Porsche Created a Limited Run of 959s in 1992

By Adam Pockross - June 2, 2016

porsche 959

Most Rennlisters know what a technological leap forward Porsche made with the 959, so I’ll spare you the rehashing of history — from the incredible, spare-no-expense engineering that went into the project during the boom years of the early ’80s, to the realization that the production price could ultimately sink the company. What you might not know about the 959 though, is that in 1992, four years after production halted, Porsche found enough extra parts lying around to produce another limited run of the historic model.

Road & Track‘s Chris Perkins recently made such an interesting discovery while perusing Wikipedia for another story. Upon checking, the site does indicate that from 1986-1988 and 1992-1993, Porsche produced “337+8” 959s. And it goes on to mention the following:

“In 1992/1993, Porsche built eight 959s assembled from spare parts from the inventory at the manufacturing site in Zuffenhausen. All eight were ‘Komfort’ versions: four in red and four in silver. These cars were much more expensive (DM 747,500) than the earlier ones (DM 420,000).”

Since Wikipedia isn’t always the most reliable source, Perkins confirmed with Porsche that some 1992 959s do indeed exist, though they don’t know how many. So Perkins dug further and called 959 expert Bruce Canepa, who believes there are actually only six 1992 959s, and they were all bought by the same collector in Macau.

But no one really knows for sure how many of the limited run 959s actually exist. So it remains somewhat of a mystery. What’s not a mystery though, is that they’re the exact same as the earlier production run, but worth a lot more money.

Check out the entire R&T story, as it’s quite detailed and offers an interesting look at an innovative yet tremulous time in Porsche history. Then hop back onto the forum and let us know what you think.