959 - road sighting

[island911]

Heading out of Redmond today; a Silver 959. (sorry, no pict's )

Gates?

[legion]

Has to be. There are only 2 in the country that I know of.

[LeeH]

There was one at Phoenix Flight today. Wow!

[porsche356a]

I think it is Gates.

I've seen the silver one in a local shop before.

I hear it blows engines occasionally.

[genrex]

Island, was he headed toward the 520 bridge, to go home to Medina?

I passed him westbound on the 520 bridge about 15 years ago.. he was driving an Acura. In recent years, I've assumed he goes everywhere in a security-chauffered vehicle, and I'm glad to hear that's not true. I guess it must get boring after a while, driving the 959 only at the track. Besides, for the locals who are used to an occasional Lambo or Ferrari sighting (there was a red 360 at the north-end QFC the other day), seeing a 959 on the road makes for a really rare and special day. Thanks for the report.

[MichiganMat]

Originally posted by legion
Has to be. There are only 2 in the country that I know of.

No way man, there are wwwaayyy more than that. Canepa Design has been importing them for years now. Hes got a dozen on his lot in Santa Cruz at any one time.

[Steve Carlton]

Didn't the first two go to Bill Gates and Paul Allen? I've heard of others since. How would a 959 compare to the stuff sold here normally today?

[island911]

Originally posted by LeeH
There was one at Phoenix Flight today. Wow!

Geez, Phoenix and Redmond . ..in the same day . . .they ARE fast.


Yeah, genrex, it was on 520, headed toward Medina. After Marymoore, Right before the Microsoft campus exits. I was already in the exit lane. . . .the 959 was in the "fast-lane" moving slowly, a bit boxed in by traffic.

I would be a bit surprised if it was Gates himself driving (so slowly). I know that if I were him, driving such a capable, yet conspicuous Porsche, I wouldn't be driving as if I was in a parade.

Well, anyway, I think it's cool to see such a super-car on the road. Especially in the light of the battle they had to engage in just to get the "road worthy okay" .

[Porschephile944]

I saw one in the parking lot of the Castle Hill Concourse in Ipswich Mass in 2002. I have no idea who owns it.

[Shuie]

Originally posted by Steve Carlton
Didn't the first two go to Bill Gates and Paul Allen?

I dont know who had the first one in the states, but I know Ron Rice had owned one for several years when I was still living in Daytona. The story was that his was one of two in the country at the time ('95) at that it was totally illegal for him to drive it on the street. I dont know how true the story was but he did drive it occasionally.

[austin552]

There are lots of kits out there too...

[MichiganMat]

In a nutshell:

Gates a few shipped a pair of 959s into the states thinking he could just keep them and not drive them. No problem, they will just change things with the DOT and they'll be drivable. I seem to remember that Porsche made a fool out of the head of the DOT back in the original importation and he had a major stick up his butt. "The 959 will never drive on American soil" he's quoted as saying. The cars sat at the dock for years.

10 years go by, and finally Canepa and Gates and the lawyers get some congressman/senator who is a friend of MS to toss on this transportation bill onto some other really important bill that was guaranteed to go through and...

Viola.

They completely bypass the DOT with the legislation, the head of the DOT nearly loses his mind. 12 or 13 years after the first 959 came to the states it was released out of the holding zone in Oakland CA and sent to Canepas for federalization.

[genrex]

I didn't know that. Great story!

Island, it could've been him, but for sure the security guys would be close by. Anyway, too bad he wasn't right next to you.. that would've been way cool.

[Eric Coffey]

Here's some more interesting info:

http://forums.autoweek.com/thread.jspa?forumID=13&threadID=3903

[island911]

Originally posted by genrex
. .. but for sure the security guys would be close by. Anyway, too bad he wasn't right next to you.. that would've been way cool.

If I were driving my 911 I would have been, for sure. But (on Eric Coffey's recommendation) I was on a BMW test drive, with my wife. (she was driving)

Anyway, the 959 was no replica . . . wheels and shaved rain gutters are the first thing I look for. (well actually, the 959 replicas usually have something else that srceams "rong" . . like "959 cabrio," or body panels of fiberglass fluttering in the wind.)

[Neilk]

My old mechanic in Miami used to service a 959 that apparently was owned by a car dealer so it had dealer plates. This was back in '94-'95.

[Carrera3.5L]

The very first 959 that came into the USA was silver and was at Andial for a few months in 1988. It was owned by I believe an orthopedic surgeon somewhere in the Bay area.

The car was flat-bedded to us (I was working there at the time) because it couldn't be legally driven. In the attempt to federalize it, the standard 959 exhaust was replaced with a bastardized exhaust that featured a Corvette catalytic convertor.

The car ran like absolute crap, would not make boost with the highly restrictive exhaust. We special ordered a 959 exhaust from Porsche in Germany (which was over $8K at the time) for fitment to the car. The car obviously came to life and was a blast to drive (Yes, I got to drive the car for a few miles).

We subsequently received another 959 a few months later, this one being red and was converted to a full-blown race car. We also had a 961 for awhile which as many know was used in the Paris-Dakar event.

I have pictures of all (way before the digital age) somewhere stashed away.

Ralph

P.S. - I thought the 959 was fast until getting to drive the 964 with the water-cooled 962C motor stuffed inside.

[Jeff Higgins]

I've seen that car a couple of times, island. I don't know what to look for to distinguish a real one from a replica, so I thought it was a fake. There is a black one running around the Lynnwood area as well. It is a cabriolet and an obvious fake. Having seen both of these cars within days I just assumed both were fakes. I'll have to look a little closer if I see the silver one again. Probably not until spring now; I can't imagine taking one out in our foul wet winter weather.

[legion]

Ridiculous! I am never wrong.

[kach22i]

Pictures:
http://www.flat-6.net/forum/showthread.php?t=16414