Janis Joplin paid $3,500 for a used 1964 Porsche 356 C 1600 SC Cabriolet. Nearly five decades later, the Janis Joplin Porsche sale at RM Sotheby’s brought $1.76 million in New York. Between those two prices sits a hand-painted mural, a family that kept the car, and two decades in a museum.

The car left the factory in a plain dolphin gray. Joplin wanted something louder, so she hired a friend with a paintbrush. What he made is the version of the car people remember.

Here is how it got from a Beverly Hills used-car lot to a Manhattan auction room.

A Four-Year-Old Porsche From a Used-Car Lot

Joplin bought the Porsche in September 1968, according to ClassicCars.com’s preview of the sale. By then, the 1964 car was four years old. A history published by Heacock Classic names the seller as Estes-Zipper, a dealer in Beverly Hills.

She paid $3,500, as Porsche’s own Christophorus magazine also reports. Then she drove it every day instead of saving it as a stage prop, according to Heacock. As a result, the car became a familiar sight in San Francisco at the end of the 1960s. She kept driving it after Big Brother split up, too. Later, it carried her through the Kozmic Blues Band and Full Tilt Boogie Band years. Meanwhile, Christophorus recalls Joplin singing “My friends all drive Porsches.” In this case, she owned one herself.

Dave Richards and “The History of the Universe”

The gray paint did not suit her. Instead, she gave Dave Richards, a roadie with her band Big Brother and the Holding Company, $500 to decorate it. Richards called the finished mural “The History of the Universe,” Porsche’s Christophorus story says.

The imagery covers the whole body. For example, ClassicCars.com lists jellyfish, butterflies and a portrait of Joplin herself. Meanwhile, the Heacock Classic history adds portraits of band members, places they visited, and “The Eye of God” on the hood. It also mentions her Capricorn sign. Richards laid all of it over a base coat of Candy Apple Red, then sealed it under clear coat.

After 1970: Repaints, Restoration and a Museum

Joplin died in 1970 in Los Angeles. Afterward, her manager, Albert Grossman, kept the car for a time, according to Heacock. It then went to her brother and sister.

The car did not keep its mural the whole time. Porsche says it went through three more paint jobs after her death. Heacock writes that Michael Joplin rebuilt the original engine and returned the body to dolphin gray. Later, in the 1990s, artists Jana Mitchell and Amber Owen recreated the artwork from period photographs.

Once restored, the Porsche went on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland. It stayed there for 20 years, RM Sotheby’s says. Heacock adds that it also appeared at Pebble Beach and Amelia Island.

How the Janis Joplin Porsche Sale Played Out

Michael and Laura Joplin consigned the car to RM Sotheby’s “Driven by Disruption” auction, reports Old Cars Weekly. The sale took place on December 10, 2015, at Sotheby’s headquarters in Manhattan. It offered 31 cars that night, and 81 percent of them sold.

Before the sale, ClassicCars.com reported that RM Sotheby’s expected it to bring more than $400,000. The published estimate was $400,000 to $600,000, as Old Cars Weekly and Rolling Stone both report. Bidding went far past that. The final price was $1.76 million, nearly three times the top of the estimate.

Other cars brought more that evening. For instance, a 1956 Ferrari 290 MM sold for $28 million, and a 1962 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato brought $14.3 million. By comparison, a 1972 Lamborghini Miura P400 SV sold for $2.42 million, Old Cars Weekly reports.

Where the Price Sits in the Porsche 356 Record Book

RM Sotheby’s set the result in context the next day. Its December 11, 2015 sale report called the $1.76 million figure “a new benchmark for any Porsche 356 model sold at public auction.” The whole event totaled more than $73.5 million.

That price also tells the story of the car’s two lives. Joplin spent $3,500 on the Porsche and $500 on the paint. When it crossed the block in 2015, after 20 years at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it sold for $1.76 million.

More from Fast Lane Only

• Unboxing the WWII Jeep in a Crate
• 15 rare Chevys collectors are quietly buying
• 10 underrated V8s still worth hunting down
• Police notice this before you even roll window down

This article was created with the help of AI and was reviewed and edited by Fast Lane Only editors before publication.