Porsche Exclusive Built Seven Unique 959s For A Sheikh, Including This Golden One

This year, Porsche Exclusive celebrated 33 years since it officially began crafting tailor-made vehicles for affluent customers.

However, even before setting up its bespoke vehicle division, Porsche made some unique cars for buyers whose motorized wishes had to be granted. People like Mansour Ojjeh, for example, who had Porsche’s special requests department build him a 935 Street one-off in 1983.

Mind you, it was only from 1986 onwards that Porsche Exclusive was able run on all cylinders, so to speak. That came in handy in 1989, when the bespoke division had to fulfill one of the most unusual orders. Sheikh Abdul Aziz Khalifa Althani from Qatar’s royal family asked Porsche to build him seven 959s to add to his collection. Every car had to be in a different color with a matching interior and an array of personal touches.

Also read: One-Off 1984 911 Carrera 3.2 Was Born Before Porsche Exclusive Even Existed

Since it would have been hard (and stupid) to say no to someone who commissioned seven Porsche 959 supercars at once, the carmaker obliged. Obviously, discretion was to be expected so not a lot of people knew about this special order until many years after.

In 2011, Porsche Exclusive celebrated its 25th anniversary and gained permission from the owner to display one of the seven bespoke 959s at the Porsche Museum as part of a special exhibit. That’s the golden car you see in the gallery, and it has 1980s excess written all over it.

Besides the special golden paint, it featured matching alloys, pinstriping in brown, beige and green underlining the car’s waistline, as well as gold-plated tailpipes (yes, with actual gold). Everything was the same color inside too, including the steering wheel, dashboard, leather seats, headliner, and carpet. The sheikh family’s coat of arms is also in gold and you can find it emblazoned on the steering wheel and gear stick cover.

The only different colors found inside are the brown, beige and green accents on the seats, as well as the red wood trim on the dash, gearshift lever and handbrake lever. These photos courtesy of Porsche Museum’s Facebook page and Porsche’s archives are self-explanatory, really. If you’re wondering what’s the deal with the images showing a red interior, they come from another 959 painted red and belonging to the same collection.

Many people are fortunate enough to own spectacular Porsche collections, but very few of them have more than one 959 in their garages. No one else in the world owns seven bespoke examples that they ordered from new, though.