Why do we follow the Monterey classic car auctions? There’s a little bit of rubbernecking as lot after lot achieves some insane new record price, sure, but we’re mostly interested in the vehicles themselves. Often, high-end auctions are our best chances to see highly significant -- and just plain cool -- cars in the public spotlight for a few moments as they roll from one private collection to the next.
This 1979 Porsche 935, chassis 009 0030, is a perfect example. It has a massive 72 races under its belt, and it didn’t do too badly in the ones that counted: It was the overall winner at the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1981 and at the 12 Hours of Sebring two years later. Plus, it pulled a class win and a second overall at a little race called Le Mans in 1979 with Dick Barbour, Rolf Stommelen and Paul Newman trading places at the wheel.
Auction house Gooding & Co. will offer it for public sale for the first time ever in its well-documented history at its Aug. 20-21 sale.
In the interest of establishing provenance (and thus boosting the hammer price of its consignments), an auction house typically compiles loads of documentation and takes scads of pretty pictures of its lots -- another bonus for those of us watching from the sidelines. In this case, Gooding took it a step further and produced a slick video on the history of the car. Dick Barbour narrates. You can watch it up above.
The Porsche was returned to ’79 Le Mans spec, including the appropriate Hawaiian Tropic livery, during an extensive restoration in 2006. Period-correct obsessives wouldn’t have it any other way, but that means a certain rainbow-colored logo is missing from the bodywork: The race effort was sponsored by none other than the fledgling Apple Computer Inc. in 1980; Gooding states that this is the only car the tech giant has ever supported, and we can’t think of any other car that could contest that claim.
This 1980 Le Mans attempt brought to you by Apple Computer
As far as we’re concerned, it’s also the first and only vehicle to date that could halfway, legitimately be deemed an “Apple Car,” and its turbocharged flat-six glory is way cooler than any robo-helmed electric pod car that may or may not ever roll out of Cupertino (or, more likely, the Longhua Science & Technology Park). It was not the most successful season for a previously successful car, though, which may explain why Steve Jobs lost interest in the bottomless money pit that is top-level racing.
Gooding expects the car to fetch between $4,500,000 and $5,500,000 at its Pebble Beach sale. As is common for race machines, it’s sold on a bill of sale only -- good luck sorting out all the paperwork at the DMV for what will no doubt be your new daily-driver.
