Stuttgart psychedelic: Janis Joplin's Porsche 356C heads to auction

Photos by David LaChance.

Janis Joplin may have expressed her desire for a Mer-ced-es Benz in song, but it was a 1965 Porsche 356C cabriolet that graced her driveway. Perhaps the most recognizable car in rock and roll history, the psychedelic-liveried convertible will be offered for sale by the Joplin family at the December 10 RM Sotheby's "Driven by Disruption" auction in New York City.

Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car editor David La Chance came across the car on display at the recent Pittsburgh Grand Prix, and penned this for the November 2015 issue of the magazine, on sale at newsstands (and online) September 22:

Joplin, the gravelly-voiced blues singer who by 1968 had become a rock ‘n’ roll diva, chose a car that would let her be seen as she cruised the streets of San Francisco, buying the car used from a Beverly Hills dealer for $3,500. But she was underwhelmed by the car’s white finish, and asked her friend and roadie Dave Richards to do something about it.

Richards got $500 and little direction from the singer. He laid on a trippy series of scenes and images, calling his work History of the Universe. On one fender, he painted the portraits of Joplin and her Big Brother bandmates.

Joplin, by all accounts, loved the car. It became identified with her, and fans would often shout out greetings as she drove by, or leave notes under the windshield wiper when they found it parked.

After Joplin died of a heroin overdose in October 1970, the car was loaned to her former manager, Albert Grossman. Joplin’s family asked Grossman to return the car several years later, and discovered it to be in poor condition. With the psychedelic paintwork literally falling off the car, and Joplin’s fame fading, the family decided to have the car refinished in its factory shade of Dolphin Gray.

It was when the family produced the play Love, Janis, based on the book by the singer’s sister, Laura, that they decided to have the Porsche restored to its flower-power glory. Artists at the Denver Center Theatre Company, where the play was to open, carefully recreated the original design, guided by stacks of photographs.

For years, the 356 was a fixture at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, where it was seen by roughly a half-million visitors per year. In July, the museum loaned the car to the Allegheny Region of the Porsche Club of America for display at the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix.

“It seems like such an extension of her personality – beautiful and colorful and fun,” says Meredith Rutledge-Borger, associate curator of the Rock Hall. “When I look at it, I see Janis in it, with the top down, with her dog Buddy in the back seat, driving around the Haight. I really see it as an extension of Janis.”

Of the pending sale, brother Michael Joplin said, “Besides Janis's music and legacy, her Porsche is the most visual and important piece of memorabilia that exists. Like most people and their car of choice, her Porsche is a direct link to Janis. She drove it everywhere - and with everyone that was anyone in the San Francisco music scene - with the top down and her feathers flying. Her music, life and car are a part of rock and roll history.”

RM Sotheby’s expects the car to sell “in excess of $400,000” when it crosses the stage in New York City. For more information on the “Driven by Disruption” sale, visit RMSothebys.com.

UPDATE (11.December 2015): The Porsche sold for $1,760,000, setting a record for Porsche 356s.