Steve McQueen 911s to be sold

[Ghost Chaser]

We currently live in a world where, to a billionaire, this car is pocket change at any price. For the rest of us non-billionaires, if you buy it and keep it for a long time, you better hope that the day you sell it, the current generation of car collectors still worships the "king of cool" as much as the boomers do now.

Or, let's say you already possess a car that is exactly the same color and model as this one, or have one that you've paid good money to make look like this one (same specs), and you must have Steve's, then what you'd be buying here is the fact that he owned it, put gas in it, and shouted at Neile in it.

So, for your six or seven figures, what else would you get? Well, in your little circle, real or virtual, you'd be famous for owning something that once belonged to someone famous. You could take it to car shows and hobnob with the autoati, stand next to it on the lawn, much like Gatsby on his lawn, and admire your acquisition. At home you could jump up and down on your bed clutching the keys and shout "It's mine! It's all mine!" Or, if that's not your style, in the privacy of your own garage, you could sit in it, fondle the radio knobs, and say to yourself, "Steve also sat here and fondled these nobs." Heck, you could even watch the movie and say to whomever is within earshot, "That's my car," to which they'd reply, "I know! Everyone knows." (And by the way, my is a relative term, as you'd only be borrowing it from the universe for a little while.)

The way I see it, if you have the extra cash, and those things float your boat, then go for it. Why not?

I will add this though, not long ago I was able to spend some time with Jo Siffert's old 911 Targa. It was fun to be there with it, to touch it and reflect on it having once been owned by one of Switzerland's greatest race car drivers. But I walked away from the car thinking, but Seppi is never coming back for another ride. He's LONG gone. In a way, the soul of what made it special was also gone forever, and all that was left was just, well, a car.

I bet Steve sure would get a kick out of this. And oh, I'm just wondering, how much would a contemporary car collector pay for Rudolf Valentino's 1924 Fiat convertible because it had once been owned by the "Latin Lover"?


Cheers,
Rich

[Gumby]

My wife and I stopped at The Garage at Lime Rock, Frank was welcoming, we
viewed his collection and my wife sat in Steve McQueen's car...it really made her day, so what was that worth, to her...priceless
Thanks, Frank

[lkadams]

Milou


Pthe difficulty in the Le mans association is as the awareness of the movie is diminished because of time and generational changes the value will most likely diminish.

That's the tough part - right now it has highest awareness with the group who has most of the money - the baby boomers. What will come in 10 years is a good question.

[NV Stig]

What about the value of having a Le Mans collection. I mean, Seinfeld being the guy that has both of McQueen's cars from that flick. Kind of gives him a monopoly on the Le Mans market. Boss takes pride in owning every Ferrari 250GT Buono made, all 3 of them. He thinks it raises the ultimate value of that model.
Not to be cynical, but what if JS owns it already and threw a bone to RM. They have a few schills in the crowd to create hype and then say it was purchased by the mystery buyer on the phone. I've heard of that type of stuff happening too.

[Varooom]

I am sure he is the front runner. He has said (and recorded) that this car from the movie IS the reason he started loving Porsches(I am sure there are others here that feel the same too) as a kid. Look what a couple of reruns can buy you....your childhood dream car!

[emnemn]

Anybody want to put a 2-figure bet on a 7-figure Reserve?

I'm with Curt on this....Seven figures easily. There are many people interested in this car and I'm one of them...

[johndglynn]

Do not use the sale price of Steve's 1976 Turbo as ANY sort of barometer. The auctioneers couldn't have done a weaker job on selling that car if they'd sent it through locked in a sea container.

If this car is marketed properly, and sent through the right sale, it will break any ceilings the best guessers would like to impose. The money is out there.

History tells us that the value of a similar 911S/Lusso/Ford pickup etc has absolutely no bearing on the final number, so we'll have to wait and see who is hot to trot on the day.

[tom911]

Which car would you rather own.....
The '70 911s that was in the movie for a minute or two or the '69 911s that is still owned by his son?
There's no way I see this car in 7 figures.

Again - how long did he actually own and drive this car?

[Nine17]

....as far as Seinfeld purchase goes, he has more "sense" than $$. I wouldn't think SC would advise of this purchase. The CO overpaid when it was purchased from the PO, it just doesn't add up.

This post makes a lot of sense to me sitting here on the sideline. The CO of the film-prop '70 S bought and flipped 917-022 from Richard Attwood to its CO, spending the better part of two years romancing him. It has been surmised that a similar strategy would be employed with the film-prop '70 S during the CO's brief ownership. I won't speculate on whether the CO of 917-022 (with sage advice) has taken a definitive pass on the film-prop '70 S at the required price or if this announcement is just a stratagem to move him or some other buyer off the fence. RM should be willing to allow a high reserve as the CO evidently needs. I have seen people willing to cough-up silly money in Monterey in recent Augusts, but I agree with the concern expressed above that the hype doesn't scare-off bidders as happened with that film-prop DB5 in London...

[Nine17]

Raj! I read Matt Stone's wonderful article, accompanied by Hal Thoms' brilliant photography, in the December 2007 Excellence while I was on the plane flying cross-country to Daytona Beach for Rennsport-Reunion III. Did you miss it? Stone interviewed Jesse Rodriguez, then-owner of chassis 9110301502, the car which is the subject of this thread. The film-prop '70 S came to Jesse from the second owner, a Southern California attorney who bought it from Steve McQueen himself, along with "a file several inches thick with factory documents, letters in the envelopes they came in, and other paperwork dating back to the original sales invoice. Even the cardboard key tag is intact." The car was "billed to McQueen and Solar Productions..." --David