Yes, Billy G. does drive a 996 - (or at least he did up until last year)...

A couple of threads have made reference to what Bill Gate's drives. Curious, I did a little searching. Seems at least up until 06 (the latest info I can find), Bill did indeed drive a 996 Cab.. http://www.forbesautos.com/advice/to...ill_gates.html Although, sorry, hwk72, don't think it's necessarily the green one in the picture - if you look, the article say "picture supplied by Porsche" and it has euro plates on it. Interestingly enough, he also owns a red 959 which he had to get Bill Clinton to sign a Federal law to allow him to drive it in the states.. I guess the rich really are different This article: http://www.automotoportal.com/articl...us-geeks-drive has a picture of a silver 996 which they purport is his, along with the oh-mi-god red 959.. Of course, I'm not sure how much stock I put in an article that states: "He owns a 1999 Porsche 911 convertible, which is quite a rare car." WTF? Bad editing, maybe? Maybe they meant the 959? - Nick P.S. In the first article, check out what Warren Buffet drives.. now, there's a man who could buy Porsche (the company) if he wanted to..

What's even worse is the Carrera Cab he is driving isn't even a 99'. It is an 02'-04'. The only real value to the article is that he has good tastes.

Although I can't put my hands on a link right now I have seen a photo of Bills car and it is indeed Wimbledon Green. It also is in need of a front headlight amerectomy if I remember correctly.

Quotes source post: 4924065

Yeah.. I didn't notice that.. the red 959 has euro plates, too, so that's obviously not his either.. so we don't really know what color Billy's daily driver is. I think it's blue - Nick

Scroll down that page a little. They also claim that Michael Dell drives a Boxster, a car that's "no longer sold as a new car."

Quotes source post: 4924383

The Forbes article seems more believable, and a more reliable source.. they too have Dell driving a Boxster - as well as a Hummer.. - Nick

I want the 959!

Quotes source post: 4924500

Not anymore for me. Remember that the 959 was the supercar for the 80's. It is amazing how fast things change. The 02' 996TT X50 matched the 959's power to weight with Turbos that spool up 3000 rpms faster. The 996 GT2 was not only quicker, it matched the 959's top speed. The new 997 Turbo blows the ancient 959 away. The new Turbo has a much improved chassis with far improved handling. The stardard brakes on the new turbo are over an inch larger than the 959 brakes and extra pistons in front. The standard wheels and tires are substantually bigger on the new turbo than the old 959. The engine of the new turbo has about 140 lb-ft more torque on tap (with sport chrono pack) with that peak available from turbos fully spooled at just 2100 rpms. By comparison, the 959's turbo aren't fully spooled until 5500 rpms. Keep in mind that a good reason for this is the modern turbos have engines with over 20% more displacement that the 959's water-colled 4-valver, that was state of the art at the time. Finally, these new turbos beat the 959's performance with far improved comfort and convenience. The 959 was water cooled and came with a real heater, but still had that anchient dash and interior of a 911 from the 70's. The 911-derived air conditioning was rarely adequate on hot days. There was no high-end 13 speaker stereo or navigation back then (both standard on the new turbo). Never the less, these newer turbos have it all this while still meeting the curb weight of the 959.

IMHO...I think Arnee wants the 959 because of it's rarity and performance not just performance, and if it is the red one pictured then another reason for him to want it, even though we know the newer cars can perform just as well today. I too would want one, but I want a lot of things

Quotes source post: 4926458

So what? I think we all know that cars have improved substantially over the last 20 years.. The 959 is STILL a supercar, even by todays standards. Doesn't matter if it can't run with a GT2 or whatever - it'd still be nipping at it's heals, all with old-school technology. 0-60mph = 3.6secs 0-100mph = 8.3secs quarter mile = 11.8 119mph top speed = 198mph Heck, it even won the Dakar rally. What an awesome car, by any standard.

Gates still owns a 959 as does one of his associates.

Quotes source post: 4926761

you mean Paul Allen, cofounder of the company? ...Yes, Paul also has one.

Quotes source post: 4926566

Yes, because of its rarity. A 996TT isn't really "rare" nowadays.

saw one in Napa a couple of weeks back on route 29. They are something special.

well, Gates had to get special permission from the freakin president to get his 959 legally on the road. The 959 is not road legal in US, so there's a bit of a hitch if anyone dreams of that tooling around in that80's icon. edit: he was "instrumental" in passing the show and display law which allows 1200 miles a year legally, I believe the story at the time was he greased Clinton's palms (and others) so that he could have his car that had not been allowed to enter the country for something like 10 years.

Quotes source post: 4926805

A little OT: but how often are you around Napa and the bay area? I live in the bay area and also travel to Seattle for business on a monthly basis.

there monthly. Fun and work in the Bay area(Redwood City) Live in Seattle

Does anyone know what kind of car Lynn Thomas drives? Right. Who cares?

A couple years ago, Bruce Canepa near Santa Cruz was legalizing 959's for the street. I just visited his website and it doesn't really emphasize that portion of his business. I reckon there isn't much inventory to move in the world anyhow. http://www.canepa.com/news/reprints.html John

Here's a photo of a 959 in Stuttgart Performance/RSS when I got my plenum installed... Love that car!

If there were another wimbledon green 911 here in the Redmond area I think I would have noticed...there is a Boxster however. He bought one of the original LS400s, burgandy, and then traded it in when the later models came out with passenger side airbag. He also bought his mother an LS but I don't remember which year. The last I knew of the burgandy one was it was auctioned to benefit Oregon animal care.