Janis Joplin's Psychedelic Porsche is sold

for $1.7 million!

According to a report on Bloomberg News just before the auction, it was expected to sell for $400,000 to $500,000, but–as with most auctions of luxury and/or historic merchandise lately–the final sale price went into the stratosphere. Clearly, there are a significant number of folks out there with lots of money to throw around.

https://www.yahoo.com/autos/janis-joplin-porsche-sells-1-7-million-sets-140059719.html

For the car that was driven every day by one of, if not The, greatest female vocalist of the era? Worth every penny if you happen to have that many pennies.

I usually don’t say much about what people do with their own money if it doesn’t effect their family responsibilities. But in this case someone is nuts and has way too much money.

“Amid heated bidding…” could mean some liquored up high rollers playing “gotcha”.

Pre-auction liquor sales are done for a reason.; to loosen inhibitions and bank accounts.

I thought it was all her friends that drove Porsches.

Not much to look at IMO, but one of the most expressive voices ever. I’m still amazed any time I hear her on the radio.

“Not much to look at IMO…”

I won’t be too critical. Just about any 27 year-old looks a lot better than what I’m seeing in a mirror these days… 27 came and went a long time ago, here.

I believe she was many of the rock stars who died when they were 27. Too bad, really, but most were self-inflicted, burning the candle on both ends…

CSA

@“common sense answer”

“burning the candle on both ends…”

There’s a guy at work who used that term to describe himself. He used to be an equipment operator with a class a cdl. He hit the sauce a bit too hard, and a few too many times. The first time, he lost his cdl for a few years. The second time, he lost if for good. He will NEVER be allowed to hold a cdl again

In any case, he lost his job. His finances were in ruins. He had to downsize, get rid of all his cars, toys, etc. He was finally reappointed to a different job within the fleet, but it pays much less. Now he lives in a rathole apartment, in a seedy part of town, infested with cockroaches, rats, and gangsters

Janis Joplin was a product of and a part of the culture of the 60s. I understood that she struggled desperately to find some success and escape the situation that she grew up in living in Texas but burned out along the say. I enjoyed her music at the time but rarely heard it. AFR considered her subsersive and she seemed to miss the Top-40 charts. Was she ever on American Bandstand?

That old Porshe would be outclassed by a Corolla in any kind of showdown these days but like Elvis’ costumes rock memorabilia has some wealthy collectors who think it’s an investment and pay dearly for it.

Too bad drugs and alcohol took so many with so much talent. I would have bid on it but I don’t have room in my garage right now.

Imagine what it would have gone for if it had been a Mercedes Benz! Though a classic Porsche is a lovely car, it’s hard to sing ‘Porsche’ with a proper German accent and not sound silly. Hmm, maybe give it the American pronunciation common in her era. A Porsh. That really takes me back to my sixties childhood. A neighbor has first a blue 911, then a mustard gold one. He also smoked a pipe and had two dachshunds. With no wife or kids and his tastes he was an oddball in the LA suburbs. There was also an Eastern European family with an old Volvo. Strange people who dressed very formally and kept to themselves. Even though we moved away when I was ten I still remember lots of the cars up and down the block. It’s one of the few things I knew about most of our neighbors. Lots of boring American station wagons,of course, but also a Pantera. Which we all knew was very desirable, if not why.

Everybody dressed formally back then. Ties to dances and you’d never get on a plane without a coat and tie, even in the smoking section in back.

Rod, it isn’t about “these days”. It’s about “those days”. And they were truly wonderful… at least in our memories. At least in MY memory.

Aren’t memories great @tsm. The 60s were great for me also. I was 10 feet tall and bullet proof. Those were the days. There’s a country song that seems to fit me these days.

Caught a few minutes of the Mecum auction this evening and Jerry Lee Lewis had a 1959 Harley panhead dresser up for sale. The bike was given to him back in the day by The Motor Company (as HD is called) as a PR gift.

Always garaged and only 2200 miles on it with all the bells and whistles. The last I saw bidding was up to over 350,000 dollars.

A bike like that without Jerry Lee’s name attached to it would normally bring 25-40k dollars; maybe a bit more depending upon how bad someone just had to have it.

They were great, Rod. Except for that little Viet Nam thing… :smile:

Yeah @tsm. There was that Viet Nam thing.

And I’m curious about your spelling. Today it is more common that the spelling is Vietnam but for years the correct spelling seemed to be Viet Nam. How old are you and when/where did you learn to use that spelling?

I’m guess I stayed with the old way. I graduated HS in '69, served from early '70 to early '74 and helped bomb Hanoi in December '72. As you know, Ho CHi Minh signed the pact in early '73 as a direct result of the bombing of Hanoi and immediately ignored it. When we evacuated Saigon (now called Ho Chi Minh City) in April '75 NVA tanks were rolling up the main street. For Nixon, the pact was simply an excuse to get out of Viet Nam. I don’t think anybody actually expected Ho Chi Minh to not invade South Vietnam. Hmmmm… I guess I use it both ways depending on the context.

Anyway, the '60s were great years, and Janis Joplin was, in addition to being a phenomenal talent, the very essence of the psychedelic era. It was a great loss when she joined what is now called “the 27 club”.

I woke up a few nights with the ground shaking from B-52s unloading @tsm. And they were miles away. You must have been at Kadena. I was in I Corps a few miles from Laos and the DMZ. I saw a few craters from what I heard were 500 pounders in Laos. They were the size of swimming pools. When those planes passed over and all that could be seen was the contrail it seemed impossible they could be shot down from guns on the ground but many were. I came home somewhat bitter but that was long ago and far away.

Do you recall the AFR’s playlist? I saw the movie “Good Morning Viet Nam” and it was comical but somewhat accurate regarding censorship.

We lost 15 B52s during the bombing blitz (Operation Linebacker 2) in December of ‘72.
I was stationed on Guam, from where most of the bombing originated. Guam was a 12-hour round trip, but was secure from attacks on the armament by the NVA, which meant it could be left outside protected by regular perimeter security. And we had over 150 BUFFs there… that takes up a lot of space. We loaded the bombays with 750 pound bombs and (on the D-models) the wings with 500 pounders. I’ve attached a photo of the full bombload of a D-model. You might enjoy it. G-models’ wings were never racked for iron bombs.

Now, back to cars. Apologies to everyone for straying.

Rod, 1000 thanks for your service. Welcome home.