There was always at least one note behind the wipers when she parked it and came back.” Despite the fact that Joplin purchased the Porsche used almost 50 years ago, the paint job has since been repaired, and it is in good driving condition. After Joplin passed away, Michael and Laura Joplin received the automobile as her inheritance.
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The new owner of Janis Joplin’s psychedelic Porsche resides near Gull Lake.
You may recall the news reports from last December regarding the auction sale of Janis Joplin’s Psychedelic Porsche. If you see it being driven around the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek area, don’t be shocked. Gull Lake is where the new owner resides. According to sources, she purchased it as a gift for her own 60th birthday.
The 1964 Porsche 356 that was previously owned by the rock singer Janis Joplin fetched a record-breaking $1.76 million at auction. It was anticipated that the car will sell for between $400,000 and $600,000.
According to CNN, Joplin paid $3500 for the Porsche in 1968. She commissioned a mural that featured landscapes, birds, butterflies, floating eyes, mushrooms, and skull-like faces painted from bumper to bumper and door to door. The automobile was frequently seen being driven by Joplin around San Francisco. According to rumors, admirers would slip messages for her under the windshield wipers.
The psychedelic Porsche of Janis Joplin
For $3,500, Joplin purchased a secondhand 1965 Porsche 356c with white paint in 1968. It didn’t take her long to want to change things up, so she asked one of her roadies, Dave Roberts, to completely refinish the car’s paint. Joplin’s car took about a month to finish, but when it was, it was a true masterpiece. The finished painting, which Roberts dubbed “the history of the cosmos,” immediately caught people’s attention for its vibrant design.
Janis used the car as her daily driver since she loved it so much, and as a result, it gained a lot of notoriety in the San Francisco, California, region. Every time she traveled anywhere, she’d find messages and notes left beneath her windshield wipers by her supporters who knew it was her car. Given how well-known the car was, it came as a surprise when someone attempted to steal it in 1969 and tried to disguise it by covering the kaleidoscopic hues with paint. Unfortunately, before they could finish painting the car, the police found it.
Amazingly, they were able to save the original artwork by removing the paint from the clear coat with a little assistance from a body shop. The vehicle was used by Janis Joplin’s manager Albert Grossman as a courtesy vehicle after her passing in 1970. After some time, the car started to have cosmetic and mechanical problems, so Janis’s brother Michael Joplin took it. He was able to return this car to its original state while also giving it a nice gray paint job.
The rock star’s Porsche wasn’t fully restored until the 1990s, thanks to Michael and Laura Joplin, the rock star’s siblings. To accurately recreate the original artwork, they hired the skillful artists Jana Mitchell and Amber Owen, and they completed the task to a flawless standard. The vehicle was lent to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in 1995 so that everyone could view it in person. However, the “Driven by Disruption” sale in New York City in 2015 saw the sale of Janis Joplin’s psychedelic Porsche. It was the highest selling Porsche 356 at a public auction, selling for an astounding $1.76 million.
Although the purchaser was anonymous, it is believed that a 60-year-old woman received the car as a birthday gift.
It’s amazing that this car in immaculate shape now belongs to some lucky fan as a tribute to Janis Joplin and her band Big Brother and the Holding Company, who enjoyed enormous popularity over the years. It’ll be handled carefully, I’m sure of it!
The rock star Janis Joplin previously had a 1964 Porsche 356, which fetched $1.76 million at auction on Thursday night.
It was anticipated that the car will sell for between $400,000 and $600,000. A 10% commission for the auction house RM Sotheby’s is included in the transaction price.
In 1968, Joplin purchased the Porsche. She commissioned a mural that featured landscapes, birds, butterflies, floating eyes, mushrooms, and skull-like faces painted from bumper to bumper and door to door.
Typically, celebrity ownership doesn’t increase a car’s value significantly. However, this one sold for far more than it normally would have. In actuality, this was the highest amount ever paid at auction for a Porsche 356.
According to Hagerty Insurance, which protects classic automobiles, the previous record was $1.5 million, paid for a 1956 Porsche 356A GS Carrera Speedster in August 2013. That extremely rare and sought-after sports automobile had a racing background, was said to have only 20,000 kilometers on it, and had undergone a painstaking restoration. The highest auction price for a 1964 Porsche 356 SC Cabriolet, like Joplin’s, was $341,000 prior to this sale, a record achieved in May of last year.
These records were beaten by Joplin’s automobile since it was so closely associated with her. She put a lot of miles on it. Her messages from admirers were hidden under the windshield wipers.
Because the Porsche was parked in the garage on the day she passed away in 1970 at the age of 27, in a Hollywood hotel, everyone knew where to look for her.
Her siblings Michael and Laura Joplin received ownership of the vehicle, and they shared it for roughly 30 years. They had it painted over in light gray when the paint eventually began to flake.
