it was. The car was not legalized in america because it never passed emmisions tests, and porsche just really didnt care too much because they didnt really want to change the car for America.Originally Posted by bigdare23
Bill Gates successfully imported one but it sat in customs for many years before he could put his hands on it.
The 959 was not going to be crash tested by Porsche (variable bumper height was only one of the legalization issues), but Al Holbert, one of the Premier Porsche dealers and racers of the '80s, had brought over 25 of them and was in the process of doing everything necessary to federalize the cars as an authorized Porsche agent. Unfortunately, he died in a private plane crash as the project was getting underway, and Porsche decided it didn't need to continue after his death.
Gates tried to get the Feds to allow federalizatrion using computer simulation (using early finite element analysis software) but they wouldn't go for it.
but then, in August 13th 1999, a new law came into effect in the United States. Maybe due to the purchase of a 959 by Microsoft’s Bill Gates, the new law is unofficially referred to as “The Bill Gates Bill”. It allows the importation with minimal restriction of Supercars such as the 959, together with other similar exotics like the Jaguar XJ 220, McClaren F1, or Bugatti EB 110. Recently one columnist stated that there is clearly a pent-up demand for exotic cars in the U.S., as within sixty days of the change in importation rules, prices of the few cars eligible under the new rules had jump by about 20%.
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