Confessions of a Rufaholic
 

Hi. My name is Steve, and I’m a Rufaholic.
My car, “Rufus” (even the name is an indicator of the illness) has about 132,000 miles. Rufus has just about every piece of Ruf optional equipment known to mankind, save two: the integrated roll cage which requires removing the roof, and the instruments.
Ahhh… the instruments. They are the same as the standard instruments except they are green and have Ruf logos. I have been able to resist the temptation for the 7 years I have owned Rufus. The Ruf instruments are sold on an exchange-only basis and they cost quite a lot. Did I mention that they are rather expensive? Yes, well they are. And they are the same as stock instruments… but green. Oh, and the speedometer reads to 360 KPH (220 mph)… pretty essential for my driving style.
Rufus was converted to a Ruf Turbo R in Alabama, about 8 years ago with 86,000 miles on the odometer. It came with the Turbo R engine (totally rebuilt with NEW heads and all), ECU, and oil cooler, as well as the Ruf suspension, wheels, floor mats, front strut bar, and 3 of the 4 pedals. The Ruf CTR front bumper was included with the sale, but not on the car. In my ownership, I have added the 4th pedal, the Ruf emblems, the rear CTR bumper (with the CTR-style center exhaust), Ruf brakes, A-pillar fairings, aero mirrors, steering wheel, shifter, and seats. As a sign of a truly diseased Rufaholic, I got Alois Ruf to sign his name on the sun visor, I have a Ruf keyhead on my ignition key, and got Marcus to make some carbon fiber RUF door sills. That’s just the Ruf stuff… there are other upgrades as well.
Pretty nutty. I once added up the retail price of all of the upgrades, and it was around $90,000. For upgrades. Not including the car. Upgrades. Nutty. More than nutty.
So, what do you suppose happened when fellow Ruf Turbo R owner “Mickfluff” mentioned that Palo Alto Speedometer had 6 sets of Ruf instrument faces for sale. I had decided against this crazy extravagance over the past 7 years. I mean… this is really beyond the pale. On the other hand…
My girl friend said “go ahead, you deserve to treat yourself once in a while”, and she has a PhD, so how could I argue with that? I dare not mention this latest relapse to anyone in my family. They simply wouldn’t understand. Can we just keep this among ourselves?

Congrats and enjoy

They look great congrats!! Mine are in shipping now and will be in cali by friday! Looks like your pleased with the results.... Again happy to see. I am having them do the speedo mph from kil conversion etc...

Congrats, Steve. The instruments look great. I've always admired your car, and even remember the thread when you found and bought Rufus. That was the most entertaining car buying thread I remember reading on Rennlist.

They do look good Steve!

Nice story too, hey you only live once, might as well enjoy to the fullest. :)

I like the clean look - and the money is spent, so enjoy the car and drive the hell out of it - wait you already do that!

Cheers,

MIke

very nice...enjoy...:-)

I love reading the condensed story of your car. I am far behind your list of mods.

I just can't get enough of my Turbo R. Love it. I can't wait for Mick to get his on the road. And for the recent buyer of the RAC Turbo R to take delivery.

Steve, Hans told me that they only did about 10 turbo R conversions over the years. I would have expected more.

Love the gauges. What is next?!

Way to go Steve! They look super! Your car is now perfect. BTW, I meant to ask you about the windshield wipers.

Sid

+35hp easy

Love the sickness. Thank you for sharing.

I just picked up a set of 18" BBS E88s for my TT and am trying to decide how to best work that into the look of my car.

Yours is my favorite car....before this. Considering their rarity, I think you can consider them "investment instruments".

Just imagine what your life would be like if you weren't infected with the sickness.

haha good for you. Its a hobby which means sometimes you just need to pretend the cost has one less zero (or two). Congrats and enjoy!

Did RUF change the odometer to the correct mileage of your car when you ordered the new instruments?