Best of the Best.(Porsche 959)(Column)

Byline: Richard S. Chang

Around the time the sun was setting on the Group B Rally series (otherwise known as insanity), three skinny high school sophomores half a world away in a small Boston suburb convened every week around car magazines at the school library. We had never heard of Group B Rally, nor could we tell you the difference between homologation and homogenization, but we worshiped the Porsche 959 nonetheless.

This was in the mid-1980s. We didn't have Internet forums. Cable was limited to MTV and a continuous rotation of Buckaroo Banzai on HBO. You couldn't get your car pimped out, even if you were a pimp or a rapper or both with your own TV show. So the magazines were our only outlet to this faraway world inhabited by exotic cars that could outrun a Tomcat.

They were called exotics back then, not supercars, though you could make a case for the Porsche 959 as the first to establish the need for a higher terminology. Though it wasn't space-age like the Countach or Esprit Turbo, its numbers, which we memorized like batting averages, were more impressive: 0 to 60 mph in 3.6 seconds, top speed of 200 mph, more than 450 hp, a production run of 200 units, each one pricier than my parents' house. It didn't matter we knew next to nothing about its mechanicals or racing pedigree. Its smooth curves (best in silver) hit us like Cheryl Ladd in a string bikini. It was love at first sight. It would be a decade later when I learned what really made the 959 so special.

As far as model development tales go, few get any better than the history of the 959. It starts with Porsche wanting a piece of World Rally glory, something we're not likely to see again. In order to compete with the featherweight surface-to-air missiles from Audi and Peugeot, Porsche put the 911 chassis through the ringer, adding all-wheel drive, and it twin-turbocharged the ...