Legendary tuner Ruf helped saved the Porsche 911 from extinction*

Porsche has always been written into Alois Ruf Jr’s destiny, ever since he saw not one, but two cars from Stuttgart overtake him as a youngster. It kickstarted a lifelong connection to one of the world’s most famous sportscar makers.

And in turn, you could say Ruf repaid the investment by keeping faith in a now-iconic model line. Yep, Ruf helped save the Porsche 911 from extinction. Sorta.

“We started in the beginning repairing and servicing Porsches,” Ruf Jr told TopGear.com, “and we made a reputation doing this. It was through word of mouth, and more and more people starting coming to us. This is how we became known as a Porsche specialist.

“That was the 1960s, and all of this carried on until the 1970s. The big bang against us was the [Seventies] Oil Crisis. It was very difficult for us. Then my father passed away [in 1974] – he was only 62 years old, and I had to survive with the company.”

At that time of course, Porsche was deliberating on the future of its line up. “Porsche announced that the 911 would come to its end, and the future of the company would be the 928,” Ruf Jr said. “Having said that, all of our customers and friends – car sick people like we are! – were behind the 911. It had already made its image, and nobody wanted to give that up for a front-engined car.

“So I knew I had to continue with the 911. That was the horse to bet on. And we made wonderful special versions of those 911s, and the car press loved these cars and made great stories that really brought the business up. 

“That was fuel for our future,” he said.

So, TG.com asks, did he help save the 911? “In one way, yes, you could say we helped save it.”

Speaking about the ‘wonderful special versions’, what was Ruf Jr’s guiding philosophy when approaching a base 911 and setting about making it different? “The 911 Turbo from the factory was missing one gear,” he said. “The car came as a four-speed, and the four-speed took the fun away from the engine. It was crying out for a fifth gear. So the first step was to make a five-speed gearbox.

“Then we came with a stronger engine, and we worked with the suspension, gave it a bit more feel for the road, then the steering… and suddenly it was a different car.

“At that time, Porsche believed they had to compete with Mercedes-Benz, that the car needs more comfort. A lot of people, especially the Turbo drivers, are older guys – because you have to be to afford that car – but they still felt young, and they still wanted to feel like young sportscar drivers. So we were concentrating on the other side [sporty]. That worked very well.

“I always believed that what I like, there will be some people who like that too. Somebody described it nicely: ‘Alois Ruf builds cars for his friends!’”

He likens his approach to that of the 911’s original creators. “If they were to do this [modify/upgrade the 911], what would it be? I have always followed that course, and never did anything to the 911 that was disgraceful.

“This was so important – that what we did was only enhancing the image of the 911, to make the car more individual,” he said.

That’s a very diplomatic way of saying ‘I once built the fastest car in the world’, though top speed – at least for Ruf Jr – surprisingly isn’t the end goal. “Top speed to me is a byproduct,” he said. “It’s always nice to know, but when it gets to speeds like our CTR – 360kmh – it doesn’t make any sense to run that speed. It’s an academic number.

“But the wonderful acceleration pickup at any speed, that is good to have.”