Rare Porsche 959 on eBay

Very special car goes up for sale

Porsche 959

Fancy a barely driven Porsche 959 -- Stuttgart's road-going rally car?

This one is alleged to be one of only 29 US Racing versions built by Porsche and claimed to be brand new, with only delivery miles. It's currently berthed at the US division of the Porsche tuning company Gemballa.

Hailed as the most technologically advanced road-going sports car ever built, the 959 project was hatched in 1981 with the aim of building a Group B rally car but eventually morphed at its 1986 launch into a road-going, four-wheel drive version of the 911, built mainly for homologation reasons. With its race-inspired chassis and sequentially turbocharged 450bhp 2.85-litre six-pot boxer engine, its lightweight aluminium and Kevlar body helped the 1,326Kg projectile hit 60mph from rest in 3.6 seconds.

Specially modified versions went on to win the 1986 Paris-Dakar Rally endurance test with a 1-2 finish.

The last one was built in 1989, after only 200 examples. The four-wheel drive system, which had been proven in the harshest of environments, went on to become the basis for the all-wheel-drive drivetrain used in 911s from the 993 Turbo onwards.

You could say that the advances made in the 959 project helped the 911 continue to this day -- especially since the rear-engined layout was looking at the time like an evolutionary dead end.

And this car? It's now for sale on eBay -- price to you, sir, a mere $375,000 (about £200,000). But hurry -- the auction ends today.