How much is a celebrity pedigree worth? In the case of a 1979 Porsche 928, about $40,000.
One that Tom Cruise drove in “Risky Business”—most memorably in a chase scene with Guido the pimp—sold for $49,200 at a recent auction of Hollywood memorabilia. That’s roughly five times more than a comparable Porsche 928 that comes without movie bragging rights.
Still, as celebrity pedigrees go, the markup in this case is reasonable, says Larry Edsall, the author of more than a dozen books on cars, including “Barrett-Jackson: The World’s Greatest Collector Car Event.” Some cars go for significantly more, because collectors are less enthused about one that is only famous for being in a movie, than they are about one that is actually owned by someone famous, he says.
“Risky Business,” which went on to become a cult favorite, is the first film where Cruise had a leading role. He was barely 21, and hardly a recognizable name, when it was released in 1983. But what is perhaps the film’s most famous scene—Cruise dancing around the living room in his underwear to Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock and Roll”—thrust him into the annals of pop culture.
The Porsche 928 had a major role in the film too. In the now classic chase scene, Guido the pimp is in hot pursuit in a big Cadillac. Cruise’s character, Joel, is behind the wheel of his dad’s Porsche, with hooker Lana, played by Rebecca De Mornay, in the front passenger seat, and high-school buddy Miles, played by Curtis Armstrong, in back. “I don’t believe this!” Miles says. “I’ve got a trig midterm tomorrow and I’m being chased by Guido the killer pimp.”
After a few minutes of screeching turns and near collisions, Joel gets away. He pulls to the curb, looks at his friends with a serious face, and says, “Porsche, there is no substitute.” The line, also a popular ad slogan at the time, is one of several catch phrases from the film.
In Pictures: Most Memorable Scenes from "Risky Business"
The car made such an impression on one fan, Lewis Johnsen, that more than a decade later he hired a private investigator to help track it down, according to an August 2007 article in the Porsche enthusiast magazine Excellence.
Johnsen also shot footage of his efforts to find the car—including interviews with the film’s producer and others—with the intent of eventually creating a documentary, called “The Quest for RB 928.”
Johnsen discovered that four Porsches had been used during filming, including a gutted one that, in another memorable scene, plunges into Lake Michigan.
The 1979 model from the recent sale is on screen mostly in driving scenes, according to the auction house Profiles In History, of Calabasas, Calif. The car has a V8 engine, five-speed manual transmission and 102,755 miles on the odometer.
In the footage shot for the documentary, “Risky Business” producer Jon
The car was green when it first arrived on set, but was painted gold by the film’s production department, the Profiles in History catalog says.
Another car actually did the brunt of the driving in the chase scene and got beat up in the process—a 1981 Porsche 928. It had smaller wheels and an automatic transmission.
But the 1979 model is used in the wide shots, where the whole car appears on screen, according to the Excellence article. “It was dubbed the ‘fill car’ because it was used to fill in the gaps in the driving scenes during the editing process,” the article says.
Of the four Porsches used in filming, only those two models have their vehicle identification numbers listed in the production logs for “Risky Business.” Johnsen could not locate the 1981 Porsche, which had been rented from a private owner for the film. He learned that it had been fixed up after the shoot and sold to someone overseas. But its current whereabouts are unknown.
So he focused on getting the 1979 Porsche that had come from a California prop house, even calling in a private investigator to help find its subsequent owner, as the Excellence article recounts. He eventually bought it for an undisclosed amount, repainted it from white to its former “Risky Business” color of gold, and for a time had it on exhibit at the Forney Museum of Transportation in Denver, the article says.
The other Porsches used in filming are likely lost to history, since no record of their VINs exists. But Johnsen pieced together the back story on those too.
A third Porsche 928—also a 1979 model with a five-speed manual, like the one that sold at auction—is used in just a single scene, where Lana accidentally knocks the parked car out of gear. This later causes the car to roll downhill onto a rickety dock, as a panicked Joel, realizing the keys are locked inside, does his best to stop it from going into the water. He jumps on the hood and breathes a sigh of relief, as does the audience, when it finally comes to rest with only inches to spare. But a moment later the dock collapses.
It was yet another 1979 Porsche 928 that actually took the plunge, though. This prop house rental had been gutted of its engine and transmission, to avoid having the fluids pollute the water. After the dunk, it was cleaned up, put back together and returned.
In Pictures: Most Memorable Scenes from "Risky Business"
The Porsche 928 was an interesting choice for the film. Having its engine up front, rather than at the rear, as with the iconic Porsche 911, the 928 was a huge departure for the German car company and a novelty at the time. Details like its pop-up headlights, all the rage in the ‘80s, caused a stir by canting forward in a unique way. The 928 was on sale from 1978 to 1995 and was the first mass-produced Porsche with a V8 engine. It remains the only V8-powered coupe the company has ever sold.
According to the Excellence article, “Risky Business” writer and director Paul Brickman chose the 928 over rarer Ferraris or Lamborghinis because those would have been too exotic for Joel’s father to drive every day. He considered the Porsche 911, on the other hand, to be too mundane, as it is relatively common for a high-end sports car. The larger, more luxurious 928 split the difference perfectly. Today, however, a 928 is much less desirable than a 911 of the same vintage.
Though pricing can vary widely, a recent scan of Porsche 928s for sale online turns up a listing of a 1982 model with 35,000 miles on it for $10,000.
The amount that the “Risky Business” Porsche fetched at Profiles in History’s Hollywood Treasures from the Vault auction on July 31 is in the range that had been expected. The auction house—which did not identify the seller—had estimated that the car would go for $40,000 to $60,000. In the end, the winning bid was $40,000, plus a $9,200 buyer’s premium.
For a movie car, that’s good, according to Edsall. But if Cruise—or better yet, avid Porsche collector Jerry Seinfeld—actually owned this particular 928, it could have brought bigger bucks.
“Among real auto enthusiasts, it has to be a car owned by another car enthusiast, somebody who raced cars, collected cars, genuine car guys like Paul Newman or Steve McQueen,” Edsall says.
With a pedigree of that caliber, a car valued at $250,000 can go for as much as $2 million at auction, he says.
The "Risky Business" Porsche 928 is just one of several cars with celebrity ties to end up on the block this summer.
“Tonight Show” host Jay Leno is auctioning off his 2012 Fiat 500 Prima Edizione—the second one to roll off the production line—to benefit the nonprofit Fisher House Foundation at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance this weekend.
Though Leno's is a special edition, the Fiat 500 is a car that anyone can buy at a dealership for $15,500. So it will be interesting to see what the combination of celebrity ownership and the tie to a charity that helps veterans will do to its value, Edsall says.
Auction house Gooding & Co. estimates the car could bring in $25,000 to $35,000.
But potentially, Leno’s more humble Fiat could leave the “Risky Business” Porsche in the dust.
(Update: As it turns out, the Fiat did just that, selling for 10 times more than expected — $385,000.)
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