Too often the word ‘iconic’ is applied to a car, but rarely is the term truly justified. In the case of the 1970 Porsche 917K, chassis no. 031/026, the car that contested the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans in the hands of Hailwood and Hobbs, resplendent in full blue and orange Gulf livery, and a car that featured in much of the original racing footage used in Steve McQueen’s Le Mans movie, the word ‘iconic’ doesn’t really even come close to doing it justice.
RM Sotheby’s is honored to offer this incredibly iconic racing car and ‘Le Mans Legend’ movie star at its flagship Monterey auction on 13-14 August in California. To any automotive or motorsport enthusiast, the Porsche 917 needs no introduction, and it is the car’s early 917K coupe form, that truly ignites the passions of these enthusiasts most strongly.
Commonly regarded as ‘The World’s Greatest Sports Car’, boasting a near-perfect flat-12 cylinder, air-cooled engine that could propel the car to speeds in excess of 230 mph, the Porsche 917 set a standard for design, engineering, and sheer performance that took endurance sports car design to new levels and which proved dominant over three incredible seasons of World Championship racing.
Well, in 1970, things were vastly more limited. We had three dominant television networks, and also public broadcasting. We had a handful of national newspapers and the wire services. News magazines were much more important than now. That was pretty much it.
Hooker’s novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors. The picture is the only theatrically released feature film in the M*A*S*H franchise, and it became one of the biggest films of the early 1970s for 20th Century Fox.
Boomers Daily 