One of the earliest examples of Porsche first supercar is about to hit the open market.
RM Sotheby’s will auction off a 1985 959 “Vorserie” during its annual Monterey Car Week sale later this week. No, the car isn’t some obscure 959 variant you haven’t heard of; it’s one of five surviving V-series prototypes that were built the year before one of the greatest Porsches of all time went into series production.
There are performance vehicles and then there is the 959, which was Porsche’s attempt to build a street-legal race car. The project started out, in the early 1980s, as the company’s next Class-B rally car, but due to FIA homologation rules a series of road-going versions had to be built. The resulting four-wheel-drive model mixed design, technology, and performance like no other Porsche before it. It is also now considered one of the decade’s defining vehicles, thanks, in part, to a twin-turbocharged 2.9-liter flat-six that pumped out 444 hp, allowing it to match up with the sports cars being released by Ferrari and Lamborghini at the time.
1985 Porsche 959 Vorserie
Remi Dargegen/RM Sotheby’s
In 1985, one year before production of the 959 would begin, designer Helmuth Bott selected 29 930 Turbo chassis to be used for prototypes. The vehicles would be split into three groups, the F-, N-, and V-series, of which the last was the closest to the finished version of the car, according to the auction house. Just seven V-series, or Vorserie, cars would be built, only five of which are still around today.
This example, known as “V5KOM,” was used to push the 959’s chassis, suspension, and traction control to the limits on tracks like Ehra-Lessien, the Nürburgring, and the Contidrome, as well as on long trips around Continental Europe. During this time, it was comprehensively documented and photographed by Porsche test driver, Dieter Röscheisen.
Inside the 959 Vorserie
Remi Dargegen/RM Sotheby’s
Once testing was done, the car, which was finished in was finished in Grand Prix White over a Dark Grey cloth Komfort interior, was handed off to Ferdinand Porsche’s grandson, Ferdinand Piëch. He’d use it for a year as his private vehicle, before selling it to chef Hasi Unterberger, who would hold onto the car for five years, before selling it to famous automotive photographer Rene Staud in 1992, who would have the interior replaced with leather upholstery. In the decades since it has passed through the hands of several respected collectors.
The 959 Vorserie is one of the more intriguing lots that will cross the block during RM Sotheby’s Monterey Car Week, which runs from Wednesday, August 14, to Saturday, August 17. Unsurprisingly, the auction house has high hopes for the vehicle, which it expects to sell for between $1.8 million and $2.3 million.
Click here for more photos of the 1985 Porsche 959 Vorserie.
Remi Dargegen/RM Sotheby’s
