92 93911 & PORSCHE WORLD911 & PORSCHE WORLD

WIDE-BODIES

Words: Keith SeumePhotographs: Antony Fraser

In these days of wide-bodiedexcess, such as the conversionscarried out by chain-smoking,grinder-wielding Japanese ‘artists’,it’s hard to imagine just what an

impression the first factory-built road-legalturbo Porsches made when they hit thescene in the mid-1970s. Sure, anyone whoattended race meetings would havebecome familiar with the wide-ass RSRs,but road cars? No way. Until then, theCarrera RS and its siblings had been aboutas radical as things got.

But all that changed in September 1973when Porsche pulled the covers off a silver911 on their stand at the Frankfurt motorshow. It was quite unlike any other 911,except for, maybe, some of the moreextreme race cars of the era. It wore thefattest rear tyres yet seen on a road-goingPorsche, and a deep RSR-inspired front airdam incorporating a mesh-covered oilcooler intake, either side of which was apair of brake ducts. It looked like a race car.But it was the oh-so-wide wheel arches thatgave the display car such presence.

The panels fitted to the prototype wereessentially those of the new Carrera 3.0RS, and were necessary to accommodatethe wider track, front and rear, that gave theTurbo its characteristic aggressive stance,along with the deep 15in-diameter wheels.‘Porsche’ graphics in white along each sideleft no doubt as to who had built the car,and the even more bold ‘Turbo’ graphics onthe rear wings hinted at what lay beneaththe engine lid, which itself carried a crazy‘whale-tail’ spoiler.

In truth, although the display materialtalked of a race-developed turbochargedflat-six, the engine of this Frankfurt showcar was a mock-up, with a woodencrankcase and dummy induction system.No wonder the lid stayed firmly closed forthe duration of the event. Inquisitive visitorsto the stand were told that this special wide-bodied 911 was powered by a 2.7-litreengine producing some 280bhp, whichwould give the car ‘160mph potential’.

The prototype marked a parting of thewaves with regard to the development of aturbocharged Porsche. On the one handwas a call to prepare the turbo 911 forproduction as a road car, on the other was

the desire to develop a full-race 911, whichwould ultimately grow to become the mightyTurbo RSR.

However, Porsche made no promisesthat the show car would go into production– it was a teaser to gauge public reactionas much as anything. The initial plan wasthat it would maybe serve as the basis foran entry into Group 4 GT competition,which meant that Porsche would have tobuild a minimum of 400 examples, afterwhich the idea of a production turbocharged911 could have conveniently dropped offthe radar.

Even if the car was to remain a limitedproduction homologation model, there wasstill the matter of how to market it. Herethere were two schools of thought, onebeing that it should be sold as a sparsely-equipped lightweight at as low a price aspossible, the other to dress it up and marketit as a luxury supercar. Both had merits – ano-frills version would be easy to build,easy to sell quickly and hence turn a fastprofit. A luxury version would be a flagship,showcasing what Porsche was capable ofin terms of technology and build quality.Fortunately, among the supporters of thelatter was Ernst Fuhrmann, head ofPorsche since 1972 and no mean engineerhimself. It is him we have to thank formaking the decision to put the 911 Turbo(aka Type 930) into production.

A year passed before Porsche showedoff the production-ready 930 at the 1974Paris Salon d’Auto – it was a well-spec’dmodel that marked the company’s first realventure into the world of road-goingsupercars, previously the domain of archrivals Ferrari and Lamborghini. Publicresponse was overwhelming, press reviewsequally as supportive of the project. Thelegend of the Porsche Turbo was born.

The first 930s were, in hindsight,relatively modest in today’s terms. Thesingle-turbo 3.0-litre engine, based on thenormally-aspirated unit used in the Carrera3.0, displaced 2992cc courtesy of a boreand stroke of 95mm x 70.4mm. It produced260bhp at 5500rpm in European spec, with253lb ft of torque at 4000rpm, but a moremodest 246bhp and 246lb ft in US spec,thanks to the smog equipment necessary toallow the engine to meet the increasingly

High, wide and handsome – well, OK, they may not be high,but they’re definitely wide and, to our eyes at least, mostcertainly handsome. We bring together a trio of fat-arched911s that represent the best of 1980s excess, including a veryspecial Ruf-built Carrera. OK, get ready for take off as we hitthe byways of Devon in the ultimate time-warp trio…

THE REDARROWS

94 911 & PORSCHE WORLD

strict anti-pollution legislation in NorthAmerica. In 1978, the engine was thenincreased in capacity to 3.3-litres (3298cc),courtesy of a longer stroke crankshaft(74.4mm), resulting in a power output of300bhp and torque of 420lb ft.

