With today’s legislation, making hand-built cars is reserved for a very small number of companies, such as Pagani. Moreover, when someone says they’ve come up with a hand-made car, images like this Frankencar come to mind. Runge Cars, though, are comparable with the incredible hand-built machines from Singer.
In the latest episode of Jay Leno’s Garage, the host gets to sample two sports cars from the automaker’s lineup: the FF006 and the FF007. Never heard of Runge Cars? That’s okay, because this video will put the tiny one-man operation onto your automotive map.
Based in Minnesota, it is run by Chris Runge who makes dream cars from scratch. The sports cars utilize hand-formed bodies that sit on top of a hand-built tube chassis, which Runge creates all by himself. While that sounds like a recipe for disaster, his vehicles are absolutely stunning. And when he can’t find the right parts, he goes with components from Porsche or Volkswagen, since he’s a Porsche fanatic.
Leno had already sampled the FF006 roadster, which is powered by a Porsche 912 flat-four and has a weight of just 1,240 lbs, before and claims the car was more than powerful enough to stick at over 100 mph (160 km/h). And it’s not just powered by a Porsche engine, but it looks like an old 718 RSK as well.
The vehicle that Leno gets to sample in this video is the FF007. It is more reminiscent of the Porsche 356, but with gullwing doors that resemble the fabulous Mercedes-Benz 300 SL. The coupe features a modified VW engine that sits inches away from the driver’s head – and boy is it loud when it’s humming away.
When it’s on the road, the FF007 doesn’t look like something that’s from the 21st century. It looks like a car from the ‘50s and, surprisingly, is relatively tame to drive. For a young guy that learned how to make cars through trial and error, this is a great achievement. Plus, you’ll definitely remember Runge Cars after watching the video below.