Newman-Barbour 935
Paul Newman's racing career may be most famously associated with Nissan or Datsun, but this Group 5 Porsche 935 was what he campaigned at the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans in his first attempt in 1979. The idea of Paul Newman doing Le Mans came from the man himself, he proposed it after Dick Barbour's first assault on the French enduro in 1978.
Built in their Northern California shop from a bare chassis the 935 had 800hp during qualifying and would run between 650-700hp during the race. With co-drivers Dick Barbour and Rolf Stommelen, the team went on to take second overall and a class win. The Dick Barbour prepared 935 was looking to come out with an overall win, but when Dick came into the pits, their left front wheel was stuck on the car. All the rain, water, and dirt that seized up the wheel nut, which forced the team to saw it off and replace the whole front upright, which cost them about four laps, and gave the Kremer car a cushion once again.
Newman would go on to race the car once more at the 1979 6 Hours of Watkins Glen where he took a second-place finish overall, but that was far from the end of this car's racing career. In 1980 the car was purchased by Bob Garretson who also happened to race with Barbour. Sponsored by Apple, Garretson's season was plagued with poor finishes, which resulted in Job's removing his sponsorship from the team.
The following years the car would see more success which included a win at the 1981 24 Hours of Daytona driven by Bobby Rahal, Brian Redman, and Bob Garretson supported by podium finishes in races on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1982 the car was sold to Wayne Baker who converted the 935 to 934 specifications to run in the IMSA GTO class where it proved competitive, winning the 1983 12 Hours of Sebring with Wayne Baker, Jim Mullen and Kees Nierop behind the wheel. Raced extensively throughout 1984 and 1985 the car was sold to a new owner, Chet Vincentz who ran the car through the end of the 1987 season.
In total, the car ran roughly 70,000 racing miles before being put into hibernation until 2002 when Carlos de Quesada purchased the car. In 2006, Carlos commissioned a full restoration to its former Le Man Hawaiian Tropics livery by Porsche guru Paul Willison. Since then the car has won multiple awards including Best in Class at the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance and was bought by Adam Carolla for $4.4 million.
