One-Off Ruf Project Dragon Heads To Auction With An $8 Million Estimate

Gooding Christie's will auction the factory-built Ruf Project Dragon without reserve, tying CTR2 Sport hardware to a rare single-customer commission.

Ruf has built only one Project Dragon, finished in a shade the factory calls Dragon Fire Orange. Gooding Christie's has confirmed the car as the headline lot of its first Retromobile New York sale at the Javits Center in November 2026.

The car crosses the block on November 20 and 21 without reserve, carrying an estimate between $6,000,000 and $8,000,000. For a company that rarely builds one-offs, that's a significant moment for anyone tracking Ruf's standing in the collector market.

1998 Ruf Porshe 911 Project Dragon

Photo by: Gooding And Company - Mike Maez

Project Dragon is not a tuned 911 or a restomod exercise. Ruf built it as a bespoke commission, carrying forward the mechanical formula established by the Ruf CTR2 Sport while reworking the body and interior around one customer's specific brief. Gooding Christie's Senior Specialist David Brynan said the car "carries forward the spirit of the Yellowbird and CTR2, the extraordinary cars that established Ruf's reputation for combining understated design with exceptional performance."

Tony Hatter handled the design work. He is best known for shaping the 993-generation Porsche 911, and his involvement gives Project Dragon a lineage that connects directly to Porsche's own design studio. The bodywork is bespoke carbon fiber, built specifically for this car rather than adapted from an existing Ruf shell.

Brynan called it "one of the few one-off automobiles ever created by Ruf," saying it is "a unique expression of the company's engineering expertise and willingness to realize an individual customer's vision." That rarity stands out, since the company has historically turned out many more variants on existing platforms, from the 928R to more recent in-house prototypes, than true single-commission cars like this one.

The chassis backs up the design ambition with carbon ceramic brakes and a Bilstein PSS10 suspension, alongside a Ruf-integrated roll cage. It reads less like a showpiece and more like a car meant to be driven hard, despite its near-pristine condition.

Power comes from a bespoke air-cooled engine producing 621 hp at 6,500 rpm, a figure that places Project Dragon firmly in the same performance bracket as Ruf's most serious road cars. At the time of cataloguing, the car showed just 759 miles, putting it in virtually new condition despite having been completed years ago.

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Gooding Christie's estimate of $6,000,000 to $8,000,000 reflects both the engineering and the car's singular status. It's being offered without reserve, meaning it sells to the highest bidder regardless of where bidding lands. That detail tends to sharpen interest among serious collectors.

Gooding Christie's Retromobile New York Auctions take place on November 20 and 21, 2026, within the Retromobile New York event at the Javits Center, which runs November 19 through November 22. The car is catalogued as a live auction lot rather than as part of an extended online-only sale.