Paris-Dakar 959 recommissioned
One of three 959s that entered the 1986 Paris-Dakar rally has been sympathetically restored to working order by Porsche Heritage
The Paris-Dakar rally will need little in the way of introduction to Total 911 readers. Porsche has a long history with the 14,000km (8,700 mile) epic, which calls for entrants to navigate the challenging desert terrain between France and West Africa.
In 1986, three Porsche 959s took to the start line. The winning French team of René Metge and Dominique Lemoyne were followed home by Jacky Ickx and Claude Brasseur in 2nd, while a service car driven by project manager Roland Kussmaul and Wolf-Hendrik Unger finished 6th. The Porsche Museum has preserved the trio as part of its collection and now, thanks to the work of Porsche Heritage, the Museum and Porsche Classic, Jacky and Claude’s car has emerged from a month’s long reinstatement process.
“The winning car remains untouched and we keep it in a kind of time capsule, so to speak, with all of the physical traces of the rally preserved for as long as possible,” explained Kuno Werner, head of the Museum Workshop.
It was the first time that the second-place car had been taken apart since its return from Africa. The team found sand and dirt from the savannahs during the recommissioning. Any areas of corrosion were conserved
