Hint to your significant other to put the keys to this car under the Christmas tree.

Back in the eighties the Porsche 959 was the one car on every enthusiast's wish list. The 959 was an engineering tour de force: an all-wheel-drive, 197 mph supercar, originally developed at the time for participation in the Group B series. With the refocus on a rally series, Porsche turned its efforts toward building the ultimate road-going supercar. (The Group B series was discontinued in 1986 after a series of fatal accidents.) At the time Ferrari's F40 was its only serious competitor. Unfortunately for Americans, it has been reported that Porsche denied the Department of Transportation's request for four examples to crash test, thus none of the 337 959s built were ever officially offered for sale in the United States.

Many of the lessons learned in developing and building the 959, such as high performance all-wheel-drive, were applied to the 911, helping to extend its life to the present day. If you look at the more recent 2005-2006 Carrera GT you will see that Porsche ultimately succeeded in refining the 959's philosophy into a US-legal package.

Probably the most famous 959 is one imported into the US in 1987 by Microsoft's Bill Gates. The so called "Gates 959" was stored for 13 years by US Customs at the Port of Seattle until the "Show and Display" law was passed. US-based 959s make infrequent appearances at US collector-car events and occasionally are seen being driven by well-heeled owner-enthusiasts like fashion magnate Ralph Lauren.

This particular 959 is currently listed on eBay, offered for sale by Aventura Motor Sales of Southampton, New York with a Buy it Now of $500,000 (the seller has thoughtfully enabled the Make Offer button). With all its emission modifications having been done by Andial of Santa Ana, California this 959 holds a State of California Board of Automotive Repair (BAR) Vehicle Information Label, a highly significant piece of documentation that combined with all the required federalization paperwork allows this car to be registered and driven in all 50 states.

This is a highly collectable Porsche, one that many Porsche enthusiasts believe is undervalued in today's collector car marketplace. Hopefully if/when it sells it will stay here in the United States. Enthusiasts in Canada, Europe, and Japan never had to jump through the same hoops in order to own one, and it would be a shame if one of the few US-legal cars were to leave the United States. That will be a sad day for all of us who admire and appreciate these cars and the time that they represent. The 959 remains one of the few cars on my personal bucket list that I have yet to drive. Driving one on a section of Germany's derestricted Autobahns at top speed is one of my ultimate dream-drives.