959 sighting?

Unfortunately, slim to none it was real. I'm almost positive none of them were certified for street use in the States. Then again, you may have witnessed an 'airing out of the pipes' of the contra banned supercar for some special occasion? I saw one in a museum in San Diego back in '94.

 

Canapa Designs federalized many 959s. There are many that are street legal.

 

I've seen it around as well, you weren't seeing things. Sounded pretty nice too!

 

I spotted the car last Friday night at Chicago & Orleans. I posted in the spotters section and was surprised no one said anything!

 

They are rare. The only one I ever saw was in the Porsche Museum in Zuffenhausen:

Hell of a car and Ferrari was lucky that the FISA cancelled the Group B rallying. The 288 GTO would have been eaten alive by this techno uebergadget.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Monterey Historics 2008 (two of them!)

I've seen several over the years.
Forever ago (maybe 1987), there was a real one at the Porsche place in Highland Park (red).
Saw one for sale in Hollywood maybe 2002

If I recall, I believe Bill Gates got Bill Clinton to pass a special "rich guys can register his expensive car" bill (Bill got Bill to pass a bill). Now they are street legal.
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

They are now street legal under the Gates display and drive law. If I recall correctly, it basically says you can drive a car if it is X years old and is of some historical significance. There is a yearly mileage limit. Since the national Porsche parade is to be at Pheasant Run in St. Charles next year, perhaps some will turn up.

 

Wow! How cool! Any more info on this?

 

Here 'ya go sleuth.

http://parade2010.pca.org//

I am pretty heavy involved. If the time comes & I can help you get connected I most certainly will do so.

 

pretty sure there is a white one (or was a white one) at autowerks. saw a pic of it on rons FB i think. maybe....maybe not...lol

 

Jeremy, that's definitely not a 959. I think it's a Porsche 930 Slant Nose, but I'm not 100% sure. I attached the pic below, so you Porsche experts can tell us what it is.

Thank you very much Michael! I'll definitely take you up on that, looks like a great event!
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

There are quite a few replicas running around. I saw this one a year ago. This is a really good one, and the fact that I saw it at Porsche of Westmont made me think it was the real deal. But upon close inspection of the mirrors, fenders, slats, rims, bumpers ect., it's not.
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I know Michael Jordan has/had a silver 959 in the area -- could have very well been his car.

 

That is indeed a 930 (Turbo) Slantnose not a 959.

 

Well crud! I leave the area after YEARS of seeing the Vettes swarming the place each season for their Bloomington Gold thing & NOW they bring in the Porsches...

p.s.: Have seen maybe 1/2 dozen 959s in the flesh over the years - including the original Gruppe B prototype that was displayed in a somewhat out of the way spot at the Chicago auto show back in (1983?). Right up there on my favorite vehicles list.

 

It starts on a Saturday and ends on a Thursday?

 

Bill Clinton did sign the bill with the revised regulations published in the Federal Regestry in 1999, but it was written by Rep. Billy Tauzin, the then-chair of the Subcommittee on Telecommunication, Trade and Consumer Protection and pushed through the Senate by Sen. Bill Nighthorse Campbell. That Bill Gates had anything to do with it is a myth. A guy named Gary Bartlett was the real force behind it in order to import an XJ220 for himself. This was one of the first pieces of legislation that I was trusted to work on as a young Capitol Hill staffer.

 

Age means litle on this one, cars imported under Show or Display Regulations are limited to 2500 miles a year.

 

While I do like well made replicas, I don't quite see the point in this: A 959 is such an ueber Porsche, that any P car underneath simply disappoints.

Haley & Chelle's 250 GTO-R by now probably outruns the original, so its looks don't sell the performance short. But a 911 with a 959 body can only disappoint.

It's a bit like slamming a GTO body on a 308 without any engine upgrades.

 

The Canapa Designs 959's are no longer a truly authentic 959 under the skin either. The adjustable suspension is removed, and the twin sequential turbos are changed out with a much more powerful non-sequential system. So most 959's legally on US Streets, is a cooler experiance than original, but it is not the same underneath.

 

Danville CA
Blackhawk Museum 10/09
959 prototype
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Good observation about Canepa's 959s. Some of his mods were done to get the 959 into compliance with U.S. EPA emissions regs, as the "Show and Display" law allowed some cars to be exempted from U.S. DOT safety regs, but not EPA emissions. Other mods by Canepa were his interpretations of improving on Porsche's original design, and/or mitigating some design flaws or maintenance issues that Porsche likely would have corrected had they continued to produce the car. I have spoken to a number of people who have owned or driven 959s with Canepa mods. Some like 'em, some don't.

Fortunately, thanks to the passage of time, most 959s can be brought into the U.S. today without any mods at all, as once a car becomes 21 years old, it is exempted from EPA emissions regs. This one (below) is waiting for me to arrange transport to the U.S. It will be one of the very few 959s in the country still in (mostly) original spec, just as Gott und Dr. Helmuth Bott intended. It has been upgraded at Porsche Stuttgart to Stage 2 specs, with smaller (faster spool up) turbos and some other nice touches. A quarter century after the initial design work on the 959, many of its features can be found on some current Porsche models that can also give the 959 a good run in performance too. For me, though, the 959 is still "The Icon". It was the engineering tour de force flagship of a company noted for decades for its superlative engineering.
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I posted a couple of these on here a long time ago. These are from 1988 when a buddy of mine called me up and asked if I wanted to see a weird Porsche. He worked at an import/export place and said the car was in the Luftansa warehouse at O'Hare Airport. Being 19 years old, what else would I want to do. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this 959 sitting up on a pallet! This was the like seeing an escaped convict back in those days!!
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Excellent. I love pics like those. makes you wonder where the car is now.