Re: The History of Ruf, narrated by Alois Ruf NBC

Well done film, with lots of good footage. Ruf boxster in part 4, briefly.

I had a beer with Alois Ruf last summer, in Pfaffenhausen, at a town fest/factory open house. He was the most down to earth, likeable guy. I didn't realize until watching this film that Paul Frere was there also.

[youtu.be]

Oops, must have been a different 70 year old German guy, as I just read Paul Frere passed in 2008.

Minus 40 degrees... Is that Fahrenheit or Celsius?
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/2012 08:11AM by Laz. (view changes)

Last month my wife and I, and five other couples from our local PCA region (Polar) visited the Ruf factory in Pfaffenhausen. We had a fabulous 3.5 Hour tour of their small but very productive factory. Unfortunately, Alois was not in the day we were there. At the end of the tour, we were each given a copy of the History of Ruf 2011 DVD. I have not watched it yet. I've been saving it for the right time, probably during Xmas vacation.
One of the many things that was said during our tour was "nobody needs a Ruf car but many people want one". This held true for each of us that visited that day. We toured what we thought was another Porsche tuner, but it turned out to be a true factory that produces the most amazing cars.
We all went away from the tour with a great deal of respect for what Herr Ruf is producing and without exception, each of us now wants a Ruf car. Of course, wanting and affording are two different things.
Alex
PS the original Yellow Bird happened to be in the shop the day we visited. Each of us got to sit in it as well as take pictures. A real thrill.

I didn't get to sit in it, but it was there.Pretty cool, knowing the history.

Got an incredible ride in an owner's RT12. He stopped at 170, but it was still pulling. The torque was unbelievable I was really intrigued by the handful of hybrids they were working on.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/2012 06:08AM by IFlyLow. (view changes)

I was stationed with the Air Force in Frankfurt Germany from 1981 through 1985. It was a fun time to be in Germany, the dollar was strong, the Germans were friendly and the cars were fast. We decided to take our 914 to Germany with us and soon sold it an bought a 911SC. The Germany Region of PCA was very active at the time and one of our primary supporters was Alois Ruf. He usually sponsored an auto slalom each summer, occasionally a Concours at his shop in Pfaffenhausen, Christmas party door prizes and even attended several events. As others have said, he is truly a gentleman and friend of Porsche. The picture below was taken at the 1984 Concours where my wife and I garnered a 2nd place trophy. BTW, that baby is now 29 years old, not the car, the one my wife is holding.

The fun stuff - at that time Ruff was primarily engineering upgrades to older 911s, 912s, and 914s and going worldwide with his services. His most popular conversion was the SCR that took the 3L motor to 3.2L and added about 25 HP. It was legal in the German TUV inspection system. We had one club member that had a 73 RS lightweight with a highly modified 3.4L and a 914-6 with a 3.6L, they both had military tags and weren't subject to TUV inspection. Another member had a 911SC factory prototype, odd sized sunroof and pictures of being towed in off the Sahara desert by a camel, with a modified 3.2L. The difference in RUFs modifications were that an average 911Sc could go 135-140 mph on the autobahn and the last car I mentioned was good for 165 mph.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/2012 12:49PM by jfarris. (view changes)