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Gary Cooper's 1935 Duesenberg SSJ fetches record price at Pebble Beach

The 1935 Duesenberg SSJ formerly owned by Gary Cooper sold for a jaw-dropping $22 million over the weekend at the Gooding & Co. Pebble Beach auction, setting a record for the most valuable pre-war car ever sold at auction. It also appears to have become the most expensive American collector car ever sold at auction, eclipsing the very first Shelby Cobra ever made, which sold for $13.75 million in 2016. The Duesenberg was also the lone American-made entrant in the list of top 10 sellers, which was crowded with the names Ferrari and Porsche. You have to go all the way down the list to No. 21 to find the next American car: a 1930 Packard 734 Speedster Phaeton, which sold for a mere $1.127 million. All told, Gooding & Co. said it realized more than $116.5 million in auction sales over the weekend, with a whopping 25 cars sold for north of $1 million, an 84 percent sales rate and an average transaction price of $947,174. Clearly this is how the other half 1 percent lives. Gooding & Co. said there were five world-record sales at the auction. Joining the Duesenberg were a 1955 Ferrari 500 Mondial Series II, which sold for $5.005 million; a 1958 Ferrari 250 GT Tour de France Berlinetta, $6.6 million; a 1967 Ferrari 330 GTC Speciale, $3.41 million; and a one-of-two 1966 Ferrari Dino Berlinetta GT, $3.08 million. Oh, and that 1969 Ford Bronco test vehicle we told you about? The one that was rebadged by Holman & Moody as a Bronco Hunter? It sold for $121,000, which was well below the expected range of $180,000 to $220,000. Perhaps it was the presence of all those gorgeous Porsche Spyders and Ferraris that meant collectors weren't interested in boxy, utilitarian off-roaders. View 24 Photos Gooding and Co. had expected the convertible Duesenberg coupe to go for more than $10 million. It was one of only two of its kind built by Duesenberg — the other having gone to Clark Gable — with a specially shortened, 125-inch wheelbase and a supercharged straight-eight with double overhead cams, able to produce around 400 horsepower and a top speed of 140 miles per hour. It features a lightweight open-roadster bobtail body produced by LaGrande out of Connersville, Ind. The car was also owned at one point by race driver Briggs Cunningham.

Porsche Museum highlights history of the 911 RSR

Porsche has amassed quite an impressive trophy case in just about every racing series it has ever entered, and one of its most dominant machines has to be the 911 RSR from the 1970s. Taking part in various GT-class competitions, the 911 RSR managed to take home three international and seven German victories in 1973, its very first year of competition.
Not one to downplay its racing successes, Porsche has released an informative video detailing the 911 RSR's impressive heritage. The 1973 RSR model owned by the Porsche Museum is detailed beautifully on video, and we have to say it looks absolutely stunning in its vintage Martini Racing livery.
Have a look at the video below for some historic racing action, along with static shots of one of our favorite Porsche models ever created.

Porsche to replace chassis components in 918 Spyders

The entire production run of the Porsche 918 Spyder is completely sold out, but 205 of them need to make a trip to the dealer for a repair estimated to take about two days. According to Porsche, it found quality problems with unspecified "chassis components" on the hybrid supercar and has instituted a plan to fix them as a precautionary measure. There were no reported breakages of these parts or complaints from customers. The German automaker already contacted all of the affected owners directly to have the 918s repaired in 2015. When reached for comment, Porsche Director of Corporate Communications Achim Schneider told Autoblog via email that "due to the supplier relationship we did not announce further details regarding the components so far." He also said that 43 vehicles are affected in North America, which includes the US and Canada. The 918 Spyder was affected by a small recall in the US earlier this year when Porsche found that the rear-axle control arms could potentially break. The campaign covered only five cars, though. Porsche replaces chassis components in 205 vehicles worldwide Atlanta. As a precautionary measure, Porsche will replace chassis components in 205 vehicles of the 918 Spyder model worldwide. The reason for this is that for vehicles that were manufactured in a certain time period defective parts were used from a delivery batch, whose functionality cannot be permanently guaranteed. No complaints have been made known (such as a break of a component) from customers up till now. The problem was identified during in-house quality inspections and remedied immediately. The owners of the vehicles, which could be exactly traced, were contacted directly by their competent Porsche representatives. The workshop visit, which will take place by appointment at the onset of 2015, takes about two days to complete at no charge. Featured Gallery 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder: First Drive View 51 Photos News Source: PorscheImage Credit: Copyright 2014 Michael Harley / AOL, Porsche Green Recalls Porsche Hybrid Supercars porsche 918 spyder porsche 918