The 1969 Porsche 917K driven by Steve McQueen in Le Mans Photo: Gooding & Company
What if we told you that you had the opportunity to own a Porsche driven by Steve McQueen? Well, the 1969 Porsche 917K that the legendary actor drove in Le Mans will hit the auction block at the Gooding & Co. Pebble Beach auction this August. Catch? Of course there’s a catch. It’s probably going to end up setting its new owner back right around $20 million. Yeah, we know, we thought we had a shot there for a second as well.
The 1969 Porsche 917K is an incredibly rare find in and of itself—only 25 were ever built, with 24 surviving to this day and six located at the Porsche museum. That this particular vehicle was driven by McQueen in the 1971 film only serves to make it rarer, and the likely $20 million-plus price tag will reflect just that.
“917-024 is one of the most significant and recognizable racing cars ever to come to public auction, and we are thrilled to present the legendary Gulf 917 Porsche,” said David Gooding, president of Gooding & Company.
The model that will be up for grabs, 917-024, was the first Porsche 917 to see action on the track at Spa Francorchamps 1969. After being used by the J.W. Automotive Engineering Ltd.-Gulf team for the 1970 Le Man Test, the 917K was acquired by Jo Siffert, who loaned it to Solar Productions for the film.
After Siffert passed in 1971, the 1969 Porsche 917K was snapped up by a private collector in France and lay hidden in a barn outside of France for a nearly a quarter-century before being revealed once more in 2001. It has since been lovingly restored and is a true thing of beauty that could cost fifty times as much as the town of Swett, South Dakota.
The Pebble Beach auction takes place August 16-17, so be sure to check in and see how much this one-of-a-kind car ends up going for.
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