Droops83

I was digging around on my shop's computer and found these pics from when we had the Ruf Yellowbird here last year. I thought I had lost them, I was planning on posting them right after I took em and getting the scoop on Excellence!

In the underbody pics you can clearly see the pump for the gearbox oil that goes to a cooler up front, and that it is in fact a good ol' torsion bar equipped car! When it was here we replaced the plastic racing control arm bushings that were in it with stock rubber ones since the car is mainly a street/show car now for Ruf instead of being used to take customers for rides on racetracks to terrify them. You can see our German meister Henry working on this. But hey, I got to rack it up and remove the wheels! Even with the rubber bushings though, it rides pretty damn hard and feels controlled! There's also a genuine yellow '73 Carrera RS from the Otis Chandler collection in some of the pics and a genuinely fake 550 Spyder!

And for laughs, there is a genuine Peugeot battery in the luggage compartment! I guess the French have the edge in battery technology . . . Oh yeah and it also has a genuine bright orange plastic VW/Audi dipstick for the '72 style forward mounted oil tank! I tried to get a pic of that but it didn't turn out.

Enjoy!

---

Chris Andropoulos
Schneider Autohaus
Santa Barbara, CA

The Brewmeister

WWWooooo DDDDoooooogggggggggggggiiiiees! A 211 mph fire breathing
dragon! A piece of RUF and Porsche history. Thanks for sharing!

nathanUK '81 930 G50

Thanks for sharing.

sand_man

SHEEESH! What's lovely about this particular car is the evidence that it's been...DRIVEN!

Droops83

Yeah it's great, the Yellow Bird has always been the rolling showcase for Ruf. I know that it has been totally rebuilt at least once in its life. I got to ride in it from Santa Barbara to Monterey for the ALMS race at Laguna Seca last year where the Porsche RS Spyder debuted. What an amazing ride! The best part about that car is the sound, far and away the best sounding turbocharged 911 ever. Most turbocharged 911s, even with a straight pipe off the turbo, sound great for sure but they are still pretty muffled compared to an NA car w/ open exhaust. Even the 935s I saw and heard at the Monterey Historics were eerily quiet. But the Yellow Bird sounds SO mean at idle, almost like a V8 w/ a big cam. And it has a fantastic exhuast note, in addition to all the great whistling turbo sounds, open wastgates and bypass valves. The car does not lag very badly at all, you can punch it in 4th gear and the turbos are fully spooled at ~3500 rpm, and of course the acceleration of 500+ hp in a 2500 lb car is mind blowing to say the least. But, since its an '80s Motronic system, it has to run super rich at all RPMs to be safe--it leaves clouds of unburnt fuel in the air at stop signs! Excellence noted this in their article as well.

Unfortunately we had to hand the keys to Pete Stout of Excellence when we got to Laguna Seca, who kept it for a few weeks so they could write their big article on it that appeared a few months later. But it was an honor and a privilege to have that car in my shop, and to drive it in the parking lot!

---

Chris Andropoulos
Schneider Autohaus
Santa Barbara, CA

thedyingiraffe

I had a ride in Ruf CTR1 # 12 of 29... WOW!

Edgy01

Chris,--who's watching it now? Does Joe still have it at his place?

Droops83

Cool! The production CTRs are supposed to be even a little bit better, 6 spd gearbox instead of the dogleg 5 spd, aluminum (or was it carbon fiber?) instead of fiberglass bumpers, and better airflow to the relocated intercoolers. Must have been a rush. If I ever have the money/opportunity I am definitely gonna buy a CTR someday.

It is back in Pfaffenhausen now sadly. Joe Carastro had it for probably over a month at his house, from September to October of last year. He drove it to Laguna Seca in October w/ me riding shotgun and we handed the keys to Pete Stout of Excellence who also had it for over a month I believe. Then it went to the Ruf Auto Centre in Dallas for awhile and I'd imagine it went from there back to Germany. It was fun having it here, and I suggested to Alois Ruf that he bring it back sometime to the Monterey Historics along w/ Stefan Rozer so he can slide it around Laguna Seca sideways to entertain the crowd between sessions. He actually seemed to like the idea; even though its not necessarily a historic race car, it is historic nonetheless and the crowd would love it. Fat chance it would happen, but here's to hoping!

---Chris A.

Edgy01

All good ideas,--and easily a write off for his taxes! It promotes the company well. The Yellow Bird was a real sweet demonstrator for what a competent aftermarket shop could do when starting with a fine Porsche to begin with. Everyone should never forget it screaming across the pages of US auto magazines in its day.

Matt Romanowski

Thanks for the photos. I don't think there is anyone on the list that has seen the Fascination video and not dreamed of this ca!

Edgy01

Is Alois Ruf going to open a museum (like Porsche)? This needs to be there.

Vancouver83LTD

****, want to get me a job there?

tennjed

What strikes me is, even in this advanced state of being, how uncluttered and elegant the 911 is. A car for all time.

Wayne
78 3.0 Targa ( I finally own one)

JEC_31

The last two photos in Ruf Auto Centre's website gallery are titled "Yellowbird at his American home". I took that to mean it (he?) was being kept here, perhaps it means that he (it?) has dual residency...

http://www.rufautocentre.com/gallery...=1&whichpage=6

BTW If you haven't browsed this gallery you must do so now, company time be damned.

Edgy01

Ruf has a facility in the Dallas area.