An incredibly rare and highly sought-after 1989 Ruf CTR “Yellowbird” just became the most expensive Ruf ever to be sold at auction in history. At the recent Gooding & Co. auction during the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance a few days ago, the gavel came down on Lot 118 for an eye-watering $6.05 million.
Not only does it make it the most expensive Ruf ever sold at auction. It’s also the most expensive Porsche 911-based car ever sold at auction, eclipsing the 2022 Porsche 911 “Sally Special” that sold at RMSotheby’s for $3.6 million during Monterey Car Week that year.
The Ruf CTR “Yellowbird” Is Just One Of 29 Cars Ever Made
If you’ve never heard of Ruf, it’s one of the many aftermarket tuning firms specializing in modifying Porsches and making the fast ones even faster. Originally, Ruf started off upgrading and modifying 911s. But it’s since expanded to modifying Boxsters and Caymans. However, it’s best known for doing up 911s.
Although the company established itself in 1939, it wasn’t until 1975 that Ruf built its first complete and modified Porsche. But it mostly wasn’t until 1987, when the firm built its first CTR. And it was the CTR, in its bright yellow exterior, that catapulted Ruf onto the global stage by becoming the world’s fastest production car at the time, setting a top speed record of 211 miles per hour.
Because of its conspicuous exterior color and its status as an automotive icon and record setter, it’s been colloquially known as the “Yellowbird.” Between the first CTR built in 1987, up through 1996, only 29 were ever built. And this is one of this 29 Yellowbirds, with this specific example being one of just nine finished in the original Blutengelb, or “Blossom Yellow,” exterior.
Making this Yellowbird even more special is the fact that it’s one of the few Yellowbirds specially optioned as a “Leichtbau” car, or one with a bespoke set of weight-saving treatments to improve performance even more. It’s also one of the few examples to get an optional Ruf-modified six-speed manual, versus the original car’s five-speed unit.
Under the hood sits an air-cooled 3.4-liter twin-turbocharged flat-six, good for around 463 horsepower and 408 pound-feet of torque. For a car built and engineered in the late 1980s, such figures were absolutely breathtaking for the era. Especially in a car that weighs just a hair over 2,500 pounds.
The results speak for themselves, with the Ruf CTR Yellowbird being capable of cracking the 0-60 MPH sprint in just 3.6-4.1 seconds, according to various sources. With the pedal planted, it would hit 120 MPH in just over 10 seconds, while slaying the quarter-mile sprint in just 11.7.
This specific example has had only two owners, with it only clocking 1,700 kilometers, or just a few clicks ofer 1,000 miles, on its odometer.
Initially, estimates had the car potentially going for “in excess of $6 million.” With the final bid closing the auction at $6,055,000 specifically, it’s safe to say it met the estimate.
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