Le Mans win and co-starred alongside Steve McQueen in the film Le Mans. Just this past weekend, Gooding and Company put that very same orange and blue–clad 917K that McQueen piloted in the film up for auction at Pebble Beach, where it eventually sold for $14,080,000, making it the most expensive Porsche on the planet.
With most vintage racing cars, it’s their history and pedigree that build their value. Not only was the 917K the co-star of McQueen’s film, Porsche utterly dominated endurance racing in the early ’70s with 917Ks, including earning back-to-back victories at Le Mans ‘70 and ‘71.
After being restored in 2001, the 917K chassis 024 (the 917K from the film) was set up for vintage racing with a replacement chassis to keep the original chassis safe from damage. Now that it’s married to the original chassis, its vintage racing future is unclear; but it sure would be a shame if that flat-twelve engine never saw the track again. That said, would you want to be the one who puts a $14,000,000 piece of Porsche history into a tire wall?
