An impressively curated collection of historic Porsche automobiles wasexhibited at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance this August. There were historic race cars, a very early Pre-A, and other significant Porsches on display to comprise a special class to commemorate the brand’s 75 years in business. At the end of the row was a rather unassuming blue car that at first glance appeared to be an early 911. On close inspection and after a few questions, it was revealed to be the oldest 911 variant in existence. This 901 Porsche is prototype car number six.
What Exactly is a 901?
In 1963, Porsche introduced a new car to replace the 356, initially naming it the 901. However, French automaker Peugeot objected to the name. Peugeot’s car models used three-digit names at the time, such as 203 and 403. The companyinsisted that it held a trademark for automotive names with three numbers and a zero in the middle. Porsche had built less than 100 901s before Peugeot convinced the German company to change the branding on the car. According to Porsche, Peugeot sent a “friendly but distinct letter” telling Porsche to choose a different name for their new car.
Series production of the new sports car had already begun, so the cars that were built as 901s were officially delivered as 911s. According to Alexander Klein, manager of the Porsche Museum’s classic car collection,“On October 22, 1964, Ferry Porsche said ‘call it 911’”.
A Family Affair
There were two incidents that madea lasting impressionon young Alois Ruf Jr.(pronounced roof). Bothof which involved being passed on the road by Porsche 911s.
Alois Ruf Jr.’s father operated a garage in Pfaffenhausen, Germany, in 1939. In 1955 hestarted building and marketing tour buses to expand his business. The buses were popular enough for him to start his own coach-built tour bus manufacturing company. One Sunday in 1963, 13-year-old Alois Jr. was riding along with his father in one of their tour buses when a Porsche passed them. The Porsche driver lost control and rolled the car over after running into a ditch. Alois Sr. helped the driver out of the car, then took him to a hospital to get him checked out. He subsequently purchased the crashed Porsche and repaired it. This would become the first of many Porsches that would pass though his hands. The Porsche made an impression on his father, but young Alois Jr. would become obsessed, always looking for a rare Porsche sighting on the motorway.
In 1964, while riding in the family Opel Rekord, Alois Jr. spotted another Porsche – this time what looked like a blue 911 roaring by. The impressionable young man would remember this car and this moment later in life…
Alois Jr.’s first car would not be a Porsche, but a Citroen 2CV that he fixed up when he was 18 years old.When he was nineteen years old, his father bought him a damaged old 911 that was missing its enginefor his birthday. Little did he or his father know just how special the Porsche would turn out to be at the time. After seeing many damaged Porsches, Alois Sr. did not want his son driving a fast car. Although the car was originally powered by a flat six, he decided that the safest and most practical thing to do was source a 90 horsepower, 912 4-cylinder Engine and install it in the car.
Young Alois used the at first shabby looking, small engine 911for daily transportation, tweaking the car’s appearance along the way. He changed the color to blue metallic, installed 911 S trim and added a set of Fuchs wheels to give it the look he wanted.
In 1971 someone asked if he would sell it, so he went on a test drive with the prospective buyer who ran it into a ditch. Instead of selling the now damaged Porsche, he stored it away thinking he would fix it up again sometime in the future. His passion for Porsches would eventually give birth to the thriving Ruf Porsche specialty company thatexists today.
A Little Ruf History
Following Alois Sr’s. death in 1974, 24-year-old Alois Jr. took control of the business and focused on his passion: Porsche vehicles, and especially the 911. A year later in 1975, the first Ruf-enhanced Porsche was produced.
Now Ruf creates cars from the ground up. The company uses materials from Porsche to create cars instead of disassembling and building up cars that already exist. Because of this, the German government recognizes the brand as an actual manufacturer instead of just a performance brand. Consequently, each car issued aRuf VIN and not a Porsche VIN.
The Ruf company has a tuning facility and the ability to restore vehicles as well. Additionally, the company offers Porsche-to-Ruf conversions, servicing and collision repairs. Rufgained the automotive world’s attentionwhen their CTR Porsche broke the 211 miles per hour record. In 1987, a Ruf CTR, known as the Yellowbird for its yellow color, was featured in a film called Faszination on the Nürburgring, which was a promotional video commissioned by Ruf to promote the car. The Yellowbird was fitted with a 3.4L engine and two turbochargers that deliver approximately 463 horsepower. At the time, this was much faster than anything Porsche had on the road or on the track.
They have produced numerous Ruf models since and the company continues to be one of the major players in the world of high-performance Porsche-based machines.
The Car’s Significance Becomes Known
Over the years, AloisRuf Jr. would slowly start to unravel his 901’s interesting history.
The car was first exhibited in London in 1963. At the time, all prototypes on display were built with dummy engines made of wood. Later it would acquire its original flat-six engine. The car was subsequently gifted as a company car to a very important executive. According to Alois, it was Ferdinand Piech’s test car until 1965, before being sold to Porsche’s famous engine builder Han Mezger. After driving it for two years, Mezger sold it to an entrepreneur named Walter Vetter, who ended up getting into a minor accident on a racetrack. Alois Ruf Sr. found the wrecked car at a dealership in 1968 and purchased it. The blue 911 Alois Jr. saw roar past the family Opel in 1964 was the very same car Ferdinand Piech was driving that day.
The Restoration and Rebirth of the 901
After decades of storage, restoration work started in 2019. Alois discovered that his car, nicknamed ‘quickblau’, was one of only seven original prototypes of the early 911, or 901 as it was initially called. According to Alios Jr., there are only two prototypes that have survived.
Interesting features such as the crinkle finish around the instruments, the non-opening rear windows and the ventilation slide lever on the dash were clues that this car was a very early model. Further research revealed that this was the sixth prototype ever built, and the first to ever have a five-instrument dash. As the comprehensive frame-up restoration began, the original Enamel Blue 6403 paint color was discovered hidden under several layers of old paint applied over the years.
How the very early six-cylinder engine that now powers the car was sourced, is amazing as well. A local vocational school contacted Alois Jr. asking if he would like to take away an engine which had been donated to them by Porsche many years ago, otherwise, they were going to scrap it. The engine that had been used as a student visual aid for years, turned out to be engine number 22.
After the restoration was completed in 2022, the “Quickblau” 901 captured the Best in Class and Most Iconic Vehicle awards at Concorsod’Eleganza Villa d’Este earlier this year. It most recently won the Best in Class in the Porsche 75th Anniversary category and Art Center College of Design awards at the 2023 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
It is truly amazing not only how important this 901 Porsche is in automotive history, but how it came to be owned by Alois Ruf, Jr. Sometimes the stars are all in alignment; being in the right place at the right time, and a man that fell in love with Porsches at a very young age. Seeing the smile on Alois’s face as he tells the story of him and his blue 901 parked on the lawn at Pebble Beach was wonderful. After all these years, he is still fascinated with his very first Porsche.
The post Car Profile: Porsche 911 (901) Car #6 appeared first on Sports Car Digest.
