The auction failed to sell for $25 million, and the auction was allegedly just advertising.
The Porsche 917K was once owned by Steve McQueen and later by Jerry Seinfeld.
It's still fresh in our memory that this 917K was put up for auction at Mecum in late January 2025 and caused a big stir.
The rumor that the 917K will be put up for auction at MecumIt has been announced since August 2024.In other words, the day of the auction had come, something that had been the talk of the town for about half a year.
However,In the end, the auction was closed because the minimum bid was not met, despite a bid of $25 million.*Approximately 3.7 billion yen at today's rate.
Now, Jerry Seinfeld has appeared on Spike Feresten's Spike's Car Radio and has spoken about what happened to the 917K afterwards.
As it turns out, 917K has already been sold to a private collector who wishes to remain anonymous.
As I listened to him, it seemed that Jerry didn't even watch the auction on the day, and didn't seem to care about it at all.
I thought it was pretty carefree of him to not even look at the auction, even though his car was being put up for auction (and it was rumored to be incredibly valuable and would fetch a high price), but apparently he never thought cars would sell at auction in the first place.
I was really a bit concerned about this, but what it came down to was that for him and Mecum Auctions, the auction listing of the 917K was a form of "advertising."
Jerry wanted to spread worldwide publicity about the 917K being put up for sale, and Mecum Auction was promoting their own auction, so it was a win-win.
Although the 917K was ultimately not sold at auction, the fact that "the 917K was for sale" and "the name Mecum Auctions" became a hot topic around the world, so it was good advertising for them.
The piece was then sold to a private collector, and although the price was not disclosed, it was reportedly around $25 million.
Even if the price was the same as the auction winning bid, since it was a private transaction, there would be no auction fees, so Jerry would end up making a significant profit.
Well, I'm wondering how this method works.
It would be fine if the minimum bid really wasn't reached at the auction, and then someone came along privately willing to buy it at Jerry's desired price, but it seems like it was all for publicity from the start.
I think it's disrespectful to the people who came to the auction venue in anticipation of the winning bid, and I also think it's a terrible thing to say to those who actually placed bids at the auction in the first place.
Jerry speaks without any shame.
Source:Jerry Seinfeld Has Sold His Porsche 917K After Turning Down $25 Million at Auction
Related article:
◆Jerry Seinfeld's 1969 Porsche 917K ends auction after failing to meet reserve price of $25 million
◆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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