Porsche 959 'Vorserie': Under the hammer
The latest on Keith's auction hit list is a rather special pre-production 959
959 accrued 50,000 km as a demo car!
The Italian car had its most deadly adversary licked for looks and drama, but aside from the composites used extensively in its body and chassis, it lagged some way behind Stuttgart's finest when it came to overall tech. And we're now in the situation - approaching 30 years on - that the Porsche isn't as highly-prized by the market as the Ferrari, with auction values running at between a half and two-thirds. But what do they know?
If it's the Porsche you want, this is good news - prices range from around £300,000 to £500,000, while the Ferrari is getting dangerously close to becoming a million pound car. The Porsche and the Ferrari were much closer until a couple of years ago, when the GTO cantered away, spurred on by the overall surge in value of top-end Ferraris. We're hoping the 959 doesn't follow too closely, because the less a phenomenal car like this costs, the more accessible it is - relatively speaking. What the legendary 959 needs is recognition, without the need to resort to a seven-figure value.
Just 21 959 prototypes were made
It was originally displayed at the Porsche Zentrum sales facility throughout 1986, and the continued service for the company through to 1989 as a factory demonstrator, clocking up around 50,000km in the process. They must have been some pretty lengthy test drives to log that many miles, and one can only assume, they were conducted at a suitably fast pace.
That might explain why, when Porsche finally sold this one in March 1989, in order to get it ready for its for its first private owner, the car received a thoroughly comprehensive overhaul. Bertram Lehnan was his name, and aside from an as-new, but leggy Guards Red 959, he received a letter from Porsche that spelled out the improvements: 'New drivetrain, new wheels and tyres, a new hydraulic system, all the electrical components were overhauled to newer series specification, new sport seats installed in leather, including motor completely overhauled, rear axle and suspension overhauled, front transaxle'. One can only assume that, befitting of the boom years of the 1980s, he paid handsomely.
959 has had only two owners after Porsche
In the past year, RM has auctioned two other 959s, each making £450,000-500,000. It's an epoch-making Porsche, and expect this one to achieve an epoch-making price.
If the thought of this two-owner pre-production 959 scares you a little, but you're set on buying one, Specialist Cars of Malton are just about to take delivery of a 959 Sport, on a Price on Application basis. And if you can't run to that you could, of course, go for the 959's spiritual successor, the 993 Turbo, which comes in at a much more manageable starting price of around £60,000. Start searching here, get it mildly chipped and enjoy 959-style performance at a fraction of the price.
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Most cars didnt have aircon back then, nobody died from a sweaty buumcrack.
Been on my lottery win list since, err, before there was a lottery.
I read once that if a car passed a stationary 959 at 100mph, the 959 could overtake it from standstill in under a mile. And I suspect it wouldn't matter what the weather was like, such was the grip.
The only car I'd ever need.
king for that decision!!!It wasn't the leading supercar of any era tho - the F40 beat it in every conceivable way from outright speed to poster sales.
It's appeal now is much like the F50s - unloved and overshadowed at the time it now appears more special and unique - I mean F40s are almost as common as chlamydia
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