RUF

Ruf, the legendary German tuner known for breathing fire into Porsches, recently unveiled its off-road-ready Rodeo at the Monterey Car Week. While it certainly was a head-turner and one of the highlight models this year, it’s not the first time that the German tuner has gotten its feet wet with a high-riding model. Enter the Ruf Dakara, a forgotten hero from the mid-2000s that deserves a place in the Super SUV Hall of Fame.

The 909 ’Bergspyder’ was a race car designed and built by Porsche in 1968, for dominating European hill climbing competitions. It gets its name ’Berg’ from the German word for mountain and ’meister’ for master. It is a relatively unknown model, but the technology and innovations it fostered became the base for the 908/3 racecar. The RUF Burgmeister is a modern interpretation of the Bergspyder, created from RUF’s admiration of the hillclimb legend. Based on the Type-993 chassis and resembling a speedster body, this is a car that we wanted to touch upon despite being first revealed over two years ago at the Quail. This is because the 993-Speedster is a bit of a unicorn, and several resto-modders and Porsche themselves have been taking a dig at this format off-late.

German tuner, RUF, and global fashion and lifestyle media brand, Highsnobiety, team up to create an epic collaborative release, consisting of a 20-piece collection of graphic wares. The fashion company founded back in 2005, by David Fischer, collaborates with renowned brands and helps create captivating wares and accessories, while invoking the rich heritage of brands like RUF. The automotive company based in Pfaffenhausen, Germany, has been in the car business since 1939, with its more recent focus involving, restoring, modifying, and reimagining the iconic Porsche 911. Many brands, Porsche included have apparel lines available to anyone wanting to experience the brand in more than one way, and the RUF x Highsnobiety collection puts emphasis on the company’s rich heritage.

Back in 2020 RUF Automobiles introduced us to the Rodeo concept, an off-road project that looked like a beefed-up old-school 911. At the time it was just an idea that the company wanted to test the waters with. We finally got the real deal - a Signal Orange Rodeo that debuted at this year’s Monterey Car Week. We have already seen Singer’s off-road-centric Porsche restomod they named the ACS (All-Terrain Competition Study), and this is RUF’s take on the same idea.

RUF was the first company to reimagine Porsche sports cars and it all started back in 1939. What started as Auto Ruf service garage, eventually became the first manufacturer to repair and restore Porsche sports cars, and eventually build Porsche-inspired, high-performance automobiles, under the RUF brand. The Pfaffenhausen-based company still makes Porsche-inspired models, but everything is now made in-house. Moreover, RUF is also a manufacturer of performance parts for Porsche models like the 911 and 718. One of Porsche’s most desired models from the 21st century is the Carrera GT, and it didn’t take long for RUF to come up with its own, mid-engine variant of a Porsche-based model. The RUF CTR3 is what we got, and here’s why it is the best way to get the Porsche Carrera GT experience (and more) at a fraction of the price.