While there are a plethora of Porsche 930s sporting Ruf details, when you get into the real Ruf vehicles you have crested a very high mountain of performance. Rufs emerged in the 1980s as the ultimate giant killers; cars whose performance exceeded the expectations of everyone in the motoring press and every stock vehicle they came across. Put simply, there were just no cars that were faster; even Porsche’s legendary 959 was bullied by the equally revered Ruf CTR Yellowbird in a high-speed test when they were new. They were, and remain, the most expensive and most highly sought modified Porsches available. Add to that the specialized lightweight versions of the already exclusive Rufs, and you’ve got something truly special and unique:
Category: Tuner Tuesday
Pretty much everyone knows that Volkswagen enthusiasts are a special breed, but even within Volkswagen enthusiasts there are some really devoted fans of a particular sub-model. One such example of this is the Golf Harlequin, seemingly a joke by Volkswagen dealers to get rid of excess body panels. In truth, it’s one of the really neat exercises by a major that reinforces my belief that Volkswagen just does things differently than most other manufacturers. Seriously, could you imagine Mercedes-Benz shipping a bunch of S-Classes out to dealers in different colors and telling them to swap body panels around? The Harlequin Golf was and remains a neat page in Volkswagen history that generally brings a smile to VW fans. So, it’s no surprise that the Harlequins are very sought after, even if they appear all in one color because the dealer was lazy – no joke! But are they sought after enough to warrant a replica?
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1996 Volkswagen Golf on eBay
Comments closedAs with earlier’s AMG clone 300CE, this 1987 BMW 325i presents a bit of a problem. This particular car also visited a tuning shop in Germany, one that like Ruf and Alpina can be considered to produce its own cars. In this case, this car – had it been fully built and titled – would be considered a Hartge H26. But, also in this case, the car is not fully built and consequently not fully titled a Hartge. What you have, then, is a very good looking 325i sporting one of the less usual engines to see – the 2.6 inline-6 rated at about the same 190 horsepower as the early M3s. Now, perhaps it doesn’t matter to you that it’s not a full Hartge car – but it matters to the market:
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1987 BMW 325i/Hartge H26 on eBay
3 CommentsIf you missed out on last week’s S-Fest II, have no fear. Our reader John has been on patrol and recently sighted this great looking 1992 Audi S4. The 1992 has some nice advantages in stock form over the later run cars; however, this particular example has been further modified with turned up boost, suspension and some European market goodies. In rarer-to-see black over grey leather, it looks like a pretty tidy package:
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1992 Audi S4 on craigslist
6 CommentsWe’ve seen before many times that the devil is in the details with the pre-merger AMG modified cars. Like Faberge eggs, they can look the part without actually being a real AMG modified car; but unlike the Faberge art the details of all of the early cars is not particularly well known or documented. So here is a fairly desirable, very clean W124 300CE – already a sought after car, especially with lower miles. Tack on the awesome looking AMG bits and you have one really great looking, desirable package. Despite this, it’s not likely authentic. There’s a line that it was factory equipped with the AMG body kit and sport suspension, and indeed if you scroll through the pictures there are the AMG-spec springs. Outside the AMG-spec body kit is one of the best looking available and really sharpens the lines of the W124 into a more aggressive stance. But is it a real AMG?