The transmission was initially a four-speed unit, derived from, but stronger than,the contemporary 915 unit. Porschebelieved that the greater torque of theturbocharged ‘six’ meant that a five-speedunit was unnecessary, although in 1989 afive-speed gearbox was installed, this beingbased on the stronger G50 unit of theCarrera 3.2.

At its launch, the Turbo came with thesame brake set-up as the 911S and CarreraRS, with aluminium ‘S’ calipers at the frontand cast-iron ‘M’ calipers at the rear.However, in 1978, with the introduction ofthe 3.3-litre Turbo, big four-pot aluminiumcalipers and matching vented discs derived

from those of the mighty 917 race carswere installed, resulting in huge reserves ofstopping power.

As for wheels and tyres, the first Turboscame with relatively slim 7Jx15 fronts with185/70x15 tyres and 8Jx15 rears with215/60x15 tyres, Pirelli CN36 being thestandard fitment on UK-spec cars. Apopular option was Pirelli’s grippy P7, andthe tyres’ size changed to 205/55 (front)and 225/50 (rear) in this case. In 1987, rimdiameter was increased to 16in, with thefronts staying at 7J width, while the rearsgrew to 9J. Tyres were 205/55 and245/45x16, respectively.

In terms of performance, the Turbo waspretty spectacular by standards of the day,with the 3.0-litre capable of hitting 60mphfrom rest in around 6.5 seconds beforetopping out at a shade over 155mph. Notblistering by today’s standards, but enoughto raise a few eyebrows in the mid-1970s.

The later 3.3-litre Turbo was credited with asimilar top speed but the greater power andtorque of the revised engine whisked the carto 60mph in just five exhilerating seconds.

The example we tracked down belongsto Perry Tonking, a fastidiousowner/collector who instantly fell for the1985 3.3-litre four-speed Turbo in GuardsRed. ‘The car is totally unmolested and inexcellent condition for the 51,000 milesshowing on the odometer,’ says Perry. ‘Westumbled across it at JZM and didn’thesitate to purchase it due to the excellentunderbody and engine condition. The onlymodifications I made were the replacementof the all-white pimp-style red-piped interiorwith a more conservative black offering andthe installation of window tinting, which hassubsequently been carefully removed toreturn it to a more original look.

‘The vehicle is listed as a Tourist Deliveryin 1985 and was designated “C26” –

Above: From therear, you get the fullimpact of the 930’swide-body styling. Inits day, this was afamiliar sight, as theKKK turbochargerspooled up and leftother road usersgasping in its wake

Below left: It’s not apretty engine by anystretch of theimagination, the largeintercooler and theair-con pumpdominating the 930’sengine bay

Below right: Blackleather interiorreplaces the originalwhite trim installedby the factory

WIDE-BODIES

hauling the car down to a crawl.The car shown here is a low-mileage (a

shade under 65,000 miles, in fact) whichhas been in the same ownership for the last24 years. With an exhaustive servicehistory, it’s on sale at Cornwall-basedWilliams Crawford for roughly £1 for eachmile it’s travelled in its life. What makes this1986 SSE different is that it is a rare Targaversion, most being coupés. It was orderedwith black leather trim but beige carpets,which seems an odd combination, andlooks pretty stunning.

Personally I’m not struck on thecombination of grippy, firmer Turbosuspension and the less rigid Targabodyshell, but that’s probably morepsychological than anything. In real terms, Ithink you’d probably notice little realdifference in handling, especially with theroof secured in place. And you mostcertainly can’t dispute its good looks:Guards Red, black trim and Turbo profile.What’s not to like?

