The Ruf Yellow Bird is one of the most prolific tuned vehicles and gained notoriety from a Road & Track cover article which called it the ‘Fastest car in the world!’. It achieved this title during to two-day event in 1987, where Road & Track was testing various cars in Northern Germany and stunned everyone by achieving 211 mph at Volkswagen’s Ehra-Lessien track.
Alois Ruf purposely made the CTR for Road & Track’s event and the editors quickly nicknamed it the Yellow Bird. Since Alois made the car as fast he could it must have made an outstanding impression. He took the standard 930 body, replaced doors, hood and engine cover with aluminum panels and then made substantial modifications to the engine. At the time it was the only twin turbocharged 911 in the world.
Additional changed to the CTR included RUF’s 5-Speed Gearbox which helped found the company. Eventually the CTR would be approved in the US and help propel RUF name and business. In 1989 Porsche replaced the 930 platform with the 964 and RUF continued to offer a similar package called the CTR.
Photos by Stephan Bauer courtesy of RM Sotheby’s
