Gemballa convertible
10-07-2008, 01:20 PM
#32
Whatever happened to the Carelli convertibles? I remember one of our members had one of those a few years back and it was an extremely clean conversion, looked like lots of effort went into it.
01-31-2014, 08:56 PM
#33
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OUR PORSCHE 928 S 4 - GEMBALLA
Gemballa used to be about a 20 minutes drive from where I grew-up - they were closer than Porsche... Needless to say, we went down to check them out some time. They were not just doing complete cars; you could also just buy a steering wheel, or have a phone console installed on an otherwise stock car.
It could be that someone brought this convertible with the Strosek body kit and had a steering wheel and some other goodies installed. That would not give Gemballa a reason to change the body kit to their own...
Anyway, I'm just speculating here. I really don't know the history of the car, just pointing out that it is definitely not 100% Gemballa.
It could be that someone brought this convertible with the Strosek body kit and had a steering wheel and some other goodies installed. That would not give Gemballa a reason to change the body kit to their own...
Anyway, I'm just speculating here. I really don't know the history of the car, just pointing out that it is definitely not 100% Gemballa.
Nicole
I have just come across your post about our old Porsche 928S4 Convertaible. Just to adivse you, it most definately is/was 100% Gemballa and certainly not a "Strosek body kit" as you assume. It used to belong to my partner who bought it from the Finance Director of Porsche in 1988, he was the 2nd owner. It IS one of 5 made, 3 were for Porsche Directors and the other 2 were used for testing purposes. They were built of carbon fibre and were lowered and widened, the brakes were uprated and the engines tuned to produce 450 BHP. The windscreen surround was given roller strength and the wheels were BBS - 345 rear and 225 front. The rear tyres were the same as would be used on a Lamborgini Countach. Of the 3, one IS in the Stutgart Museum, one is in a private collection and the other one (ours) was the only one ever used on a public road anywhere in the world. We still have our original logbook for the Porsche from when my partner imported it into the UK in 1988. We sold it in 1992 and believe it ended up in Australia.
Hope this sheds a better light on the subject for you.
Regards
Mishy
01-31-2014, 09:49 PM
#34
Instructor
Hi,
Not meaning to hijack the thread, but since we're on the topic of wide body 928s, maybe you guys can help me identify mine...
The PO said he thought it was a Strosek, but I'm not sure he was right (I have no other info about its history).
Thanks in advance for any help!
-Steve
Not meaning to hijack the thread, but since we're on the topic of wide body 928s, maybe you guys can help me identify mine...
The PO said he thought it was a Strosek, but I'm not sure he was right (I have no other info about its history).
Thanks in advance for any help!
-Steve
Last edited by GUTTER-BOY; 01-31-2014 at 10:14 PM.
02-01-2014, 04:54 AM
#38
Nordschleife Master
Wow, very cool interior. Full leather too, and in great condition - the stitching along the dash is still straight, so no shrinkage! I keep seeing red carpets and they look great!
There were some factory exclusive options for headlights like those - Erkka's posted pics before.. although there may have been an aftermarket variant too. Are the headlight covers fiberglass, or aluminium?
There were some factory exclusive options for headlights like those - Erkka's posted pics before.. although there may have been an aftermarket variant too. Are the headlight covers fiberglass, or aluminium?
02-01-2014, 08:18 AM
#39
Rennlist Member
Picture #11 was taken at the 2008 Sharks in the Mountains, 928 Specialists. It was fabbed by an individual owner in his garage. IIRC he was from Huntsville AL. It was executed very well and was well received by the crowd.
02-01-2014, 11:02 AM
#40
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02-01-2014, 04:10 PM
#43
Instructor
Thanks. The interior is pretty much perfect, other than a small mark (<1/2") on the drivers seat. The odd thing is that ALL surfaces are covered in leather, including the headliner and entire "trunk"/hatch area. Someone asked in a post if the headlights are aluminum, and yes they are. I got lucky and picked the car up for $5,900 pretty much how it sits. It had some deferred maintenance, so I've spent a couple grand to get it up to snuff-TB/WP/OPG, all fluids & hoses, suspension bushings, etc. (Thanks Roger!).
Luckily Stan (Mrmerlin) lived up the road so I put it in his hands before he "defected" to the East Coast.
Any idea of the source of the body work? It has aspects of Strosek, Gemballa and Koenig, or it might just be some generic knock off. Ideas...?
Luckily Stan (Mrmerlin) lived up the road so I put it in his hands before he "defected" to the East Coast.
Any idea of the source of the body work? It has aspects of Strosek, Gemballa and Koenig, or it might just be some generic knock off. Ideas...?