So, a pair of wide bodied Porsches, bothin that iconic red, so beloved of the cityboys spending their first bonus, both withthose wide arches, steam-roller tyres andextravagant rubber-lipped tails. The choiceas a customer in the 1980s would havebeen a hard one: turbo or non-turbo, coupéor Targa (or even the full Cabriolet). Each ofthem had their appeal and even today it’s

difficult to choose. Or is it?To be frank, from the author’s point of

view, the choice is an obvious one: if moneywas no object, it has to be the 930 Turbo.It’s a personal favourite of mine, havingdriven an early example back in 1976 andnever forgetting the experience of that lagbefore the KKK spoiler spooled up tocatapult you into the future. But that’s not tosay the SSE isn’t a great car and, if youcan’t afford the near six-figure prices thatgood 930s are achieving, then this makesfor a compelling alternative.

And talking of alternatives, check out thethird in our trio of wide-bodied wonders: avery rare Ruf Carrera. Yes, you read thatright – not a turbo, not a CTR but a Carrera3.2 that’s been given ‘the treatment’ by thefamous German tuning company headed byAlois Ruf Jr.

The project largely came into being dueto Porsche’s reluctant decision to pull theTurbo from the US market in mid-1977. Itsfailure to meet the strict emissionsregulations meant that, short of carrying outa total engine revamp, left Porsche littleoption. This decision added weight to thedevelopment of the Turbo Look models,which had all the pizzazz of the flagshipmodel but without those evil exhaustemissions. It wasn’t until 1985 that theTurbo was allowed back into the USfollowing the adoption of the Motronic

engine management system.Also owned by Perry Tonking, the red Ruf

(chassis #13) is an interesting vehicle withan equally interesting history, havingoriginally been delivered to Canada. ‘Theproject was allegedly abandoned in late1986 following the resumption of the sale ofthe 930 Turbo in North America, with thebase model 930 retailing for as much as$20,000 less than Ruf’s pricing point,’ saysTonking. ‘According to Alois Ruf’s wife,Estonia, they only ever sold a handful ofCanadian-specification vehicles while theyhad a licence for Canada.

‘Allegedly their licence was revoked in1990 and there were only ever a few Rufvehicles delivered to Canada – one of whichwas a signature CTR in India (Guards) Red.I also established that they sent vehicles toCanada as they were unable to secure alicence to retail their vehicles in the USA; thismay not necessarily be true but we havefound no evidence of purebred Ruf vehiclesbeing sold new in the United States.’

The story is taken up by Bob Carswell,the original owner of this unusual Porsche,who wished to help promote Rufconversions in North America. ‘A realtornamed Werner Molicki (a person withcontacts throughout the Porsche scene inCanada) and his wife Sylvia held a lunch attheir home, to which I was invited, whenAlois Jr came to Canada to forge a

97911 & PORSCHE WORLD96 911 & PORSCHE WORLD

according to our research this is either aSingapore or South African specification.Interestingly it never made it south andremained in UK ownership all its life.However, we think it was most likely to be aSingapore vehicle judging from thenationality of the first owner.’

So many people loved the wide-bodyTurbo styling (and who can possibly blamethem?) that the factory offered customersthe opportunity to order the normally-aspirated Carrera 3.2 with the look of the930, but without the turbocharged engineand matching transmission. This wascarried out by the ‘special wishes’department under the option code M491.

For the 1985 model year, this packagewas made available as a model in its ownright, known under the lengthy name ‘TurboLook – Special Sports Equipment’, or ‘SSE’,but in 1987 it became officially knownsimply as ‘Super Sport’. Incidentally, themodel enjoyed its greatest success in theUK market, where a large proportion wereordered with body-coloured piping to theleather seats.

The complete M491 package consistedof the wide 930 wings – to begin with theflares were welded to the original wings butfrom 1986 they became one-piecepressings. This was the same for the rearwings, too. The front apron featured aflexible spoiler, while the engine lid sportedthe trademark tea-tray spoiler of the 3.3Turbo. Incidentally, under option code

M490, a customer could order his SSEwithout these front and rear spoilers.

The brakes were those of the 3.3 Turbo,as were the front (23mm) and rear (initially20mm and then 22mm) anti-roll bars. Thewheels and tyres were the same (7Jx16and 9Jx16 with 205/55 and 245/50x16Pirellis) but the Turbo’s green Bilstein sport

dampers were not fitted, and neither werethe uprated so-called ‘Turbo tie-rods’.

