What’s with the name Turbo Florio?

The name is in tribute to our family name, my father, who instilled in me a passion for German-engineered cars, and my grandfather Americus Florio, who was born here in the States while his parents were visiting from Italy in the late 1800s. He returned as a teenager and served in the U.S. Navy in WWI.

My grandfather changed the family name during the Depression to help mitigate the racism against Italian immigrants as he was a self-employed plumber and was better for business.

During WWII, he relocated his family from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, to Benicia, California, on the San Francisco Bay, where he worked at Mare Island Naval Shipyard during the war. I remember stories growing up of him bringing Italian POWs home for Sunday dinner.

And, of course, to the historic Targa Florio races, where Porsche had its first overall win in a major sports car racing event in 1956 in the 550 Spyder and holds the #1 position in 1st place wins, including their final victory at the last Targa Florio run as an FIA World Sportscar Championship race in the 912 Carrera RSR.

Didn’t RUF make a Turbo Florio?

Yes, however, it was nearly twenty years after the commission of the first Turbo Florio in 1996. And, after all, it is our family name.

Well, that's my story, and I am sticking to it.

With that said, I hope to speak for all Porsche-loving descendants of the Florio family when we are honored to have our family name associated with RUF Automobiles.