Bill Gates’ Passion for the Porsche 959 Helped Make It Legal in the U.S.
We can thank the Microsoft founder and philanthropist for making the Porsche 959 and many other cars road-legal in the U.S.
The Porsche 959 is, without a doubt, one of the most iconic supercars ever produced by anyone, a car that was so far ahead of its time in terms of technology and performance that it still holds up to many of today’s performance-focused machinery in more ways than one. However, what many may not realize is that the Porsche 959 wasn’t road legal in the U.S., at least until an unlikely person – Bill Gates, Microsoft founder and philanthropist – spent years fighting the government until it was.
Porsche’s reasoning for not bothering to get the 959 certified for sale in the U.S. was rather simple – here was a car that cost a whopping half-million dollars to produce, which is a lot of money today, let alone in 1987, and that’s not considering the fact that Porsche sold each one at a substantial loss. Thus, when the National Highway Traffic Administration asked for four cars to crash test, the automaker opted to simply leave Americans standing by the wayside, admiring this amazing machine from afar.
Regardless, Gates still ordered one, and so did Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and comedian/mega Porsche fanatic Jerry Seinfeld. Unfortunately for them, all three cars were impounded once they landed on U.S. soil, at which point some folks might have given up, rather than fight the government. However, Gates was more than happy to do the dirty work, and proceeded to spend the next 13 years before his lawyers managed to convince the powers that be to amend the old “25 year” import law.
Gates’ legal team contested that cars with a limited production run – like the Porsche 959 – should fall under a special rule and be legal to import into the country, a stipulation known as the “Show or Display” amendment, which allows low production – less than 500 units – vehicles to be imported into the U.S., even if they aren’t subjected to the requirements typically needed for a vehicle to be sold in America.
Today, many enthusiasts are well aware of this particular rule, but the fact that we can thank Bill Gates for making it happen, well, that’s a lesser known slice of automotive history.
Photos: Porsche
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