02-02-2014, 06:38 AM
#44
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Thanks. The interior is pretty much perfect, other than a small mark (<1/2") on the drivers seat. The odd thing is that ALL surfaces are covered in leather, including the headliner and entire "trunk"/hatch area. Someone asked in a post if the headlights are aluminum, and yes they are. I got lucky and picked the car up for $5,900 pretty much how it sits. It had some deferred maintenance, so I've spent a couple grand to get it up to snuff-TB/WP/OPG, all fluids & hoses, suspension bushings, etc. (Thanks Roger!).
Luckily Stan (Mrmerlin) lived up the road so I put it in his hands before he "defected" to the East Coast.
Any idea of the source of the body work? It has aspects of Strosek, Gemballa and Koenig, or it might just be some generic knock off. Ideas...?
Luckily Stan (Mrmerlin) lived up the road so I put it in his hands before he "defected" to the East Coast.
Any idea of the source of the body work? It has aspects of Strosek, Gemballa and Koenig, or it might just be some generic knock off. Ideas...?
Åke
Åke
02-02-2014, 07:27 AM
#45
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Nicole
I have just come across your post about our old Porsche 928S4 Convertaible. Just to adivse you, it most definately is/was 100% Gemballa and certainly not a "Strosek body kit" as you assume. It used to belong to my partner who bought it from the Finance Director of Porsche in 1988, he was the 2nd owner. It IS one of 5 made, 3 were for Porsche Directors and the other 2 were used for testing purposes. They were built of carbon fibre and were lowered and widened, the brakes were uprated and the engines tuned to produce 450 BHP. The windscreen surround was given roller strength and the wheels were BBS - 345 rear and 225 front. The rear tyres were the same as would be used on a Lamborgini Countach. Of the 3, one IS in the Stutgart Museum, one is in a private collection and the other one (ours) was the only one ever used on a public road anywhere in the world. We still have our original logbook for the Porsche from when my partner imported it into the UK in 1988. We sold it in 1992 and believe it ended up in Australia.
Hope this sheds a better light on the subject for you.
Regards
Mishy
Nicole
I have just come across your post about our old Porsche 928S4 Convertaible. Just to adivse you, it most definately is/was 100% Gemballa and certainly not a "Strosek body kit" as you assume. It used to belong to my partner who bought it from the Finance Director of Porsche in 1988, he was the 2nd owner. It IS one of 5 made, 3 were for Porsche Directors and the other 2 were used for testing purposes. They were built of carbon fibre and were lowered and widened, the brakes were uprated and the engines tuned to produce 450 BHP. The windscreen surround was given roller strength and the wheels were BBS - 345 rear and 225 front. The rear tyres were the same as would be used on a Lamborgini Countach. Of the 3, one IS in the Stutgart Museum, one is in a private collection and the other one (ours) was the only one ever used on a public road anywhere in the world. We still have our original logbook for the Porsche from when my partner imported it into the UK in 1988. We sold it in 1992 and believe it ended up in Australia.
Hope this sheds a better light on the subject for you.
Regards
Mishy
Basically, you are saying that Gemballa made an exact copy of a Stosek body kit and the Jurinek convertible, even though they had their own designs that looked quite different. Have you ever thought about how much time and effort goes into developing such modifications, and about copyright? Do you really think Strosek would let his competitor copy his own design 100%, without a major lawsuit?
You also say there were 5 made, and imply that three were made for the Factory Directors. Now, I should advise you that never in the history of Porsche has there been a program for Executives to drive 3rd party modified Porsche vehicles. The type of Porsche one can get is and has been dependent on an employee level, and most employees have to lease their Porsche cars. I happen to know the guy who ran this operation around the time this convertible was built...
You further state that two of those were used for testing - what kind of testing? Tuners like Gemballa did not keep cars - they didn't have the space to store them, so where did they go? Please don't tell me the factory bought, tested and later crushed them, as they do with many of their own prototypes...
One of the three is in the Factory Museum... I have been to the Porsche Museum many times, and have never seen a 928 convertible on display. However, they do have one 928 convertible prototype in the museum storage, which was built in Weissach, and has quite a few features different from this car - including no body kit. Porsche is quite capable of making its own prototypes, even though the four-door ASC estate is an exception.
Here is their own convertible (note the hard cover over the convertible top, and no visible trunk lock, seat belts integrated in seats, among other details):
This is not the first time that people tried to associate a 3rd party modified 928 with some sort of factory program. Some may remember the South African 928 GTE (or whatever it was called). That was another car with a variety of aftermarket parts, that someone tried to link to the Porsche factory. But it was obvious that the story was untrue.
I don't know where you got your information on this car, but it makes no sense. You'd have to show me watertight proof that the factory was involved in this, or any of its directors every drove a such car (unless they bought it privately, which they have no reason to do, since they can get factory cars at discounted lease prices).
I think you were sold a bag of lies. Sorry, I'm not buying them.
