A Rare, Historic Porsche Racer Leads RM Sotheby’s New German Sale

The 24-year-old actor James Dean died in a car accident, colliding with a college student at a California intersection on the evening of Sept. 30, 1955. The car he was driving was a Porsche, but not an ordinary 356. It was a very streamlined 550 Spyder, nicknamed “Little Bastard” by the race-crazy Dean.

The 550 Spyder was an out-and-out racer, but the kind that owners could register and drive to and from the track in those days. The open-topped Porsche was made for only three years, from 1953 to 1956, and although they were very successful in competition, only 90 were produced. The mid-mounted “Carrera” engine in the 550 had four overhead camshafts and dual ignition. With twin Solex carburetors, it produced 110 horsepower. That wasn’t a lot, but the 550 Spyder was a very light car, just 590 kilograms (1,300 pounds).

An example of the 550 Spyder, from 1955 with colourful racing history, is one of the cars that will be sold by RM Sotheby’s in an auction by Lake Tegernsee, about 40 minutes south of Munich, on July 27. Also on the block is a pair of modern Bugattis, a rare Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Stirling Moss, and a 2006 Porsche Carrera GT. The auction is taking place in partnership with the new Concours of Elegance Germany in Bavaria, held July 22-27.

The only one: This 2010 Bugatti Veyron 16-4 Grand Sport “Soleil de Nuit” to be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s was built for the royal family of Kuwait.
RM Sotheby’s

This Porsche 550 Spyder, with coachwork by Wendler (which also had its hand in the 718 sport racing cars), was delivered to Portugal and competed in European racing circuits. Originally white with burgundy accents, the car was first owned by Fernando Mascarenhas, who achieved class podium positions in races at Barajas and Monsanto in 1955. The 550 then went to Germany that summer for the Nürburgring 500 Kilometers, but the race was cut short because of an accident.

The second owner was Cypriano Flores in 1958. Flores’ son eventually returned the car to Porsche, which did the mechanical work while Wendler restored the body.

Despite the racing, which often results in swapped engines and other components, the 550 still boasts its original chassis, four-cam Carrera motor, and gearbox. The car was restored by Porsche and its original coachbuilder, Wendler, in the early 1990s—and not driven since then. During the restoration, the car’s colour was changed to silver, and the interior from beige vinyl to black leather. The pre-auction estimate is €3.5 million to €4.2 million (US$3.78 million to US$4.54 million).

Also to be auctioned at Tegernsee is the aforementioned 2010 Mercedes SLR McLaren Stirling Moss, a virtually unused example with just 45 kilometres on the odometer. First shown in 2009, it was a tribute to the late racing driver’s win in a 300 SLR Mercedes at the 1955 Mille Miglia.

The auction SLR features a lightweight carbon-fibre structure and a supercharged, 5.4-litre V8 with 641 horsepower. A mere 75 Stirling Moss cars were built, and only offered to customers who already owned an SLR McLaren. Without a roof or windshield, the Moss edition was 200 kilograms lighter than the standard car. It could reach 62 miles per hour in 3.5 seconds. The pre-sale estimate is €3.2 million to €3.8 million.

The modern Bugattis include a 2019 Chiron Sport “110 Ans Bugatti” edition, one of 20. The odometer reads only 1,461 kilometres. It’s estimated at €3.3 million to €3.8 million. The other one is the 2010 Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport “Soleil de Nuit,” a one-off Veyron in two-tone black/blue metallic sold new to the royal family of Kuwait. The estimate is €1.5 million to €2 million.

The 2006 Porsche Carrera GT, one of just 1,270 of these race-derived high-performance cars, is also a low-mileage example in silver metallic with 35,698 kilometres showing. It’s powered by a 5.7-litre V10 engine and could reach 62 miles per hour in 3.57 seconds and had a top speed of 205 mph. This one was supplied to Porsche in Leipzig, and a succession of owners barely used it. In 2001, the Porsche benefitted from a major €27,000 service that included a clutch replacement. It’s estimated at €975,000 to €1.275 million.

Porsche collectors might also want to visit the Bonhams|Cars Quail auction during Monterey Car Week starting Aug. 16. The lots include a one-of-62 1971 Porsche 911 S/T (estimated between US$900,000 and US$1.2 million); and a 1993 959 “Komfort” model, one of six, estimated at US$1.5 million to US$2 million.

Steven Clark had the unpleasant task of firing a 24-year-old—twice. Once was in a brief conversation with the new hire, who’d showed up late or not at all four times in his first week at a construction job.

