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Jerry Seinfeld is selling three rare and valuable Porsches

Jerry Seinfeld, whose car guy status has come to the fore in the post-Seinfeld universe with Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, is selling a few of his Porsches. If you're expecting half-completed restoration candidates or tired old 930s, you're mistaken. What Seinfeld considers excess, most Porsche museums would jump up and down for ... and they might. But they'll have to bid. The three-lot Seinfeld Collection will be the highlight of the Amelia Island Auction by Gooding & Company on March 11th. At the top of the pre-auction estimate heap is a 1955 550 Spyder, one of the most coveted road cars the company made. It could go for $6m or more, and it's an interesting and lovely shade of blue. A seafoam green 1958 356 A GS/GT Carrera Speedster could bring $2.5m, and appears to still be stripped-down and set up for racing, as it would have been originally. And at the bottom of the heap is the 1974 911 Carrera 3.0 IROC RSR once driven by Peter Revson in the famous Roger Penske International Race of Champions. It should bring something north of $1m. Why is Seinfeld selling these rare and desirable Porsches? According to the comedian, it's simply time to send some of his collection "back into the world, for someone else to enjoy, as I have." Fair enough, although with the celebrity name attached to the auction, that enjoyment isn't going to come cheaply. Related Video: Gooding & Company Announces an Unprecedented Offering From the Esteemed Jerry Seinfeld Collection to Headline Amelia Island Auction Three highlights from the collection will be on display at the company's Scottsdale Auctions – the 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder, 1958 Porsche 356 A 1500 GS/GT Carrera Speedster and 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0 IROC RSR SANTA MONICA, Calif. (January 19, 2015) – 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, is honored to announce a selection of consignments from The Jerry Seinfeld Collection to be sold at the Amelia Island Auction on March 11, 2016. A sampling of this exceptional collection will feature three historic Porsches at Gooding & Company's annual Scottsdale Auctions marquee beginning January 27, 2016.

2015 Porsche Panamera S First Drive

Porsche brought the Panamera in for its garage makeover and drove it out looking almost exactly the same. Turns out it was one of those fancy German refreshes where everything happens in places you can't immediately see, as we found recently on the 2015 Volkswagen Jetta TDI. The marquee revision across the lineup is under the hood, where every engine gets, at the very least, more power. Such is the case for the naturally aspirated V6 in the entry models, fitted with an increase of 10 horsepower for a total of 310. The same goes for the naturally-aspirated 4.8-liter V8, which lives only in the Panamera GTS now, and gets 10 more hp for a total of 430. That same V8, twin-turbocharged in the Turbo model, is graced with 20 more ponies for 520 hp. The mightiest marquee revision is saved for the S models, which surrender their use of the 4.8-liter V8 and get a 3.0-liter, all-aluminum, twin-turbocharged V6 in its place. It's a brand-new engine designed in-house and related to the 3.6-liter V6 in the base models, but with new features like a magnesium timing chain cover, variable camshaft timing for the intake and the exhaust valves, and a new fuel- injection system. Putting out 420 hp and 384 pound-feet of torque, it's got 20 more hp and 15 more lb-ft than the V8 it replaces. What's more, torque used to peak from 3,500 to 5,000 rpm, but the new torque curve maintains maximum twist from 1,750 to 5,000 rpm. It is less thirsty as well, posting an estimated fuel economy of 17/27 miles per gallon city/highway, besting the 16/24 city/highway of before. An improved stop-start mechanism contributes to this, as it cuts the engine earlier, and the coasting function benefits from a new disc clutch that can decouple the seven-speed PDK dual-clutch transmission from the driveline. As we wrote in our Panamera S E-Hybrid review, you'd need to be obsessed with the Panamera to notice the sheet metal changes around that engine. It's the perfect car to ask, oh so coyly, "Notice anything different about me?" while you stand there dumbfounded, silently thinking, "No." Here is your cheat sheet: the front and back ends are "tighter," meaning faintly more squared off, the front intakes are larger, the tailgate gets wider rear glass over the same-sized opening, the rear spoiler is wider, and the rear license plate bracket has been mounted lower. But even now that you know what the changes are, odds are still 200-to-1 against you actually noticing.

Porsche 911 hybrid could get green light after all

The prospect of producing a hybrid version of the Porsche 911 has been on and off the table more times than we'd care to count. But before the year is up, the German automaker will make up its mind whether or not it will put the idea in motion. Porsche currently offers more plug-in hybrids than any other automaker. And according to Porsche CEO Matthias Muller in speaking with Automotive News, the opportunity exists to expand the powertrain technology to every model in the company's lineup, including the 911. The sports car would likely be the next in line for hybridization, said Muller, giving Porsche a direct competitor to the BMW i8. It wouldn't be the first time Zuffenhausen would slot a hybrid powertrain into the iconic rear-engined coupe, having previously raced the 911 GT3 R Hybrid (pictured above), but it would be the first road-going version available to customers. "That is a technique which we at Porsche are very familiar with," Muller told AN, "so we can suppose that we could have plug-ins all over the model range, not only to save fuel but also to boost the performance of these cars." Currently the E-Hybrid versions of the Cayenne and Panamera which Porsche offers account for roughly 15 and 11 percent of their respective model lines' sales in the US, while the 918 Spyder, of course, is offered only as a hybrid. If the 911 hybrid gets the green light, that would leave only the Macan, Boxster and Cayman without the option of electric assist. Related Video: