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Aloisa Ruf - DWA! Podcast Ep. #896
Aloisa Ruf - DWA! Podcast Ep. #896
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About this episode
Alouisa Roof from Ruf joins the podcast to discuss the brand's unique blend of automotive engineering and fashion. Highlights include the introduction of the Rodeo, Ruf's first off-road carbon fiber vehicle inspired by a family love story, and the innovative air-cooled Tribute model that meets modern emissions standards. Alouisa also shares insights into their fashion collaborations, hand-painted jeans, and the community spirit behind Ruf. The conversation touches on Ruf's history, customization options, and Alouisa's personal connection to cars and photography, offering a fresh perspective on blending style with high-performance vehicles.
Topics:
ruf rodeo off-road vehicle
air-cooled tribute car
carbon fiber chassis
fashion collaborations
hand-painted jeans
car customization
automotive community
ruf brand history
car week events
personal car stories
Cars:
Chevrolet Camaro
Chevrolet Corvair
Chevrolet Corvette
Ford Mustang
Hyundai Santa Cruz
Meyers Manx Dune Buggy
We are joined by the talented Aloisa Ruf of RUF Automobile, live at The Quail car show in Carmel, CA.
Give Aloisa a follow on Instagram @aloisaruf, and give RUF a follow at @rufsince1939.
See everything that RUF is up to at ruf-automobile.de
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Hyundai Santa Cruz
"...rded live to SD card at the Beeline Motor Club in Santa Cruz, California. Off the record.com. Fight those tick..."
Car
Dune Myers Manx
"...ming here have cowboy hats and other booths, like Myers Manx. Really? I didn't even see that."
Car
Ford Mustang
"...ever thought about this. Do you have any love for Mustangs, Camaros, Corvettes?"
Car
Chevrolet Camaro
"Do you have any love for Mustangs, Camaros, Corvettes? You know, unfortunately, I've never t..."
Car
Chevrolet Corvette
"Do you have any love for Mustangs, Camaros, Corvettes? You know, unfortunately, I've never thought."
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The Driving While Awesome podcast is recorded live to SD card at the Beeline Motor Club in Santa Cruz, California.
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Welcome to Driving While Awesome. We are coming to you from the coil, and we have a special guest, Alouisa Roof. How are you?
Hello. Very well. Thank you. How about yourself?
Very well. Yeah. Thanks for joining us. I want to admit to you, I know you're into fashion. I don't usually wear a hat like this, so don't hold it against me.
This is kind of a coil thing. There's a lot of cowboy hats as you're wearing.
Yeah, I noticed this is the year of the cowboy hat.
I have to say, he looked quite dapper, regardless.
Well, thank you so much.
This is the year of the cowboy hats. We brought them last year for the first time, and I think that was the first time, you know, cowboy hats.
I think you guys started a trend.
We did.
Because I've noticed a lot of other people coming here have cowboy hats and other booths, like Myers Manx.
Really? I didn't even see that.
Yeah, those guys are wearing cowboy hats.
Are you mad about that?
No, I'm honored. No, inspiration is everywhere.
That's true.
It's fun to be a trendsetter.
Yeah, that's the best.
That's very good.
Yeah, you guys, I think that was the hot ticket last year.
Maybe this year, too, is you were giving away hats.
Yes, we currently still are.
So last year they were beige and green.
That's right.
The roof colors, and this year they're black and orange.
The rodeo colors.
Yeah, those are kind of like bad guy hats.
Bad guy cowboy hats.
We also brought a bad guy rodeo this year.
I saw it.
Yeah, that black thing looks pretty sweet.
Very cool.
I wanted to talk a little bit about fashion, but more from the perspective of people watching.
Okay.
We are here for cars, but people watching is a pretty close second to see all the outfits.
You know, style choices, small dogs.
Do you agree or?
You know, when I'm here, I rarely have the time to get to people watch.
I'm so engaged with, you know, actually the car aficionados explaining the cars more.
Oh, yes.
Yes, the occasional.
I think there's a girl that carries a lizard.
No, I'm bearded dragon.
She comes every year and also tries to dress the dragon accordingly.
Oh, okay.
That's the only one that truly stands out.
We saw a parrot.
You know, yeah, people that bring their animals.
Parrot on a shoulder.
Yeah, one of our cars and coffee things that we put on, a guy came with a parrot on
his shoulder.
No, a possum.
Oh, a possum.
You see those things stand out to me, but I'm sure there's good people watching
and I don't really get to really sit down and do that while I'm here.
Totally.
I think this event also, this is a little bit more casual than Pebble Beach,
which I appreciate.
But we're talking about people coming with sweatpants, which seems like a faux pas,
but we'll see if that actually...
I think anything goes now.
Anything goes.
I guess so.
And we are in California.
That's true.
This is true.
Where's home for you?
Home is in Paffenhausen, Germany, which is also where the factory is.
That's right.
And how often do you come out to the States?
Goodness, I would say almost once every two months.
Okay.
And is this a once a year type of place for you?
Or do you come to California often?
I come to California often.
We have many of our customers that are based here.
Actually, most of our customers in the United States are either in California
or in Texas and Florida for the East Coast.
So we travel a lot to visit them, to spend time with them, to go to events
like car week.
Yeah.
That's great.
And how long have you been coming to car week?
Ever since I can think to be quite honest.
Ever since there were not big booths at the quail,
and back when the glasses at Pebble Beach were still made out of glass
and not plastic.
That's a good point.
What non-car stuff do you look forward to
when you travel to this part of the world?
That's a really good question.
I guess the people.
Yeah.
Like the reunion type thing where you see people you know.
Yeah.
The reunions, my friends, you know, customers that have become friends.
There's a lot of, I just love the States, I love America.
I used to live in California and I lived for New York and LA actually.
I was working at the Peterson Museum.
Oh, really?
Did you start as an intern there?
Yes.
I was an intern there during my bachelor thesis.
And then I moved to New York for one and a half years to do my master's program.
What was your master's in?
Art and luxury business.
I mean, that kind of works, right?
You should have been an instructor.
You could tell everyone how to do it.
That's awesome.
So what do you guys have going on this year?
So this year we're about three cars.
One of them being the first delivery car for the rodeo,
which is the black car.
What do you say, the bad boy?
It's like the bad guy.
The bad guy in the bad boy.
The bad guy rodeo.
The bad guy in the cowboy movie kind of, you know, the black hat.
That's right.
So the rodeo, you know, just like last year,
based on our own carbon fiber chassis and monocoque,
roof in number, 610 horsepower, twin turbo charged,
manual adjustable all wheel drive,
which is a really, really great car.
So cool.
And the first off-road vehicle
that's fully based on a carbon fiber monocoque.
Really?
Yeah.
And then we have the CTR-3 EVO,
which is the evolution of a CTR-3,
a mid-engine car at 800 horsepower
with a McPherson suspension.
It looks like a beast.
That's great.
I really enjoy that car, 3.8 liters.
And the star of the show, in my opinion,
is our sleeper.
It's the Tribute.
And I call it a sleeper because it looks like our CTR
or SCR model.
That's the green one.
Yes.
And it has the first modern air-cooled engine
that passed emission tests this year.
Really?
Yes, sir.
California emissions?
Internationally.
Awesome.
So we have 550 air-cooled horsepower in this car.
Wow.
We're the three-valve and four-cam technology
that we engineered.
And...
That's great.
That is very impressive.
Thank you.
Yeah.
I mean, that's the reason Porsche
stopped making the air-cooled cars, right?
I mean, really.
It was defensive emissions.
And because they're very expensive too.
Yeah.
This is true.
Can I ask you...
Maybe this is protected information,
but the car like the rodeo,
who came up with...
Who wanted to do that first?
Like, in your group?
My mother.
Your mother?
Yes.
And why?
Where does it come from?
So we wanted to go off-road for a while.
And way back in the 80s and 90s,
we used to race...
Not us, but our customers used to take our cars
to Pike's Peak.
Yep.
Back when it was still a dirt road.
Mm-hmm.
That is our off-roading history.
Then we decided, you know,
there was a whole safari trend going on for a while.
Yeah, of course.
And then we came to realize it would be
ridiculous for us to make a safari car.
We've never been to Africa.
Yeah.
And we've never done a safari.
So it would be completely not part of our story.
So we were saying,
what's our story?
And my parents met in Oklahoma City.
And my mother was living there at the time
and I have family in Oklahoma.
And I grew up spending my summers
in the Wild West if I could call it that.
Yeah, this is awesome.
So it's...
I know it seems kind of weird to have a Bavarian car company
create a rodeo,
but it's truly born out of a love story
and born out of dirt driving and racing.
That's very cool.
And yeah.
Well, I love...
I do love how much fun you guys have had with it.
Thank you.
I feel like a lot of the stuff is too serious.
Yes.
And I love how fun the whole thing is.
Yeah.
You can tell like it just emits fun.
Yeah, thank you.
Well, you're clearly leaning into it.
And what is the reaction to that car
when you show it in Germany or in Europe in general?
They get so excited about it.
They do.
Well, because Germans, they love America to begin with.
Right.
So I think they truly have an excitement
for the cowboy culture.
And even the ones that don't understand the cowboy culture,
they understand the engineering that's behind that car.
Sure.
Which in that sense,
there is no comparison to this type of offered vehicle.
That's so light, you know.
Yep.
And the car here today is the black car.
You said that's a customer car?
Yes.
Where is it going if you can show that?
Texas.
Of course it is.
We're so excited that the first car is in Texas.
That's so great.
That's very cool.
Yeah.
So what other besides the people,
non-automotive stuff that you do around here,
I'm trying to...
I don't want to ask you the same questions
you've been asked every podcast.
You know, I was hoping...
Or you could tell us like,
what's the most cliche question you've been asked?
Because I'm sure everyone's asked you,
you know, your first car and automotive experiences.
But just coming, you know, to Monterey,
there's so much stuff going on.
It's hard to do it all.
Like if you were to tell people what you enjoy
out of car week like to do,
that's not just, you know,
talking to people.
Going and smoozing with customers.
Yeah.
Answering the same questions over and over.
Is it fashion related?
Is there anything like that?
Or food?
I genuinely love the nature in this area.
Oh, cool.
And yes, the drives and the nature.
I don't know.
Can I say driving?
Yeah.
Because you said not car related.
Yeah, no.
More like a car show related.
Well, I really love the drive.
So the 17 mile drive is extraordinary.
I am trying to still make time
to go to Big Sur if never been.
What?
I'm here every year,
since I can think,
but you know, this is our highlight of the year.
Should have gone on our drive yesterday.
We went on a drive down there.
It was great.
It was fantastic.
The tour.
Send me the invitation next time.
I will.
But I hope to make the time this trip,
but I really do enjoy going on the beach walks
and really taking in the scenery
because this is such an extraordinary nature.
You have, you know, the sunshine and the fog.
It's so romantic.
I know.
Look, we have a really cool view right now.
It's obviously not coming through on the podcast,
but this floating man.
It's like a bell hop from the peninsula hotels.
If you've never been to the quail,
they've got like a hot air balloon person.
And he's always floating around.
You think he's going to fall over and well,
they have like 30 people ready to grab them.
I think.
Yeah.
That's sort of it.
But anyways, I guess I want to ask you about your design
kind of stuff because I know you were involved.
I have one of your the high snobriety.
Is that high snobriety?
Yeah.
One of those watches.
I actually bought both of them.
And then I like, I sold one to a friend.
I just didn't know which one I wanted.
The Unimatic ones.
Huh?
Yeah.
The Unimatics.
Yeah.
So I had ordered both and I was like,
I don't know which one I want.
I kept the black one.
Just.
Yeah.
I don't know.
I felt like it was, it was more,
it was just different than like other watches I have.
And I thought it was a really cool collab
and you guys are doing tons like, you know,
you guys do a lot of little collabs
and I know you were highly involved in that one.
Yes.
I think.
Yeah.
And then I know you're doing a bunch of other stuff
like your jeans you're wearing and stuff.
So if you want to talk a little about that kind of stuff.
Absolutely.
So a few years ago I started going more
into the fashion route with a brand
because my mother, you know,
she's very fashionable
and she always started to do merchandise,
growing up hats and t-shirts and all those things.
So I've always understood the value of those things.
Yeah.
Now, me, when I was 15, 16,
I stumbled on the brand High Snobiety
which is a Berlin-based magazine company
that also went into fashion
and they always worked together with brands
that are, that haven't been discovered yet
that are pretty much for the ones that know-know.
So we did our first collaboration with them
making a capsule collection that was limited
with t-shirts and sweaters and trousers
and blew up to my surprise honestly
because it was a passion project
and I didn't expect the whole world to go crazy about it
and then when I realized that there's space for this
I said, I have to keep the ball rolling now.
So the year after, I'm also a photographer,
so the year after I did an art exhibition in LA
and worked together with Period Correct to do this
which is an LA-based brand
and also created a capsule collection
but those t-shirts and sweaters
that I was selling had my photographs on them.
So you could have bought an art print or...
Do you shoot film or digital?
I shoot film, I shoot digital.
Sometimes I make digital look like film even
because I used to even develop my own film
way back.
I have this little weird thing with me right now.
Have you ever seen this little weird thing?
I have seen.
It's cool, it's a pocket camera.
It's very neat.
The film, changing the film setting
or whatever.
It's a Fuji X-Half and it simulates,
it has film simulations and it only shoots vertical.
It's the weirdest little thing ever.
