Drop everything: Holy Grail Porsche 959 for sale
Commissioned by Zeppelin's manager, owned by Atkinson, upgraded by Porsche and in Wine Red Metallic. Perfection?
There are a few criteria boxes to tick when it comes to making a proper collector's car, whether hot hatch or hyper exotic. The model itself needs some historical significance, a place in the canon of automotive greats that either existed since launch or earned over time; the specific example will always be more interesting for a rare or unique spec to make it stand out; an interesting backstory is nice to have, a flawless history absolutely essential. Considered by those metrics, this is the jackpot.
It’s a Porsche 959, most obviously, the progenitor of the modern Porsche marvels. A twin-turbo flat-six, intelligent four-wheel drive, lightweight materials and adjustable dampers sound very familiar to a new 911 - here is where Porsche used them first, as it attempted to build a car for Group B glory. It’s one of the homologation special superheroes, built in very small numbers and with little concern for budget. Sequential turbos, magnesium alloy wheels and automatic ride height lowering to benefit aero are cool features now - and this went on sale 40 years ago. A 959 obviously ranks with the Carrera GT and 918 Spyder as one of the greatest ever Porsches.
A cool spec? Indubitably. A Porsche Stage II upgrade has delivered faster spooling blowers and a quicker-witted ECU, providing the car with 550hp-grade performance. But the colour is arguably more noteworthy: it seems not all the 959s were silver, black or white. This Komfort-grade machine is Wine Red Metallic, and that’s really just the start of the funky choices - look at the interior. That’s champagne and burgundy, an '80s working lunch spectacularly transformed into a Porsche interior. The ad believes the colour combo might be unique - you can probably be quite confident about that.
Who would commission such a thing? It’s believed to have been Peter Grant, once the legendary manager of Led Zeppelin and famous in his time for a collection of incredible cars. This was delivered new to Grant in 1988 - so that's an interesting backstory very much covered off. With the current owner for more than 25 years, chassis 171 was even in the possession of Rowan Atkinson at one point. You know it’s cool if Blackadder himself has owned it.
As for the flawless history, try this for conscientious care: it’s only ever been maintained at Porsche Centre Reading. Anything this 959 has needed in its entire life has been undertaken at the same Porsche retailer - the one that looks after the press fleet. For more than a third of a century, too - amazing. It hasn't sat still gathering dust, either: there are now 34,865 miles under those lightweight wheels, and evidently the condition is fabulous. Best hope Berkshire isn’t too far from home…
As befits the specification and the provenance, this is right at the upper end of 959 values. There is another Komfort on PH with fewer miles for £1.8m; but if you want Wine Red Metallic (and why on earth wouldn’t you?), it’s going to be £2.25m. Which means this 959 has the honour of being the most valuable Porsche (with a price listed, that is) on PH at the moment - quite right too. If you’ve been looking for a 959 to sit alongside an F40 and a Countach in a real-life 80s poster collection, this is the perfect and potentially only chance to do it properly...
It's a line in the sand marking the evolution of the car. The F40 was faster, and better looking, but a bit of runt technologically speaking in comparison...
To have them both though..... urgh
I'm not sure I've ever seen one of these in the metal. An F40 is as common as much in comparison!
I remember working out when Bill Gates bought his, it was the equivalent in % of wealth terms of what I spent on my lunchtime sandwich!
And here on follows the jealous grumbling moody negative comments of the typical piston head reader .
It is even worse in the colour combination.
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