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Janis Joplin's Psychedelic Porsche Going To Auction

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS/AP) -- Janis Joplin may have longed for a Mercedes-Benz in a song, but she actually drove a Porsche that's now on its way to the auction block in New York.

The singer's wildly painted 1965 Porsche 356C Cabriolet will be auctioned Dec. 10 by RM Sotheby's in New York.

Joplin was photographed atop the psychedelic convertible when she lived in San Francisco. She stayed in North Beach and had a house on Lyon Street in the Haight.

A house, formerly owned by the late US r
Haight-Ashbury house, formerly owned Janis Joplin. (Photo credit should read GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images)

The car has been featured at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland for the past two decades.

It's being sold by the Joplin family and is expected to bring more than $400,000.

Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin (1943 - 1970). (Photo by Evening Standard/Getty Images)

Joplin bought the pearly white Porsche in September 1968 and got a friend to customize it with a psychedelic mural. She drove it regularly until she died of a drug overdose in 1970.

The car was given a meticulous restoration in the early 1990s.

TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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