The performance of the Turbo LookCarrera was little different to that of theregular Carrera 3.2, with the exception ofreduced top speed (as much as 12mph)thanks to the greater drag created by thewider arches. In the real world, thedifference is so small that you’d be hard

pressed to notice any loss of ultimateperformance. However, there’s no denyingthe effect the M491 options have onhandling and, most particularly, braking.Here the SSE scores over the Turbo as itslower weight means it feels easier to flickthrough a series of bends, while the big917-style brakes do an impressive job of

Below: Ruf Carreracertainly cuts a dash,but only a trained eyewill immediately spotthe differencesbetween this and aregular Turbo. It sitslower and soundsaltogether morepurposeful than astock Carrera 3.2

Above left and centre:Ruf steering wheeland logo’d gaugeshint at the bespokenature of the Carrera

Above: Blueprintedengine produced240bhp, thanks tohotter cams andcareful assembly…

Above: Can’t afford aTurbo? Then here’sthe answer – aCarrera SSE. Youcould choose betweena coupé, a Targa oreven a full Cabriolet

Below left: Black trimwith beige carpets isan unusual choice,but that’s the way thefirst owner spec’d hisCarrera Targa

Below right: Asredolent of the 1980sas red braces, stripedshirts and enormouscity bonuses, the ‘teatray’ rear wing is anicon of its time

So many people lovedthe wide-body Turbo

styling… ”“

WIDE-BODIES

hauling the car down to a crawl.The car shown here is a low-mileage (a

shade under 65,000 miles, in fact) whichhas been in the same ownership for the last24 years. With an exhaustive servicehistory, it’s on sale at Cornwall-basedWilliams Crawford for roughly £1 for eachmile it’s travelled in its life. What makes this1986 SSE different is that it is a rare Targaversion, most being coupés. It was orderedwith black leather trim but beige carpets,which seems an odd combination, andlooks pretty stunning.

Personally I’m not struck on thecombination of grippy, firmer Turbosuspension and the less rigid Targabodyshell, but that’s probably morepsychological than anything. In real terms, Ithink you’d probably notice little realdifference in handling, especially with theroof secured in place. And you mostcertainly can’t dispute its good looks:Guards Red, black trim and Turbo profile.What’s not to like?

So, a pair of wide bodied Porsches, bothin that iconic red, so beloved of the cityboys spending their first bonus, both withthose wide arches, steam-roller tyres andextravagant rubber-lipped tails. The choiceas a customer in the 1980s would havebeen a hard one: turbo or non-turbo, coupéor Targa (or even the full Cabriolet). Each ofthem had their appeal and even today it’s

difficult to choose. Or is it?To be frank, from the author’s point of

view, the choice is an obvious one: if moneywas no object, it has to be the 930 Turbo.It’s a personal favourite of mine, havingdriven an early example back in 1976 andnever forgetting the experience of that lagbefore the KKK spoiler spooled up tocatapult you into the future. But that’s not tosay the SSE isn’t a great car and, if youcan’t afford the near six-figure prices thatgood 930s are achieving, then this makesfor a compelling alternative.

And talking of alternatives, check out thethird in our trio of wide-bodied wonders: avery rare Ruf Carrera. Yes, you read thatright – not a turbo, not a CTR but a Carrera3.2 that’s been given ‘the treatment’ by thefamous German tuning company headed byAlois Ruf Jr.

The project largely came into being dueto Porsche’s reluctant decision to pull theTurbo from the US market in mid-1977. Itsfailure to meet the strict emissionsregulations meant that, short of carrying outa total engine revamp, left Porsche littleoption. This decision added weight to thedevelopment of the Turbo Look models,which had all the pizzazz of the flagshipmodel but without those evil exhaustemissions. It wasn’t until 1985 that theTurbo was allowed back into the USfollowing the adoption of the Motronic

engine management system.Also owned by Perry Tonking, the red Ruf

(chassis #13) is an interesting vehicle withan equally interesting history, havingoriginally been delivered to Canada. ‘Theproject was allegedly abandoned in late1986 following the resumption of the sale ofthe 930 Turbo in North America, with thebase model 930 retailing for as much as$20,000 less than Ruf’s pricing point,’ saysTonking. ‘According to Alois Ruf’s wife,Estonia, they only ever sold a handful ofCanadian-specification vehicles while theyhad a licence for Canada.

