A bit of advice.... Did I bag a bargain?

A bit of advice.... Did I bag a bargain?

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V8C

Original Poster:

1,216 posts

208 months

Monday 18th January 2021
quotequote all
Just looking for some advice fellas.

I happened to chance upon, what I think may be a serious steal but having no real knowledge of the brand / subject I'm looking to get an opinion.

I picked up, over the weekend a Gemballa GT550 Bi-Turbo for Porsche Cayenne turbo money. (£7k). 79k on the clock and it's been remapped to 650BHP. Has all the original documents and receipts from Gemballa for the conversion from Cayenne Turbo to Gemballa GT, about £60,000 worth of work but being that there's next to no Gemballa's for sale to compare it to, I have no idea if I got a great deal or not. T
he next best thing I can find online is a 54 plated Cayenne S that's pretending to be a Gemballa Magnum and the guy wants £16,000 for it and the next best real Gemballa is about £60k for an 08 plate with 30,000 miles on the clock.

Did I bag a bargain or have I taken the brave pill? I have no real idea! rofl

brillomaster

1,241 posts

169 months

Monday 18th January 2021
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Crikey, just looked up what a Gemballa GT550 Bi-Turbo is, and wished i hadn't lol, that image is going to haunt my dreams!

anyways, that aside, i guess if its a genuine Gemballa then it might be worth a bit, to someone...

though not to me. I'd value a Gemballa about half what a standard car would go for, the cost of having to live with that face! laugh

i'd guess a new Gemballa would appeal to maybe 1% of people, and a used Gemballa maybe 1% of that, so personally i'd immediately readvertise it for £28k, and then in a couple of years time, that 0.01% percent buyer will come along, and you'll turn a tidy profit.

Edited by brillomaster on Monday 18th January 09:45

anonymous-user

53 months

Monday 18th January 2021
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Is it white. Do the vins match?

Sounds like a bargain, must be quick.

The spinner of plates

17,649 posts

199 months

Monday 18th January 2021
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I think the phrase "if you're happy, then that is all that counts" is very apt for this thread hehe

Greg the Fish

1,410 posts

65 months

Monday 18th January 2021
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NOW we know where BMW poached their new head of design from!

What a monster (not in a good way)

V8C

Original Poster:

1,216 posts

208 months

Monday 18th January 2021
quotequote all
brillomaster said:
Crikey, just looked up what a Gemballa GT550 Bi-Turbo is, and wished i hadn't lol, that image is going to haunt my dreams!

anyways, that aside, i guess if its a genuine Gemballa then it might be worth a bit, to someone...

though not to me. I'd value a Gemballa about half what a standard car would go for, the cost of having to live with that face! laugh
Oh don't worry it's not the awful one with the 15 different vents in the front bumper, it's the Aero 3 version which is far more sedate. I'm not sure I could drive the former, I think they call that a Magnum?

randlemarcus

13,507 posts

230 months

Monday 18th January 2021
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I suspect you have a bit of both in an old Cayenne, especially one that's been messed about with biggrin

As long as you aren't expecting Daewoo Matiz running costs, you should be good. If you dig through the service invoices, can you see anything relating to the coolant pipes? Known weak point - if you run bits of plastic through the V of a massive V8, maybe its a good idea to spec them properly.

If you're happy with the looks, enjoy it biggrin

V8C

Original Poster:

1,216 posts

208 months

Monday 18th January 2021
quotequote all
V8C said:
Oh don't worry it's not the awful one with the 15 different vents in the front bumper, it's the Aero 3 version which is far more sedate. I'm not sure I could drive the former, I think they call that a Magnum?


Like this.



Definitely NOT this. I'm not in full drug-dealer mode yet.

Austin_Metro

1,196 posts

47 months

Monday 18th January 2021
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It’s got 550bhp? I don’t care what it looks like.

Bargain.

More photos of your car please!

thelostboy

4,562 posts

224 months

Monday 18th January 2021
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Come on.... photos. Then we'll decide if it was a bargain!

