She Bought Her Porsche Back for $250K
Porsche 911
Porsche 911•
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What would make someone spend $250,000 to buy back a car they once sold? For Dr. Phyllis Yes, the answer was simple: her 1967 Porsche 911S wasn't just an old sports car—it was a piece of her own artistic history.
In 1984, Oregon-based artist Dr. Yes transformed the vintage Porsche into an unusual art car called “Por-She.” Using real lace as a stencil, she created an intricate pattern across the body, deliberately challenging the traditionally masculine image of the sports car. The result was so distinctive that the Wall Street Journal once described it as the world's fastest doily.
The 911 served as a mobile art exhibit during the mid-1980s before eventually returning to Dr. Yes's studio. In 2010, it was sold to another owner, who carefully restored the Porsche while preserving its unusual paintwork. Dr. Yes even helped touch up parts of the artwork herself. The car later appeared at Monterey in 2013 and won the People's Choice Award at the Legends of the Autobahn show.
Born Phyllis Danker in Minnesota in 1941, Dr. Yes has spent decades working as an artist, playwright and educator. Her work often challenges social conventions with humor, and the Por-She fits perfectly into that philosophy. She even gave a Colt 1911 pistol a similar lace-inspired treatment.
Decades later, the Porsche appeared on Bring a Trailer. Concerned that its rising value might eventually put the artwork at risk, Dr. Yes returned with a $250,000 bid and bought her creation back. Her plan is to preserve the car and eventually place it in a museum.
Should a historically significant art car like Por-She be preserved behind museum glass, or should it still be driven? Does its unconventional paintwork make this 911 more valuable as art than as a collectible Porsche? And was buying it back the best way for Dr. Yes to protect her legacy?
Whatever the answer, Por-She has become something rare: a classic Porsche that is simultaneously a collector car, a cultural statement and a piece of automotive art.