Top 5 Porsches: the most valuable Stuttgart icons ever sold

It’s something of a curio in the auction world as to why Porsche features so little among the record sales.

Mercedes-Benz occupies the top two slots of the most valuable cars ever sold, and Ferrari floods the remainder of the top 20. The occasional Aston Martin, Duesenberg, Jaguar, Alfa Romeo and Mclaren get the odd look in too. The top Porsche? Entirely absent from the global top 30 sales records. In fact, it’s only 41st. Ouch.

This is a brand with more Le Mans 24 Hours wins than any other, plus some of the most recognisable models in racing history. Some of the Stuttgart brand’s finest do fetch impressive values though. Here are the current top five Porsche
sales as of 2025, plus a story of what could have been.

5. 917/10 Spyder

Year 1972  /  Price $5.83m

When Europe’s rule makers got sick of the 917 winning everything, they simply adjusted the regulations to limit engine size to 3-litres, and away the 5.0 German machines went. Issue was the 917 had a lot more left to give, so Porsche turned
its attention to the largely unregulated Canadian-American Challenge Cup, otherwise known as Can-Am. Here Porsche’s engineers could truly push the boundaries of the 917, while also boosting road car sales ‘Across the Pond’. The 917/10 was the first iteration. Shorn of its roof, boasting wild aerodynamics for the time and with a new 12-cylinder turbocharged engine capable of producing over 900bhp, this was the car that shattered McLaren’s stranglehold on Can-Am. Run by Team Penske, George Follmer took the 1972 title convincingly
in this chassis. A winner when used by both Follmer and team-mate Mark Donohue, the 917/10 scored six wins
from nine races that season.

Mecum Monterey, 2012.

4. 959 Paris-Dakar

Year 1985  /  Price $5.94m

The car nobody asked for, yet everybody wants. Porsche drew more than a small dose of scepticism when it announced its intention to take on the world’s most gruelling rally raid with its flagship sportscar, the 911. With jacked-up suspension and all-wheel drive, what became known as the 953 was first entered for the 1984 Dakar, with René Metge winning outright and Jacky Ickx sixth. Porsche meant business, and its next endurance off-road effort arrived in the form of the 959 a year later. Taking the drivetrain developed in the 953 the 959 proved fast but unlucky in its first year, Metge winning two stages aboard this chassis before a ruptured oil line brought retirement. The 959 would come good a year later though when, now boasting a 2.8-litre twin-turbocharged flat-six, Metge and Ickx claimed a one-two. This car was a star attraction during the Porsche 70th Anniversary sale.

RM Sotheby’s Atlanta, 2018

3. 911 GT1

Year 1997  /  Price $7.04m

The car that changed GT racing as we know it. After sportscar racing as a whole dwindled to almost nothing during the 1980s, the arrival of the BPR Global GT Series sparked a revival in production GT racing that has become a phenomenon in the modern age. However, Porsche being Porsche, there was always an envelope to be pushed during those early days, and none did it better than the 911 GT1. Essentially a pure-blooded 3.2-litre racer with a sideline in (very) limited edition street versions to allow for homologation (shades of the 917, anyone?), the 911 GT1 swept everything in its path, including winning Le Mans in 1998 and claiming wins around the world thereafter. This particular chassis was initially sent to Rook Racing in Germany where it competed in BPR with middling results and ran at Le Mans in 1997. It later switched to IMSA with Rohr Racing, where it claimed four straight wins and a title with Allan McNish and Andy Pilgrim.

Broad Arrow Monterey, 2024.

2. 956

Year 1982  /  Price $10.12m

“The 956/962 were defining Group C designs, helping Porsche cement its Le Mans legend

One of Porsche’s all-time greats, with a heap of provenance. Porsche’s 956 and 962 were the defining Group C designs and helped the brand cement its legend at La Sarthe, scoring six consecutive victories at the 24 Hours between 1982-1987 (it would actually be seven in a row for Porsche, thanks to its win with a 936 in 1981, but who’s counting?). This chassis was number three of the 10 works cars and made an instant impact on its Le Mans debut in 1982 when Jochen Mass and Vern Schuppan scored second overall in a Porsche podium sweep. It went one better in 1983, with Schuppan, Hurley Haywood and Al Holbert taking victory, the first of five major international sportscar wins for 056-003, and unquestionably the biggest. With ex-drivers also counting Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell, it’s little wonder this became the first Porsche to sell for eight figures, well above its initial $7-9m estimate.

Gooding & Co Pebble Beach, 2015.

1. 917K

Year 1970  /  Price $14.08m

If the 956 mentioned previously carried an envious sporting pedigree, this 917K’s competition career could not be more different, given that it was one of the few 917s that never actually raced in period. But what 917-024 lacked in silverware it more than made up for on the silver screen as an integral part of Steve McQueen’s love letter to the sport, Le Mans. Used during filming as a camera car, and also appearing in a handful of scenes, this Gulf-liveried 917K was predominantly used as a test chassis, topping the 1970 Le Mans Test with Brian Redman at the wheel. Following a handful of other tests it was sold to Jo Siffert, where it became part of his collection. Following his death at Brands Hatch in 1971, 917-024 led Siffert’s funeral procession before being sold to a private collector in Paris, where it then disappeared for almost 25 years, emerging as a ‘barn find’ during a storage facility clear-out in 2001. Still fitted with its original space-saver and complete with a hand-written note on the key (believed to be from Porsche’s former operations manager and driver Herbert Linge) to ‘Run Lean’ due to the Le Mans setup. Fully restored and billed as ‘one of the most correct and significant 917s in existence, and easily one of the finest racing cars to come to public auction’ it sold for $14.08m (£10.42m) to become the most valuable Porsche ever.

Gooding & Co Pebble Beach, 2017.