McQueen made the orange-over-blue Gulf livery well-known even outside of the racing world, and lent eternal star power to this truly special 1970 Porsche 917 K.
A 1970 Porsche 917K with quite the legacy is heading to auction.
The car is foremost known for its appearance in Steve McQueen’s 1971 film Le Mans, where it became immortalised in the eyes of viewers.
While the film itself was a box-office flop – to the extent that it caused McQueen’s film-making company Solar Productions to fold – racing fans still regularly watch it, thanks in large to the stunning footage of the actual 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans race, as well as the sequences filmed by McQueen and directors John Sturgess and Lee H Katzin on closed French roads after the race.
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McQueen had wanted to race in Le Mans but the film company’s insurers wouldn’t allow it, however he did drive the No. 21 917 on screen and in stunt sequences – not this one, which is the No. 22 and which won the race in the film in hands of Larry Wilson, portrayed by actor Christopher Waite.
To get the authenticity that McQueen demanded, real racers and racing cars were brought in for the film’s production. McQueen, who knew that racing was rarely glorious or victorious, insisted that his on-screen character, Michael Delaney, not win the race and instead come a close second to a Porsche teammate. This caused a rift with director Sturgess (who ended up leaving the project before it was completed) and the studio, who had wanted a victorious McQueen at front and centre. It also meant changing the original script, written by Alan Trustman, who fell out with McQueen and never wrote another film script again. If that weren’t enough, British racing driver David Piper crashed another 917 while filming and lost part of his leg.
Regardless of the controversies faced during production, Le Mans has an undeniable glamour to it and has gone on to become a cult classic.
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Of course, this isn’t the first time a car driven by Steve McQueen has gone to auction. In January 2020, the car from the film Bullitt, a 1968 Mustang GT, sold for $3.4 million (£2.6 mil), becoming the most expensive Ford Mustang ever auctioned.
The present Posrche 917K’s history extends to ‘real life’ racing: it was famously raced by David Hobbs and Mike Hailwood at the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans, completing 49 laps before Hailwood aquaplaned and crashed (the weather was so bad at La Sarthe that year that only seven cars technically finished the race).
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The 917K (K standing for Kurzheck, German for ‘short tail’) was introduced in 1970 after drivers found the original 917 extremely difficult to drive at high speeds. This model was one of three 917K cars entered at Le Mans in 1970, all of which were dress in light blue and orange Gulf livery, but the present example (race No. 22) was unique in that it had an orange roof, as opposed to the other cars’ stripe, and it ran the smaller and more reliable 4.5-litre flat-12 engine, as opposed to the others’ enlarged 4.9-litre engine.
Porsche later rebuilt the car as one of three 917 Spyders for the German InterSerie championship. It was raced by Ernst Kraus in 1971-72 before it was passed to Georg Loos and his Gelo Racing Team for 1973.
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It was retired from racing in 1974, when Olivier Chandon, French race car driver and heir to the Moët & Chandon champagne, acquired it. He kept it until 1988, when it was sold to Mike Amalfitano, an American collector.
The current owner, who wishes to remain anonymous, purchased it for nearly $4 million in 2010, whereupon he restored the car to its original and seminal specification.
The car is the star of RM Sotheby’s signature Monterey auction in August, for sale with an estimate of $16-18.5 million (£11.7-13.5 mil). It could beat the current record for the most expensive Porsche sold at auction, currently held by another 1970 Porsche 917K, which sold for $14,080,000 at Gooding and Company’s 2017 Pebble Beach Auction.
