Ho Ho Ho. I hope you had a good whatever you celebrate but I have saved the best present for you until today.

No, it isn't a free beer at the Kensi. The Sultan got one last week. The first free beer in 57 years (true), just showing the miracle of Xmas and Chrismukkah and all the rest of what passes for celebrations marking the end of the financial half year.

No, it's the auction of the ex-Steve McQueen, Jerry Seinfeld Porsche 917K – the "Hero Car" from the 1971 film "Le Mans" and one of the most recognisable race cars in all of history.

Steve McQueen was at home on two or four wheels. Soon after Steve's birth on March 24, 1930, in Beech Grove, Indiana, his circus stunt person father walked out. Not long after, his alcoholic mother who was a sex worker, did the same leaving Steve in the care of his grandparents. Mum turned up again when Steve was 12 with a new husband, the family moved to Los Angeles and, as expected for a boy who was partly deaf, dyslexic and regularly beaten by his stepfather, he joined a few local gangs, got pinged for stealing and had a couple of stints at reform school. He joined the merchant marine, became a towel boy in a brothel, became a hero in the marines during WWII and in 1952 began studying acting, and bike and car racing. He was obsessed by actor and racer Paul Newman.

Newman had a 38-year race career, winning four SCCA Championships, second at Le Mans in a Porsche 935/77A and a heap of Trans Am races. He started racing at 46 in a Datsun and won his last race at 82.

The highlight of Steve's career was finishing second overall in the 1970 12 Hours of Sebring. Driving a Porsche 908/02, McQueen got on to the podium despite driving with a cast on his left foot due to a motorcycle accident.

Back to Steve's Porker 917. After the movie wrapped, the car was sold to Reinhold Joest, a former race car driver and current team owner. During the past 25 years, his team Joest Racing has won Le Mans fifteen times. Reinhold sold it to Richard Attwood, now 84, winner of the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans, in 1975. Dickie sold it at auction in 2000 for around $1.2m. The car was repainted in its original Gulf livery before ending up in a Los Angeles dealership showroom on Wilshire Boulevard in 2002. Stand-up comedian and TV star Seinfeld checked it out and paid about $6m for it. Next month at Mecum's Kissimmee 2025, the world's largest collector car auction, you can pay around $30m for it.

Steve's movie, Le Mans, didn't do well. Maybe because there is no plot, very little dialogue and just film of a number of cars going around a town in France. McQueen starred in and co-produced Le Mans. Unless you are a serious petrol head it's a movie to watch after ingesting an illicit substance.

If the inverse yield curves haven't been treating you well then what about Sylvester Stallone's 1972 Ferrari 365 GTC/4 by Pininfarina, which RM is selling this next month. Previously owned by Sly, who's now 78, at school his teachers voted him "Most likely to end up in the electric chair".

jc@jcp.com.au