Porsche LIED about why they didn't sell the 959 in the US! 

Let’s hear your 959 questions! Tomorrow on my new channel I will answer them, and once I hit 1000 subscribers I will respond to my new VINwiki videos live!

Could sit here and listen to JF recite auto history for hours. Someone get him and Steve Lehto to coauthor an audiobook on auto and racing history.

I worked at an American Audi/Porsche dealership for a few years in the early 2000's and used to spend my little downtime exploring the parts catalog, which included 2 years of the 959. It had the most insane price I ever found for anything. The rear bumper cover was $78,000. At the time, you could order a stock 996 body in white for that price. The brand new Carrera GT had a $14,000 rear bumper cover. Another I remember was the Carrera GT front rotors being $7,500, with the pad set a bargain at $460.

I worked for Bruce in the early 2000's. I developed the stainless-steel exhaust system and the fixturing jigs for fabrication. The system had two cats with the redesign, so new system was necessary. I built 13 sets. We got 100 more horsepower and passed California Smog.

We love Ficarra's deep dives into the histories of some of our favorite cars!

I met John Ficarra when he worked at Canepa. I was just some jerk off the street who leaned his bike against the front window and sheepishly walked into the showroom. I'm sure it was clear that I wasn't there to shop, but he treated me like a gentleman would and happily showed me around. A fine man.

John is by far my favorite guest on VINwiki. This man has some of the best stories.

Probably my favorite car of all time. Being fortunate enough to work on, ride in and drive a 959 is definitely a highlight of both my career and life in general and I will be forever grateful to my former shop foreman, Tim and all the bosses at Barrier Motors for making that dream a reality for me. No one other than Tim really understood what that car meant to me and it is one of my most cherished memories from my too-brief of employment with Barrier(got lured away by race cars). My instructor at Porsche Training once asked the class what our favorite Porsche was and when it was my turn, I responded IMMEDIATELY with, "the 959 and I can't wait to see one!" He laughed and said, "they are unobtanium and you'll never see one." Three weeks later I called him from the passenger seat of a gorgeous LOW mileage 959. I still cannot believe I had that opportunity at 22 years old. Glad I had a chauffeur when I drove it! 😁 Sounds stupid, but just seeing one brings tears to my eyes. It's an insanely influential car and does not get the credit it deserves. I know this sounds nuts, but given the choice between one of these and a 20-30 million dollar McClaren F1, I'd take the 959 EVERY SINGLE TIME. I grew up loving that car and the desire will never leave my blood. What an utterly spectacular car!!

The "story" back then was that Porsche presented the DOT with their computer model crash-test data but the DOT wanted to crash-test real cars

The first time I saw a 959 was on the Autobahn. I was stationed in Germany in the '80s and was driving to see my family. In my rearview mirror, I see a couple of high beam flashes and the guy had his left turn signal on. I thought what the hell because I had a Mercedes that could maintain around 240 to 260 KPH. This guy was coming up real fast so I moved over and this guy passed me like I was standing still. He was followed by a motorcycle who had its problems trying to keep up. I shook my head and limped ahead. I will never forget that.

There's more lore and legend surrounding the 959 than any other car in memory. Its nice to hear the straight skinny from an authority on the subject.

I am 52 years Old, I used to read Road & Track, Car and Driver, Automobile, Robb Report, this magazines had all the information about the cars that we all loved and admired. I never got to be wealthy enough to buy a 959, a GTO, a Countach, F40 or Testarossa but listening to this stories makes me remember those wonderful 80's. Thnak you Vinwiki for your channel and the wonderful guests that you have.

Ficarra is literally one of my favorite people of all time

Getting to see Canepa's white 959 ripping around when I was a kid is part of what got me into performance cars.

When I was in high school. I was passed by a silver 959 near San Francisco. I can only assume it was Mr. Gates. This was about '88 or '89. I've seen one other 959 since. That said, I've seen more 959s than playstation 5s.

I'll never forget being in a meeting with BillG, and he was distracted the entire time. After the meeting someone asked him what was going on, and he showed us pictures of his 959 sitting in a warehouse at a U.S. customs port. A few of us stayed behind and for the next ~20min Bill was telling us about this car and his struggle to get it into the U.S.

I remember the whole DOT thing; I don't think anyone mentioned that it was Porsche causing the issue lol!

I went to a private boarding school for 9th grade. I had a poster of a 959 deluxe in silver on my wall. I loved it. In the 80's, I read every car magazine that had any information on the 959, 288, or F40 in it. I have still yet to see one in person. I loved this video. Thank you.

