A 959 Porsche is a very rare bit of kit, with just 292 made because they were primarily designed as Group B rally cars — and homologation rules meant at least 200 had to come off the production line.
They’re worth about $1.5 million nowadays, but how about one that’s been in a serious prang?
Well, such a 959 fetched an eye-watering $638,000 in Australian folding stuff when it went to auction at Monterey this week.
The Mecum auction house was pretty spot-on with its estimate, even though its catalogue somehow failed to mention the significant damage the car’s front had sustained.
The focus was the n 2.8-litre flat-six boxer motor and the 331kW it produced.
It was the world’s fastest street-legal production car when introduced, capable of 320km/h with a few tuned to reach 340km/h.
A few more cars were built in later years and all up 337 came out of the factory.
In the 1980s the 959 was considered the most technologically advanced road-going sports car ever built, and one of the first high-performance vehicles with all-wheel drive.
The car on auction was listed for sale through a broker last year when it had 3500 miles on its odometer and an asking price of $1.78 million, originally sold in Japan with gauges changed from metric to imperial for its US buyer.
Whoever the purchaser was probably failed to realise the 959 was a hairy supercar, devoid of all the driver-saving electronic devices of today.
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You had to be a full hands-on driver to control the beast.
So, just 250km later it arrived at the Mecum auction with a severely bent nose. However, the engine and transmission appeared to be undamaged.
Another worry for the unnamed buyer is that this particular 959 was a Komfort model, which came with adjustable suspension, which would certainly need expert (very expensive) repairs to its mashed front end.
Still, if you have the cash, it’s probably a sound investment. Just drive with great care.
