Photo: Hexagon Classics
Gemballa Porsches and Mercedes-Benzes used to be all the rage back in the 80s, when the widebody craze had reached its peak, with flamboyant body kits and high-tech interiors were almost as coveted as the extra horsepower these monsters brought to the tuning game.
The German tuning company has had its ups and downs over the years, but today we are going to talk about a period when Gemballa’s name was synonymous with engineering excellence and outrageous body kits.
Meet the Gemballa GTR 600, otherwise known as the fastest road-legal Porsche 911 of the mid-1990s, with this example actually being the only one of its kind, in right-hand drive specification.
The car is based on the last air-cooled 911 generation, the 993, and is essentially a 911 Turbo 993 with just about everything dialed up to 11, from the motorsport-inspired design to the performance extracted from its twin-turbocharged flat-six.
To make it look and go like it does, over 173,000 pounds of work was done to the car, most of it going toward all the hidden, technical bits.
No less than 610 BHP and 530 lb-ft (720 Nm) of torque are now delivered by the twin-turbocharged 3.6-liter flat-six, which are sent to all four wheels via a six-speed manual transmission, a racing clutch nicked from a 911 GT2 and a limited-slip differential at the rear.
Thanks to those numbers, this wide-body AWD monster can go from 0 to 60 mph (97 kph) in just 3.6 seconds and has a top speed that easily exceeds 200 mph (320 kph) given a long enough runway.
While that might not seem spectacular in this day and age, it was absolutely bonkers in 1996, when it left the factory. Back then it could run circle around the quickest supercars of the era, including specials like the Ferrari F50 and its F1-derived V12.
Apart from the insane engine mods, the GTR600 differs from a ‘standard’ 911 Turbo 993 through the use of a bespoke suspension and braking system, while the wide body kit is fully custom and completely changes the appearance of the car.
Worth noticing are the custom headlight housings, which not only non-Porsche-like but also give the car the slant-nose (Flachbau) look that was all the craze on modified 911s back in the late ‘80s, Gemballas in particular.
Apart from the fact that you can only use it as best intended in countries where they drive on the left, this 1-of-1 Gemballa GTR600 has no obvious shortcomings.
That doesn’t make it cheap to own though, as the car is currently for sale for a cool 295,000 pounds over at Hexagon Classics, in London. Whoever buys it probably knows that you can’t put a price on air-cooled artefacts like this, because the GTR600 truly is a piece of automotive history.
Meet the Gemballa GTR 600, otherwise known as the fastest road-legal Porsche 911 of the mid-1990s, with this example actually being the only one of its kind, in right-hand drive specification.
The car is based on the last air-cooled 911 generation, the 993, and is essentially a 911 Turbo 993 with just about everything dialed up to 11, from the motorsport-inspired design to the performance extracted from its twin-turbocharged flat-six.
To make it look and go like it does, over 173,000 pounds of work was done to the car, most of it going toward all the hidden, technical bits.
No less than 610 BHP and 530 lb-ft (720 Nm) of torque are now delivered by the twin-turbocharged 3.6-liter flat-six, which are sent to all four wheels via a six-speed manual transmission, a racing clutch nicked from a 911 GT2 and a limited-slip differential at the rear.
Thanks to those numbers, this wide-body AWD monster can go from 0 to 60 mph (97 kph) in just 3.6 seconds and has a top speed that easily exceeds 200 mph (320 kph) given a long enough runway.
While that might not seem spectacular in this day and age, it was absolutely bonkers in 1996, when it left the factory. Back then it could run circle around the quickest supercars of the era, including specials like the Ferrari F50 and its F1-derived V12.
Apart from the insane engine mods, the GTR600 differs from a ‘standard’ 911 Turbo 993 through the use of a bespoke suspension and braking system, while the wide body kit is fully custom and completely changes the appearance of the car.
Worth noticing are the custom headlight housings, which not only non-Porsche-like but also give the car the slant-nose (Flachbau) look that was all the craze on modified 911s back in the late ‘80s, Gemballas in particular.
Apart from the fact that you can only use it as best intended in countries where they drive on the left, this 1-of-1 Gemballa GTR600 has no obvious shortcomings.
That doesn’t make it cheap to own though, as the car is currently for sale for a cool 295,000 pounds over at Hexagon Classics, in London. Whoever buys it probably knows that you can’t put a price on air-cooled artefacts like this, because the GTR600 truly is a piece of automotive history.
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