theiceman

I was visiting a small exotic car store the other day ...looking at the cars, he has a bigger show room at the back of the propertyand you can cut through the shop. I asked if I could cut through and he said fine. As I was walking through the shop ( one bay ) I had to walk underneath a car. I looked up , and sure enough I realized I was staring up into the engine bay of a 959, with the engine out on a bench as it was getting a clutch. I was just frozen for a few seconds staring and wishing I had a camera, not everybody get this view. Looked really old and dirty , this car has definitely been driven. Something that looked like radiators were on each of the rear quarters and i was surprised how small the CVs were. The underneath of the engine lid lood looked like it had a strange texture. then I remembered it was carbon fibre. I think I would have spent about a week or so just cleaning it up ,

Still pretty impresive, he had a Jag Xj220 also.

imcarthur

It must have been AutoForum. Was it the red 959 from UAE or Dubai? If yes, he has been trying to sell that all summer. I saw it/heard it at a Ferrari event in July. A cool car & not given the respect it deserves by the non-Porsche community imho.

Ian

2002M3Drew

I saw my first (and only) 959 at the factory in Zuffenhausen back in 1989. It was parked among all of the garden variety 911 C4s (including the one my father was picking up Euro Delivery). There was a row of black C4s, a row of silver C4s, and really long line of Guards Red ones. There, amongst them, was a Guards red 959. I remember my father looking at his new car, and all I could focus on was the 959 parked along side it. I asked the Porsche delivery tech about it, and his response was, "That car isn't really here...you aren't seeing it." He further explained that it was supposed to be crushed for some governmental testing reason, and they were literally hiding it! Kinda funny.

theiceman

Yes Ian it was the red 959. Figures it came from some place with lots of money is it looked well driven. The salesman said it was sold and the buyer wanted a clutch putting in. I guess Porsches are meant to be driven but looking at how filthy that engine and engine bay were I was a little dissapointed in the lack of respect. Wasn't there only 200 built ? and there have to be significantly less than that now ..

Peter Zimmermann

Rumor has it that one of the first ten was bought by a well known athlete. It was picked up at the factory on a rainy afternoon, and the next time it was seen was a couple hours later, upside down on the Autobahn after contacting a barrier (yes, it was still raining) at an estimated 140 mph. The car's driver was not hurt, the car was a write-off, but the factory actually took it back, salvaged what they could and put those bits into a new body!
Pete

imcarthur

Here are some pics of that red one from the July event. Pages 1, 6 & 9. Make A Wish Pics from Lucas

Just ignor all of the fancy Fcars . . .

Ian

theiceman

Hey Pete

200.......199.....

Edgy01

They produced around 235 actually.

Will post some shots I took when in Zuff. in the 1980s when about ten percent of them were there is various states of assembly.

Jay H

My mechanic told me about a 959 that came into the shop he works at (high end race shop with good factory support) several years ago. They were to do just normal fluid changes. He was somewhat uneasy working on the car due to not wanting any freak mishap to damage the car. They quickly finished the work and rolled it back on the trailer it came on.

It's definitely worth seeing a 959 in person if you can.

Peter Zimmermann

ice: LOL!

We saw one that was displayed at the Peterson Museum in L.A. a few years ago - it was placed near to a real '73 RS Lightweight and a couple of other Porsches that were almost as cool. Lust, nothing more, nothing less...

Pete