On the underside of the gasoline filler door, a monstrous face that was originally part of the design was left unfinished.
Later, they had additional artists reconstruct the original artwork using original pictures. But this time, they utilized long-lasting paint.
The 95-horsepower sports automobile owned by Joplin is still in excellent operational condition today. It delivered all the sounds, joy, and direct feel of a superb classic Porsche during a trip through a New Jersey park.
The Porsche was lent by Michael and Laura Joplin to the Cleveland Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in 1995. For the past 20 years, it has largely stayed there.
The Joplins intend to donate the auction’s proceeds to charitable causes in Janis’ honor.
Have another piece of my heart, sweetie; if it makes you feel wonderful, you have it.
Till, uh, death do them part, they will be together through thick and thin, wind and weather, highs and lows, painful separations (cry baby, cry baby, cry baby), and happy reunions (honey, welcome back home). The turbulent journey of Janis Lyn Joplin’s life comes to an abrupt end in 1970 there in Los Angeles at the Landmark Hotel.
But the voyage of her Porsche is far from over. Another driven individual will now be behind the wheel after three paint jobs, several owners, twenty years in a museum, and an auction at Sotheby’s.
At auction, Janis Joplin’s Psychedelic Porsche fetched $1.76 million.
At the RM Sotheby’s “Driven By Disruption” auto auction in New York on Thursday night, Janis Joplin’s colorful Porsche brought in $1.76 million. According to CNN, the iconic car, a pearl-white 1965 Porsche 365c 1600 Cabriolet with a multicolored Flower Power paint job, was predicted to fetch between $400,000 and $600,000.
In 1968, Big Brother and the Holding Company roadie Dave Richards painted the famous “History of the Universe” mural, which contains pictures of the band members among butterflies and jellyfish, and Joplin bought the Porsche used. The Porsche has spent the past 20 years on exhibit in Cleveland’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Joplin owned the car until her passing in October 1970.
As her sister and biographer Laura stated in the auction description, “Janis drove everywhere, all over San Francisco and down to Los Angeles when she was recording there.” “Fans could see Janis’ automobile wherever she went. There was always at least one note behind the wipers when she parked it and came back.”
A 1962 Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato was also offered in the “Driven By Disruption” auction, and it fetched $14.3 million at auction—the highest price ever paid for a British vehicle.
The recently released film Janis: Little Girl Blue by Amy J. Berg details the singer’s early years, rise to fame as a rock star, battle with heroin addiction, and artistic legacy. The movie includes interviews with Joplin’s family, friends, and bandmates in addition to narration by Cat Power’s Chan Marshall and appearances by Bob Weir, Clive Davis, Melissa Etheridge, D.A. Pennebaker, and Dick Cavett.
Sold for $1.7 million was Janis Joplin’s trippy 1964 Porsche.
The late Janis Joplin is laughing in her tomb somewhere. Her beloved Porsche 356C Cabriolet, which was boldly painted in 1960s counter-culture-inspired hues and patterns, sold for $1.76 million at auction, much exceeding the top estimate of $600,000.
It was made available as part of RM Sotheby’s Driven by Disruption vintage-car auction Thursday evening in New York. More than 30 vehicles from 70 years of automotive innovation were up for auction. At the auction, a 1956 Ferrari brought around $28 million.
Joplin, the bluesy-rock singer of her generation who passed away at age 27 from a drug overdose, is most known for her song Mercedes Benz, which has the following opening lyrics:
“Oh God, please don’t you just get me a Mercedes? All of my pals drive Porsches, so I need to make up for it.”
But she also had a Porsche. In September 1968, she paid $3,500 for the used white German-made automobile and had a friend paint a psychedelic mural on it that featured a vista of northern California and her astrological sign, Capricorn.
Joplin, who was originally from Port Arthur, Texas, joined the vibrant San Francisco music scene in the middle of the 1960s.
She continued to drive her Porsche till she passed away. After 20 years of being displayed in the Cleveland Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, her family, who had owned it since 1973, sold it.
The vehicle’s 4-speed manual transmission was given a comprehensive refurbishment in the early 1990s; it was said to be in good shape.
However, considering that the tragic Joplin is still a captivating performer and personality more than 40 years after her passing, condition is probably not the key factor in why someone would choose to purchase something originally owned by her.
Director Amy Berg’s documentary, Janis: Little Girl Blue, which was just released last week, charts the rise of Joplin to fame through the letters she wrote to her friends, family, and associates over the years.
Who purchased Janis’ car? As is customary with these expensive auctions, Sotheby’s is keeping quiet, and the buyer remained anonymous.
Later this month, Sotheby’s will host an auction featuring ground-breaking luxury vehicles. Highlights include a 1956 Ferrari 290 MM, one of the most expensive vehicles ever auctioned at public auction, and Janis Joplin’s colorful Porsche. (Dec. 4)