The chassis, boasting the number 917-024, hit the track for the first time at Test Day for the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans, driven by Mike Hailwood and Brian Redman, who clocked the best time. Entered by John Wyer Automotive (JWA)-Gulf Team, the 917K (K for "Kurzheck" meaning short-tail in German) did not actually take part in the race.

It then changed hands and was purchased by official Porsche driver Jo Siffert, pole-sitter at Le Mans with a Porsche 908 in 1968, who passed away three years later during a race at Brands Hatch in the U.K. The Swiss driver held the car in such high esteem it was included in his funeral procession, donning a black sash, before being sold to a Parisian collector.

Though the track record of this Porsche 917K is relatively modest, it became one of the most famous cars in the world after representing the Gulf Oil Company in the film "Le Mans"...lent by Jo Siffert to Solar Productions, Steve McQueen's company.

After the filming of the feature film, the car vanished from circulation for many years before its rediscovery back at home in a warehouse in Paris in 2001. Put up for sale for the first time by Gooding at the Monterey auction in 2014, the car was pulled from the catalogue a few weeks before the sale. It then underwent significant restoration efforts, recently completed, before once again appearing this year among the Gooding offerings, estimated between 13 and 16 million dollars (between 11.4 and 14 million euros).