'74 911 Coupe, Drives Great, Newly Redone Seats - Factory Specs, Terrific Driver on 2040-cars

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Seinfeld's Porsches and VWs command $22 million at auction

Jerry Seinfeld sold off parts of his private collection last weekend at the Gooding & Company auction at Amelia Island, and the comedian's prized possessions garnered an impressive $22 million. Seinfeld is a passionate collector of Porsches, and the top lot which Gooding moved from his collection was a 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder, which sold for $5.35 million – right in the middle of its estimated range. Others inline with their pre-sale estimates included a 1990 962C racer ($1.65 million), a '94 964 Flatnose Turbo ($1 million), a '66 911 ($275,000), and a '64 VW Camper ($99,000). A few lots exceeded expectations, notably a '74 911 Carrera IROC RSR that went for $2.3 million (over an estimate of $1.2-1.5 million), as did a pair of 911 Speedsters from 1989 and 2011 and a 356 Speedster from '57. Jerry's 1960 Volkswagen set a new record for Beetles sold at auction when it went for a top bid of $121,000, well exceeding its estimated $45,000 value. The '73 Porsche 917/30 Can-Am Spyder, however, sold for $3 million – which might seem like a lot of money until you realize that it was estimated to fetch upwards of $5 million. A '59 718 RSK went for only $2.86 million when it was valued at $4 million. A pair of 356s sold for $825,000 (instead of $1.25 million) and $1.5 million (instead of $2.25 million). A 993 Cup and a '58 Jadgwagen fell below expectations as well. Altogether, CNBC notes that the $22 million brought in by the collection fell well below the $28-32 million it was anticipated to raise. Far be it from us to count someone else's money, but something tells us Seinfeld won't be hurting too much after the sale. This is the guy, after all, who turned down an offer from NBC that would have netted him $5 million per episode for another 22-episode season of the eponymous show that made him famous. Related Video: Gooding & Company Sets Amelia Island Record for Single Lot and Celebrates More Than $60 Million in Sales from its 2016 Amelia Island Auction 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider Fetches $17,160,000, a Gooding & Company Record Selections from The Jerry Seinfeld Collection Total More Than $22.2 Million AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. (March 13, 2016) – Gooding & Company, the auction house acclaimed for selling the world's most significant and valuable collector cars with the tradition of presenting some of the greatest collections to ever come to market, realized $60,162,150 in a single day at the company's 2016 Amelia Island Auction.

Porsche 911 Targa leaks out ahead of Detroit debut

With the doors of Cobo Center opening for the 2014 Detroit Auto Show this morning, Porsche is set to reveal its new 911 Targa in a matter of hours. But before it gets the chance, the first batch of images have already leaked out, courtesy of Chinese car site autohome.com.cn.
As expected, the new Targa appears to ditch the complex sliding glass roof panels that adorned recent versions of the semi-convertible 911 in favor of a more back-to-basics approach. An entirely removable roof panel opens up the sky, backed by a metallic B-pillar hoop in front of a large curved-glass rear window.
We'll have to wait just a little longer for the full scope of images and all the official details, but we're expecting the new Targa to carry most of the same technical specifications as the 991 on which it's based. Watch this space for more.

Porsche hybrids come up short at Le Mans

Two cars, one finish, zero victories. That's a brief synopsis of Porsche's hybrid-vehicle performance in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in France. There's always next year. Porsche entered two 919 Hybrid vehicles in the race. The No. 14 car essentially limped to the finish line after encountering drivetrain problems. The other Porsche hybrid, No. 20, was driven by Germany's Timo Bernhard, New Zealand's Brendon Hartley and Australia's Mark Webber. That car ran for more than 22 hours before its own powertrain issues did that racing team in for good. Both vehicles ran towards the front of the pack at times during the race, and the No. 20 car actually led the race after about 20 hours. Still, both teams said they were disappointed in the results. Porsche sister company Audi came up big for the 13th time in the race's long and storied history. One Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro won the race, while another finished second. The Toyota that had pole-position and was winning much of the race shut down after 15 hours of racing because of electrical issues and Nissan had trouble with is ZEOD RC. Check out Porsche's press release below, and read here for a more general race recap. STRONG PERFORMANCE BY PORSCHE 919 HYBRIDS BUT NO DREAM ENDING IN PROTOTYPE RETURN TO LE MANS Le Mans. After a strong performance by both Porsche 919 Hybrids, the Porsche Team was left empty-handed after a dramatic final stage of the race. Following more than 22 hours, car No. 20 driven by Timo Bernhard (Germany), Brendon Hartley (New Zealand) and Mark Webber (Australia) suffered a powertrain problem at the world's most famous endurance race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Earlier in the race the LMP1 class car was leading overall for a significant period of time. The second innovative and highly complex prototype – in the hands of Romain Dumas (France), Neel Jani (Switzerland) and Marc Lieb (Germany) – likewise proved to be very competitive, but was hampered by a drivetrain problem. However, their No. 14 car crossed the finish line under its own power. After a thrilling start to the race with changing weather conditions, numerous accidents and a relatively calm night, Bernhard took the overall lead in the No. 20. The longtime Porsche factory driver returned to the top spot after 20 of the 24 hours. At 12:36 (CET) on Sunday, he handed the leading car over to Webber. Less than 20 minutes later the Australian was forced to slow down and drove solely on electric power back to pit lane.