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Tag: Ruf

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1979 Porsche 930 Turbo RUF BTR 3.4 5-Speed

1979 Porsche 930 Turbo RUF BTR 3.4 5-Speed

Published June 24, 2023 by Carter

In the world of Porsche tuners, RUF may be the name that is most hallowed. The company made its name long ago by taking cars with excellent performance and turning everything up – sometimes, way up. Their early work began with the 911, and here we have the model that began the madness: the RUF BTR. Using Porsche’s already prodigiously powered 930, RUF bored the engine to raise displacement to 3.4 liters and then raised the turbo pressure to increase output to 374 hp. But these were never intended to be cars simply producing more power. The braking and suspension setups were improved, aerodynamic aids fitted, and the interior outfitted to meet a customer’s specifications. All together you had a car instantly recognizable as a 911, but with enough visual cues to make clear it was not any old model. These were special.

Today’s car isn’t a full RUF BTR because it predates the RUF-specific VIN period; rather, this is a conversion that has most of the goodies you’d want in a BTR. For good measure, it’s a very rare color combination. Let’s check it out:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1979 Porsche 930 Turbo RUF BTR 3.4 on eBay

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2006 RUF Rt12 S

2006 RUF Rt12 S

Published January 1, 2023 by Carter

The name RUF has only become more legendary over the last few years, if that is even conceivable. Cars bearing the name of Alois that were built in Pfaffenhausen, Germany have exploded in value. Want to bear witness? Check out today’s car – an Rt12 rebuilt to S specification. It’s been a bit of an internet star on its own; I wrote the car up back in 2017, when there was less information about it. It had been owned by Ed Bolian, YouTuber extraordinaire, and the asking price was just over $200,000 with ~27,500 miles. The asking price dipped below the $200k mark before a 30k refurb was performed between 2018 and 2019, and 2022 it was offered for sale at the RM – Sotheby’s Amelia Island auction in March of this past year. The sale price? $434,000. Not done, it hit Bring a Trailer in August 2022, with bids ringing in at just below $400,000 with no sale. Now, it’s back up for sale on eBay. Along the way the wheels were refinished silver and the seats were redone with pepita inserts. That, plus the $30k in mechanical work, has resulted in quite the increase in the asking price…

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2006 RUF Rt12 S on eBay

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Wish List: 1993 Isdera Commendatore 112i

Wish List: 1993 Isdera Commendatore 112i

Published December 20, 2020 by Carter

Around this time each year it’s nice to draw up a ‘wish list’ of things that, were I obscenely rich, I’d love to get myself as a holiday present. And if you’re Jeff Bezos, bored, reading this blog, and feeling spendy for some reason, this one is top of my list. What you see here is a car that not many are very familiar with. It comes from the firm Isdera, which doesn’t sound particularly German at all. But Isdera is an acronym for Ingenieurbüro fur Styling, DEsign und RAcing, which does seem particularly German. In fact, I’m surprised it’s not just one word. Anyway, Isdera was the brain child of Eberhard Schulz, who started off by building himself a sports car called the Erator GTE that looked very similar to the GT40, but had gullwing doors. Shulz worked for Porsche and Mercedes for a bit as a result of this impressive prototype, and later moved to the tuning firm B&B which ultimately led to the CW311 show car in 1978. Based upon Mercedes-Benz mechanical components and stylistically the successor to the Mercedes-Benz C111 rotary prototypes, Isdera then launched his own topless form of the CW311 called the Spyder 036i, 17 of which were made, and finally a ‘production’ version of the B&B CW311 called the Imperator 108i.

Not stasfied with 20-odd 108is produced through 1991, Shulz then dropped a 6-liter V12 in the middle of the chassis and hooked it to a Ruf-modified gearbox, Porsche suspension, a windshield wiper yanked from a Japanese Skinkansen bullet train, and a name befitting the founder of a certain Italian supercar maker. The result was stunning in 1993, and I’d argue it’s still pretty stunning today. And if you can pony up a whole lotta cash, the one existing example can be yours early next year.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1993 Isdera Commendatore 112i at RM Southeby’s Paris Auction 2021

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1991 Porsche 911 Turbo

1991 Porsche 911 Turbo

Published January 7, 2019 by Carter

As the Turbo era died off in the early 90s and nearly everyone abandoned forced induction thanks to newer, more stringent fuel economy and emissions standards, Porsche’s ‘Gott verdammt, ve continue to do things the same vill!‘ attitude extended to boost. Instead of backing away from their somewhat flawed design, Porsche doubled down and launched a ‘brand new’ Turbo model of the 911 for 1991. I say ‘brand new’ because while the body looked modern and the interior updated, in reality this was the same old-school Porsche 911 Turbo underneath. It was still rear-drive only, still a single turbocharger with a ton of lag, and still capable of ripping your face off. Still displacing 3.3 liters, revisions to the intake, exhaust and ECU left the flat-6 churning 315 horsepower and 333 lb.ft of torque, the 964-era Turbo hit 60 in under 5 seconds if you threw caution to the wind and was within a breath of 170 flat-out. Outside, the 964’s smooth bumper covers replaced the impact-era units and 17″ Cup 1 wheels filled the flares, but squint and not much looked different from 15 years prior. Yet sure enough, newfangled technologies had crept in: anti-lock brakes, airbags, power steering *gasp!* In many ways, though modern and certainly capable of hanging with the best cars of the day if not exceeding their performance, they felt a bit like a dinosaur unabashedly sticking its middle claw up towards progress and the future. It’s that attitude, reputation and look that today continues to drive the desirability of this model in the used market:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1991 Porsche 911 Turbo on eBay

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Tuner Tuesday: RUF Auction Roundup

Tuner Tuesday: RUF Auction Roundup

Published August 21, 2018 by Rob

It’s August and that means it’s car auction time. Much of the car-collecting world will be out in California this weekend either at Monterey or Pebble Beach – maybe even Carmel. A lot of cars will change hands and some of those will help set the market over the next six months. I always like to highlight a few that seem particularly fun.

As usual, there are a lot of Porsches on auction, though truthfully there is less this year that really grabbed my attention than in years past. But there is always good stuff even if there are fewer of them. For instance, if you’re a very esoteric Porsche fan, Gooding & Company will be auctioning this 1 of 1 1966 Porsche 911 Spyder. This post will not be about that car, in part because I don’t even know where to begin with that car, and, in fact, this post will be slightly tangential to Porsche. We’re going to look at RUF because there are a few very cool RUFs being auctioned. These are the real deal; these aren’t conversions carried about by shops here in the US nor even are they conversions carried out in Pfaffenhausen at the RUF factory. All three of these have a RUF VIN. They are all insanely rare and like all RUFs insanely fast and focused.

We’ve seen a lot of RUF 911s come up for sale over the years, but the three we have here are some of the best examples available. They all come from the 911’s air-cooled days and are a mix of almost unknown and iconic. Let’s begin with the icon: a 1989 RUF CTR, the model famously tested as the ‘Yellowbird’ and which put the rest of the tuning world on notice:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1989 RUF CTR at RM Sotheby’s Monterey Auctions

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