{"id":47631,"date":"2017-04-04T16:02:16","date_gmt":"2017-04-04T15:02:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.influx.co.uk\/?p=47631"},"modified":"2022-06-14T11:50:14","modified_gmt":"2022-06-14T10:50:14","slug":"inside-coys-porsche-959-cabriolet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/cars\/inside-coys-porsche-959-cabriolet\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Coys – Porsche 959 Cabriolet"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Terminator is a brilliant movie, easily one of the best films of the 1980s and entertainment at its best. Porsche must have been watching that film with a knowing smile back in 1984 because at the time it was developing its own Terminator.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Three years later, the assassin was ready. Called the 959, this was a supercar like no other and it was years ahead of its time – a supercar assassin sent from the future to kill, well, all other supercars actually.<\/p>\n

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See one up close and many civilians might not be aware what they\u2019re dealing with. First appearances suggest it\u2019s just a very flat, very plastic looking 911 – not an uncommon sight in the late 80s. The 959 doesn\u2019t look particularly dangerous as we find it gleaming in the Coys<\/a> showroom, nor does it look beautiful like most supercars, but like almost everything else in the 959, that body is advanced technology. Formed by a mixture of aluminium and composite materials – the body is functional, channelling air as efficiently as possible in order to produce zero-lift. It needs that too, because in the back there\u2019s a Porsche flat-six engine, but this one is an angry, powerful unit taken from the hugely successful 935 \u2018Moby Dick\u2019 racing car. Around 450bhp is produced by the charismatic unit, enough to send the car to 195mph and to a slightly more-legal 62mph in just 3.7-seconds – in 1987 these numbers were simply staggering.<\/p>\n

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In the late 1990s this particular 959 was converted by German company Auto Becker to become the world\u2019s only – yes, only – Porsche 959 Cabriolet. Its value now is estimated at a remarkable \u00a31.5m (indeed, this very car is up for auction<\/a> very soon), a price tag that has the ability to inspire some butterflies in those about to drive it.<\/p>\n

Pulling out into busy London traffic behind the wheel of one of the world\u2019s rarest and most significant cars is enough to get the blood pumping, but the 959 isn\u2019t just an expensive classic. It\u2019s a legend, a truly iconic machine that paved the way for all the supercars and even hypercars that we have right now. The LaFerrari, P1, and yes, even Porsche\u2019s own 918 Spyder can buy the 959 a drink because it changed the supercar game altogether.<\/p>\n

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In terms of sheer speed and the way it drives, time hasn\u2019t taken anything away from the 959. It still feels rapid to this day, on a par with some of the fastest road cars in production, but the steering and sensations you get from the car are rawer than many modern supercar. Porsche\u2019s assassin may have been from the future, but it was was born analogue, and the feelings you get from the car as a result are of that analogue era – feedback many modern cars can only dream of providing for drivers.<\/p>\n\n\t\t