If you had half a million dollars what would you do with it?
There are plenty of reasonable things you could do; you could buy a house or you could pay tuition for all your future grandchildren, for example. Or you could have bought this wrecked Porsche 959 Komfort.
I’m sure you’ve already seen the car floating around the internet; I did, so I made Mecum Auctions a priority destination during Monterey Car Week. There was plenty of incredible machinery awaiting the hammer, but initially all I wanted to see was this 959.
Apparently the 959 was being towed in an enclosed trailer when catastrophe struck. The trailer decided to part ways the truck, going off on its own journey until it made good friends with a large tree. The tree made it through the front end of the trailer and, obviously, a good foot or so into the 959 as well. I just hate when that happens…
Seriously, though, that is not a phonecall I’d like to be making. With another 959 Komfort offered in Monterey this year at RM Sotheby’s, where it sold for a total price of $1,160,000, this was probably a pretty bad day for at least a few people.
But hey, it could have been a lot worse, and if the car was properly insured I suspect the previous owner would have cashed out fairly well.
But they don’t have their 959 Komfort anymore, which is indeed a shame.
While the entire car seems to have taken at least a bit of a beating, it’s not all bad. There’s plenty of useable 959 here, especially where it matters.
With the deck lid popped, the rear end was getting just as much attention as the front.
With the party end of the 959 Komfort completely intact there is so much potential here. Not for a restoration, but for something insane. Nakai-san’s next project? A Moby Dick-inspired 959? An Air Lift Performance setup? Just something different, please. Although, since Mecum fetched an incredible $467,500 for the banged up car, I sadly suspect the sort of person who got their hands on it isn’t interested in any of my ideas.
But for how much it would cost to restore (just to have a salvage title Komfort) I can’t imagine that would really make much financial sense, either.
Personally, if I had the money to do it right, I’d definitely turn it into some sort of Le Mans or Group 5-inspired track weapon. What would you do?
Trevor Yale Ryan
Instagram: tyrphoto
TYRphoto.com
Surely canepa's 800hp conversion with 961 bodywork and all the good race car parts. That would be an awesome car.
Yeah, I wIsh Canepa themselves had picked it up to go racing, but being experts on the 959 I can't imagine they would be bothering with it at this price. I can only imagine it'll cost at least as much as it sold for to restore.
I would turn it into a 961 road course replica. Like the 1986 Le Mans car. Minimalist livery. All business.
I think an Air Lift setup and some wheels would be nice, but other than that keep it stock.
The 959 does 200mph, thats fast enough for me thanks
I would phone Mr Ruf and ask him very nicely to re-shell it in to a 964 body and build me a sleeper, badge delete track weapon !
I like where your heads at. Probably one of the better options, really.
No one is putting AirLift on a 959 LOL
And thank god for that hahah
All you need to do is wait around for a rear damaged 959 and stich the two together. If you buy each one for $467K then you'll save $225K off the current retail price and also have another whole but damaged car to build a show only project with. You may have to sabotage another trailer though, unless you’re very very patient!
I showed this to a friend of mine and he said "Is that a Volkswagen?" XD
Don't worry he is a car enthusiast too
Wait... we should be worried lol
There are currently six 959s at Canepa's. I would have a hard time believing this car won't end up there for a skeletal graft from a 993 donor.
Agreed. My guess is it'll cost as much as they picked it up for to fix. I genuinely hope it goes racing.
this level of richness bothers me
Me too, I'm sorry.
I think you have overestimated the cost to fix that. It definitely wouldn't cost 400k to fix. It wouldn't be cheap but unless there are some unobtanium parts somewhere in there i would estimate the cost of repair at maybe 1/4 to 1/2 the purchase price. That being said are you sure its a salvage title? from my experience (YMMV) cars are only given a salvage title if the repairs cost more than the price of the vehicle once fixed or if the tub is completely bent. This looks like the right front frame-rail may be bent and will need some straightening but who ever bought this car will be able to restore this car and still be able to make money off of their investment.
You're probably right, but to do this properly it needs a lot of parts and time, both of which will be incredibly expensive. I'm not sure about the title or the insurance background, but talking to some guys at Canepa they implied that at this selling price it'd never turn a profit. We'll see, I guess.
A while ago someone in my hometown got t-boned at an intersection driving a vintage 911 RS (those with the famous "ducktail".
The car was completely bent, and the rear half caught fire for a bit.
Still, the car sold for plenty of money, apparently just to get the VIN-number and basically "replace" the car without loosing authenticity.
I'd build it into some sort of Street Sport car: Canepa Generation 3 performance upgrade kit with a bit of bodywork addons and a set of aftermarket wheels.
Dune buggy
I can get down with dune buggy
Half a million will get you a house or pay for college for all your grandchilren? What kind of fantasy world are you living in?
That's a down payment or tuition for two!
Back to the 959. Damage is not too bad. Yes, parts are super expensive, and Canepa charges a lot for their work, but to end up with a great 959 in the end is worth $1 mil plus.
Housing market is ~700+ in Santa Cruz area where I live now. Significantly cheaper than Sunnyvale where I grew up, but still outrageous compared to the rest of the country. So $500,000 can easy get you a house, or four if you're in Ohio...
My degree cost about $32,000 so if you have three kids and they each have three kids...
Where do you live? If you're spending 200k on a college degree I'd think you'd want to spend a little more and not end up with a 959 that's been wrecked.
Put some Mudflaps on it already!!
This is THE Chance for a Dakar Replica if i`ve ever seen one
Tried to put it on a trailer so the extra mileage doesn't affect the value ... Hmm, maybe driving it would have been better in this case.
Hell fix the damage and drive it like it's stolen? Probably be the only 959 out there enjoying it's life properly lol
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