Prototype 959 of Saito: did it sell?

[HistoryBuff]

Last y ear there was an announcement from Art & Revs Gallery that they had
a Porsche 959 Prototype for sale.

In the announcement they said that Helmuth Bott, the head of development who worked on the Porsche 959, took 29 chassis of the Porsche 930 to turn them into the 959 pre-production prototypes. Three categories of prototypes were produced: F, N, and V. The V-series prototypes are the latest. These were used by Porsche for everything from media coverage to crash tests.

I continue , quoting verbatim: "Cue chassis number 10067. Internally referred to as V1KOM and registered as BB-PW481, this Porsche 959 was built in 1985, a year before the automaker started production of the Porsche 959. This example of the breed is one of four surviving prototypes and one of the two street-legal prototypes. As is often the case with pre-production mules, early design units are often destroyed or scrapped at the end of the development process for an all-new model.

Happily, however, this one survived and it can be yours if your pockets are deep enough. During the development for the 959, Porsche engineers used #10067 for ABS and tire tests. As such, this mule hasn’t seen too much abuse throughout its career as a pre-production prototype. After development concluded, #10067 was sold to Tachio Saito, a professor that happened to be a close friend of Ferry Porsche. Better known as the founder of the Porsche Owners’ Club of Japan, Saito took delivery of his prototype after 16 months of restoration performed by Porsche themselves.

After Saito, this particular Porsche 959 unit changed owners at least five times until now. Eventually, the prototype came up for sale again via the Art & Revs automobile gallery. Besides its interesting history, this $1,450,000 Zuffenhausen unicorn shows only 400 kilometers (250 miles) on the clock and comes with the pre-production magnesium wheels. "

My question is: was it sold? I guess you don't have to legalize it anymore for US. registration because it is over 25 years old?

[Dmitry at Pelican Parts]

Very interesting and thanks for sharing - if you ever find out how the story ended, please share!

[GH85Carrera]

Helmuth Bott came to Oklahoma City to talk to War Bonnet Tech when he was the head of development. He had a great speech and mentioned he had a 959 as his daily driver. He said he could drive it around and nobody paid it much attention.

He also had a personal car at home that was a Ford Model T. He said every time he drove the T he received lots of thumbs up and smiling people waving at him.

[panzerfaust]

about 20 years ago, i saw a prototype at vasek polak warehouse at a private pre-veiw before the auction. it was white also and in pretty scruffy shape.

[RichardNew]

At one time Holbert had a whole parking lot full of 959's. He then took them to a warehouse in upper Bucks County to hide them. The EPA was not amused.

Richard Newton
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