Janis Joplin once sang: “Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz? My friends all drive Porsches. I must make amends.” In fact, she bought a 1964 Porsche in 1968 — two years before the raspy singer’s death.

Janis Joplin and her 1964 Porsche. Photos via Wikimedia Commons and Sotheby's
Janis Joplin and her 1964 Porsche. Photos via Wikimedia Commons and Sotheby’s

And that hand-painted Porsche was auctioned Thursday night for $1.76 million — after being priced at between $400,000 and $600,000. Auction firm RM Sotheby’s gets a 10 percent commission on the price, a record for that Porsche model.

The buyer’s identity wasn’t immediately revealed.

As CNN Money reported: “For a 1964 Porsche 356 SC Cabriolet like Joplin’s, the top auction price until this sale was $341,000, a record set in May of last year.
Joplin’s car beat those records because it was so closely identified with her. She drove it a lot. Fans would leave her notes tucked under the windshield wipers.

“On the day she died in 1970 at age 27, in a Hollywood hotel, people knew where to find her because the Porsche was parked in the garage.”

Her siblings, Michael and Laura Joplin, shared the car for about 30 years.

In 1995, the Joplins loaned the Porsche to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, where it mostly stayed for the past 20 years.

“The Joplins plan to use the proceeds from the auction to support social programs in Janis’s memory,” CNN said.

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