A 1964 Porsche 904 GTS, once owned by legendary actor Robert Redford, could sell for over $1 million next month.
The current owner of the actor’s former car will put it on the auction block on Feb. 3 at Bonham’s Les Grandes Marques du Monde a Paris.
The sports car is also a fine specimen of race cars from that era.
Robert Redford’s Car Had Incredible Specifications
According to the Robb Report, Porsche left Formula 1 racing after the 1962 season and put effort into sports car racing. That effort produced the four-cylinder 904 GTS. One of about 100 road-legal cars, it met the International Auto Federation’s sports car sanctions.
The car with chassis no. 904 012, started its life with a silver finish. But it was painted Irish Green in the 1990s during a restoration.
The 2.0-liter 911 engine car matches other 904s, but one owner swapped that particular motor for a better one. It still has the original transaxle or transmission. The car interior is stripped-down with blue seats and racing harnesses.
Redford’s Fancy Car Traded Lots of Hands
Robert Redford’s Porsche came out of the carmaker’s Zuffenhuasen factor in Jan. 1964, and it ran races that year. Monterey Historic Races at Laguna Seca founder Steve Earle originally bought it, according to BroBible.
When Earle bought it, the website Classic and Sports Car reported that the man had it shipped on a pallet to New York’s JFK Airport on a PanAm plane. It was raced by Otto Zipper’s Precision Motor Cars outfit while Earle owned it. The man sold it to another racer before Redford picked it up.
In 1966, the “Downhill Racer” actor bought it and kept it until 1976. Several other buyers have come along since the car ended up in Belgium. Before Belgium, it sold at Bonhams’ Scottsdale, Ariz. auction in 2018.
The Bonhams auction house estimates that the Robert Redford Porsche will sell for $1.5 million to $1.7 million.
Redford’s Movie Porsches
The actor drove a couple of Porsches in his films over the years.
Robert Redford famously drove a Porsche in the 2001 movie “Spy Game” with Brad Pitt. According to IMDb, his Nathan Muir character drove a Porsche 912, basically a 911 with boxer four engine produced for a short while in the late 60s.
He also drove one with a ski rack in the 1969 movie “Downhill Racer.” According to Inside Hook, that car was a late 1968s Porsche 911 T. The T stands for touring, by the way.
Movie fans remember the car’s wild color. Some called it yellow, others orange, and some “hot buttered rum.” According to the website, the actual color label was “Bahama yellow.”
Pretty nice for a guy who stole hubcaps in high school and lost a college baseball scholarship at the University of Colorado because he liked to party too much.
