Shelby Cobra from ‘Bad Boys’ film goes on auction

Mecum Auctions also selling Steve McQueen’s Porsche 917 from ‘Le Mans’ movie

13 January 2025 - 10:34 By Denis Droppa
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The Shelby Cobra replica was driven by the villian in the 1995 'Bad Boys' movie starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.
The Shelby Cobra replica was driven by the villian in the 1995 'Bad Boys' movie starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.
Image: Supplied

Mecum Auctions is putting a 1966 Shelby Cobra replica from the Bad Boys movie on sale at the Kissimmee auction in Florida, US this weekend.

Known as “Bad Boy 1”, the car appeared in the hit 1995 movie starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.

The Cobra was used by the film's villain, Fouchet, played by Tchéky Karyo. Fouchet crashes the car at the end of the film but that written-off unit was a stunt car, whereas the car up for sale was a second Cobra used for most of the filming. It appeared in chase scenes and helicopter aerial shots.

The car is owned by South Beach Classics, a collector car dealership and vehicle rental business for the film, modelling and music industries, which kept the never-crashed Cobra Replica in dry storage for 27 years.

The well-known Porsche 911 Turbo driven in the same movie by Smith was sold by Mecum two years ago for $1.43m (R27.4m).

Also up for grabs in the auction is one of the Porsche 917s used by Steve McQueen in the iconic 1971 Le Mans movie. Three 917s were used for filming, each example being the 917K short-tail version finished in the famous Gulf Oil livery.  

The Porsche 917 was driven in the 'Le Mans' movie by Steve McQueen.
The Porsche 917 was driven in the 'Le Mans' movie by Steve McQueen.
Image: Supplied

The 917 being auctioned was bought by McQueen after the movie and had several owners over the years, most recently comedian Jerry Seinfeld. It features McQueen’s signature on the door and a note from him that reads: “Finished. Thanks for staying together.”

Powered by a 4.5l V12 engine, the 917 gave Porsche its first overall Le Mans victory in 1970, a feat it repeated in 1971. Another Porsche 917 used in Le Mans sold for $14m (R268m) in 2017.

Other iconic movie cars have fetched large sums at auctions in recent years, including the Ford Mustang driven by McQueen in the 1968 film Bullit, which sold for $3.7m (R71m) in 2020. The Aston Martin DB5 driven by Sean Connery in 1964’s Goldfinger was knocked down for $6.3m (R121m) in 2019.


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