Porsche 959 Paris-Dakar Sells For A Whopping $6 Million

The rally machine was one of six Porsches that went for seven figures.

Classic Porsches can command high prices on the open market, some selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars. It's unusual to see them fetch over a million, let along multiple millions, but that's just what this one did – nearly doubling its estimated value in the process.

It's a 1985 Porsche 959 – one of just a few hundred examples of the supercar made. But this one is even rarer. It's one of just seven that Porsche prepared to tackle the Paris-Dakar Rally, four of which were retained by the factory, leaving just three to circulate among private collectors.

RM Sotheby's estimated it would sell for upwards of $3 million as part of its sale at the Porsche Experience Center in Atlanta on the occasion of the marque's 70th anniversary. But when the gavel dropped, it sold for nearly twice that: $5,945,000.

That, by our count, makes this the third most valuable Porsche ever sold at auction – behind only the 917K that Gooding Sold at Pebble Beach last year for $14 million, and the 956 it moved two years prior for over $10 million. (Fourth if you account for inflation on the 917 that Mecum sold in 2012 for $5.8m, or $6.2m in today's money.)

While the rally machine was the top lot of the sale, it wasn't the only one to sell for seven figures. Another 959 factory prototype sold for a million even, a 1973 Carrera RS 2.7 went for just over a million, a 918 Spyder for $1.4m, and the Project Gold 993 Turbo (as we reported the other day) raised over $3.4 million for the Ferry Porsche Foundation. However a 956 Group C racer that was valued at $5.25-6.75 million apparently didn't reach its reserve price and is still for sale.

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Project Gold Porsche Sells For Over $3 Million

Not bad for a newly built 20-year-old design that can’t be driven on public roads

Project Gold truly lived up to its name as the Porsche 993 Turbo S that was built by Porsche Classic over a painstaking one and a half years was auctioned off at the Porsche Experience Centre in Atlanta as part of the “RM Sotheby’s – The Porsche 70th Anniversary Auction 2018” event. After 37 bids that took a mere ten minutes, this one-off 911 Turbo Classic series car was sold for 2,743,500 Euros (around $3,127,060 US dollars), with proceeds from the sale going to the not-for-profit Ferry Porsche Foundation.

That may seem like a rather steep price even considering the current stratospheric amounts air-cooled Porsches are commanding these days, but this is one very special vehicle that is effectively a brand-new car built up from a stock of 6,500 original parts offered by Porsche Classic for the 993.

The original 993 bodyshell was galvanized using modern techniques and finished in a Golden Yellow metallic paintwork referencing the shade used on the current 911 Turbo S Exclusive Series. The seats and interior trim are in black with Golden Yellow details and the turbo-style wheels are also black with subtle yellow detailing. Every other component of the car is from components that were available to customers purchasing the last-of-the-line 993 Turbo S back in 1998, even the chassis number follows on from the last Turbo that rolled off the production line.

The engine is a brand-new 450-horsepower 3.6-liter twin-turbo air-cooled motor mated to a six-speed manual transmission driving all four wheels, exactly as in the earlier cars built 20 years ago.

The car may have been built in the Porsche factory using an original bodyshell but thanks to modern safety and emissions regulations it will never be allowed to drive on public roads. It could be used as a track toy but we highly doubt its new owner will do much more than park it in a secure garage and wait for it to appreciate even further in value.

The Classic division that made this build possible also stocks around 52,000 parts for all types of older Porsches and as a treat for 911 owners, Project Gold created two more genuine parts that they can now order for their cars. These are a new aluminum tank cap and black tailpipe that can be fitted to any 911 built between 1980 and 1998.

There may be thousands of retromod 911s prowling the streets these days but this 993 Turbo S stands head and shoulders above them all in a way only Porsche could have done.

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