Porsche driven by Steve McQueen in Le Mans unveiled in Monterey by Mecum Auctions.

Minutes before the curtain lifted from the large glass box inside the Mecum Auctions tent in Monterey, television presenter John Kraman asked if I knew what waited inside. Whatever it was had been billed by the auction house as perhaps the most significant car from both silver screen and race track.

“Prepare to have your mind blown,” he adds.

The 1970 Porsche 917K in the famed sky blue Gulf livery bearing the number 20 was unveiled to an awed gathering on Friday, Aug. 16 at Mecum’s Monterey auction. The car was driven by Steve McQueen in the 1971 classic Le Mans and later raced to victory in actual competitions. The legendary film star once owned the car, as well.

“This is the most collectible Porsches of all-time,” Kraman told the crowd, as well as the live television audience with no tone of hyperbole. “This is the most recognizable race car in the history of race cars.”

While the Porsche was revealed during Car Week on the Monterey Peninsula, it will be offered at auction by Mecum in January at Kissimmee. The auction house has used the global reach of Car Week as a platform before. In 2019 they unveiled the Ford Mustang, also driven by McQueen, from the movie Bullitt.

The Mustang fetched $3.4 million at Kissimmee, but the Porsche is expected to far exceed that amount. 

Two other cars from Le Mans have been sold at auction during Car Week. In 2012, a 1968 Ford GT40 hammered for $11 million at the RM Sotheby’s event in Monterey. Another 1970 Porsche 917K—used as the movie car during the actual 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans and also appearing in the film—changed hands during the Gooding & Company auction in Pebble Beach for $14 million.

Fans of the movie will recall that McQueen wrecked the no. 20 Porsche. For the scene, however, filmmakers swapped in a Lola T70 dressed as the Gulf Porsche. Another Porsche did crash during filming, however—a severe incident that left race driver David Piper with a cut that became infected. He had to have a leg amputated.

Mecum kept the consignment a secret, even from top staff like Kraman, until a few days before the big reveal.