‘Allegedly their licence was revoked in1990 and there were only ever a few Rufvehicles delivered to Canada – one of whichwas a signature CTR in India (Guards) Red.I also established that they sent vehicles toCanada as they were unable to secure alicence to retail their vehicles in the USA; thismay not necessarily be true but we havefound no evidence of purebred Ruf vehiclesbeing sold new in the United States.’

The story is taken up by Bob Carswell,the original owner of this unusual Porsche,who wished to help promote Rufconversions in North America. ‘A realtornamed Werner Molicki (a person withcontacts throughout the Porsche scene inCanada) and his wife Sylvia held a lunch attheir home, to which I was invited, whenAlois Jr came to Canada to forge a

97911 & PORSCHE WORLD96 911 & PORSCHE WORLD

according to our research this is either aSingapore or South African specification.Interestingly it never made it south andremained in UK ownership all its life.However, we think it was most likely to be aSingapore vehicle judging from thenationality of the first owner.’

So many people loved the wide-bodyTurbo styling (and who can possibly blamethem?) that the factory offered customersthe opportunity to order the normally-aspirated Carrera 3.2 with the look of the930, but without the turbocharged engineand matching transmission. This wascarried out by the ‘special wishes’department under the option code M491.

For the 1985 model year, this packagewas made available as a model in its ownright, known under the lengthy name ‘TurboLook – Special Sports Equipment’, or ‘SSE’,but in 1987 it became officially knownsimply as ‘Super Sport’. Incidentally, themodel enjoyed its greatest success in theUK market, where a large proportion wereordered with body-coloured piping to theleather seats.

The complete M491 package consistedof the wide 930 wings – to begin with theflares were welded to the original wings butfrom 1986 they became one-piecepressings. This was the same for the rearwings, too. The front apron featured aflexible spoiler, while the engine lid sportedthe trademark tea-tray spoiler of the 3.3Turbo. Incidentally, under option code

M490, a customer could order his SSEwithout these front and rear spoilers.

The brakes were those of the 3.3 Turbo,as were the front (23mm) and rear (initially20mm and then 22mm) anti-roll bars. Thewheels and tyres were the same (7Jx16and 9Jx16 with 205/55 and 245/50x16Pirellis) but the Turbo’s green Bilstein sport

dampers were not fitted, and neither werethe uprated so-called ‘Turbo tie-rods’.

The performance of the Turbo LookCarrera was little different to that of theregular Carrera 3.2, with the exception ofreduced top speed (as much as 12mph)thanks to the greater drag created by thewider arches. In the real world, thedifference is so small that you’d be hard

pressed to notice any loss of ultimateperformance. However, there’s no denyingthe effect the M491 options have onhandling and, most particularly, braking.Here the SSE scores over the Turbo as itslower weight means it feels easier to flickthrough a series of bends, while the big917-style brakes do an impressive job of

Below: Ruf Carreracertainly cuts a dash,but only a trained eyewill immediately spotthe differencesbetween this and aregular Turbo. It sitslower and soundsaltogether morepurposeful than astock Carrera 3.2

Above left and centre:Ruf steering wheeland logo’d gaugeshint at the bespokenature of the Carrera

Above: Blueprintedengine produced240bhp, thanks tohotter cams andcareful assembly…

Above: Can’t afford aTurbo? Then here’sthe answer – aCarrera SSE. Youcould choose betweena coupé, a Targa oreven a full Cabriolet

Below left: Black trimwith beige carpets isan unusual choice,but that’s the way thefirst owner spec’d hisCarrera Targa

Below right: Asredolent of the 1980sas red braces, stripedshirts and enormouscity bonuses, the ‘teatray’ rear wing is anicon of its time

So many people lovedthe wide-body Turbo

styling… ”“

WIDE-BODIES

99911 & PORSCHE WORLD911 & PORSCHE WORLD98

business relationship. My Ruf was the testcar for Canada.

