Parked among other Porsches, the Ruf 911 could easily pass for just another tuner 911. But if you take a closer look, you’ll notice that it is an iconic tuned 911. This exotic chip-of-the-old-block 911 gained a massive following after it featured in Gran Turismo 2, but its history is more than 40 years old. The Ruf Porsche 911 Turbo might carry a few pieces here and there from the regular 911, but that’s as far as their similarities go.
Randy of Savage Garage owns a unit of this exotically tuned 911. He’s had it for a while, but it’s been away getting work done for almost two years.
The Ruf Porsche 911 story begins in 1974, when Alois Ruf takes over his dad’s successful bus manufacturing enterprise. Alois loved the 911 and, over the years, gained popularity boosting the then-thriving 930 Turbo. He also redesigned the 4-speed gearbox to a custom 5-speed. Over time, his business switched from a Porsche tuner to a manufacturer.
Randy’s version is a 1978 Porsche 930 Turbo converted between 1984 and 1985 to a Ruf. After conversion, the car spent most of its life in Puerto Rico, picking up the alias ‘El Hulk’ due to its iconic Everest Oak color and muscular structure. It also comes with an original 6,299 miles on the odometer, and still runs the original color-matching HRE Ruf wheels with chrome step down.
“It’s a phenomenal car view. I love this era of Porsche, of course, which I adore. You can see there are no cracks on the dash. It’s amazing for what it is,” Randy confessed.
Randy’s 911 Ruf Turbo now makes 500 WHP on the dyno. He does a couple of pulls, and it’s evident it bites the tarmac hard.
Photo: YouTube Screenshot/Savage Garage
After purchasing the car, he drove it and noticed a couple of issues. Instead of band-aiding it, he decided to redo the car. After the rebuild, Randy is happy his Ruf is a wholesome original car.
He redid the roof, the brakes, and also some paint correction. He did not want a complete rebuild and wanted it to remain as original as possible.
Both the interior and exterior of the car are flawless. Randy was keen to keep the car spotless, maintaining its originality as a Ruf. It even comes with the original seats, green trim pieces, and roll cage.
He’ll be changing the color of the carpet to green. Even though it’s generally in good condition - he's not a big fan of the antique odor.
Randy’s Ruf Porsche 911 is by no means a fast car by modern standards, but he believes it has enough to scare you. Now that the car is back with him, he plans on driving it more (when it’s warmer because it has no heat).
Humphrey is a car enthusiast whose love and passion for automobiles extended into collecting, writing, driving, and working on cars. He got his passion for cars from his Dad, who spent thousands of hours working on his old junky 1970 E20 Toyota Corolla. Years later, he would end up doing the same with a series of lemons he’s owned throughout his adult life. Full profile
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