Then Clark had to do it all over again, this time with the guy’s mother.

She called him a few hours later, pleading to give her son another chance. When Clark told her no, things got heated before he ended the call.

“I said, ‘Look, you know, this is between us and your son. He’s the employee,’” says Clark, who is chief operating officer of a Fairbanks, Alaska-based staffing firm.

Gen Zers make up nearly one-fifth of the adult workforce, and bosses and recruiters say it often feels like the nervous parents who hovered over them through childhood and college are right alongside them. What began as the occasional parent ride-along to a job interview coming out of the Covid era is now full-on career “co-piloting,” said Jasmine Escalera, head career coach at résumé templates service Zety.

More parents are calling up hiring managers, applying for jobs on their adult child’s behalf, and even showing up—or lurking just off-screen—on Zoom calls to help navigate difficult conversations or go over benefits packages.

“The first time it happened, I was appalled,” says Clark, who has fielded calls from parents asking why their child didn’t get a job. “Since then it’s become more of a here-we-go-again reaction.”

Human resource professionals have expressed outrage on social media.

“Parents should not be calling employers to check on their application status or ask questions on behalf of their child,” says Lynne Alba, a director of talent acquisition and physician recruitment at a large health system on Long Island, who vented about the phenomenon in a Tik Tok video she reposted on LinkedIn.

At a recent job fair, a mother approached Alba with her daughter’s résumé, explaining that she wanted to work as a nurse. “While I appreciated that she was trying to help, I intentionally shifted my attention to her daughter. No matter what Mom said, I wanted to hear directly from the candidate,” says Alba.

Some parents who step in say it’s a challenging job market for young people, and that they would only intervene in extreme circumstances—social anxiety, a toxic boss, unfair treatment. There’s also a gray area of intervention that some see as an extension of the parental advice and networking help that’s been happening for generations.

Rick Wainschel last year published a post on LinkedIn asking his network to help his daughter, a recent college graduate, find a corporate entry-level position.

Wainschel, a vice president at an automotive marketing technology company, says he doesn’t think his outreach qualifies as helicoptering. “Well, maybe a little,” he said, before quickly adding he was being half tongue-in-cheek. “It was really merely just to help her get a network established. I just think the work world is a challenging place.”

Wainschel’s post, which was OK’d by his daughter on the condition he didn’t embarrass her, didn’t lead to a job but did result in productive conversations, he said. She found a job with a credit union on her own shortly after.

Recruiters and other HR types say aggressive parental involvement signals a lack of independence and raises fears that mom and dad will be checking in regularly if their kid gets hired.

What’s more, they say, such interference rarely, if ever, works.

The phenomenon is becoming so commonplace it made the agenda of human resources organization SHRM’s national conference in June. When James Harrell asked a room of 250 professionals if they ever had a parent calling on behalf of a young employee or coming to an interview, more than half raised their hands.

“The first time it happened to me, I got high up on my soapbox and I shook my fist,” Harrell says. “The 15th time I said, ‘OK, well, I gotta figure out how to do something differently.’”

Harrell helped run an apprenticeship program for high-school students while he was the human capital management chief for the San Antonio Independent School District. To run interference, the district introduced a “signing day” when parents could come and ask questions.

After a Gen Z employee at Nation’s Best Holdings, a chain of hardware and home goods stores, didn’t get an “exceeds expectations” designation on his performance review last year, HR chief Amber Little got a call asking why.

It was one of a number of calls from parents her office has picked up recently about issues ranging from negative feedback to understanding which health insurance plan to choose. Little has even noticed parents are now calling in sick for their adult kids.

“Instead of coaching them, they do it for them,” Little says. When it happens, she adds, “we encourage them to tell their child to come talk to us and we will walk them through it.”

A Zety survey of more than 1,000 Gen Zers found 20% had a parent attend a job interview with them.

“You get a sense it’s all hands on deck for some families,” says Keith Wolf, managing partner of recruiting firm Murray Resources in Houston. His office has received emails from parents seeking jobs for their children, and Wolf says he’s always wondered if the kids even knew.

Paul “PB” Branson, who graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia in May, bristles at the thought. The 22-year-old says while he understands their anxiety, parents shouldn’t be joining their children’s job interviews or contacting employees on their behalf.

“That trend,” he says, “has really hurt my generation by creating this kind of stereotype that we need our hands held.”