If Bill Gates hadn't been so fascinated by the Porsche 959, the sports car might never have made it to the US (14 photos)

Philanthropist and billionaire Bill Gates is one of the most brilliant people in the world. This is a man who hardly needs an introduction. since all this information is well known. But what's not so good well known is Gates' love for Porsche.





Porsche introduced the 959 supercar in 1986. which became the fastest production car in the world (albeit only by one year, before the appearance of the Ferrari F40)! The Germans invested in the 959th their entire forty years of experience with the rear-engine layout, which, combined with state-of-the-art electronic technology and all-wheel drive provided crazy handling and dynamics.



The car was a resounding success, and Sports Car journalists International called the Porsche 959 the best sports car in general 1980s car. At the same time, from a financial point of view, the supercar turned out to be a real disaster. A crazy car cost crazy money - $225,000. It is still expensive today, what to say about the mid-1980s, and the most interesting thing is that each car produced cost Porsche at $500,000. Losses grew rapidly, so they released only about 300 cars. Among the lucky ones who snatched the most high-tech supercar of its time, turned out to be the founders Microsoft Corporation Bill Gates and Paul Allen.







The cars were ordered in 1986 and after some decisions production problems in 1987, two cars went by sea to Seattle, Washington. Everything seemed to be going well, but there was one caveat... Since the car was extremely expensive for Porsche, investing extra money in its certification for the US market no one did not want. Those. it was not possible to legally introduce the Porsche 959 into the US, but the issue was promised to be solved by a well-known US race car driver, tuner and dealer cars by Bruce Canepa. The miracle, of course, did not happen. US Customs rejected cars and they did not leave the port of Seattle ...



To certify a car in the USA, among other things, it was necessary to carry out at least 4 crash tests, in other words - crash 4 cars worth 225 000 dollars (including why Porsche initially abandoned the launch of the 959 in the US market). At some point, Bill Gates was I am ready to buy these 4 cars with my own money and transfer them to the competent authorities USA for necessary activities. However, this was not enough: Porsche still had to modify the car to meet the standards traffic in the United States, so the problem seemed unsolvable!





2.8 liter six-cylinder boxer with two turbines. Power 450 horsepower forces. Dynamics up to 100 km / h - 3.6 seconds, maximum speed - more 310 km/h!



Driven to despair, Bill Gates and colleagues in misfortune, to whom American fashion designer Ralph Lauren and Porsche collector join actor Jerry Seinfeld decided to act like true Americans - hired lawyers! In consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency US (EPA) and National Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) are gone years. In 1999, amendments to the legislation allowing the importation into USA rare and interesting cars bypassing the existing rules were signed by President Bill Clinton.



Amendments to Federal Mechanical Safety Standards U.S. vehicles, named "Show or Display", were allowed to import to America cars representing a cultural or collectible value, limited edition. Each case is considered individually, and the annual mileage of the car should not exceed 2500 miles (approximately 4,000 km), i.e. taxi around Manhattan in such a car It won't work, but it's definitely better than nothing!







In 2000, after 13 years in a bonded warehouse, Bill Gates was able to get behind the wheel of a Porsche 959! Perseverance and millions of dollars decide any problems ;) Interesting that Paul Allen was able to get his Porsche much earliermore, because he moved to live in Europe ...

Porsche 959 Bill Gates



Over 13 years of fighting for car environmental standards in the US tightened, so Bill Gates also had to modernize Porsche 959 exhaust system, but these were already trifles ...



P.S. There is an opinion that when Bill Gates dealt with the issue of legalization own Porsche in the USA with the involvement of a huge number of people from the team Microsoft missed the moment in the development of a mobile operating system Windows. More purposeful guys from Google were not distracted by mundane problems, launched the Android operating system and became Apple's main competitors in the rapidly growing digital the world. In 2019, at the Village Global forum, Bill Gates honestly admitted that that he considers the successful start of Android the biggest mistake in his career, which cost him about 400 billion (!) dollars. Windows, of course, smartphones appeared (I once had a Windows Phone), but this turned out to be such a niche product that there is no competition for giants market failed.