Since last summer, there has been talk of the 1969 Porsche 917K (chassis number 022) owned by Jerry Seinfeld being put up for auction in January 2025.
Many people were curious to see how much this car, which featured in the 1971 film "Le Mans" starring Steve McQueen, would sell for.
SuchThis auction has finally endedAnd the winning bid amount is confirmed.
Well, it's not the winning bid that counts, but rather the final bid. The amount is $25 million.
The amount is so large that it's hard to grasp at first glance, but if you calculate it using today's exchange rate, it comes to approximately 3,985,000,000 yen!
Incidentally, the second 917K (chassis number 024), which was also used in the glorious Le Mans, was sold at auction in 2017 for $14.08 million.
Bidding for this auction will start at $15 million (approximately 2.3451 billion yen).
Within two minutes, the bid had risen to $21 million, and within another two minutes the highest bid had risen to $25 million.
After reaching $25 million, the auctioneer asked for three minutes, "Is there anyone willing to bid $26 million?", but no more bidders came forward and the auction ended.
At the end of this page there is a video of the bidding at the auction, and as you can see, the atmosphere in the venue seemed to become somewhat gloomy as the auction drew to a close, and there was even booing in the auditorium by the time the auction finished.
The final bid of $25 million did not reach the reserve (minimum bid) set by Jerry Seinfeld, and as a result the auction ended without anyone buying the 917K.
Well, I guess I can understand why people would boo. After all, as a spectator, I want to get excited and be like, "The bid went for xxx yen!" or "Wow!"
Furthermore, if the bid price had been significantly low, it would have been one thing, but when it was said that the minimum bid amount was not reached, even though the bid was worth about 3.9 billion yen, some people at the venue said, "Maybe they're not planning on selling it?"
Just because there was no bidder this time does not mean that the car will be returned to Jerry. The unsold car still has a status of "bid goes on" on the auction site (as of January 21, 2025), so Mecam/Auctions will continue to negotiate with bidders. As a result, it is highly likely that the car will eventually be sold for a price higher than the current bid amount.
However, the final price for the bid will likely remain confidential.
By the wayAnother Porsche 910 that was put up for auction and was a hot topicIt also had a "bid goes on" status, so I guess this one also wasn't sold.
Source:
◆Jerry Seinfeld's 1969 Porsche 917K Fails To Sell Despite Record $25-Million Bid
Related article:
◆Steve McQueen's 'Le Mans' Porsche 917K to be auctioned
◆Niki Lauda's Porsche 910 goes to auction
◆Jerry Seinfeld's Porsche 911 Turbo S 50th Anniversary Edition sells for $680,000
I'm Rika, the author of this article. Ever since Porsche 911 became my favorite car, I've become totally addicted to Porsche, and I can't stop loving Porsche, so I started this blog. My favorite cars are 911 Carrera (991.2), 911 Carrera Cabriolet (992.1), and 911 Carrera T (992.1).
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