A 1970 Porsche 917k with movie star associations and blue chip race history is set to excite at this year’s Pebble Beach auctions, and could sell for as much as $16,000,000.
Chassis 917-024 was first used by Porsche during testing for Le Mans in 1970, setting the fastest times of the event with Brian Redman behind the wheel. The car was used extensively during further testing at the Nurburgring, Le Mans and Ehra Lessien before being sold by the factory to Formula One ace Jo Siffert. A short time later, Siffert leased the car to Steve McQueen’s Solar Productions, where it played a starring role in the 1971 film Le Mans, as well as serving as a camera car. The 917 remained in Siffert’s private collection until the driver’s death, its final act in his stewardship to lead the driver’s funeral procession. It was then sold to a private collector in Paris.
After disappearing into private hands, 917-024 dropped off the radar for a quarter of a century before eventually surfacing in 2001, turning up in a warehouse outside Paris and still sporting its Gulf JWA livery. It had remained untouched, with its original space-saver spare, Firestone fuel cell and Firestone Super Sports GP tyres all still in place, along with a hand written tag hanging from the key with instructions to run lean given the Le Mans set up, believed to be notated by Porsche driver Herbert Linge.
