Date:         Fri, 20 Jan 1995 10:21:11 -0800
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         rathkem@admin.ci.seattle.wa.us
Subject:      {f} Was: Brazilian Bus: The Plan Now: BGates in action


<---- Begin Included Message ---->


>Let me give you a quick story. You all know who Bill Gates is, right?
>He has a Porsche 959 (you all remember the Porsche supercar from
>the early 1980s) that is sitting in a warehouse because he
>can't get it into the country legally. Here is a guy who has, what,
>Billions of $$$$....and for all he's worth, he can't even buy
>the access to the US for his car. So get a clue!
>
> more stuff deleted
>
Just to set the record straight, the story I've heard is this:
Mr. Gates (aka Billion Dollar Bill)  did manage to bring his 959 into the US.
Apparently there was a 1 month period during which one law expired and another
took over. During that time both him and Mr. Allen, and probably a few others,
managed to get their cars "bailed out" of US Customs.
Now, are they actually legal to drive? I'm not sure.
But it does show that there is often away around "the law" and I'll bet his $
helped him find it.
Any validation/repudiation of this story welcome. It's just one of those 
legends
that float around here in the outlying regions of Microsoft-ville.

<---- End Included Message ---->
Well, you asked for it....
Working with the Seattle Police Department as I do, and working with 
automotive stuff as I do, I came upon a story.  Evidently one afternoon an 
officer went to the Kingdome parking lot where Bill had set up some cones in 
the resemblence of a track and was testing his new Porsche.  Bill evidently 
didn't understand that there was anything wrong with this.  The story never 
mentioned how he got there, or how he left.
One other rumor is that Bill and his boys annually rent out Seattle 
International Raceway to go play with their cars that they can't drive on the 
road.

Sounds like fun....

Matt Rathke, City of Seattle
rathkem@admin.ci.seattle.wa.us