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.
