Essentially a jacked-up 911 with
all-wheel drive, the 959 started off in life as a Group B rally
car designed to conquer the Paris-Dakar rally. After a
disappointing debut in 1985, Porsche proved it could get dirty by
taking first and second place in 1986.
Its all-wheel drive
system performed incredibly well, in fact every 911 Turbo to come
after it would feature four-wheel traction. In addition, the
sports car wore magnesium wheels with run-flat tires, and its
450-hp flat-six engine introduced the brand to sequential
turbocharging.
The 959 wasn’t just one of the most
progressive sports cars of its time, it was also one of the most
expensive. Each of the 300 examples sold for an incredible
$225,000 — a lot of money in 1986 — but that was less than half
what it cost Porsche to make the car. Today, they’ll fetch well
over $1 million at auction.
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