V8C

Original Poster:

1,216 posts

208 months

Monday 18th January 2021
quotequote all
thelostboy said:
Come on.... photos. Then we'll decide if it was a bargain!
I'll grab some pics in a bit. It's a bit dirty as the drive back was on some mucky roads.

No it's not got 550BHP, it's been mapped again to 650BHP with overboost. Bit of an odd drive actually as it picks up a little slower than the Turbo from the bottom of the rev range, but when it does it hit 3,000RPM then the boost comes like a freight train and a kick in the lower back.

CorrosionInhibitor

375 posts

96 months

Monday 18th January 2021
quotequote all
V8C said:
Just looking for some advice fellas.

I happened to chance upon, what I think may be a serious steal but having no real knowledge of the brand / subject I'm looking to get an opinion.

I picked up, over the weekend a Gemballa GT550 Bi-Turbo for Porsche Cayenne turbo money. (£7k). 79k on the clock and it's been remapped to 650BHP. Has all the original documents and receipts from Gemballa for the conversion from Cayenne Turbo to Gemballa GT, about £60,000 worth of work but being that there's next to no Gemballa's for sale to compare it to, I have no idea if I got a great deal or not. T
he next best thing I can find online is a 54 plated Cayenne S that's pretending to be a Gemballa Magnum and the guy wants £16,000 for it and the next best real Gemballa is about £60k for an 08 plate with 30,000 miles on the clock.

Did I bag a bargain or have I taken the brave pill? I have no real idea! rofl
Take it you mean this car

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202101047...

Cheap to buy but not cheap to run or fix I’d think but enjoy !

V8C

Original Poster:

1,216 posts

208 months

Monday 18th January 2021
quotequote all
CorrosionInhibitor said:
Take it you mean this car

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202101047...

Cheap to buy but not cheap to run or fix I’d think but enjoy !
That's the one. I managed to get an extra few quid off the listed price.

Austin_Metro

1,196 posts

47 months

Monday 18th January 2021
quotequote all
V8C said:
I'll grab some pics in a bit. It's a bit dirty as the drive back was on some mucky roads.

No it's not got 550BHP, it's been mapped again to 650BHP with overboost. Bit of an odd drive actually as it picks up a little slower than the Turbo from the bottom of the rev range, but when it does it hit 3,000RPM then the boost comes like a freight train and a kick in the lower back.
Even better (unlike my ability to read).

Does it sound good?



V8C

Original Poster:

1,216 posts

208 months

Monday 18th January 2021
quotequote all
Austin_Metro said:
Even better (unlike my ability to read).

Does it sound good?
Yep! The Gemballa exhaust seems to have added a few DB. It has a subtle yet responsive growl in the cabin at any rev range which is absent in the Turbo unless you really nail it. At full chat it sounds angry and has a proper roar.

I'm a bit of a stats kind of person so at some point I'll do an actual DB reading on both the turbo and the Gemballa for comparison.

Hope lockdown ends some time before summer as I'll gladly take her out to a few car shows.

Cheib

23,110 posts

174 months

Monday 18th January 2021
quotequote all
If you ever sold it and you’re patient and the right buyer comes along you may have a bargain. Obviously the issue as already mentioned is running costs but you wouldn;t have bought this if you hadn’t thought about that ?! Until then enjoy it and keep us posted with the ownership experience !



Edited by Cheib on Monday 18th January 13:01

randlemarcus

13,507 posts

230 months

Monday 18th January 2021
quotequote all
Sounds like running costs are not a major issue, as he's already running a Turbo biggrin Hey, at least you can only drive one at once, so fuelling ought to remain fairly constant biggrin

V8C

Original Poster:

1,216 posts

208 months

Monday 18th January 2021
quotequote all
Turbo AND an S

I'm obviously just up for punishment.


randlemarcus

13,507 posts

230 months

Monday 18th January 2021
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That's just spares planning, is that. Rule 1 of borkage - have a rolling spares vehicle. biggrin

Gary C

12,312 posts

178 months

Monday 18th January 2021
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Gemballa !

Hope this story ends better than Uwe's

Anyway, yours does actually look quite nice smile

Enjoy.