John's probably the best one on here for telling stories

Now THIS is what Vinwiki is all about. I was glued to the screen for 20 minutes straight. Awesome story

And now I know, "The rest of the story". I love your in depth car knowledge and just the way you present it. God bless brother

This could be a 1 hour long episode and I would still watch it! What a story! Love the 959 too!

As a teenaged Porsche fan, we arranged to get the tour of the 911 production line in Zuffenhausen in 1987. After the tour, behind some chain link fence, I was lucky enough to see TWO 959s, and damn if my jaw didn’t hit the floor.

As a Canadian Soldier I was posted to Germany from 1986 to 1992. I believe it was 1987 or 88, my wife and I were driving east on the autobahn through Stuttgart and became very excited by seeing no less than 20 959’s at the Porsche factory. So cool.

I'd listen to John recite tax law. But, it's always a good day for a good John Ficarra story.

I think the fact that it was designed for FIA group B has eternally confused the hobbyist historians into assuming "Group B" meant the "WRC Group B" unlimited rally class of spectator dismembering fame. Because i always thought that the Ferrari, as being designed to compete against the 959, was to be fitted as a rally car. YES i always thought this seemed absolutely ridiculous, and didn't understand such a weird course of action; but i am glad we have John around to clarify these long standing misunderstandings in autosport history

Nice to have Ficarra back, instead of the cheat, lie, and steal guy. Also - This could be red.

That was a phenomenal story. I'm Track Chairman for PCA in Canada and I'm grateful for you sharing that story with us. Cheers!

All the world's worries disappear for 20 min while I get to hear another Mr Ficarra story with a glass of Jameson IPA edition in hand. Thanks VINwiki.

Was a pleasure to work with you John. Great info and even I learned something new!

This.... was a great one. It's not often that someone privy to such unique experiences is also a great storyteller.

I once read that when Al Holbert took the DOT guy around Nazareth speedway in the 959, he drove the car like a normal car and that is why it was not let in. It was suggested that he should have pushed the car to its limit showing the cars true performance as a track day car and not a car to be driven on streets

Funny story about the 924. My mom met my step dad when she went to test drive a 924 and he was the salesman. He was a great guy and a great dad. Being the sales manager he got to drive some cool demo cars home which included the 924, the 928 and the Audi 5000.

I love this man so much. There are no words to describe how much i love John's enthusiasm for the most obscure aspects of autosport history. We need more people like him in the community, exciting others about history and passing this greatly important information down to generations to follow

Still my favorite! Had the Tamiya RC car back in the 80s , and I broke it immediately trying to rally it in my backyard, I would love to see one in person, what a legend!

Grew up less than 10 minutes from Holbert's Porsche in Warrington Pa. It was big local news when Al passed away in the plane crash. I'll never forget riding in the school bus (I went to elementary school in Warrington) every day and seeing the Porsches out on the lot. Even years after Al passed, his 962 race car was in the showroom for anyone to come see (it was eventually sold). I miss seeing it.

Ficarra is back, this is the best gift for a Monday.

You can tell John is really passionate about this story because he put the beer down!

I'm curious.... I knew an original 959 owner and the story was that his car was actually shipped to the U.S. and was (I think) at a dealership in Ohio I think but then wound up being shipped back overseas. He kept it in Germany for a while before selling it. Unfortunately, he's no longer around to ask but does anyone else know of such an occurrence?

The 959 is definitely my favorite Porsche. I was lucky enough to see one on display in Stuttgart at the museum several years ago. The hostess told me that it had just been returned to display a couple days before I was there. The 962 was also on display.

I'm in the UK & I remember reading bits of the American 959 sales issues years ago, thanks for clearing up all the old rumours John 👍

The owner of my local Porsches dealer has one, it’s in the showroom and I always take a look when I get service done.

I got to see a 959 in person at a Porsche shop in LA and was surprised by its proportions, it's an odd looking beast in person!

What is your favorite car that wasn't sold new in the US?

Great storytelling! Really enjoyed the technical details. Apart from tire-pressure monitoring, it was the first production car with ABS and Traction Control 👌

When I was in Jr High I took a picture of a silver 959 to wood shop to laminate as my project. First thing I ever made and proudly hung it in my room and would lay in bed day dreaming about owning one.

I love how you tell stories. Always enjoyable.

Thank you for diving so deep into (imo) the most beautiful Porsche ever built. I've had a long standing lust of the 959 since they first debuted. I'll never be able to own one, but man....one can dream. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge with us John!

