Some cars disappear into private collections and never come back. This one stayed with a single owner for 34 years, slipped completely off the collector radar, and just resurfaced fully restored — and it turns out to be the only one of its kind ever built.
We’re talking about a 1985 Porsche 911 Carrera Targa converted to Ruf BTR III specification, and if you’ve never heard of it, that’s exactly the point. It spent decades in the shadows while lesser Rufs collected magazine covers and auction records. That changes now.
Ruf was doing restomods before restomods had a name
Long before every boutique shop started bolting wider arches onto classic 911s and calling it a vision, Ruf Automobile was already doing it properly. Founded in the late 1930s as a general repair shop in Bavaria, Ruf evolved steadily into a full-blown manufacturer — recognized by the German government as an independent automaker — launching its first complete car in 1977.
By the time the restomod trend exploded in the 2010s, Ruf had already been doing this work for four decades. Cars like the CTR Yellowbird had already become legends, with one example selling for $6.1 million — 41 times its original value. The BTR III never got that spotlight. It just quietly existed, owned by one person, going nowhere.
What makes this one-off actually worth the attention
Ruf converted this 911 Targa to BTR III spec back in 1990, five years after the base car was built. The conversion brought a new front spoiler, a Turbo-inspired rear spoiler, and a set of 17-inch Ruf Speedline wheels that still look aggressive by today’s standards. More importantly, it received an upgraded 3.4-liter turbocharged flat-six pushing 408 horsepower, routed through a five-speed manual gearbox.
For context, the stock 1985 Carrera produced around 231 hp. Ruf nearly doubled that output and kept the Targa body — a combination that exists in no other car on the planet. There is no second one. No prototype. No factory mule. Just this.
| Spec | Detail |
|---|---|
| Base vehicle | 1985 Porsche 911 Carrera Targa |
| Ruf conversion year | 1990 (BTR III specification) |
| Engine | 3.4-liter turbocharged flat-six |
| Power output | 408 hp |
| Transmission | 5-speed manual |
| Total mileage | 46,100 km (28,645 miles) |
| Miles since restoration | 48 km (30 miles) |
| Units built | 1 — the only BTR III Targa ever made |
34 years with one owner tells you something important
The original owner held onto this car from 1990 until 2024. That’s not passive ownership — that’s a commitment. In the collector world, single-owner history over multiple decades is one of the strongest provenance signals a car can carry. It means no flipping, no questionable repairs, no mystery gaps in the logbook.
When the car finally changed hands in 2024, it went straight into a comprehensive restoration by SV Automotive Engineering. The work was thorough: full repaint, suspension upgrades, brake overhaul, new carpeting, and a complete engine rebuild. New pistons, cylinders, valves, valve springs, retainers, bearings, fuel lines, oil lines — even the turbocharger and wastegate were rebuilt from scratch. The original character was preserved, including a Ruf air conditioning system, a Blaupunkt cassette stereo with upgraded speakers, and a leather-wrapped Ruf steering wheel.
48 km since the rebuild — someone needs to fix that
Since completing its restoration, this BTR III has covered just 48 km. That’s barely enough to warm the oil, let alone give the rebuilt engine the kind of spirited use it was designed for. I’ll be honest — there’s something almost uncomfortable about a 408-hp turbocharged 911 sitting untouched after a full mechanical overhaul.
PCarmarket is now handling the sale, with the car currently located in La Verne, California. The listing confirms everything documented above, and the restoration quality appears to match the car’s historical significance. If you’re the kind of collector who values rarity above all else, this is about as rare as air-cooled Porsche variants get — not a limited run, not a low-production model, but a literal one-of-one that spent three decades in private hands and somehow avoided becoming a footnote.
The real story here isn’t just the car itself — it’s what this moment represents. Ruf’s early catalogue of modified Porsches is increasingly being recognized as genuine collector material, not just tuner curiosity. The Yellowbird’s $6.1 million result proved the market will pay serious money for significant Ruf examples. A one-off BTR III Targa with a documented single-owner history and a fresh, thorough restoration is exactly the kind of car that moves in that same conversation.
If this one resonates with you, head over to PCarmarket’s listing and take a proper look. Cars this specific — with this kind of history, this level of rarity, and this much mechanical work already completed — don’t surface twice. Whoever drives those first real kilometers after the restoration will be writing the next chapter of a story that’s been quietly building since 1990.
