Bill Gates' luxurious car collection includes many Porsche cars, but one in particular is very rare
Published on Jul 05, 2025 at 9:04 AM (UTC+4)
by Henry Kelsall
Last updated on Jul 24, 2025 at 3:23 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Fenton
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has an incredible car collection. This includes several Porsche sports cars, but one stands out from the crowd – his Porsche 959.
Gates has long been an automotive enthusiast, and he’s never been afraid to showcase his love for cars, hence the incredible collection he has built up.
One that takes centre stage, however, is the Porsche 959, which is easily one of the greatest cars that the German manufacturer has ever produced.
Yet Gates was nearly unable to bring the car back to the United States until, that is, he lobbied the US government.
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What makes the Porsche 959 so special?
The Porsche 959 was built as the ‘supercar of the future’, and it is easy to see why it became so highly regarded.
The car has a 2.8-liter twin-turbocharged flat-six under the hood, making 450hp.
That propels the 959 to a top speed of 197mph.
The 959 was also light, much like the 911, and there was some incredible tech onboard.
An all-wheel-drive system was one of the biggest attributes of the car.
It was one of the fastest cars in the world during the 1980s.
The rare Sport version bumped power to 508hp.
That included various weight-saving measures, such as removing the air-conditioning and rear seats.
Yet despite its incredible prowess, Gates was nearly unable to drive the car in the United States.
That meant it couldn’t become part of his car collection.
Gates had to lobby for a rule change to import the supercar
After importing the 959 into America from Europe, Gates found the car being impounded at customs.
This was because the car didn’t meet US safety and environmental standards, nor was it within the 25-year import rule.
Porsche had built the car to European safety standards, ignoring those set by America’s NHTSA.
So the billionaire lobbied the government, at the highest level, to try and get the 959 legal in America.
Gates and others managed to convince the US government to let the 959 be imported under a new ‘Show or Display‘ law in 1999.
That allows a vehicle to be imported, even if it doesn’t meet federalization standards, on the grounds that it is considered important to car culture.
It took over a decade for this to finally come to pass and for Gates to get the Porsche into his car collection.
But for Bill Gates, it was more than worth the wait for the 959.
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Henry is a content writer with nearly ten years experience, having written for various publications since 2017. Qualifying with a Sports Journalism degree from Staffordshire University, Henry loves all things automotive but has a particular soft spot for classic Japanese cars and anything Lancia. He also has a curious passion for steam locomotives.