One of the FEW benefits to getting old is to listen to stories like this and match up memories over time. I watched this car get launched, heard the stories, and to have this bow put on it (for now) is just nuts. Never new all of this and well, as they say, here is the rest of the story. Thanks for this, not a big fan of this specific car but wow what a wild story this car has been on. Only saw one in real life at a repair shop and was just blown away at all the tech.....and the price :-).

Cool story!! I was very young (10-11) when these came out and remember my dad bitching about how they weren’t selling them in the US and people that had them were storing them in Canada until they could bring them in.

Fun fact, the Porsche 959 was never brought in to Sweden ether as it didn’t meet Swedish emissions standards.

When I trained to be a Porsche tech, I had the only 959 factory certified technician as an instructor. He had to travel to Germany since they didn't have a state side training program

Man that was good! Admired Porsche cars for decades as well as the work they did for other manufacturers like Mercedes to produce iconic cars that became legends.

Got a little emotional there near the end. Dreams do come true, for a few! I expected a tissue box taped to the blade of a hockey stick to reach out for ya but you kept it together! Cheers 🇨🇦

Thanks for telling that story. I always wondered why we never saw any 959’ here in the us. It was so far ahead of its time and a shame it was shunned from being available here.

Amazing story! Thank you so much for bringing this history of the legendary 959 to us!

One of the best VINWiki stories as of late!

I was at the Frankfurt IAS in 1983 when this car was introduced, but I had no clue the significance this car held, I just drooled over all of them! Porsche is my favorite, especially the 911 Turbo😍

8:40 = 961 1 of 1 - (959 based) In 1987 it crashed and caught fire, but subsequently restored and is retained by the Porsche Museum.

This guy knows more about the 959 than I know about my own life.

Incredible car for the 1980s, and so rare in comparison to the F40

The 959/961 is such a game changer, it would have been interesting to see what Porsche would have done with it, if not for troubling financial times.

Oh thank god we start the week off right this week with the man the myth and the legend himself John Ficarra ladies and gentlemen!!

The weissach test car used to live in Long Beach for a long time. Seeing those 959s at Canepa was wild!

I can listen to John all day, I love the history behind the 959 especially, this dude truly is a wonder to listen to

John ... you're such a phenomenal storyteller! That was fantastic!

12:22 the car in the picture has a Spanish license plate, with the previous letters and numbers system from the current one. The first letter (or two) referred to the province (in this case, M stands for Madrid), then four numbers from 0000 to 9999 in sequential order as cars were assigned a license plate, and then one or two letters. Initially, all provinces began with (letter(s)) - 0000 - A, then 0001 - A and so on, so when they got to 9999 - A, the next one would be 0000 - B. When a province reached 9999 - Z, the next one would be 0000 - AB, that is, starting all over but with two letters, only that the second one couldn't be a vowel (and there where other exceptions such Q and Ñ where never used so they were not mixed up with O and N). This would go on until some time in the year 2000 when Madrid (the province that sold the most cars) was going to reach 9999 - ZZ and that would mean adding a third letter, which was not ideal, as some provinces still had only one and most of the ones with two final letters were very far back. So, they came with the current system: just four numbers and three letters, but no initial one or two letters with the geographical information they used to have. This was the way to stop some "not nice people" from stealing or breaking into your car and rob you due to your origin based on your license plate, for example, Madrid vs. Barcelona. Little funny story: my province and the one just north have football (soccer) teams that are rivals, as much as they get. It was easy to find cars from one province that were seld in the other one having some kind of merchandising, stickers, whatever in the rear part of the car so people would know they were not "outsiders". I never had any problem, but it could have happened. Oh, by the way, the car in the picture has a license plate from 1990.

Super cool to see my pictures in your program. These pictures from the silver 959 where taken by me from the 959 we sold about 3 years ago. Company Carlink in the Netherlands, working there since 2014.

Black 959 in a snow backdrop is MY poster wall car from my childhood

The story of his declaration that the 911 will never die is just as fantastic. I was lucky enough to do the week long Porsche training with a former Yellow Bird mechanic. Picking his brain made the week so much better.

Used to see one parked on a drive of a house (Catford, London) that was worth less than the car. It had the number plate 959 BAN which must have been worth close to the value of the house. Stunning car in silver.

Gr8 show !!! I wish I knew more about this car to ask questions...

