At The Autopian, we’re no stranger to mishaps with car transporters. We’ve seen haggard Nissan taxis flung into trees due to embarrassing trailer mishaps. However, we haven’t seen anything quite as tragic as a big-dollar Porsche smacking into the ground from six feet in the air.
As shared by Spike Feresten on Instagram, the disastrous scene went down in the Bay Area earlier this week. On the back of a transporter truck, we see a black Porsche dangling from a raised ramp by its front wheels. Someone haplessly walks out to the edge of the ramp to see that, yes, the car is very obviously screwed. As the video pans around, the driver inside the Porsche flashes the camera the bird.
Had this been any other Porsche, this video would probably have wound up in some “epic fails” compilation and otherwise gone unnoticed. However, this isn’t just any Porsche. As discussed on Reddit, it appears to be an ultra-rare RUF Yellowbird.
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If you’re unfamiliar, the Yellowbird was a highly tuned version of the Porsche 911, first built by tuning house RUF in the 1980s. The very first version of the Yellowbird, more formally known as CTR for “Group C Turbo RUF,” was based on the 1987 911 Carrera 3.2. RUF heavily modified the vehicle with aluminum body panels, composite parts, and big ducts to force air into the engine compartment. The engine was bored out to 3.4 liters, fitted with twin turbochargers, intercoolers, and a Le Mans-bred fuel injection system to push power to the moon. The fearsome flat-six was paired with a custom five-speed transmission because Porsche didn’t have a gearbox that could cut the mustard.
The result of RUF’s transformation? A 911 with a barnstorming 463 horsepower and 408 pound-feet of torque, and a bonkers top speed of 213 mph. In this regard, it bested every other production car on the market, Porsche 959 and Ferrari F40 included. Just 29 original examples were built.
As the name implies, the RUF Yellowbird was typically sold in yellow. That might raise questions given the vehicle seen on Reddit and Instagram is black. However, commenters identified it as a Yellowbird by its RUF wheels and body kit. Speculation suggests this may in fact be the 10th Yellowbird built, which is believed to be the only example painted in black. That particular car was sold by RM Sotheby’s in a 2018 auction.
We don’t know for certain that this is the 10th Yellowbird. It could be a very convincing replica, or it could have been repainted at some time in its life. Notably, John Clay Wolfe of Give Me The VIN took to Twitter to post that the vehicle was a real Yellowbird, and was “just delivered back from Germany for a 150,000 color change repaint from RUF.”
Oh man. I can only imagine. So is this is not the original one of one that left the factory black but a color change? Incredibly rare car. Crossing seven figures right? I
— Zerin Dube (@SpeedSportLife) July 16, 2025
Either way, Yellowbirds are worth big money, whatever the color. A yellow example sold at Gooding Christies for $6,055,000 earlier this year.
The good news is that the car is so expensive, it’s obviously worth fixing. Of course, insurance will be paying out the nose to do so. Beyond the damage to bumpers, paint, and the underbody, the owner may demand the chassis be placed on a jig to ensure it’s still straight after the incident. Then there’s the potential cost of damage to the vehicle’s ongoing value, now that it has been publicly seen to have been in an embarrassing transport incident. You wouldn’t want to be the insurance adjuster dealing with this one.
Image credits: Spike Feresten via Instagram screenshot
RUF would have probably been a lot more niche within the general European sports car community if not for EA’s exclusivity contract with Porsche. It forced just about every racing game developer to use RUFs instead from ’99 all the way to ’16!
A friend sent a pic of his newly restored MGA with half of it hanging off the back of his trailer. He was towing it home from the restoration shop. Simple 2 word explanation: “strap malfunction”
did not know that the rear bumper on 911s is so strong it can be used as a car stand.
“… The fearsome flat-six was paired with a custom five-speed transmission because Porsche didn’t have a gearbox that could cut the mustard…”
That thingie on the linked auction page seems to show a 6-speed.
That kid on the Simpsons laughing. Does anyone think 6 million plus for a car is aspirational? If so we as humans are more, way more fucked than I originally thought
Oops – the revenge of colour strikes again.
“Sorry, the right rear tire was off by 1psi.”
Never gets old.
I heard he died.
You can’t park there mate.
You can’t tell me this guy doesn’t realize he is still 8 feet in the air. And what are those rims Mazda?
Those wheels are RUFs.