Photo: Bonhams
Diego Maradona was many things, but a proven racer he was not. Yet, legend has it he once drove through the center of Spanish city Seville at speeds of 112 mph (180 kph), and no physical harm came to him. The car he’s said to have done this with is this 1992 Porsche 911.
The machine popped up on the auction block for the first time in February, just a few months after Maradona passed away, and was scheduled to go under the hammer this month during the Bonhams Les Grandes Marques du Monde à Paris digital event.
Initial estimates were the Porsche would sell for anywhere between €150,000 and €200,000 ($179k to $239k), but it actually ended up snatching double that: €483,000 ($578k) is how much someone paid for it. That's a sum that places the car at the top of the best-selling models during the auction, right alongside a 1960 Aston Martin DB4 Series II Sports Saloon.
Maradona’s Porsche is officially titled Type 964 Carrera 2 Convertible Works Turbo by the auction house. 1,200 of them were made over the course of two years, and Diego got hold of his during what history remembers as his forgotten season. That would be his first job after a 15-month ban for drug use and his final stop at a European soccer club, Sevilla FC.
Powered by a 3.6-liter engine rated at 253 hp, the 911 was shipped to Maradona in late 1992. The urban legend mentioned earlier places the car speeding through the city within half an hour of delivery, with the soccer player behind the wheel.
Maradona did not hold on to it for long, and the car passed over in possession of a private owner, also from Spain, who is said to have held on to it for 20 years. The car’s odometer presently reads 120,000 km (75,000 miles), but the Porsche 911 is described as original and well-preserved.
Initial estimates were the Porsche would sell for anywhere between €150,000 and €200,000 ($179k to $239k), but it actually ended up snatching double that: €483,000 ($578k) is how much someone paid for it. That's a sum that places the car at the top of the best-selling models during the auction, right alongside a 1960 Aston Martin DB4 Series II Sports Saloon.
Maradona’s Porsche is officially titled Type 964 Carrera 2 Convertible Works Turbo by the auction house. 1,200 of them were made over the course of two years, and Diego got hold of his during what history remembers as his forgotten season. That would be his first job after a 15-month ban for drug use and his final stop at a European soccer club, Sevilla FC.
Powered by a 3.6-liter engine rated at 253 hp, the 911 was shipped to Maradona in late 1992. The urban legend mentioned earlier places the car speeding through the city within half an hour of delivery, with the soccer player behind the wheel.
Maradona did not hold on to it for long, and the car passed over in possession of a private owner, also from Spain, who is said to have held on to it for 20 years. The car’s odometer presently reads 120,000 km (75,000 miles), but the Porsche 911 is described as original and well-preserved.
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