Yahoo Autos One of You Needs to Buy This Paris-Dakar Porsche 959
Porsche's legendary 959 was originally conceived to enter Group B rally, but the class was banned before it had the chance. It did see some off-road racing, however, competing in the legendary Paris-Dakar rally in 1985 and 1986. Just six cars total were built for the race, and this 1985 example marks the first time one has come up for public sale.
Welcome to You Must Buy, our daily look at the cars you really should be buying instead of that boring commuter sedan.
If you know your 959 history, you'll realize that this race car actually predates the street car. Porsche developed these Paris-Dakar 959s as a testbed for the road car, so really, you can think of this as more of a prototype. It wears the body panels from the 959, and is equipped with its advanced four-wheel drive system, but it has a naturally aspirated 3.2-liter flat-six from a 911 Carrera instead of a twin-turbo 2.85-liter.
Porsche entered the 959 in the Dakar at the behest of driver Jacky Icxk, who ran the 1984 event in a 953, a heavily modified four-wheel drive 911 that was a predecessor of sorts to the 959. This car was run by 1984 winner René Metge and Dominique Lemoyne, and unfortunately, it didn't finish the race due to an oil-line failure. Separate incidents took out the other two 959s entered in the 1985 Dakar, but with new cars in 1986, Porsche was dominant, taking 1st, 2nd, and 6th overall.
RM Sotheby's, the auction house selling this car, says that only five Dakar 959s survive today and of those, only two or three are in private hands. That makes this quite an interesting opportunity for Porsche collectors. Well-heeled Porsche collectors, to be clear, as it's expected to sell for $3 million to $3.4 million when it's auctioned at Porsche's North American headquarters in October.
If that's too expensive for you, then RM Sotheby's has another interesting 959 for grabs at the same auction. It's a 1985 prototype that's possibly the only one of its kind in running order. It'll only set you back a totally reasonable $1.6 million.
You Might Also Like
