1980s RUF US Program

[bmcfarland]

My ‘85 911 Carrera was retrofitted in 1988 with a “RUF 911 Engine Kit” which increased displacement from 3.2L to 3.4L and included other packaged enhancements described in the attachment. Does anyone have any details / background on RUF’s US program at that time? For example - How regimented was RUF’s “training and authorization” process? How many authorized RUF dealers were in the US in the 80s? General perception of Porsche enthusiast (then and now) regarding the program and cars with the engine kit? Thank you!

[bmcfarland]

[Bill Verburg]

Back in that era my parents had retired to the Stuart-Port St Lucie area, one of their neighbors had a Ruf connection, He ran a shop , I think in Pompano Beach, but I can't for the life of me remember his name or the shops name,

I was able to get some Ruf oparts through him.

[Chino]

Bill you might be referring to Leo.

[porschyard]

Originally Posted by Bill Verburg

Back in that era my parents had retired to the Stuart-Port St Lucie area, one of their neighbors had a Ruf connection, He ran a shop , I think in Pompano Beach, but I can't for the life of me remember his name or the shops name,

I was able to get some Ruf oparts through him.

Jim Arronian, unfortunately he passed a few years back

[faapgar]

When I was a shop foreman at a Porsche Dealer in NJ.in the early 70,s one of the mechanics left to open a shop in Montclair.It was called Exclusive Motorcars.They became an authorized RUF distributor in the 80,s and modified a lot of cars.The relationship soured sometime in the 90,s and they were no longer a distributor.My machinist did all their work.There was another shop in Illinois at that time that was an authorized RUF dealer.Fred

[onboost]

Originally Posted by faapgar

When I was a shop foreman at a Porsche Dealer in NJ.in the early 70,s one of the mechanics left to open a shop in Montclair.It was called Exclusive Motorcars.They became an authorized RUF distributor in the 80,s and modified a lot of cars.The relationship soured sometime in the 90,s and they were no longer a distributor.My machinist did all their work.There was another shop in Illinois at that time that was an authorized RUF dealer.Fred

Yup, what Fred said^^
Exclusive Motorcars was it, and the shop (name escapes me) in the Chicago area was the other official distributer.
Depending on the level of upgrade you were getting you could buy a kit over the counter have your tech build, have your upgrades done by that distributor, or if you one of the hot Turbo builds of the time, they would ship the parts in, and fly in a tech from Ruf to perform the build/conversion.$$$

[onboost]

Many years ago a friend and I bought a wrecked Euro 78 Ruf car. It was heavily damaged but had lots of goodies.. no Ruf paper work.
I got the engine which had the 3.2 kit, headwork and cams etc, along with the Ruf gauges. For the record, it did not have a Ruf chassis or eng serial number as many think all Ruf cars do.

My bud got the wheels, brakes, and suspension components.. interestingly enough the Bilstein shocks and struts both had the Ruf logo manufactured into them, just like the Bilstein logo.. in other words it wasn't stamped after the fact. I've only seen one other set of these. Also, for those not in the know, "the real Ruf bumpers" are poly, and not fiberglass, real quality stuff although those on this car didn't make it.
Gotta love this stuff man!

[bmcfarland]

Thanks guys! Yes, Exclusive Motorcars was a RUF dealer (sales brochure is listed on EBay. See link below). Perfect Power is probably the Chicago-area dealer you referred to onboost. Perfect Power performed the 1988 work on my car. Still a successful and thriving business doing very impressive work on 911s. Sol, the owner, helped educate me on my car. Now hoping someone can provide color/history on the overall US RUF program at that time. Thanks again!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Porsche-911-CARRERA-RUF-CTR-YELLOWBIRD-Sales-Brochure-Origianl-1980s-Literature-/254587808824?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0