Oh, fun.
Yeah, yeah.
It looks cool too.
I'll show you when we're done here.
Yeah, that's good.
So that was the second collaboration
and then I went back to Heisenberg
and said let's do something a little bit more elevated
so we did two collaborations with them.
I did a watch with Bamford and Tachoyer.
Oh yeah, I saw that too, yeah.
With George Bamford.
And now this year I am creating my own
roof capsule collection
so we have a strong base collection
which we'll be releasing in October, pardon me.
Cool.
And today I'm wearing the roof rodeo jeans
which I hand-painted.
Awesome.
My entire team on the lawn is wearing them today.
These ones are the prototypes
but I'm going to be creating 50
that are all hand-painted
and that I'll be selling on the website as well.
That's cool.
What do you start off with?
Is it that proprietary knowledge?
Oh, the jean.
Yeah, the jean.
Well, it truly depends on the person.
So we have ladies boot cut
which is what all the ladies are wearing.
We have some baggy jeans as well.
I have black ones, I have gray ones and blue ones
and it truly depends if the customer says
oh, I want them in orange and black.
I want the placement here or there
but usually I have to create a freedom
and all of them have my signature stitched
and are numbered.
Oh, cool.
That's awesome.
Yeah, it's cool to do that stuff
because it's, well for one, it's like free,
it's more than free marketing.
You're actually selling the things
and you're getting crazy market, right?
It's like the best kind of marketing
because it's organic too.
Yes.
Rather than you guys paying to have an ad somewhere
in a magazine, you're making a cool thing
and then people are sharing it
and it's kind of like...
Thank you.
It's also good because the brand roof
is very aspirational to a lot of people
and you don't make inexpensive cars
so a lot of people can't afford a roof car
but if they can have something of roof
or you know...
Like a free hat at the quail?
Like a free hat at the quail?
Yeah, it's all about community.
Absolutely.
We're all just geeks together, car crazy.
The reasons why our cars are that expensive
is because just to develop a new car
is very expensive.
Totally.
And the entire car is completely handmade.
Yeah.
But we also really, really care about the people
that are excited about our cars
even the ones that can't buy them.
Yeah.
And if we can all rock the same outfits together...
We're thinking of a shirt or something.
Yeah, it's awesome.
It's all part of the...
It's an extension of the brand.
Yeah.
Yeah, I think Warren and I are around the same age
and like we all grew up like...
As little kids seeing roof do 217 miles
and out, you know, reading the magazines
and stuff like that when we were like
eight years old or whatever.
So it's definitely a brand that's always...
And then playing video games
and then everything else throughout the years.
Yeah.
Yeah, we were lucky enough to have
Alois on the podcast two years ago.
And he's just so kind.
And it seems like he really...
Like you said, community, but it's not a fake thing.
He is really into like talking to everybody
that comes by and having real interaction.
So I've run into him a few times
and even today and he's just like the nicest guy.
So obviously you know all this.
I'm not telling you something you don't know.
But I'm glad that you had such a good experience with my dad.
Yeah.
He's great.
Really great.
So with the car that you unveiled today
and the interest you have,
does that like influence your next step?
Like, are you already thinking about
what's coming to Quail next year?
Absolutely.
Okay.
So tell us.
Or is there anything like...
Nice try.
I know.
Anything that's like kind of wild like the rodeo
that maybe you can share ideas
or maybe an idea that you've wanted to do,
but hasn't been possible.
I can't tell you.
I'm sorry.
How about this?
For Ruth, everything is possible.
It just depends on when we do it.
I'm sure you have a bunch of...
You have a few rodeos that are in progress right now.
This is number one, right?
Yes.
Like official.
What are some of the other...
Do you have other really special colors come?
Or do you have any others that are yet to be unveiled
or that you know that are public?
You mean rodeo?
Yeah, rodeo, sorry.
No, because this is the first production car
that we're delivering.
So you haven't started?
And I do not want to give away
the excitement of the next colors.
But I'm sure it's like people are going crazy
on customization of these things.
They always do, which excites me.
There's many cars that are very classic
and docile and sleepers.
There's others that are just...
Because the rodeo is so fun.
Everyone probably wants to one-up each other.
Every car is going to be like,
well, I want to do this crazy interior.
I haven't even thought about it.
The interiors are so cool.
That's bespoke, right?
Anything you want.
Like your boots.
Yes.
Can we talk about these boots for a moment?
These boots, they're made for walking.
They are.
They're pythons, actually.
I got them in Oklahoma.
Wow.
Which is like I just mentioned.
And when you go to deliver cars in Florida,
do you wear them?
