The ex-Steve McQueen, Jerry Seinfeld Porsche 917K – the “Hero Car” from the 1971 film Le Mans and one of the most recognisable race cars in all of history and what would have been the most expensive Porsche ever, failed to sell at auction last weekend despite a $40m bid.
Billed as the world’s largest collector car auction with more than 4500 pieces of metal going over the stage in front of up to 100,000 metal heads, Mecum Kissimmee, in Kissimmee, Florida, is a 13-day auction that’s more like a rock concert than a classic car sale. In a lesson for councils everywhere, this Lollapalooza of automania creates $90m-plus in economic impact and fills more than 6000 hotel room nights. And there’s plenty of room for (RV) camping on a site with more than 90,000sq m undercover. And there was plenty to see. Food fans could choose from the culinary delights of Apizzamia.
The Greeks Food Truck, Cornbelt Concessions (cotton candy, funnelcakes, corndogs, lemonade, snokones, popcorn and caramel apple) and GrillaKing (“combining Korean N’ Mexican in a bold way. We don’t call it fusion we call it CONFUSION!”). Then there was the stomach-dropping Dodge Thrill Ride and the new addition of the kid-focused Adventure Zone. Readers, next year, take our advice and head straight for the Dodge Thrill Ride where you ride shot gun with a person who performs rubber burning, donuts, drifting and vomiting.
After 7pm the Dodge Thrill Ride is renamed Roadkill. You get the picture. At nighttime the kiddies can go to bars serving adult beverages.
Anyway. Steve’s former Porker was driven in to huge applause and shouts. Standing behind racing legend and former owner (1972-1975), Brian Redman and McQueen’s grandson Chase, the auctioneer tried to start the bidding at $80mill. Good luck with that sunshine.
Finally, someone put their hand up and offered $24mill. The bids wended their way very, very slowly up to $40mill at which stage the auctioneer said: “Don’t hate me but I’m gonna close the bids.” The crowd booed and things got very nasty.
What went on here?
One theory is that Mecum owner Dana Mecum bought the car from Seinfeld before the auction and used the Porsche both the promote the auction and to try to lift Mecum, usually a low to mid-tier auction house, into the big league. Top seller last Saturday was the first 1966 Ford GT40 MkI Road Car delivered to a private customer that went for $11m.
Most of the higher priced cars went for about $1.6m. Apart from the Porsche, most interest was in the 1967 Jaguar E-Type, the “Shaguar” roadster, from the Austin Powers movies. The union jack painted, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery cast member, not the most subtle of Jags, went for $1.4m.
In 2002 Seinfeld is believed to have paid about $6m (including restoration) for the Porsche.
US-based Auto week magazine asked Mecum Auctions to clarify who actually owns the car that was up for auction. A Mecum spokesperson would only say that “the 917K was consigned to the auction by Jerry Seinfeld”. The 917 is for sale now on the Mecum website but you’ll need to pay a lot more than average price of a house in Sydney’s eastern suburbs to pick up this movie star.
Xhead
In the interests of transparency, I had a commission to buy the black 1996 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham Limousine for a well-known Perth business identity who has been having an adult discussion with quite a few of his suppliers.
You know those discussions: “I didn’t get the invoice. But we’ve sent you 58 copies. Send another one but remember the more you send the more they go to the bottom of the pile.”
Built for then-president Bill Clinton, with the work supervised by the Secret Service, this one of three boasts a 7.4-litre big block V8, seating for six, Zebrano wood interior trim, onboard oxygen and fire suppression systems, Thompson VHS television, bulletproof door windows and B6-level body armour.
Watch out Dalkeith!
Hybrid EV troubles
Moving now to China. Great Wall Motors, or as we call it here, GWM, had a less than stellar start in Australia.
In 2012, almost 25,000 Chery and Great Wall vehicles were recalled because they came with free asbestos in the engine and exhaust gaskets. That didn’t stop reader James from buying a brand new tank 300 Hybrid Ultra from Lansvale GWM last month.
After driving a total of 60km the half-EV stopped because the hybrid battery was stuffed. Lansvale GWM didn’t have a clue what was wrong.
Short story long, they wouldn’t give him a loan car, then when he eventually picked it up again it broke down again in 15km. Of course, a week ago, we asked GWM what they thought, and we are still waiting.
No wonder once he took over, Trumpy immediately cancelled EVs and the people who drive them. “We will end the Green New Deal … saving our auto industry and keeping my sacred pledge to our great American autoworkers and make America fully petrol again.”
Here’s an election winner for you Albo.
Quad Lock fail
In a similar vein, a few readers have emailed me about their Quad Locks they use to hold their BlackBerrys falling off their windscreens. I ignored them of course until it happened to me. The QL media person said the support team, who specialises in helping customers with this issue, would be in contact. They were and basically told me to wash it. Not surprisingly I (and the readers) had tried this and the Quad Locks keep falling. I will keep you informed on this important topic.
Coopers farewell
Tears all round as after 30 years, Tim Cooper is giving up the global head of Coopers CEO job to another person who is not a heart specialist.
Luckily Dr Tim will stay on as Coopers head brewer and my personal brewery physician.
Showing you how desperate F1 is to keep the publicity rolling when there’s no racing, the top headline this week was “Oscar Piastri shares heartbreaking news”.
McLaren driver Oscar Piastri (who I think is definitely a world champion) has announced that one of his dogs has sadly passed away. It comes as Max Verstappen, the Red Bull star and reigning four-time World Champion, has welcomed a new dog into his family.
Lucky Chucky
Bigger than the introduction of striped toothpaste and decimal currency combined is the news that 28-year-old, Dan ‘Chucky’ Sanders dominated the world’s toughest race, winning the 2025 Dakar Rally.
Chucky is actually quite a chunky lad, which was useful in 2022 when he was thrown off his bike lacerating his kidney, breaking an elbow, and causing an internal haemorrhage.
In case you’re wondering, Dan got his nickname because he loved drinking milk so much as a baby, he would drink too much and vomit. A normal night at the Kensi.
jc@jcp.com.au
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