THE CAR’S THE STAR
The famous Le Mans Slate Grey 911 S.
For the first four minutes of Steve Mcqueen’s epic motorsport movie, Le Mans, a film currently enjoying its fiftieth anniversary, Mr Bandito shares the memorable, dialogue-free opening scenes with a gorgeous 1970 911 S beautifully finished in Slate Grey. Delivered new to Mcqueen direct from Porsche in readiness for lights, camera and action, the stunning air-cooled classic has since gone on to inspire countless replicas.
Depicted snarling through the French countryside, the magnetic pairing of one of Hollywood’s biggest film stars and the 2.2-litre Stuttgart-crested coupe offers the proverbial calm before the movie’s thunderous storm, when Mcqueen’s character, Michael Delaney, takes to the track in a bid to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in his Gulfliveried 917 short-tail. The high-octane sequences follow scenes of introspection for Delaney, pictured climbing out of his 911 to contemplate life and death at the site of an accident carrying devastating consequences (the death of Delaney’s former rival, fictional Ferrari driver, Piero Belgetti) at what we’re led to believe was the previous year’s Grand Prix of Endurance.
With much of the action captured during the actual 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans, it would be easy for the flat-twelve-powered sports prototype to steal the show,
but a Slate Grey 911 is a tough act to follow, especially with Steve Mcqueen at the wheel, which is why this Porsche has gone down in history as one of the most instantly recognisable movie cars of all time, despite
Le Mans faring poorly at the box office. In fact, almost everything associated with Mcqueen and Le Mans has gained a large fanbase and, it must be said, significant value in recent years. The 917 (chassis no.22) he drove in the film, for example, sold for $1,320,000 to comedian and Porsche collector, Jerry Seinfeld, in 2000. Another used in the movie (chassis no.24) sold at Gooding & Company’s Pebble Beach auction in 2017 for a staggering $14,080,000 (setting a new Pebble Beach and
Porsche record in the process), while a Heuer Monaco chronograph worn by Mcqueen in the film and handed to his personal mechanic, Haig Alltounian, by way of thanks for keeping all of the star’s cars in tip-top shape for the duration of Le Mans production fetched a recordbreaking $2,208,000 at the Phillips Flagship New York Watch Auction in December 2020. Needless to say, the availability of the Le Mans Slate Grey 911 on the open market was always going to attract frantic prospective purchasers, all of them fully aware the car was retained as part of Mcqueen’s personal collection of Porsches following completion of the film.
As outlined earlier in this issue of Classic Porsche,
the Mcqueen garage already featured a 356 Speedster, bought new by the King of Cool in 1958. Before buying the Le Mans 911, however, he already owned a Slate
Grey 911 S, registered in 1969 and patiently awaiting its master’s return from Sarthe. It was deemed easier to source a new 911 S from Porsche in Germany and have it sent direct to the film’s set in France than it was to ship the older car from Mcqueen’s home in Los Angeles. Being a brand-new Porsche about to make its star turn on the silver screen, the 1970 911 S was better optioned than Mcqueen’s older ride, the later 911 featuring rare-for-the-period factory installed air-conditioning, tinted glass, muffler apron, a Blaupunkt
Frankfurt radio, Comfort pack (extended leather) and front fog lamps with France-friendly yellow lenses. The bill for this top-of-the-range production Porsche? A cool DM30,000 (close to $8,350), a massive sum in 1970.
At a later date, after the Solar Village complex at Sarthe was disbanded, the car was returned to Zuffenhausen for the installation of a limitedslip differential and revised ratios. It eventually landed at the Mcqueen residence in 1971, but didn’t hang around for long — the 1969 car had already been personalised to its owner’s tastes and, with two virtually identical 911s on the drive, one of them had to go. The earlier 911 S remains in the custody of Mcqueen’s son, Chad, along
THROW IN THE ‘MCQUEEN FACTOR’ AND IT’S EASY TO SEE HOW THIS PORSCHE COMMANDED $1,375,000
with his father’s 356 Speedster, while the 1970 car was advertised in the classifieds of the Los Angeles Times and passed to an attorney, who kept the car (largely in secret) for more than thirty years, during which time he exhaustively documented everything about his precious Porsche, the resulting document folder comprising a stack of factory correspondence, as well as letters from Mcqueen’s Solar Productions film company.
MONTEREY POP
Judge Jesse Rodriquez, another Socal resident, acquired ownership in 2005, before selling the car to a noted collector shortly afterwards. Other than a repaint in OEM Slate Grey, the famous 911’s seats were reupholstered, new dampers were installed and a replacement windscreen was added. The original Fuchs wheels and the ‘matching numbers’ engine and transmission remained with the car, which had led an easy life, as suggested by the condition of the bodywork, completely original and free of any corrosion thanks to a succession of owners making use of dry storage. Irrespective of the car’s unique provenance, of course, a 1970 911 S of this standard is on the wish list of many collectors, but throw in the ‘Steve Mcqueen factor’ and it’s easy to see how this particular Porsche commanded a massive $1,375,000 when the hammer fell at RM Sotheby’s Monterey sale in 2011. A decade on, with prices of air-cooled Porsches having rocketed even further skyward than they were back then, we can only begin to imagine what the price might be when the car next goes under the hammer.
This superb 911 S played a leading role in a movie most motorsport fans consider the most authentic representation of racing during the very best period of sports car development and competition. The fact this air-cooled classic was driven by its real-life owner, one of the movie world’s biggest stars and a bona fide Porschephile, plus its extensive and unique documented history, makes it difficult to see what other production Porsche carries quite so much desirability.