What: 1992 Ferrari 512 TR Color: Rosso Winner (rossocorsa metallic UNI; 229120; Ferrari) VIN:  undisclosed Mileage: 55,588 km, 34,540 miles Price: €279,950 CarFax: N/A Window Sticker: N/A Location: Oldtimerfarm BV, Aalter, Belgium Listing:Link
There’s something about a unique car from a time when acquiring something tailored wasn’t just a matter of chatting up a sales guy at a dealer and wandering into a lounge where all your options are laid out readily in front of you. Yes, it’s not always that easy today, but it was much harder back in the day… say 1992, when this very unique 512 TR was manufactured.
Rare paint? Check. Rosso Winner, a deep dark cabernet of a red that doesn’t look a thing like every other red Testarossa on the planet. Now, add in tone-on-tone red leather interior for good measure and you have something particularly tasteful? Don’t like a red-on-red Ferrari? Too bad. Literally every F40 that hasn’t been re-trimmed or sold to the Sultan of Brunei is red-over-red. Alas, none are Rosso Winner over red. That’s a shame.
Alright, this one’s a bit of a mystery. A semi-thorough Googling searching this car doesn’t reveal any details while the Lamborghini dealership that has it in inventory also offers no online description. Perhaps by the time you read this they will have provided us some details. If you’re reading this and no further details are offered though, that means we were unable to learn more about this highly unusual Porsche 959 as of this time.
Here’s what we can glean from the photos. The car appears to be red and may be Guards Red based on other known 959s. If it’s Guards Red, that would definitely make it rare given Porsche’s most ubiquitous red wasn’t the standard red offering, which would have bene Ruby Red.
There’s a whole lot more going on here though than red paint. Given there were so few 959s, color-matched wheels and red interior also would have been special wishes.
The seats are also worth a mention, color-matched Recaro Pole Positions. Porsche wasn’t installing Pole Positions in their cars until the 964 era, though the earliest 964s were leaving the factory at about the same time and it all would have been interchangeable. Based on the leather fitment around the harness holes on the bolsters though, it’s probably more likely this car was redone and that interior reupholstered at some point.
The car has no roll cage, so it appears to be based on a 959 Komfort.
Given it’s a 959, we reached out to Bruce Canepa at Canepa Design. Bruce is literally the author of the Show and Display rule that he got passed when importing cars for Paul Allen and Bill Gates. Today, his firm in Scotts Valley is responsible for the incredible 959 SC commissioned reimagined cars. The world of Porsche 959s isn’t that big, so we figured Bruce would know the car.
What we learned is that we’re nearly certain the car didn’t leave the factory this way, especially with the later 964-era Recaro seats. Bruce also confirmed that this car is not one of the 123 959s to date that have gone through his shop, so he’d never actually seen it in person even though several clients had approached him about the car. Whether or not the changes were done by Porsche themselves at Werk 1 Bruce wasn’t able to confirm, nor whether or not the changes were done in period.
Thanks to Bruce Canepa for further insight into the car.
Do you know more about this car? If so, please share it below in the comments or drop us a line.
