Latest news with #TonyHatter
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
RUF Sells Potent LED Replacement Lights for Your 993-Gen Porsche 911
Legendary tuner RUF is offering a new LED kit for the 993-gen 911. Created with input from the 993's designer, the kit is plug-and-play simple. The new LEDs are almost three times as powerful as the originals. One of the reasons vintage Porsche 911s hold their value so well is that they offer a driving experience that feels special but is also usable every day. They won't beat you up like more exotic Italian fare—or 'fail to proceed' like a British classic. Nope, Stuttgart's finest 2+2 just works. You want to keep the experience pure, but a few upgrades always help (just ask any 930 Turbo owner how much more pleasant that car is to drive with modern tires). Now, there's more good news for air-cooled 911 owners, as RUF is releasing an LED headlight option for the 993-series cars. Headlights are one area where cars have hugely improved over the years, from the low-candlepower sealed beams of the mid-1980s to the megawatt brightness of a modern BMW. The aftermarket has plenty of plug-and-play upgrades for many older vehicles, but messing with a 911's front end comes with some peril. That friendly round-eyed face is part of the car's character, and you don't want to turn it into some laser-eyed anime character. RUF has lots of experience modifying Porsches without ruining the recipe. In this case, with its typical attention to detail, the company went so far as to bring in the 993's original design manager, Tony Hatter. Hatter's portfolio extends to heroic Porsches such as the GT1 and Carrera GT. He's also a Yorkshireman, and thus it is a bit amusing that these Teutonic icons were crafted by someone who slightly sounds like Wallace from Wallace & Gromit. Originally, the 993 came with high-intensity discharge (HID) lights, which were branded as Litronic. They were quite effective by mid-to-late 1990s standards, but these new headlights offer nearly three times the lumens. Further, they're fitted with a special coating to reduce glare, and the low-beams feature asymmetric lighting so you don't blind oncoming drivers. RUF always sweats the fine details, so anyone looking to upgrade their 993's nighttime driveability can rest assured that this new lighting is a few steps above some eBay drop-ship solution. The packaging is even designed to carefully protect the old halogen headlights when those are removed so that originality can be preserved. The kit is not exactly inexpensive, at a little more than the equivalent of $8700, but you can save a few bucks by doing the work yourself, as it is designed to be simple to replace. If you've got a 993, then you already know that air-cooled flat-six loves cool evenings and cruising after dusk. Why not make those nights a little brighter? You Might Also Like Car and Driver's 10 Best Cars through the Decades How to Buy or Lease a New Car Lightning Lap Legends: Chevrolet Camaro vs. Ford Mustang!
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Ruf's New LED Conversion Kit For 993 Porsche 911s Looks Badass And Is Functional, Too
Driving a car with old-fashioned halogen headlights versus one with LEDs is a literal night-and-day difference. Yes, LED lights can be annoying when they're beaming out of a Tahoedirectly into your corneas, but when you're the one behind the wheel on a dark road you want their much higher and cleaner light output. Aftermarket LED conversion kits for classic cars usually look cheap and crappy, but legendary supercar manufacturer Ruf just released a new nine-piece plug-and-play LED light kit for the 993-generation Porsche 911, and it actually looks really good. The kit is supposed to install very simply, and includes two headlights, fog lights, indicators, and taillights as well as the 993's signature center taillight bar, allfor about $8,718 before shipping. To design this set of modernized lights for the 1994-1998 911, Ruf collaborated with Tony Hatter, the original designer of the 993. Their partnership ensured that the new LED clusters aligned with the original design ethos of the 993, and that Ruf's lights didn't turn out as yucky as the rest of the aftermarket light conversion kits across the various sketchy corners of online consumerism. Plus, they're SAE approved, meet all safety criteria for legality and reliability, and the engineers who designed them say that the LED high beams are three-times brighter than the original Porsche headlights. Said Alois Ruf in a press release, We are seeing the new year in a new light because the 993 model range is part of the RUF Neo-Classic Sports Car Program. It was my vision to equip the latest air-cooled generation of the Porsche 911 with LED lighting. We wanted to create a lighting system that prioritizes safety, visibility, and authenticity. The extensive development process was well worth it. For simplified installation, the LED light modules are positioned in the center of the lamp cluster with a surrounding clasp in a funnel that fits into the original headlamp seat. These 993 conversions are the same design that's used on Ruf's production Turbo R and Turbo R Limited supercars, so upgrading your 993 will have the bonus of looking more like an actual Ruf. You'll also be able tosay your car has genuine Ruf parts on it, and though the price is high, it's a complete kit that's actually comparably priced to other aftermarket LED clusters. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
