They say that Steve Jobs was more of a Mercedes. That he was crazy about German engines. Although his first love was a red Fiat 850, he bragged about that BMW motorcycle for years and so did later when he started flirting with luxury cars. It was not in vain that he had to hide this Porsche if he wanted to create the right impression.
His fixation was such that his automobile obsession became a status symbol within the company: in 1984 he decided to offer one to the best seller Macintosh of all his fleet. But the one we bring today was not given. Instead, it was sold for $4,840,000. And which ended up being destroyed.
Apple “Competed” at Le Mans, the World’s Most Popular Endurance Race, With a History-Making iPorsche
As the official Le Mans website indicates, on June 14, 1980, “Dick Barbour Racing’s Porsche 71 n°935 took the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the colors of the Californian firm”. In 1980, Silicon Valley was at the heart of a great technological age and in Cupertino, Jobs and Steve Wozniak were two geeky deities who boasted of a career within their young company. So hey, when they approached Porsche, they had no trouble. AND Apple’s big apple crowned the two lengths of an “iPorsche”.
In the absence of iCar, it was the big star signed Apple. A little gem that has even become a collector’s toy, in 1/18 scale. On eBay you can always see the latest model up for auction – if you want to bid, you can always – and they rarely drop below $400.
But back to this morning. Three pilots sat in the cockpit: Allan Moffat, Bobby Rahal and Bob Garretson. And a number, 12 from the position on the grid. The Kremer brothers of Dick Barbour Racing prepared this car for another race. Under the letters of Apple Computer hid a 6.3-liter 2-cylinder boxer engine developing 800 horsepower —750 in the race—.
A beast preceded by a deserved notoriety: in 1979 it imposed itself without regard to the controls of the same pilots. Unfortunately, this time they didn’t have the same luck and the Porsche 935 K3 didn’t complete the epic: at 11 a.m. he had to forfeit because of a melted piston.
A second life and a millionaire auction
Nothing that will prevent him from racing again: that same year, Garretson’s team, with Brian Redman at the wheel, won first prize at the 24 Hours of Daytona. Like another similar model, the three pilots Paul Newman -yes, the actor-, Dick Barbour and the German Rolf Stommelen won silver at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Before his odyssey at Le Mans, he also took part in other races, such as Sebring, Watkins Gleen or the Road America 500, where he obtained a fine third place. In total, this Porsche 935 competed in seven speed events.
And even here, because the Porsche Apple Computer was retired until already in 2006 the Hawaiian Tropic team decided to restore it. And, if we follow in his footsteps, we will find his new public appearance, ten years later, in 2016, when was auctioned in a private offering hosted by Gooding & Company on Amelia Island, for nothing more and nothing less than $4,840,000. It is, de facto, one of the ten most expensive Porsches ever sold at auction in history.
Whoever has it can brag about keeping it in their garage the only car in history that had the rainbow apple on its bodythanks to an endorsement deal that best exemplifies Jobs’ love of speed.
Pictures | DigitalDTour
In Applesphere | He inherits his grandfather’s car and decides to save it from the scrapyard: it is this almost unknown model and the first real “Apple” brand car from 1996
