The Big Bang: 1985 Porsche 959

- in Cars

Porsche 959. This is the ultimate 1980s Porsche.

This car looked like a 911, sounded like a 911, but in reality was a spaceship disguised as a sports car.

In the 1980s, Group B rallying had gone completely off the rails. Manufacturers were building monsters, cars that could out-accelerate Formula One cars, fly through forests, and occasionally launch themselves into trees.

Porsche, of course, saw all this and thought, right, let’s out-engineer the universe. And so the 959 was born, based on the 911, yes, in the sense that Jaws is technically a fish.
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This wasn’t a regular Porsche. This was a science experiment with a license plate. It had a 2.85 litre flat-six with two turbochargers and six computers to keep all from exploding. That engine made 450 horsepower, but more importantly, it had all-wheel drive, torque vectoring, and a brain that constantly adjusted everything. Suspension, traction, power delivery.
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It was thinking in real time, in the 1980s, and the result? It could do zero to 60 in under four seconds and reach 197 miles an hour. That made it the fastest production car in the world. It was so fast, Ferrari had to build the F40 just to beat it. And even that wasn’t as sophisticated.

But here’s the best part. Porsche didn’t just build it for bragging rights. Oh, no. They took the 959 rallying in Group B on gravel, with a car worth more than a small country. And it worked.

It came in third place in the 1985 Paris-Dakar rally, then went on to win it in 1986. Imagine that. A car with air conditioning, leather seats, and power windows. Winning the most brutal off-road race in the world. That’s like turning up to a fistfight in a tuxedo and still winning.