We all know about Ruf, the legendary Porsche tuner that does silly things to 911s with even sillier results. And there’s a good chance you came across its bonkers creations in one of two ways. Either the hair-raising ‘Faszination on the Nurburgring’ film, where test driver Stefan Roser saws at the wheel of a bucking CTR ‘Yellowbird’ in what’s arguably the greatest 20 minutes of automotive video ever. Or you’ve driven them virtually in Gran Turismo or Test Drive Unlimited in place of actual Porsche models due to all the licensing red tape at the time.
Back then, Ruf’s work closely resembled the Porsche models they were based on, with the Yellowbird looking like a resprayed Carrera with the whale tail from a 930 Turbo and some sleeker five-spoke wheels. The firm was a bit more daring in the mid-'00s, with the 997 sporting GT2-style bolt-on flares and gigantic rear wings, while the even more hardcore versions with Ruf’s own in-house developed V8 appeared soon after. Nowadays, you’re more likely to see a Ruf at Pebble Beach than penduluming around the Nordschleife, though the firm still sells performance parts for pretty much every generation of 911 (and more) if you fancy sprinkling a bit of Ruf magic on your own Porker.
That, or you could pick up this 996 that the company put together earlier. Officially, it’s an RGT, a heavily tuned 996 GT3 that combined the best bits of Porsche track-honed 911 (like a Metzger engine) with a bunch of top-drawer upgrades. Normally, that would include Ruf’s own aero kit, but what we have here is instead a bit of a mashup of various Porsche models. For instance, the front bumper looks as though it’s been plucked from a 996 Turbo (or Carrera 4S), as opposed to the boxy kit that came on RGTs at the time, while the tuner’s redesigned wing makes way for an old-school ducktail spoiler perched on the engine cover. It’s still a very pretty thing, and clearly a Ruf riding on those signature five-spoke wheels.
Bodywork aside, this is very much a proper Ruf. The ad suggests the original owner was good mates with the tuner’s big boss, Alois Ruf Jnr, so when this example was bought as a regular GT3 on New Year’s Day in 2000, it wasn’t long before it was sent off to Ruf for its conversion to RGT spec. Details on mechanical changes on early Ruf models are hard to come by, but the ad says this car was treated to a Ruf exhaust system with an upgraded catalytic converter, a remap and a rev limiter bump, the latter alone costing €14,100 (or £12,000 in today’s money). That should mean the 3.6-litre flat-six is pushing out around 385hp, a decent 25hp more than the standard car.
There’s more. A lot more. The brakes were beefed up considerably over the standard car, with Ruf’s six-pot callipers and 370mm discs up front costing €9,800 (£8,300), a roll cage wrapped in Alcantara at €9,500 (£8,000) and a reworked gearbox with a longer fifth and sixth gear, plus a lightweight flywheel, totalling €6,500 (£5,500). That’s before you get to all the cosmetic changes, such as a Ruf-branded steering wheel, full leather bucket seats with six-point harnesses and even a branded footrest, all cost many thousands of euros.
Given most Rufs at the time were converted from standard 911s, there’s no proper way to tell how many were produced, especially as Ruf Jr has given the seal of approval to home-brewed conversions using original Ruf parts in the past. But it’s safe to say there are very few in existence, particularly in right-hand-drive format. You’ll need to give the seller a bell to find out the price, and just consider its rarity, the sheer quantity of A-grade upgrades and the price of an original 996 GT3 when a likely mahoosive number is read back to you. If you fancy building your own, this 996.2 GT3 would make a great Yellowbird successor.
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