Yeah.
Because pythons in Florida,
that's kind of a thing, right?
This is true.
They don't like them very much.
No, no, but those are very cool.
Thank you.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Well, when...
I was trying to get more information out of you
about future cars.
But going back in the past,
the car is at an event we ran on Wednesday,
which it was a dealer
that also specializes in your older models.
They had a slant nose roof.
It's here today.
Did you see it?
The CTR-1, the black one.
Yeah.
CTR-1?
Yes.
And is that the only one like that?
Yes.
It is.
That was a very special build that we did
for a Japanese customer.
It's the only CTR-1 to translate yellow burn.
That was done with a slant nose.
If I'm not mistaken,
I think it's going to auction this weekend.
Oh, okay.
I didn't know that.
Do you still handle like vintage requests?
Someone comes in with a 993
and says, can we upgrade this to roof spec?
Yes, we still do these things.
Yes.
We call them the turbo R-limited,
which is a 993 base.
And we also have the RCT,
which is a 964 base single turbo
that we build as well.
But most of the cars that,
oh my gosh, if I dare call them vintage.
I know.
That come to us there from the second market
that are brought back to us to be redone,
to brought back to the original spec
or even repainted,
but our cars are serviced by us.
Totally unrelated question.
If you had to pick a brand,
not Porsche, to be involved with,
what would it be?
A car brand.
Yeah.
Oh, I don't have one.
Oh.
I'll give it,
if you had to go with an American car brand,
if you were going to pick an American car brand
to customize and modify
and make it the roof touch,
what would it be?
Oh, you're putting on the spot here.
I've never thought about this.
Do you have any love for Mustangs,
Camaros, Corvettes?
You know, unfortunately, I've never thought.
Unfortunately, no.
Unfortunately, I've never gotten the experience
in a Camaro.
Really?
Never.
Have you been in one?
I've also,
I think I've never been in a Corvette.
I've always wanted to drive a Singray.
I think they're absolutely gorgeous.
All right, listeners,
if you have one of these cars,
let's make this happen.
We're going to Big Sur,
Camaro or Corvette,
I always says in Python boots included.
The American cars,
there's two cars that I,
I don't know,
do you know the story of the Corvair?
Yeah.
You know the Corvair tried to compete with the 9-Eleven?
I mean,
the six-cylinder engine in the rear.
Yeah.
Which we've talked about that.
If Chevy just kept building it,
what would it look like?
You know, I mean,
would it be nowadays like a modern 9-Eleven competitor?
I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't think so.
I mean, it wasn't one back then.
It never really was.
So there's a,
there's a Porsche cars and coffee thing near,
it's in the Bay Area.
It's an easy, this old wrecking yard,
a Porsche wrecking yard.
And it's big like our group and all these things.
There's a guy that shows up there
and a Corvair full 993 underpinnings.
Oh, it's a Porsche engine.
Porsche engine,
Porsche suspension,
subframes, everything.
Brakes, big brakes.
Corvair body.
Yeah, Corvair.
Fun.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah, yeah.
Corvair.
I guess.
No, no, no.
I don't know if I would add the roof just by.
It fascinates me.
It is.
It's very, very interesting.
Do you have a daily driver?
I do.
I have a 912.
Oh my God.
I don't know if I can call a daily driver.
She breaks down a lot.
Is that your first car?
Yes.
Yes.
I restored it myself.
I got it when I was 17.
Great.
And that's so cool.
I've been tinkering on it since.
That's awesome.
And that's around the factory?
Yes.
In Germany.
That's great.
Do you have fun roads not far from there?
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
German Autobahn is right.
Yeah.
Right off of the small town I'm from.
And we have some beautiful mountain passes that guide you through Austria and Switzerland
an hour away.
That's great.
It's really nice.
That's awesome.
Sounds good.
Yeah.
But anything else you'd like to plug, feel free.
We've really enjoyed having you.
Thank you.
I hope you have enough social battery left.
I do.
I'm fully charged.
Are you?
Yes.
It's fully charged.
It's just the beginning of the day guys.
I know.
You know it goes.
Some people have been here for like a week.
But first, thank you so much for having me and for giving me this opportunity.
Of course.
I guess the only things I want to plug is if you want to keep posted on what we're
doing, we have our Instagram, which is russins1939.
You can buy the jeans at roofrodeojeans.com.
Very simple.
Perfect.
And I imagine you're on Instagram personally.
Yes.
It's Aloisa Roof.
Great.
Well, thank you again.
Thank you guys.
Thanks Aloisa.
See ya.
Bye.
Bye.
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