After Janis Joplin died from a heroin overdose in October 1970, the Porsche was commandeered by Joplin’s manager, Albert Grossman, who lent it to guests visiting at his estate. But by 1975, the car was in a state of disrepair, so Grossman returned it to Joplin’s siblings, Michael and Laura. Michael had the Porsche’s engine rebuilt and used it as a daily driver for several years.
By this point, the Porsche 356C was becoming an extremely valuable collector car, even without celebrity provenance, leading Michael Joplin to have the car restored, including a change back to its original Dolphin Grey color. Later, in the 1990s, the family did a 180-degree turn and decided to have the psychedelic murals reapplied.
Artists Jana Mitchell and Amber Owen faithfully replicated the mural, called “The History of the Universe,” using stacks of period photographs as a reference. Fittingly returned to the condition when Janis owned the car, it was displayed at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Ohio for approximately 20 years until the Joplin family decided to sell the Porsche to fund various works of charity.
In December 2015, the iconic Porsche was auctioned at RM Sotheby’s in New York City. Expected to fetch around $500,000, the winning bid came in at a whopping $1.76 million. The buyer, who wishes to remain anonymous, lives in Michigan and occasionally displays the car locally.
[Featured image by Sam Howzit via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY 2.0]
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