Porsche 959 rally car set to cross auction block late October

The supercar prototype, which raced from Paris to Dakar, may fetch more than $4 million

Published Jul 05, 2018 • Last updated 5 years ago • 1 minute read

One of the three Porsche 959s to race the 1985 Paris-Dakar rally

A Porsche 959 rally car that competed in the 1985 Paris-Dakar off-road endurance race is crossing the auction block late October with an estimated $4.34 million price tag attached to it.

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The 959 was engineered in the early ’80s to race in the famed Group B rally series, which had unfortunately been shuttered by the time development was complete.

Porsche decided to make the best of the investments it’d already sunk in a 959 homologation road car and enter its race-car in the 9,600-km Paris-Dakar in 1985, one of the most grueling rallies of the period.

The company entered three 959s in the endurance race, partly to use as prototypes to further the development of the 959 road car, later revered as one of the most incredible supercars of its decade.

One of the three Porsche 959s to race the 1985 Paris-Dakar rally

The 3.2-litre-powered 959 crossing the auction block at Ontario-based RM Sotheby’s Porsche 70th Anniversary Sale in Atlanta, Georgia is one of those three 1985 Paris-Dakar cars.

While it didn’t finish the rally due to a failed oil line – the other two also DNF’d due to in-race accidents – it gave Porsche a leg up on the next three 959s they entered in the Paris-Dakar the following year. Those three took the 1st, 2nd and 6th spots out of hundreds of entries.

The sale takes place October 27, and best guesses put the car’s auction price at north of $4 million.

Nicholas Maronese

Nicholas has been part of the Driving.ca team since 2018, and writes specifically about classic cars – like his first and currently only car, his 1971 Plymouth Valiant Scamp – whenever possible, though he also enjoys exploring vehicular history, automotive design, and car culture. His specific areas of focus include American cars of the 1930s, ’60s, and ’70s.

Summary

Driving.ca News and Features editor; and a Driving.ca contributor since 2018 Professional writer and editor for over 10 years, seeing publication in some of the most widely read outlets in Canada and the U.S. Specialties include classic-car profiles, automotive history, and stories exploring obscure Canadian car culture

Education

Nicholas graduated from York University with a Bachelor’s in Professional Writing, and a minor in Philosophy. He also holds a Canadian Private Pilot’s Licence (PPL); and has been training to be a concours judge.

Experience

Nicholas started out writing news for Sympatico Autos (later renamed Autofocus) before eventually becoming that website’s chief editor. In 2018, he joined Driving.ca, and was not long after made the News and Features Editor. Nicholas has also contributed to the Toronto Star’s Wheels section; to Hagerty’s editorial efforts; and to an assortment of other publications. Nicholas has owned and maintained a 1971 Plymouth Valiant Scamp since 2012; and previously tinkered on a 1929 Ford Model A. He is a regular volunteer with the Cobble Beach Concours d’Elegance in Owen Sound, Ontario; and a frequent participant in Classic Car Adventures’ Maple Mille event in southern Ontario.

Major works by the author

Nicholas loves exploring overlooked corners of Canadian car culture. For Sympatico Autos, he put together a deep-dive look at General Motors’ disastrous introduction of its European Firenza to the Canadian market; drafted an authoritative history of the built-in-Canada MCV CH4 supercar; and arranged the first wind-tunnel test of a 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona “aero warrior” available online. For Driving.ca, he’s profiled Chris Hadfield’s passion for first-generation Ford Thunderbirds; proven that pre-war cars, excepting the Chrysler Airflow, were more aerodynamic backwards than forwards; and unearthed the story of the Ferguson Super Sport, a one-off roadster built in Toronto in the 1960s.

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