1971 Porsche 917K Coupe

This automobile is a re-manufactured example of the famous Porsche 917K, driven by Steve McQueen in the movie LeMans. The 917K's success are world renowned, and many consider it as the greatest racing car of all time. The factory Porsche 917K's have won the prestigious 24-hours of LeMans, the 12-hours of Sebring, and the Daytona 24-hour sports-car championship races among others.

The 917K speaks for itself. It was never designed to be pretty of course, it was designed to be fast, the beauty was just a happy corollary. This automobile carries the famous blue and orange Gulf colors, the paint scheme of the most successful 917's. It is powered by a 3.5-liter Porsche RSR type engine with Bosch twin-plug ignition and mechanical fuel injection. Compression ratio is 11.2 to 1, and the output is rated at 380 horsepower. This power is delivered through a Porsche 915 5-speed gearbox with the ring gear inverted.

The Porsche 917K was probably the last great sports-racing car. It was the leader in a romantic, high-speed era of beautiful cars, which began with the post-war Jaguar C-Types and D-Types and Mercedes SLRs.

The 917K, for 'Kurzheck' or short-tail, was created to alleviate aerodynamic issues. The short-tail design was inspired by the Lola T70, and for Porsche, the modifications were exactly what was needed to travel twenty-four hours in rain at LeMans and capture the checkered flag.

In 2007 this 1971 Porsche 917K Steve McQueen/ Le Mans Recreation was brought to the Monterey Sports & Classic Car Auction presented by RM Auctions, where it had an estimated value of $150,000 - $200,000. It was offered without reserve and sold for a high bid of $209,000 including buyer's premium.

By Daniel Vaughan | Dec 2007