The 10 Priciest Porsches Sold, Plus One Auction Miss
Each of these 10 Porsches raked in millions on the auction block. One almost took the top spot, but a major snafu wrecked its chances.
You never know what’ll go down on the auction block. More than a few cars will not hit their reserve, going back home to their current owners. A few will go for a surprisingly low price. And then, there are those which end up raking in the big bucks. We’re talking seven, even eight-figures. Such rides wind up talked about for a long time after the last lot crosses the block.
After a bit of digging, we found the 10 most expensive Porsches to find success on the block. We also found one which would have been on the list, but instead found disaster.
Porsche 917K No. 024
The 917 is a special machine on its own. Yet, when Hollywood legend Steve McQueen sits in it, all bets are off. McQueen piloted Chassis No. 024 for the 1970 film Le Mans before it landed in the hands of a French collector, according to Hagerty. In the 2000s, it was restored by Walter Naher, one of the engineers who worked on the 917 so long ago.
No. 024 sold in 2017 at the Gooding & Company auction at Pebble Beach for $14,080,000, making this the most expensive Porsche of all to date.
Rothmans Porsche 956
While the 917 dominated the early and mid-Seventies, the 956 held a firm grip on the Eighties. This Group C wonder, according to Gooding & Company, was just the third of 10 ever built for racing, snagging a top finish at the ’83 Le Mans 24. Such a history certainly helped it rake it all in, its new owner paying $10,120,000 at Pebble Beach in 2015.
Currently, this car holds the second spot on the list. From here on out, seven-figure prices are the norm for Porsches.
Porsche 550 Rennsport
In 2016 at the Goodwood Revival in West Sussex, England, this unrestored 550 Rennsport was sold by Bonhams for $5,712,462. The car was featured in the June 1971 edition of Road & Track, piloted for the story by motorsport legend Richie Ginther. The auction price is certainly a long way from the $4,500 it sold for a few months before the article was published.
Rothmans Porsche 959
The Rothmans Porsche team colors found their way to a few of Stuttgart’s finest, including the 959. One of the first street-legal supercars around, the 959 followed the 911 into the rallying scene, including the famed Paris-Dakar Rally. The team campaigned three such examples in 1985, including this one, which pulled $5,945,000 at RM Sotheby’s Porsche 70th Anniversary auction in 2018. It also made an appearance at the Petersen Automotive Museum through April 2019.
Porsche 911 GT1 Strassenversion
There are a few rare Porsches in this world, including the 911 GT1 Strassenversion. The homologation special of the 911 GT1 which took an unintended flight during the 1998 Petit Le Mans in Atlanta, this one of 20 took off from the 2017 Gooding & Company Amelia Island auction block for $5,665,000.
Porsche 917/10 Can-Am
Once the 917 was done killing it in Europe, Porsche took their monster across the Pond to America to do the same thing in the legendary Can-Am series. Team Penske and drivers Mark Donahue and George Follmer took this example to victory in 1972, giving Porsche its first-ever Can-Am championship. Follmer nearly did it again in ’73, winding up second in the title fight.
In 2012 at Mecum’s auction in Monterey, the 917/10 went to its new home for $5,500,000.
Porsche RS60 Spyder
Here’s another rare Porsche, one of four RS60 Spyders ever built by Porsche to campaign around the world. Dan Gurney was among those to pilot the RS60 to victory before winding up in the hands of a private collector. Said collector sent it to its new home at the Gooding & Company Pebble Beach auction in 2015 for $5,400,000.
Porsche 550 Spyder
In 2016, Jerry Seinfeld parted ways with one of his Porsches at Amelia Island, a matching-numbers 1955 550 Spyder with just three owners in its history prior to appearing on Gooding & Company’s auction block. When it went to its fourth owner for $5,335,000, the Porsche logged just 10,500 miles on the odometer.
Porsche 550A Spyder
The Porsche 550A was Stuttgart’s first purpose-built race car. This one had some fun in SCCA competition in 1957, then went from collector to collector for a few decades until 1993, when it was sent off to Germany for restoration. In 2018 at RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction, the 550A found a new home once more, its new owner paying $4,900,000 for this piece of history.
Hawaiian Tropics Porsche 935
Finally, we return to Pebble Beach in 2016, when Gooding & Company sent this special Porsche 935 off to its new home for $4,840,000. The car was campaigned by Hollywood and racing legend Paul Newman with Rolf Stommelen and Dick Barbour to second overall at the ’79 Le Mans 24. It also took the overall gold at the Daytona 24 and Sebring 12 in 1981 and 1983, respectively.
Porsche Type 64
Though the 356 was the first-ever Porsche built, namesake founder Ferdinand Porsche slapped his name on three race cars paid for by Nazi Germany in 1939, known as the Type 64.
According to Forbes, one of those three Type 64s broke the RM Sotheby’s auction in Monterey in 2019. Originally expected to go for $20 million, the auction came to a halt at $17 million due to the auctioneer’s Dutch accent confusing the display behind him. When he started the bidding at $13 million, those in charge of the display thought they heard “$30 million.”
Because of the confusion, this car — which Forbes reports a few experts did not consider a true Porsche due to the company not existing in 1939 — was denied the top spot as the most expensive Porsche to cross the block to a new home. Maybe next time.
Photos: Gooding & Company; RM Sotheby’s; Mecum Auctions; Bonhams
