Rare Porsche Kineo speedboat goes under the hammer
A Porsche Kineo speedboat has been sold at auction in The Netherlands.
One of only three prototypes built and believed to be the only one in unmodified form left in existence, the 28ft boat has been the subject of a two year professional restoration to return it to its original condition.
Conceived by Porsche Design in the late Eighties as an ‘exclusive racing boat’, a staggering $4 million dollars was spent on development.
It was built by the German industrial group Thyssen Krupp in 1990 to incredibly high standards. Marinised and turbocharged 5-litre V8 engines from Porsche’s 928S4 supercar were originally intended for the project however, after the Porsche engines proved unsuitable, twin Mercruiser Magnum 454 7.4 litre petrol engines were installed instead
They are said to give the boat a top speed of almost 70 knots.
Ultimately the price tag of 750,00 deutschmarks (equivalent to over a million dollars today) scuppered the project, with not a single order being taken when the boat was launched at Boot Dusseldorf in 1993.
History repeated itself at the auction, as despite an auctioneer’s estimate of £133,650 – £175,280, the boat finally sold for just over £70,000.
