The history of this Ruf sports car is…well…rough. Fortunately, it has a happy ending.
The term “dream car” gets thrown around a lot when it comes to high-performance sports cars, such as McLarens, Lamborghinis, and Porsches. Ruf may not be as well known as the German manufacturer from Zuffenhausen, but its vehicles can certainly be classified as dream cars.
Except for the 2006 Ruf Rt 12 S you see in the above VINwiki video. It sounds more like a nightmare. One of its owners wanted to trade it in as a consignment vehicle/allowance toward the purchase of a Lamborghini Aventador when the big bull was the brand’s newest model. It didn’t sell. After management changed at that particular dealership, the Ruf still didn’t go anywhere. The new head of the dealership had no interest in offering what his predecessor had offered as a purchase allowance in exchange for the German road rocket, so the Ruf remained unloved and undriven while a lawsuit dragged on.
As problematic as this Ruf’s existence was, VINwiki‘s Ed Bolian wanted it. On paper, it had what he was looking for: a narrow body, rear-wheel drive, an adjustable suspension, and a manual gearbox. It took him a while to track the car down and finally buy it, but he still wasn’t done. It hadn’t been driven in three or four years, so it had some rust that needed to be knocked off. Bolian had to get a new battery. The CEL was ablaze. The wheels needed new seals. Inside, the Ferrari Enzo seats were too big for their surroundings and too uncomfortable for significantly long journeys. Getting the car to pass emissions testing was especially difficult. The previous owner had what was once an Rt 12 flown to Germany in 2009 to be upgraded to Rt 12 S spec, which included tuning the flat-six to generate 685 horsepower, but Bolian’s experience wasn’t in line with that number. The car just never felt right to him, even after he got it to pass emissions and put more pleasant seats in it.
The good news is that Bolian was able to roughly double his money on his regrettable Ruf once he woke up from the so-called dream of owning it and faced reality.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
