Rare Porsche 959 Sport for Sale at Canepa

The 959 Sport was originally intended to be a track-day special for U.S. buyers to subvert DOT rules outlawing the standard 959 Komfort. When that failed, Porsche attempted to institute a one-make racing series for U.S. customers as well. Both ideas were struck down by government officials, and all of the cars were refused entry to the country at the port. Only 29 were built, and this is one of those exceedingly rare cars. This 1988 example might be among the most-original, lowest-mile 959s out there, with only 2,209 miles on the odometer.

Differing from the standard 959 Komfort a bit, the Sport has a traditional coil-on-spring suspension setup, eschewing the Komfort’s hydro-pneumatic setup for something simpler. As such, you can easily spot a Sport by its lack of hydraulic fluid filler door on the driver’s side. Also unique are cloth sport-seats with four-point harnesses and a factory-fitted rollbar.

This car is available for purchase at Canepa‘s Northern California showroom, after spending most of its life in exceptional collections. This car was initially ordered by George Gillett of Florida, but after it was refused by U.S. Customs, Porsche had to sell elsewhere, and it was moved on to a French Porsche enthusiast who put the first 1430 miles on it. In 2008 it was sold to a German collector who put on about 500 miles and sold it a few years later to a Kuwaiti collector, Fawaz Al-Hasawi. The Al-Hasawi collection was liquidated in 2015 and comes to Canepa by way of Tallacrest in the U.K. with just 50 additional miles.

A $15,000 recent service was completed in the U.K., and the Canepa team considers this to be “an excellent original example of one of the best sportscars ever built. Fully concours prepared, this legendary, as-new Porsche is ready to anchor any car collection, or for the indulgent, ready to be driven and experienced.”

That seems like high praise to me. What do you think?

Chime in with your thoughts on the forum. >>

Via [Canepa]