Behold All 10 Porsches the Billionaire WhatsApp Founder Is Auctioning Off

Jan Koum left Facebook to collect “rare air-cooled Porsches”

January 31, 2019 9:00 am

When Jan Koum, the co-founder of WhatsApp, announced he was moving on from Facebook (four years after the company acquired his messaging platform for $19 billion), he wrote, “I’m taking some time off to do things I enjoy outside of technology, such as collecting rare air-cooled Porsches, working on my cars and playing ultimate frisbee.”

That was almost a year ago. Now, it looks like he’s making good on his first post-Facebook resolution, because he’s auctioning off 10 limited-production Porsche models from his personal collection on March 8th — including three-air cooled 911s.

This automotive treasure trove will be the highlight of Gooding & Company’s annual Amelia Island Auction. I say treasure trove for two reasons. One: As the auction house’s Senior Specialist David Brynan notes, the cars cover 25 years of the marque, “from the air­-cooled Carrera RS of the 1990s to the latest groundbreaking supercars.” Two: Not being privy to the billionaire lifestyle myself, I’ve conjured this image in my mind of Koum as Smaug sitting in some apocalypse-proof mountain lair with a mountain of rare Porsches, only letting these 10 go to make room for even rarer models. And that’s not far from the mark.

“If I had unlimited time and unlimited garage space, I would never sell any of them, but nevertheless I’ll be very happy to see the next owner enjoy driving these special cars on the road or on the racetrack just as Porsche intended for them to be used,” Koum said in a press release.

No estimated prices have been released, but all will be offered without reserve (meaning they will be sold regardless of the final bid, but don’t expect to find any deals here). Below, find all 10 of them in chronological order, and keep an eye on Gooding & Company’s listing for more details closer to the auction.

Jan Koum Porsche (10 images)

  1. 1992 Porsche 964 Carrera RS, 1 of 1,910 lightweight models made
  2. 1993 Porsche 964 Carrera RS 3.8, 1 of 55 (1 of 12 in Speed Yellow)
  3. 1995 Porsche 993 Carrera RS 3.8, final air-cooled Carrera RS model
  4. 2008 Porsche 997 GT3 RS 3.6, 1 of 53 North American examples in RS Green
  5. 2010 Porsche 997 GT3 RS 3.8, includes carbon ceramic disc brakes
  6. 2011 Porsche 997 GT3 RS 4.0, 1 of 600 (1 of 158 for North America)
  7. 2011 Porsche 997 GT2 RS, 1 of 500 (1 of 142 for North America)
  8. 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder Weissach, driven less than 20 miles
  9. 2016 Porsche Cayman GT4, special ordered in Signal Yellow
  10. 2016 Porsche 911 R, 1 of 991 with original delivery packaging

Main image by Mathieu Heurtault, Inline images: 1-3 by Mathieu Heurtault, 4-10 by Mike Maez
All copyright and courtesy of Gooding & Company

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