- A classic Ruf CTR worth around $5 m fell off the back of a car transporter in the US.
- The 213 mph “Yellowbird” was coming home after being painted by Ruf in Germany.
- Ruf’s 463 bhp, twin-turbo 911 was the fastest production car in the world when new.
Getting behind the wheel of a 213 mph (343 km/h) Ruf CTR Yellowbird is always going to be exciting, but for one car delivery guy that excitement was of the worst possible kind. That’s because he found himself trapped in the near-vertical 911 after the twin-turbo classic rolled off the back of car transporter.
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The accident reportedly occurred in San Francisco when a rare 1980s CTR was being dropped off having temporarily returned to Ruf’s HQ in Germany for some work. Somehow the car rolled off the back of the car’s upper deck, partially falling from the ramp, which was hoisted around 8 ft (2.4 m) in the air.
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Footage circulating on social media shows the CTR stranded, its rear bumper and the exhaust system being the only parts making contact with the ground, and the edge of the ramp pressing into the car’s floorpan, its nose pointing skyward.
“Sitting with a friend when he gets the call that his customer’s RUF yellow bird fell off trailer,” wrote @johnclaywolfeshow, who gave some background to the disaster.
“The guy had just sent car back to Germany (RUF) to have it painted black, makes it all the way back to his home in SF for the driver to forget to block the tires, and this happens.”
Ruf built fewer than 30 CTRs out of G-series 911s and they’re now worth between $4-6 million – one sold this spring for $6.06 million. Alois Ruf’s team started with a narrow-body Carrera shell due to its superior aerodynamics and lower weight compared with the wide-arch 911 Turbo body, then slotted a 463 hp (469 PS), 3.4-liter flat-six into the engine bay.
The CTR earned its “Yellowbird” nickname from the color of the press car Road & Track magazine took to 211 mph (340 km/h) in a 1987 test, though not all examples built were yellow. A year later, German magazine Auto Motor und Sport went even faster, clocking 213 mph (343 km/h).
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The images above are from a CTR that RM Sotheby’s sold for $1 m in 2018. It’s not clear if this is the same car.
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