Finally got the 959 after getting its recommissioning. Its now spot on! Only 6k miles and a special order colour. Here are some photos. Regards Alex Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
And some more photos.... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Beautiful car Alex. Did you have the Porsche restoration workshop in Stuttgart do everything for you ?
In the Uk, Porsche headquarters in Reading did it. They are the only authorised 959 specialists here.
Congrats. I love the interior, it looks great with meteor gray. There was a great article on the 959s in Hemmings Exotic and Sports Car magazine last year. A bit of interesting trivia they mentioned was that the front windshield in a 959 is bullet proof, as the engineers at Porsche were concerned that the driver/passenger could be seriously injured if a rock or something hit the windshield while the car was traveling at 190+ mph. Very cool. Great car, hope you have lots of fun with it. I hope to see more pix of it soon. Best regards, Dino
DINO: Can you scan the Hemmings 959 article? I missed that one. I would be happy to send you .PDFs of articles on the 959 that I have in exchange. ALEX: Congrats again on a great car. I hope you post some driving impressions when you get the chance. Does your 959 have the upgraded turbos ("Stage 2")? They're supposed to spool up quicker and produce more power--just what the 959 needs!
Don, thanks. No, the car is stock. I will enquire at the factory about the stage 2 upgrade which I believe adds another 75hp. It all depends on costs, and ultimately dollars/pounds per horsepower! Unfortunately anything remotely having to do with the 959 is usually eyewateringly expensive! I have heard something along the lines of another 100k for that! Maybe that's wrong. However if that is the case, I might as well buy a 993 turbo and hop the pants off off it for a lot less and have another fast car! In the end, for me, the 959 is not about speed ultimately. I think a modern 997 turbo does everything the 959 can much better in objective terms and for a lot less. However the 959 is a very important piece of Porsche history that no other Porsche can mimic or take away from it. Furthermore, I think it also looks cool as well......
The 959 is the king of 911's. Amazing technological achievement from Stuttgart and is a piece of auto history.
A friend of mine was very interested in that car if you didn't buy. The previous two owners including Harrison took very good care of it always taking it to JT for service. The turbo upgrade isn't all that expensive. Another car i know that was just exported had the upgrade done in the UK. Besides adding extra HP the turbos spin up faster and together. Yours is one of the few low mileage examples left untouched. No plastic surgery needed
Usually the Sport has only a left hand side wing mirror. However I know of 2 sports that had both mirrors attached following special request on ordering. Also some sports(but not all) had a interior diagonal roll bar in the rear which could be seen from the outside. That's it really. No other visual exterior differences.
I couldn't agree with you more about the iconic status of the 959, Alex. Work on the design specs for the 959 started a quarter century ago! One would hope that, after a 25-year march of automotive technology, some cars today would indeed be quicker/faster/better cornering than the 959. But as you say, that is not the whole point. A company called "Auto Evolution" did the conversion to Stage 2 turbos for the former owner of my 959. I don't know where in the UK they are located, but their telephone number is 07963 198091. I have the invoice for that work. The parts cost for the two new turbos was 4584 British pounds. Labor--or "labour"--is hard to figure out, as other work was done on the car, but the total labor cost for everything including the turbo conversion was 3000 pounds. "Mapping" (the engine controller, I guess) was another 3000 pounds. Horsepower with the new turbo setup is quoted as 583. I don't have a torque spec. I believe one of Porsche's UK Special Vehicle reps, John T., can help with this, if you are interested, as he looked after my 959 for the previous owner. PM me if you want more info.
Thanks for the info Don. I don't think I would do it unless a Porsche authorised dealer/and or factory did it. I have already enquired here at Porsche headquarters UK and they will get back to me. He told me they had done a couple already in the past. However he says he is not sure if the parts are all available to still do the stage 2, but will get back to me once he has checked with Germany. I think the bill will probably run a teeny weeny bit higher than Auto evolution, however I am sure I will soon find out! I'll try to stay seated when he tells me! I'll keep you in the loop.
THere should not be a problem having Porsche do this. Not sure of the cost as it has been a few years since I had this upgrade performed. I am looking to buy two cars now and plan to have at least one done by the factory. If JT and Porsche REading won't do it, inquire at Porsche Werks directly. At 3000 pounds to "map" my guess is that someone connected to POrsche did this, not the installer.