[Brent Mosing]

bmcfarland
I am fortunate to own an 87 RUF BTR that is VIN 002. I have a letter from Alois Ruf stating that the car I own was the car sent to the US in 87 to get DOT approval to become a US manufacturer.
Also if my memory serves me correctly it was sometime in 86 that Porsche got emissions approval with the 930 to resume sending the Porsche Turbo to the US. There was a period of time, 84-86 I believe, where the 930 was not allowed. Porsche produced the M491 during this period while the 930 was not exported to the US. I was also told that the Yellow Bird is VIN 001 but cannot confirm.
I bought the car from RUF Auto Centre in Dallas TX. They were the RUF Distributor at the time and represented the car on consignment. This was in 2011.
Also a note on the article about the RUF BTR that won the fastest production car contest by Road and Track. Somewhere I read where Alois Ruf stated they used the slantnose to get that extra few miles and hour.
Hope this helps put things together.

[Bill Verburg]

Originally Posted by onboost

Many years ago a friend and I bought a wrecked Euro 78 Ruf car. It was heavily damaged but had lots of goodies.. no Ruf paper work.
I got the engine which had the 3.2 kit, headwork and cams etc, along with the Ruf gauges. For the record, it did not have a Ruf chassis or eng serial number as many think all Ruf cars do.

My bud got the wheels, brakes, and suspension components.. interestingly enough the Bilstein shocks and struts both had the Ruf logo manufactured into them, just like the Bilstein logo.. in other words it wasn't stamped after the fact. I've only seen one other set of these. Also, for those not in the know, "the real Ruf bumpers" are poly, and not fiberglass, real quality stuff although those on this car didn't make it.
Gotta love this stuff man!

Not per Ruf literature
and not from my recollection either
The full cover as used on CTR was f/g w/ a rubber lip



the valance was p/u w/ an integrated lip and internal plastic frame/grill

[faapgar]

I serviced a number of these cars.It was pretty much an overbore from 95-98mm with a fuel distributor of the the red tag 010 from a 3.0 Carrera.This was for large port engines only from 78-79.The Euro cars with large port from 80-83 got the purple tag fuel distributor that ended in 097 without the frequency valve.If you changed the exhaust to SSI it would make 235-245 hp.But you had to run the real platinum plugs WD3DPO to be safe.The other extended tips would promote detonation.The W3DPO sat back in the plug hole another 20mm compared the the standard plug.There is a reason that plug is costly because it works.Lets see it came from Porsche.The engineers they employ will always be smarter than us DIY guy.That is what I think.Ciao Fred

[Jack Stands]

Perfect Power (in Libertyville, IL) was a RUF distributor back in the day.

[LUFTKUL]

Here is an '84 930 imported to US and went straight to Exclusive Motorcars for the full RUF treatment. These bumpers have a metal RUF tag inlaid in the poly on the backside. I may have a pic of that somewhere. Has the RUF 5 speed which is really nice.

[Bill Verburg]

Here is the list of parts sold as individual items


I remember both Exclusive and Perfect Power as being players in this arena, I just always dealt w/ the Pompano Beach shop

[bt87cab]

Reviving on old thread in case anyone is looking for a list of US RUF facilities in the future - I came across this ad from 1988

[Mocker]

There were other dealers doing various Ruf installations. The PO of my 79 turbo had his local shop install a Ruf 5-speed, Ruf front oil cooler and 17x9 and 17x10 Ruf Speedline wheels, along with a 3.5L conversion, Andial intercooler and fuel enrichment circuit, and other mods, all in 1989. This was done by PM Motorsports in Sacramento, which unfortunately burned down in 2014 (https://www.theloudpedalblog.com/the-loud-pedal-news/pm-motorsports-fire)

[ChrisHamilton]

I had never heard of RUF until reading an issue of Car and Driver in 1988 when I was in High School, and they did a high speed four car comparison on the Autobahn in Germany. The black RUF was the car that grabbed my attention in that article. Still have that issue. It was the December 1988 issue. A 25th Anniversary Lamborghini Countach was the covergirl.