‘The arrangement to buy the car wasmade directly with Alois; he was a superfellow to deal with and very, veryhonourable. The arrangement was to havethe first Ruf in Canada and to test drive it toCanadian standards, meaning drive yearround, in sun, snow, ice and rain. Aloiswanted to know how the car handled andhow the oil cooler and engine wouldperform in the winters down to minus-40°C.Ruf did an amazing job with this car – itwas a fun and exhilarating machine and wehad very few issues with it. It certainly stoodout amongst the other plain Porsches in thecity in those days!’

Paperwork shows that the vehicle, aturbo wide-bodied 911 Carrera, wasordered on 1st December 1984 with anexpected delivery quoted by April 1985. Thefirst invoice was for a CAD $10,000 deposit,

but the final price paid for the Ruf was CAD$60,000. However, this was evidently aspecial price agreed in return for theinformation gained during the ‘test’ driving.

Tonking again: ‘Amongst thedocumentation that came with the car wefound a specification sheet dating back to1985 that perfectly describes the vehicleinvoiced except that the base model pricewas quoted at $60,750, meaning that theadditional features installed would haveresulted in a total price of approximatelyCAD $83,000.’ Some discount!

The specification included a blueprinted3.2-litre engine producing 240bhp. This wasat a time when Carrera 3.2s destined forthe North American market were only ratedat 207bhp, compared to 231bhp elsewhere.The increased output was down to revisedcamshafts and breathing, the engines beingassembled by hand in Ruf’s ownworkshops. The five-speed transmission

was also a Ruf speciality, being less clunkythan the factory-built 915 unit.

And while 240bhp may not sound like alot today, back then it was snapping at theheels of the ‘forbidden’ Turbo’s 265bhp inUS-spec and a definite improvement overthe output of the Federally-approvedCarrera 3.2.

When Bob Carswell went to collect thecar from the docks, he was in for a bit of ashock: it had been removed from itsshipping container and moved elsewhere inthe facility, where it had been stripped of itsradio and was about to be relieved of itswheels, too! With the wheel nuts tightenedback up, Carswell drove the Ruf Carrera(one of two he had ordered, incidentally, theother being #12, a narrow-bodied car in darkblue) back to his Calgary home and threw acelebratory party for a dozen friends.

‘It didn't matter about the radio – after alldriving it was a blast! I did get stopped out

Above: Seume tries tolook cool in hiscolour-matched T-shirt and shorts, butfails miserably.Fortunately, all eyesare on the car, in thisinstance the Ruf…

Below left: It’s hardnot to be taken underthe spell of a well-sorted 930 Turbo. Itrepresents the verybest of 1980sengineering

Below: Colour-matched wheelssomehow look dated,but we still love ’em

in the provinces but I believe the policesimply wanted to see this machine closeup, not because I was driving it hard (whichI was not) but because it was such astunning car. Champagne flowed freely atthe party because we knew that these carswere very special and this one was a one ofa kind. It was a great machine – the firstRuf in Canada.’

Eventually, the car was sold to a newowner also in Calgary, after which it foundits way to British Columbia and into thehands of its third owner, George Marcial,who kept it for 18 years. During hisownership, the original Ruf front spoiler wasdamaged while the car was being serviced,and a new updated Ruf panel fitted in itsplace. Sadly the original was discardedwhen the car was sold to its fourth owner.

The Carrera was then tracked down andacquired by Michael Durkee in Arizona, whotells us ‘It’s difficult, to say the least, toimport a Canadian car into the USAbecause they don’t have titles – they onlycarry a registration. I managed to get it hereand was very pleased and surprised by theexcellent condition of the car. It had to gothrough a thorough inspection here inArizona and get assigned a real certificateof title that actually says “Ruf 911” and notsimply Porsche.’

Michael then advertised the car onPelican Parts, which is where Perry Tonkingstepped in. And so it now resides inCornwall, cared for by Williams Crawford

who store it for the owner alongside his redTurbo. And this is where we caught up withthis rarest of our wide-bodied trio.

Firing it up from cold, it’s immediatelyobvious this is not a stock Carrera 3.2, forthe engine note is altogether deeper andmore purposeful. The gear change isslicker than average, too (Ruf clearly knewwhat they were doing in that department!),while the bespoke Ruf logo’d gauges are anice touch.

