Posted on 08/22/2017 7:21:14 PM PDT by MtnClimber
Steve McQueen's Le Mans Porsche 917 Sells for $14M Road & Track Brian Silvestro,Road & Track Mon, Aug 21 7:49 AM PDT Reactions Like Reblog on Tumblr Share Tweet Email Photo credit: Gooding & Company
From Road & Track
During Monterey Car Week this August, perhaps the most famous Porsche 917 in the world will cross the auction block. This 1970 Gulf-liveried 917K was used as a test car for Le Mans before becoming the star car in Steve McQueen's legendary racing movie legendary racing movie Le Mans film. After being sold and left to sit in a barn for over two decades, it emerged in 2001, and now after a full restoration, it's been sold for $14 million, making it the most expensive Porsche ever.
If you're not familiar with the 917K, it was the first Porsche to win Le Mans outright, and features a stunning design and a lovely-sounding flat-12 engine. Thanks to its on-screen presence, and its famous orange and blue Gulf livery, this is arguably the most iconic 917 of all time. And now, it's also the most expensive. Fitting.
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Steve drove some Fantastic Machines.
When I was 12 years old I went to a car show and got to sit in an original Ford GT40, a real race car!
Nice.
14 million is a lot of cash. Cheap money and the numerous classic car television shows have increased values enormously.
962 still holds back straight record at Watkins Glen. 212 mph
I had a poster of the car on my wall as a kid. Truly iconic.
Is that an actual 12 cylinder motor, or did they just mate two 6’s together?
Ping-a-ling..,..as previously discuss
It was a hell of a car in its time!
I have no idea. love cars, but not too knowledgeable on stuff like that.
I’ve always been a Mustang guy but I loved that Charger. Had a friend who had one. Sweet ride.
I have saved this as one of my favorites on YT....https://youtu.be/FkP5Svl16Qg
....for that time, the slow motion destruction, of McQueen’s car was an eye opener...*smiles*
Beautiful car but I love the 1969 Lemans winner more.The GT-40
Estimated to be worth $30 million and Jay drove it around crazy LA.
Yes, because of nostalgia. Baby boomers by the millions might be willing to see McQueen’s car at a car show because they saw the movie first time in the theatre.
However, I just can’t see the value of the car beyond it’s model, which will still have some value for the car itself, once the baby boomers move on.
McQueen’s 1971 “LeMans” never stood a chance at the box office because it was a poor cousin to Frankenheimer’s 1966 “Grand Prix.” Grand Prix had both cinematographic brilliance and chick appeal (love stories). LeMans had neither. Hell, there wasn’t a word spoken for the first ~20 minutes of LeMans, just scenes of McQueen (mutely) driving around in his Porsche 911.
917-024 was a customer car that originally sold for 140,000 DM (~$38,000 USD). The early 917s were death traps, horribly unstable at high speeds, ... until they added the tails to them. The ‘K’ in 917K refers to the short or “kurz” tail (kurzheck), which wasn’t intended for the high speed circuits like LeMans. 917-024 was normally aspirated, in the ballpark of 560 bhp (from 305 cubes), but it was built to run balls to the wall for 24 hours. Top speed, in its prime, was ~220. The later long-tailed & turbocharged 917/30 could manage 1500 bhp in qualifying trim, 1100 for race day, ans straightaway speeds of near 250.
McQueen butchered another Porsche (a 908) and a Ford GT40 to use them for camera cars for the film. They used the GT40 with a camera mounted on the roof to film action on the track at speeds of up to 150 mph. About five years ago that was sold at auction $11 million, despite the butchery. Such is the value of provenance.
To: smokingfrog
“Is that an actual 12 cylinder motor, or did they just mate two 6’s together?”
Porsche’s 6-cylinders were boxer engines (opposing pairs of cylinders shared a crank journal). The 917’s 12-pot isn’t a boxer, it’s a 180° V (each rod has it’s own journal). So no, the Porsche 12s were not based on the 6s.
FWIW, all of Ferrari’s flat-12s are 180° Vees, too, ironically, including the 5-liter engine in the 512 Berlinetta Boxer. It’s god’s own mystery why they chose to use “boxer” in the name when it isn’t a boxer engine, but that’s the Iteys for you.
Greg Laurie wrote book about Steve. Am happy to learn he found Jesus.
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