Rare Porsche 959 on eBay
Very special car goes up for sale
Porsche 959
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.
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When I was a kid, it was a toss up between this, an F40 or a Countach/Diablo.
The F40 was always number one for me, but I still hankered after a black 959 (and still do)
Nick Faldo had one IIRC. I seem to remember a story that one of his wives had a big argument with him and took to his 959 with a set of his golf clubs.
He was more worried about his custom-made, hand built clubs than the car....
www.autoselect.se/cars_view.asp?ID=4304
urgh. walnut dash. wtf is that doing in there? ive cancelled my bid.
urgh. walnut dash. wtf is that doing in there? ive cancelled my bid.
The interiour really lets it down
When I was a kid, it was a toss up between this, an F40 or a Countach/Diablo.
The F40 was always number one for me, but I still hankered after a black 959 (and still do)
Nick Faldo had one IIRC. I seem to remember a story that one of his wives had a big argument with him and took to his 959 with a set of his golf clubs.
He was more worried about his custom-made, hand built clubs than the car....
Have heard the Faldo story as well - His much younger 2nd or 3rd wife took a 7 iron to the roof - I think he was pretty bothered about the car, though, and I think that POorsche GB arranged the repair.
www.autoselect.se/cars_view.asp?ID=4304
thats a different car surely?? one on fleabay has a roll cage and black seats by the looks of it ....
When I was a kid, it was a toss up between this, an F40 or a Countach/Diablo.
The F40 was always number one for me, but I still hankered after a black 959 (and still do)
Nick Faldo had one IIRC. I seem to remember a story that one of his wives had a big argument with him and took to his 959 with a set of his golf clubs.
He was more worried about his custom-made, hand built clubs than the car....
Have heard the Faldo story as well - His much younger 2nd or 3rd wife took a 7 iron to the roof - I think he was pretty bothered about the car, though, and I think that POorsche GB arranged the repair.
I saw the Faldo 959 at a Christie's auction in London while I worked for them. It ended up at a Porsche specialist in Yorkshire. I have the catalogue at home for the sale, I'm pretty sure Ruf took care of the bodywork after the golf club incident. I remember the newspapers at the time and I felt sorry for the car when I read it! Have to say that they did a pretty good repair job on it, I didn't notice anything on the bodywork when I saw it in the metal/plastic/aluminium/fibreglass etc etc...
Personally, I always wanted a 959 over the F40... A legend of a car.
Yeah there is a Z8 next it in some photos, but they made 5700 Z8s (as opposed to less than 200 959s), I see at least a couple driving around on nice days near work.
Hard to know how many Eb-110s are around as the ymade the first lot, the I think Dur or someone made some more later on, there are around 150 at least I think, so a bit rarer than a 959, but not much.
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