Yahoo Autos Steve McQueen's Porsche 917K from 'Le Mans' Headed To Auction
In addition to its important place in history as the car that kicked off the automaker's record run of 19 wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Porsche 917 is a movie star. A pair of short-tail 917s in Gulf Oil liveries took the win in a fictionalized running of the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans, immortalized in the 1971 film Le Mans — named, obviously, after the race. Now, the most famous car used in filming for that feature is headed to auction.
That car, 917-022, was run in short-tail or "kurzheck"spec for filming during the 1970 event. It was owned at the time by Le Mans star Steve McQueen himself as part of the production, and it's believed, during filming, to have worn the numbers of both cars McQueen's character Michael Delaney raced during the events of the movie.
After its use as both the No. 20 and No. 21 cars in Le Mans, the car was sold to legendary driver and team owner Reinhold Joest. It then went to Richard Attwood, one of two drivers entered in the red-and-white Salzburg Racing 917K that actually did win the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans. Attwood, who told Road & Track back in 2020 that he kept 917-022 in a barn, repainted the chassis in that livery before it was auctioned in 2000. The car was repainted once again before it reached a used car lot in Los Angeles, where Jerry Seinfeld came across it in 2002. Seinfeld bought it at the time, but the auction house has not stated whether or not he is the current owner.
Now, 917-022 is set for auction again in January 2025 at Mecum's Kissimmee event. A price estimate has not been given, but the other 917K used in filming for Le Mans sold in 2017 for $14 million. Given that this is the car McQueen briefly owned himself, and given that the collector car market has grown quite a bit since 2017, we'd bet 917-022 has an outside chance to hammer for more than $20 million.
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