Unique Porsche 959 Speedster poised to fetch up to €1.5M

RM Sotheby’s is taking bids for a truly unique open-top Porsche 959. Once crashed, it is now fully restored and expected to sell for €1.1–1.5 million.

The story of this car began in 1987 when German racing driver Jurgen Lessig – who would proceed to win the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1995 – purchased it for himself and crashed it on a speedway. Rather than trying to restore the coupr, he chose to get rid of it.

It fell into the hands of Karl-Heinz Feustel, also a renowned racing driver of that era. Feustel then spent more than 4,000 hours restoring it to perfect condition. As he did, he reimagined the 959 as a roadster with two top variants – an automatic soft top and a removable hard top (both are included in the sale). He also chopped the windshield a fair bit and reshaped the body panels to better fit the roadster form factor.

A twin-turbo flat-six engine under the hood extracts a solid 450 PS (444 hp / 331 kW) from its 2.8 liters of displacement. The interior still looks almost new with its white and blue leather trim.

Once restored, the car was exhibited at the motor shows in Frankfurt and Essen in 1989. According to some accounts, interested buyers approached Feustel with offers, but he asked for $1,200,000, which was arguably too much for a restored car at that time.

It’s now up for grabs again with just 8,304 km (5,160 miles) under its belt since new and in great condition. Considering how popular restomods are, we wouldn’t be too surprised to see this one go for the estimated €1,500,000, which corresponds to U.S. $1,710,000.