Yahoo Autos Jerry Seinfeld On What Makes His Rare Porsches So Spongeworthy
Jerry Seinfeld is used to making people laugh. So perhaps it’s little surprise that buried in a Gooding & Company press release touting Friday’s Amelia Island auction of 18 cars owned by the comedian, there’s one line that makes you cough up your coffee.
“My enthusiasm for this pursuit remains quite insane and I am very fortunate to have many other cars I get to look after,” Seinfeld says.
“Quite insane” comes up a little short folks.
Other than maybe the suits roaming the halls in Zuffenhausen, home of Porsche, there are few folks on the planet quite as cuckoo for the German marque as the host of Crackle’s “Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee.”
It’s not quite clear how many Porsches Seinfeld owns, in part because both he and the man who oversees his bi-coastal collection, Sam Cabiglio, aren’t about broadcasting details or giving tours. But the collection must be vast, valuable and impressive judging by the vehicles going under the hammer this week. In a nod to fans of the ground-breaking “Seinfeld” TV series, consider these dozen-plus gems some of Jerry’s most sponge-worthy cars.
Why sell? Seinfeld’s worth some $800 million, so it’s not for gas money. Let Jerry explain: “Each one of these cars is a pinnacle of mechanical culture to me. Many are the best examples that exist in the world. I’ve loved being entrusted with their care, and I’m proud of the level to which we have brought each and every one of these wonderful machines. Honestly, if I had unlimited time, space and attention span I would never sell one of them.”
OK, so he wants room for some new stuff to tinker with. We car nuts can relate, if only on a 1/1000th scale.
Expected to fetch around $32 million total, the 18 cars in question — all Porsches and a few VWs — are anything but pedestrian examples of a machine whose values have skyrocketed in the last few years. While Porsches still aren’t in the Ferrari value orbit, many prized air-cooled models have tripled of late, putting many out of the financial reach of most fans.
As a collector, Seinfeld has prided himself on buying both the best and the most unique; for example, he famously owns the very first air-cooled 911 as well as the last. That attention to detail shows in the Gooding & Company lots selected to be part of the Jerry Seinfeld Collection.
Arguably the showstoppers of the group are a pair of sleek bullets that essentially made Porsche’s name in the annals of mid-20th century road racing, a 1955 550 Spyder (estimated at between $5 million and $6 million) and a 1959 718 RSK ($3.8 million to $4.2 million).
The 550 really gives you pause. It has 10,000 original miles and is untouched by the ravages of racing. Seinfeld sometimes provides a quip or two in the collection’s literature. The one affixed to this car is particularly on point: “You can’t drive a sonnet by Shakespeare or a symphony by Beethoven. But this would be the automotive equivalent.”
