“Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz? My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends.”
Janis Joplin may have sung these lyrics, but the rock star settled for this psychedelic Porsche 356SC 1600 Cabriolet until her… untimely passing in 1970. Although it’s a 1965 model year, the little, naturally-aspirated, air-cooled, rear-engine Porsche was purchased in 1968 by Joplin herself who immediately commissioned Dave Richards – a friend and roadie with her band – to customize the car with a polychromatic paint scheme.
Apparently, Richards described the mural as “The History of the Universe”, which is kind of…far out, man. Needless to say, the car immediately became an icon, representing Joplin’s personality and the overall era of the psychedelic rock age.
Joplin paid $3500 for the Porsche (that’s approximately $24,000 in today’s money), but unfortunately only got to drive it for a few years. Still, it was enough to terrify her attorney – Robert Gordon – who stated that she occasionally drove on the winding part of Sunset Boulevard at 90 mph (144 km/h); a spectacular performance for a 95 hp automobile with a factory top speed of 112.5 mph (180 km/h).
The Porsche has remained in Joplin’s family’s ownership since her death and it underwent a restoration in 1990s. Moreover, it has been on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland for two decades. The car is scheduled to go under the hammer at the RM Sotheby’s New York sale in December, expecting to fetch north of $400,000.
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