Janis Joplin's
1965 Porsche 356
Cabriolet
Janis
Joplin paid about $3,500 for this 1965
Porsche 356
Cabriolet when she bought it from a Beverly
Hills auto
dealer in September 1968. Prior to the sale,
the dealer
had painted the car oyster white.
Joplin, however, wanted something more
dramatic, and Dave
Richards, a friend and Big Brother roadie,
created this
psychedelic design, which includes an image
of Janis and
Big Brother on the front left fender.
The car
quickly became identified with Joplin, who
drove it around
San Francisco, where she lived, and down to
Los Angeles,
where she recorded. Whenever she parked it
somewhere, fans
would leave notes under the wipers. Once,
while Joplin was
at a gig, the car was stolen. The thief
spray painted it
gray, but when it was returned, Joplin found
an autoshop
that was able to recover the psychedelic
finish.