Every car enthusiast has a vision of their ideal automotive existence. You may not necessarily strive for it, or even consciously consider it, but, despite everyday realities, its there in the back of your mind. For some it’s simply owning a dream car, for others it’s owning enough to fill an entire garage, while there may be others still that are more interested in burning up the racetrack instead.

Put those scenarios together, and you get some sense of what it must be like to be Bruce Canepa. This unassuming native Californian has a 65,000 square foot facility in the scenic Santa Cruz mountains on the west coast of the US.

Canepa Design houses a showroom of some of the most rare and exotic cars on the planet, a museum that’s home to some mouth watering racing machinery, including cars that he has himself raced, as well as a state of the art workshop that is so spotless and well organized that it puts some operating theaters to shame.

Bruce Canepa has had petrol in his veins since he was a child. He grew up racing dirt bikes and go karts, as well as learning how to work on cars at his family dealership. He’s obviously multi faceted, having finished 3rd in the 24 Hours of Daytona, set the record for a full fledged truck up the legendary Pikes Peak hill, and worked with Microsoft founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen to federalize (homologate) the Porsche 959 four-wheel drive supercar for the US market.

Currently, he competes at historic races while managing Canepa Design and Concept Transporters. Canepa Design provides various types of exotic machinery to collectors worldwide. They also provide complete restoration of vintage cars and racecars, as well as customization for discerning customers. Concept Transporters provides custom bodies and outfits transporters and trucks – hence the 28-foot ceiling and two-story high paint booth in his workshop.

The car you see here is Bruce Canepa’s own US road-legal Porsche 959. This was the most technically advanced car in the world when it was produced from 1986 to 1989. The 959 was originally developed by Porsche for the stillborn FIA Group B rallying championship, which was banned because the cars were simply too fast. The 959 has a 2.85 liter flat-six engine with twin-sequential turbos that produce 450 horsepower. It was also one of the first supercars to feature all-wheel drive. The body, and even the wheels, use a cocktail of exotic materials such as magnesium, Kevlar and nomex. All this technology propelled the car from 0 to 100km/h in 3.7 seconds. The only other car at the time that could match its speed was the Ferrari F40.

The car was so versatile that Porsche entered 3 modified 959s in the legendary 1986 Paris-Dakar Raid – they finished an astonishing 1st, 2nd and 6th in what is arguably the most grueling motorsport event on the planet.

The 959 was never sold in the US because Porsche refused to provide the US Department of Transport with four cars for crash testing. Many believe that Porsche actually used that as an excuse to avoid selling the car in the US because it cost them far more to build than its selling price.

In the early 90s, Bruce Canepa imported two 959’s for Microsoft founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen. The cars, however, weren’t allowed through customs, and thus began a fierce ten year long legal battle to get the 959 federalized in the US. The lawyers of Bill Gates were eventually able to pass a new law allowing the federalization of the 959 if Canepa could get the car to meet certain norms.

While working on the intake and exhaust to meet US emission requirements, Canepa and his team actually increased horsepower from 450 to 576. They also changed the sequential turbos to reduce turbo lag, increase torque and improve drivability.

The Canepa 959 accelerates from 0 to 100km/h in 3.3 seconds. Canepa claims his 959’s offer better performance than the legendary McLaren F1.

Ferrari F40

The Ferrari F40 is a true supercar in the literal sense. The F40 was Enzo Ferrari’s final masterpiece – it was the last car commissioned by the great man before his death. Production began in 1987 to commemorate Ferrari’s 40th anniversary as a manufacturer – 1,315 F40’s were produced from 1987 to 1992.

The F40 was the fastest production car of its time, and was the first road legal car to break the 200mph (322 km/h) barrier. It had a mid-mounted 2.9 liter twin-turbo V8 that produced 470 horsepower. It weighed only 1,110 kilos thanks to a body made of Kevlar, carbon fiber and aluminum. It had plastic windows, and no carpets, stereo or even door handles in an effort to keep weight to a minimum. A great deal of attention was also paid to the aerodynamics. The end result of all this was a road car with performance that was unheard of at the time.