‘Risky Business’ Porsche 928 Sells for Crazy Money

We knew that the Porsche 928 from Risky Business would bring some coin, but we didn't expect it to bring this much. The 1979 coupe, driven by Tom Cruise's character in the 1983 film directed by Paul Brickman (no, not the one where he yells "Show me the money!") hammered for $1,980,000 at Barrett-Jackson's Houston sale over the weekend, smashing through anyone's top estimate and, as you might expect, setting a record paid at auction for any 928. Given the fact that the same car sold for merely $49,200 10 years ago—thought to have been a generous premium at the time for a 928—perhaps there were some indicators overlooked by the collector car market, even one already craving iconic cars of the 1980s.

But we clearly missed the memo that Risky Business or Tom Cruise have become 40 times more popular since 2011.

This 1979 Porsche is actually one of a total of three identical cars that had been used during filming, but this particular one is said to be the main "hero car," used in the majority of scenes and in the famous chase scene as well. And it's definitely not the one that (spoilers ahead) received what we'll call some water damage in the film.

The auction house indicates that this 1979 example had been optioned in a white exterior color from new, but was finished in gold for film. And it's not the sole movie in which it took part: The Porsche was later the subject of its own documentary by Lewis Johnsen titled The Quest for the RB928. Barrett-Jackson notes that in this documentary producer John Avnet said that he taught Cruise to drive a manual transmission in this car.

"The 928 also features signatures from several members of the film's cast—including Bronson Pinchot ('Barry'), Joe Pantoliano ('Guido'), Curtis Armstrong ('Miles') and Francine Locke ('Shower Girl')—and comes with several images of the car on set covered in camera rigging equipment," the auction house adds.