1987 Porsche 959 Komfort

Where to begin on the 959? Still to this day, the 959 can hold its own with any current performance car and feels thoroughly modern to drive. A technological tour-de-force and a car that pioneered advancements we now take for granted in modern 911s, there will never be another car that did so much in just one model.

In the early 1980's, to the joy of race fans worldwide, FISA introduced its new Group B road regulations. To qualify for homologation, manufacturers would have to produce and sell 200 road versions of their cars. Only two stepped up to the challenge: Ferrari with its 288 GTO and Porsche with its 959.

Porsche developed the ultimate powerplant; a twin-turbocharged 2.8 litre six-cylinder boxer engine with an air-cooled block and water-cooled heads. The water-cooled cylinder heads combined with the air-cooled block, 4-valve heads and sequential turbochargers allowed Porsche to extract 331 kW/450 hp from the compact, efficient, and rugged power unit. The engine was coupled to a unique 6-speed manual transmission, which was the first 6-speed sold in a street car. With a top-speed of 317 km/h and 0-100 km/h in just 3.6 seconds (fast even by today's standards) the 959 must have been almost alien in 1986 and it was comfortably the fastest accelerating car tested by Car and Driver in the 1980’s.

To create a lightweight shell, Porsche adopted an aluminium and Kevlar composite body over steel shell along with a Nomex floor, instead of the steel normally used on their production cars. The vehicle's weight of 1,450 kg helped to achieve its high performance level.

The 959 also featured the PSK (Porsche-Steuer Kupplung) all-wheel drive system which was able to apportion torque between the front and rear wheels depending on the demands at the time. Systems like the one Porsche developed are now taken for granted, however at the time this was truly cutting-edge.

The other big innovation was the 3 stage switchable dampers and computer controlled self-levelling suspension that could raise the car to as much as 18 cm from the standard ride height of 12 cm depending on the terrain and conditions the driver was on.

Limited to only 292 cars, Porsche demonstrated what was possible in the field of automotive design at that time. Costing well over twice that to build, Porsche lost money on every 959 sold in an effort to homologate their rally cars and create something truly special. 

Procured from Berlin, Germany, this 959 has covered only 7,477 km with 3 previous owners, one who cherished the car for over 20 years. Most 959s have been well used and global sales from the last 5 years show that most cars have done much higher mileage than this incredibly low mileage car we present here. Sitting in the astonishingly immaculate interior and taking in the perfect switchgear, unmarked leather and dash, this 959 still has the smell and feel of a car that just rolled off the production line, not a nearly 40 year old supercar icon.

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• Please note: this car is fully taxes paid including LCT, GST and Import Duties

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