Aloisa Ruf - DWA! Podcast Ep. #896

The Driving While Awesome podcast is recorded live to SD card at the Beeline Motor Club in Santa Cruz, California.

Off the record.com. Fight those tickets. If you don't win, you don't pay. All you have to do is download the app, snap a photo of your ticket, answer a few questions, get matched to an experienced lawyer, and you won't pay for the ticket. Enter code awesome to get a nice discount.

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?

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 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.

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.

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.

Aloisa Ruf - DWA! Podcast Ep. #896

Hyundai Santa Cruz

Dune Myers Manx

Ford Mustang

Chevrolet Camaro

Chevrolet Corvette

Chevrolet Corvair

About this episode

Original notes