On the move, the car is obviously not

going to feel as fast or anything like astorquey as a well-sorted 3.3 Turbo, andlacks the all or nothing character of theolder 3.0-litre 930, but it is a great car in itsown right and while trying to compare it tothe range-topping factory product is anobvious thing to do, ultimately it’s almostpointless. This is a Ruf Carrera, not simplya beefed up Porsche-built Carrera and thedifferences are clear the moment we hit thetwists and turns of our favourite westcountry roads.

As a piece of Porsche history, this andother early Ruf cars are truly significant.

Remember, Porsche gave Ruf its blessingto build them with their own chassis numberand you know damned well thataccreditation doesn’t come lightly.

So, at the end of a long, hot day onDartmoor, which would I choose? I have toconfess I’m not a massive fan of theimpact-bumper Targas (although I amprepared to be swayed on this), and aslovely as ‘our’ car is, it can’t match thedelights of the Turbo or the Ruf.

Hmmm, so now what? The Ruf is

undoubtedly a fabulous car, with clearevidence of being hand-built by one of themost respected teams in Porsche history.It’s rare, it looks sensational and performswonderfully – you know there’s a ‘but’coming, don’t you – but I still can’t helpfalling in love with the 930 every time I getbehind the wheel.

My heart bleeds for the US public beingstarved of the 930 for so many years, but if it’sany consolation, their loss gave us two greatvariations on the 911 theme: the Turbo-lookwide-bodies and the sensational Ruf Carrera.Let us at least be thankful for that… PW

Above left: Eventhough a Targa SSEwithout its roof maynot be the most rigidchoice, it’s still a funcar to throw aroundsome favourite bends

Above: 9Jx16 rimswere shared with thecontemporary Turbo

Below left: Ruf sitslower and looksangry, even whendriven with carearound Dartmoor’ssheep-lined roads

Below: Ruf’s owntake on five-spokewheels (made bySpeedline) has stoodthe test of time

Their loss gave us twogreat variations on the

911 theme… ”“

WIDE-BODIES

CONTACTwww.williamscrawford.co.uk01752 840307

99911 & PORSCHE WORLD911 & PORSCHE WORLD98

business relationship. My Ruf was the testcar for Canada.

‘The arrangement to buy the car wasmade directly with Alois; he was a superfellow to deal with and very, veryhonourable. The arrangement was to havethe first Ruf in Canada and to test drive it toCanadian standards, meaning drive yearround, in sun, snow, ice and rain. Aloiswanted to know how the car handled andhow the oil cooler and engine wouldperform in the winters down to minus-40°C.Ruf did an amazing job with this car – itwas a fun and exhilarating machine and wehad very few issues with it. It certainly stoodout amongst the other plain Porsches in thecity in those days!’

Paperwork shows that the vehicle, aturbo wide-bodied 911 Carrera, wasordered on 1st December 1984 with anexpected delivery quoted by April 1985. Thefirst invoice was for a CAD $10,000 deposit,

but the final price paid for the Ruf was CAD$60,000. However, this was evidently aspecial price agreed in return for theinformation gained during the ‘test’ driving.

Tonking again: ‘Amongst thedocumentation that came with the car wefound a specification sheet dating back to1985 that perfectly describes the vehicleinvoiced except that the base model pricewas quoted at $60,750, meaning that theadditional features installed would haveresulted in a total price of approximatelyCAD $83,000.’ Some discount!

The specification included a blueprinted3.2-litre engine producing 240bhp. This wasat a time when Carrera 3.2s destined forthe North American market were only ratedat 207bhp, compared to 231bhp elsewhere.The increased output was down to revisedcamshafts and breathing, the engines beingassembled by hand in Ruf’s ownworkshops. The five-speed transmission

was also a Ruf speciality, being less clunkythan the factory-built 915 unit.

And while 240bhp may not sound like alot today, back then it was snapping at theheels of the ‘forbidden’ Turbo’s 265bhp inUS-spec and a definite improvement overthe output of the Federally-approvedCarrera 3.2.

When Bob Carswell went to collect thecar from the docks, he was in for a bit of ashock: it had been removed from itsshipping container and moved elsewhere inthe facility, where it had been stripped of itsradio and was about to be relieved of itswheels, too! With the wheel nuts tightenedback up, Carswell drove the Ruf Carrera(one of two he had ordered, incidentally, theother being #12, a narrow-bodied car in darkblue) back to his Calgary home and threw acelebratory party for a dozen friends.

