Steve McQueen’s Porsche 917K Could Smash Auction Records

The hero car from Steve McQueen’s 1971 film Le Mans, a rare 1970 Porsche 917K, will be auctioned off by Mecum in January and seems likely to sell for well over $10 million. Indeed, it could become the most expensive Porsche ever sold at a public auction.

This particular 917K was purchased by Steve McQueen’s Solar Productions from Porsche for use throughout the film. McQueen drove it extensively during the shooting of Le Mans and it’s the car that finished in second place during the recreation of the world’s most famous endurance race. Adding to the allure of the car is the fact that McQueen signed it, writing ‘Finished, Thanks for staying together,’ on the side.

Watch: One Does Not Simply Fire Up The Porsche 917K By Turning A Key

The car is known as chassis 917-022 and, like the other two 917Ks used during production, was painted in a gorgeous Gulf Racing livery. It appears to have been last sold at auction in 2000 for $1.32 million. The following year, Jerry Seinfeld added it to his extensive Porsche collection. Mecum hasn’t yet provided a detailed ownership history of the car, and it’s unclear if Seinfeld still owns it.

As if the car’s starring role in Le Mans wasn’t enough to convince multi-millionaires and billionaires that this is the next car they need to add to their collections, the fact that the 917-022 retains its original flat-12 engine should make bidders go crazy.

Mecum has not yet provided a pre-auction estimate for the car. However, one of the other 917Ks used in the filming of Le Mans, chassis 917-024, was sold for a staggering $14.8 million by Gooding & Company in 2017. That car was not signed by McQueen like this one, and yet, it remains the most expensive Porsche ever sold at a public auction. Prices of iconic race cars have soared in recent years, and there’s a very good chance that chassis 917-022 will eclipse this mark and could set a new Porsche auction record.