Interesting how many of the technology from the 959 came into the later 911. I wonder if Andial had anything to do with the water cooled heads, since they did it in race cars.

Great story! Thanks for all the details!

I had a 79 930 Grey market Euro spec 300hp, not the 261hp US spec. The 959 was my Dream Car. I still have the white 959 "Gruppe B" poster. Closest I came was sitting in Derek Bell's Lowenbrau 962C at Al Holbert's shop.

His excitement about car history, makes me excited about car history. Love his videos.

I have seen fibreglass replicas of this car with a Volkswagen powertrain. Very interesting story, thanks John I thoroughly enjoyed.

Great info, bring this guy back sometime

That was a DAMN good story. I've never owned one but I've attended PCA gatherings at Texas Motor Speedway. The entire Porsche story is remarkable!

Great story.. my close friend owned a 959 here in the US and he had many issues either it...he still wished he didn't sell it...I've had some long talks with Bruce Canepa, nice guy ... 👍

He is fantastic and so knowledgeable! Definitely my favorite stories aside from Robs original stuff. I can see why this man worked for Bruce C

I lived on Hilton Head Island for several years back in the late 80's. I came home from work one day in '87 I believe, it may have been '88, and there was a 959 parked behind The Players Club. I've since lost the picture I took with it, but it truly was breathtaking to see one in person. It was on island for that one day only, as far as I know. We never saw it again or met the owner.

Wow, what amazing info. So cool. Thanks for this. Always been my ultimate ride, regardless of money. I remember reading the Road and Track article in early 1990's about the 1st 959 legally imported into the US due to the law he described. The guy spent 2 - 3 years fighting DOT and another agency, I believe. Had to travel to Germany to take a class on the car, and was only able to import it because he started a museum, and only able to drive it to and from certain events/shows. The guy in this video said the law went into effect in 1998, but I believe I read this article in 91' or 92'.

Thanks for the detail. Some of those I remembered reading about it in C&D back in '87 or '88. And the poster on my roommate's wall led to many drunken debates during cheap kegs. Through the lens of history the technical details were things-to-come in cars like my 2015 GTI and obviously all the current hypercars. Thanks man!

This is without question one of the most fascinating stories yet on this subject matter. I thought I was reasonably well versed on the subject matter only to be sent to the back of the class after listening to you. You are one very blessed person. Ok, you earned it. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experience with us on this subject. The only thing that I have to say that is negative about these cars 19:36 is I'm not a fan in any way as to the looks of this car. I've tried so many ways to overcome this, but I just can't. When you compare the 959 to the Ferraris it's day and night. I'm a racer thru and thru and can always justify the looks when a car is a winner. When the car wins racers, it's beautiful. Case in point, the Tyrrell six wheeler. Again, thank you for your time and sharing your knowledge on this fascinating subject. Ted

Another great Ficarra story. Thanks Ed!

Holy overhangs!

Porsche: We didn't design the 959 to be a rally car, but we will still win the Dakar rally.

The first time Iwent to Europe was in 1984. I was on a train going to Rome. I was awake admiring the Alps busting through Austria when a silver 959 rolled by us on the highway next to the railtrack. I had to look twice because I love the 911, but this was NO 911 it was the 959 which I had seen in magazines. I still remember even today in 2022. It was beautiful to behold.

Thank you for talking about the group B differences! So many people and even journalists have gotten this story wrong...its almost legendary now how the GTO and 959 "were developed for rallying" when that's completely false and it's just lazy journalists and content creators.

I used to see one on the Merritt Pkwy in Connecticut back in the 90's.....and it was WAAAAY before 98

as a european i was asking myself while watching the video that how come show and display exemption didn't work for this car, just to realize that this is the OG car that started it all. cool af.

Growing up I always thought the auto gods blessed this Unicorn of legendary vehicle. The history etc.priceless! Excellent video and origin story..much Respect!!!

I had the pleasure to see the prototype group b car in person on a private occasion! I absolutely love this car!

If my memory serves me well I saw one race at Le Mans in the mid 80's. It just droned around for 24 hours with no problems and won it's class, finishing well up the overall order.

I didn't want the episode to end!

I remember this car when it hit magazines and I was simply in awe of how it looks and performs. A very striking design that stands the test of time.

I have pictures of one that came into Atlanta Airport from Europe. Was going out to Pebble Beach a few years ago

This is proablly one of the best videos this far on this channel.

Great article. I went to HS in Houston and one of my teammates dad had a silver one sent over in pieces in 88. It was described as a kit car parts to get it past customs.