959 FS $9.5k Lodi, Ohio

Wasn't it called a 359?

Yep - CMC 359 inspired as replica of the costly Porsche 959.  Kit apparently sold for $14k -- 202 produced (plus some by Thunder Ranch).  This has a larger engine bay.  An H6 Subaru or pancake flat T4 would be pur-fect engine.

$950.00 ?

$9,500.

The seller has several other kits for sale too.

Always thought that these look like kit cars.  Maybe the original did too?

@Jack Crosby posted:

Always thought that these look like kit cars.  Maybe the original did too?

You be the judge. I was never a fan. The biggest issue was the real deal 959 was a hard top and the replica is a convertible. Destroys the original lines of the car.

The 959 was a cool tour de force for what Porsche could accomplish with the aircooled motor and technology. I was never in love with it, but appreciate the car.

The 359 always was and always will be an ugly caricature of both a 959 and a 356. To me, it REALLY looks like a kit. At least to me...

I still remember the day I saw a 959 parked on Main St. here in Ann Arbor.

In the flesh was it different than in the picts.

I don't know if it was different.  To be clear, it was the 959, not the 359.

I just drove on past it. I didn't stop and examine it.

Being the home of several car magazines may explain why it was here.

When the 959 came out in the '80s, I was living off the grid in a cabin as a missionary in Papua New Guniea. My second daughter had just been born in a clinic with no doctor, and we were catching rain water to use in the house. We were 4+ hrs from a hard road, and getting to our house meant crossing roughly 20 bridges, all made with logs that would sometimes go missing when somebody was short on firewood.

My mom and dad graciously sent me several months worth of Car and Driver magazine (along with National Geographic, and a Canadian homesteader magazine) in care packages about 4x/yr.

I remember sitting at my table, reading about the car by the light of a Coleman lantern, thinking about how very, very different various places in the world can be. Porsche may as well have been offering a manned spacecraft for sale for all the relevance this car had to my existence, or the existence of anybody I was working with.

It was pretty surreal.

Stan, you're a different breed of cat.

I lusted after a real 959 since I first saw it, and used to have a die cast model of one.

@DannyP posted:

The 359 always was and always will be an ugly caricature of both a 959 and a 356. To me, it REALLY looks like a kit. At least to me...

Yep. Speedster's ugly stepsister.

@Eric (McGruff) posted:

Yep. Speedster's ugly stepsister.

FWIW, I've always felt the same about the wide-bodies* and CMC SC's.  But I'll admit there are many that are really well done. I'm sure with the proper attention to detail, this 359 could look great.

As I've said a hundred times, the differenence between "kit car" and "stunner" is 90% the wheels/tires/track. An otherwise stunning GT-40 kit with American Racing 5 slot wheels, 3" inside the fender lip will look like crap, whereas you add some 5 spoke wheels with proper spacers and it's transformed.

*Im starting to realize I'm turning into a "get off my lawn" grumpy old man. I'm pretty much a strict traditionalist. TBH, I have a hard time with anything other than wide five Wendell, Vintage 190, or Technomagnesios.  But I'll admit that 359 would look good with some 8"&10" Cup 1's or Gold Mesh BBS's. Those wheels that are on it are an inch, or two, too small a diameter. That car would rock with 18" wheels and a MassIVe motor like Jimmy's.

Like 2-3 years ago some guy had a 359—for sale I think—that everyone here thought was pretty good.

What if someone bought a kit like this and tube-framed it, put a 911 front suspension in it and coil-over IRS rear, side-shift five speed then stuffed a 3 liter FI flat six with a turbo in the back?

Picture it in matte black with 17-inch BBS wheels and a frameless cut-down plexi wind screen.

Saddle colored leather interior including heated 914 seats. 911 gauges including 8k tach, 150 mph speedo and a custom quad combi gauge.

Just thinking out loud here.

@edsnova posted:

Like 2-3 years ago some guy had a 359—for sale I think—that everyone here thought was pretty good.

What if someone bought a kit like this and tube-framed it, put a 911 front suspension in it and coil-over IRS rear, side-shift five speed then stuffed a 3 liter FI flat six with a turbo in the back?

Picture it in matte black with 17-inch BBS wheels and a frameless cut-down plexi wind screen.

Saddle colored leather interior including heated 914 seats. 911 gauges including 8k tach, 150 mph speedo and a custom quad combi gauge.

Just thinking out loud here.

Sounds like your next project after the Spyder is sold. Hmmmm

@edsnova posted:

Like 2-3 years ago some guy had a 359—for sale I think—that everyone here thought was pretty good.

What if someone bought a kit like this and tube-framed it, put a 911 front suspension in it and coil-over IRS rear, side-shift five speed then stuffed a 3 liter FI flat six with a turbo in the back?

Picture it in matte black with 17-inch BBS wheels and a frameless cut-down plexi wind screen.

Saddle colored leather interior including heated 914 seats. 911 gauges including 8k tach, 150 mph speedo and a custom quad combi gauge.

Just thinking out loud here.

I was thinking how it would work with one of Carey's mid-engined Subie chassis underneath it. Looks like there's plenty of room under those headrests.

@edsnova posted:

Like 2-3 years ago some guy had a 359—for sale I think—that everyone here thought was pretty good.

What if someone bought a kit like this and tube-framed it, put a 911 front suspension in it and coil-over IRS rear, side-shift five speed then stuffed a 3 liter FI flat six with a turbo in the back?

Picture it in matte black with 17-inch BBS wheels and a frameless cut-down plexi wind screen.

Saddle colored leather interior including heated 914 seats. 911 gauges including 8k tach, 150 mph speedo and a custom quad combi gauge.

Just thinking out loud here.

You'll shoot your eye out, kid.