Yahoo Autos 1988 Porsche 959 SC with famous history headed to Amelia Island auctions
Broad Arrow Auctions is taking a 1988 Porsche 959 SC Reimagined by Canepa to this year's sales at the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance, this example even more special than the average 959. The first bit of plumage setting this bird apart is documentation that shows it was a benchmark car Nissan bought to develop the all-wheel-drive system in the R32 Skyline GT-R. The second splash of color, literal and otherwise, is a four-year overhaul from Porsche specialists Canepa finished in metallic green. Both of those items contribute to a pre-sale estimate of between $3.25 and $3.75 million.
The Skyline-959 connection is a favored bit of lore in the GT-R's history. However, the GT-R's connection to Porsche goes well back before the R32. In 1964, a Porsche 904 beat the factory team of Prince Skyline S54 GT cars fielded by Japan's Prince Motor Company. Prince engineers, including Dr. Shinichiro Sakurai, returned to their offices to design a new engine and a new car that could beat Porsche. The Prince R380 did that two years later at the 1966 Japanese Grand Prix, its engine becoming the basis for the S20 inline-six that would power the first Nissan Skyline GT-R that debuted in 1969 but only lasted until 1973.
Fast forward to 1984: Nissan, which merged with Prince in 1966, was looking at its tech-heavy but unloved R31 Skyline, at Porsche's monumental 959, at a trophy cabinet lacking silverware from the top class, and at a corporate bank account filling with Bubble Economy profits. Naganori Ito, said to be Sukurai's "number one student," was put in charge of developing the R32 Skyline that returned the GT-R badge to the market.