‘It didn't matter about the radio – after alldriving it was a blast! I did get stopped out

Above: Seume tries tolook cool in hiscolour-matched T-shirt and shorts, butfails miserably.Fortunately, all eyesare on the car, in thisinstance the Ruf…

Below left: It’s hardnot to be taken underthe spell of a well-sorted 930 Turbo. Itrepresents the verybest of 1980sengineering

Below: Colour-matched wheelssomehow look dated,but we still love ’em

in the provinces but I believe the policesimply wanted to see this machine closeup, not because I was driving it hard (whichI was not) but because it was such astunning car. Champagne flowed freely atthe party because we knew that these carswere very special and this one was a one ofa kind. It was a great machine – the firstRuf in Canada.’

Eventually, the car was sold to a newowner also in Calgary, after which it foundits way to British Columbia and into thehands of its third owner, George Marcial,who kept it for 18 years. During hisownership, the original Ruf front spoiler wasdamaged while the car was being serviced,and a new updated Ruf panel fitted in itsplace. Sadly the original was discardedwhen the car was sold to its fourth owner.

The Carrera was then tracked down andacquired by Michael Durkee in Arizona, whotells us ‘It’s difficult, to say the least, toimport a Canadian car into the USAbecause they don’t have titles – they onlycarry a registration. I managed to get it hereand was very pleased and surprised by theexcellent condition of the car. It had to gothrough a thorough inspection here inArizona and get assigned a real certificateof title that actually says “Ruf 911” and notsimply Porsche.’

Michael then advertised the car onPelican Parts, which is where Perry Tonkingstepped in. And so it now resides inCornwall, cared for by Williams Crawford

who store it for the owner alongside his redTurbo. And this is where we caught up withthis rarest of our wide-bodied trio.

Firing it up from cold, it’s immediatelyobvious this is not a stock Carrera 3.2, forthe engine note is altogether deeper andmore purposeful. The gear change isslicker than average, too (Ruf clearly knewwhat they were doing in that department!),while the bespoke Ruf logo’d gauges are anice touch.

On the move, the car is obviously not

going to feel as fast or anything like astorquey as a well-sorted 3.3 Turbo, andlacks the all or nothing character of theolder 3.0-litre 930, but it is a great car in itsown right and while trying to compare it tothe range-topping factory product is anobvious thing to do, ultimately it’s almostpointless. This is a Ruf Carrera, not simplya beefed up Porsche-built Carrera and thedifferences are clear the moment we hit thetwists and turns of our favourite westcountry roads.

As a piece of Porsche history, this andother early Ruf cars are truly significant.

Remember, Porsche gave Ruf its blessingto build them with their own chassis numberand you know damned well thataccreditation doesn’t come lightly.

So, at the end of a long, hot day onDartmoor, which would I choose? I have toconfess I’m not a massive fan of theimpact-bumper Targas (although I amprepared to be swayed on this), and aslovely as ‘our’ car is, it can’t match thedelights of the Turbo or the Ruf.

Hmmm, so now what? The Ruf is

undoubtedly a fabulous car, with clearevidence of being hand-built by one of themost respected teams in Porsche history.It’s rare, it looks sensational and performswonderfully – you know there’s a ‘but’coming, don’t you – but I still can’t helpfalling in love with the 930 every time I getbehind the wheel.

My heart bleeds for the US public beingstarved of the 930 for so many years, but if it’sany consolation, their loss gave us two greatvariations on the 911 theme: the Turbo-lookwide-bodies and the sensational Ruf Carrera.Let us at least be thankful for that… PW

Above left: Eventhough a Targa SSEwithout its roof maynot be the most rigidchoice, it’s still a funcar to throw aroundsome favourite bends

Above: 9Jx16 rimswere shared with thecontemporary Turbo

Below left: Ruf sitslower and looksangry, even whendriven with carearound Dartmoor’ssheep-lined roads

Below: Ruf’s owntake on five-spokewheels (made bySpeedline) has stoodthe test of time

Their loss gave us twogreat variations on the

911 theme… ”“

WIDE-BODIES

CONTACTwww.williamscrawford.co.uk01752 840307