Biturbos/number cars/Ghibli IIs for sale

[del mar 2]

I test drove it years ago.

My version of the story...

In pursuit of more power they removed the rev limiter and whilst on a rolling road over revving snapped something. The sourced Cup engine was water damaged in a warehouse but they bought and rebuilt it.
The Check Engine light was set up to act as a shift light - maybe ??
The suspension i believe is standard but doesn't work - it is stuck in position 2 i think.
And the fuel filler cap has half the key stuck in it.
Very few people even now will split the wheels so kudos to an owner for splitting these years ago.

I did ring Owen Deveopments and asked them about the car but this would have been 15 years ago now, i don't remember what i did last week...

Outside of rust which i cant comment on i have never thought anything too bad with the car, yes the wing and wheels look a bit silly but that is hardly the end of the world to fix. With aftermarket ECU it might actually be a better drive / more powerful etc etc. I did have a copy of the graph somewhere - 360BHP other than ECU is there any difference between a cup and open cup engine ?

Mine is 211 and has a KM speedo, i am sure Ross said as it was the last RHD Cup they had run out of MPH speedos ??

 

[Nayf]

Was previously R508KLJ. I’ve messaged the owner to see if he still has it, but think he may have sold it a few years ago.
View attachment 101106View attachment 101107

I may or may not have an erection.

 

[dickyb]

I test drove it years ago.

My version of the story...

In pursuit of more power they removed the rev limiter and whilst on a rolling road over revving snapped something. The sourced Cup engine was water damaged in a warehouse but they bought and rebuilt it.
The Check Engine light was set up to act as a shift light - maybe ??
The suspension i believe is standard but doesn't work - it is stuck in position 2 i think.
And the fuel filler cap has half the key stuck in it.
Very few people even now will split the wheels so kudos to an owner for splitting these years ago.

I did ring Owen Deveopments and asked them about the car but this would have been 15 years ago now, i don't remember what i did last week...

Outside of rust which i cant comment on i have never thought anything too bad with the car, yes the wing and wheels look a bit silly but that is hardly the end of the world to fix. With aftermarket ECU it might actually be a better drive / more powerful etc etc. I did have a copy of the graph somewhere - 360BHP other than ECU is there any difference between a cup and open cup engine ?

Mine is 211 and has a KM speedo, i am sure Ross said as it was the last RHD Cup they had run out of MPH speedos ??

Yes all of that is correct, I remember now that the suspension was stuck in position 2 and that the filler cap key was snapped. The other thing that concerned me when I saw it was that it was on budget tyres, always an alarm bell for me. As you say, apart from potential bodywork issues there aren’t really any major concerns with that particular car but for some reason it’s past modifications have given it a bad reputation. You are indeed correct about the CEL being programmed to be a shift light, very clever.
I don’t think there was any difference between a road Cup engine and an Open Cup engine as they developed similar power in road and race specifications. In fact this is kind of proven in the power graphs, on the original engine it was developing 360bhp with Motec management, then the new engine developed 365bhp.
I suspect the story of factory mistakes is more likely when it comes to kph speedos. Whilst your Cup may be the last UK RHD, it’s certainly not the last UK RHD Ghibli, there were quite a few GTs built after yours and they have mph speedos (which are identical to the Cup units) so they should have had them in stock when your car was built.

 

[dickyb]

Just found an old photo of what I think is *0208 on my old phone and it is wearing the plate M17 CUP. That was last MOT'd in 2019 so that ties up BUT it is listed as 2790cc. Could be a DVLA error though, not like they are known for their accuracy of info

Likely to be a DVLA error, they’re not renowned for accurate records and I know a lot of Biturbo era cars that are registered incorrectly including a Maserati “Quattro”, a “Quadtroporte”, a white Racing (they were only available in black or red) etc etc. only 2 UK Hybrid Cups were built, one Blu Spaziale, one Grigio Silver. The Hybrid Cups for Japan were all LHD.
There is also a discrepancy as to the name of the colour on that car, some say Blu Francia, some say Blu Sprint

 

[Nayf]

Was previously R508KLJ. I’ve messaged the owner to see if he still has it, but think he may have sold it a few years ago.
View attachment 101106View attachment 101107

So stumped up for a VCheck

Good news: not stolen, not written off, no finance, not exported, no salvage.

It's apparently still wearing the M17 CUP plate and the owner's had it since 2014, so it hopefully should be the same guy.
Some mileage anomalies, but the last MoT (2018) on 91,808 miles had just a couple of advisories, nowt major.
Of course cars – particularly Italian ones - can degrade fairly quickly. Key thing is the bulkhead...

 

[Cyclone1]

So stumped up for a VCheck

Good news: not stolen, not written off, no finance, not exported, no salvage.

It's apparently still wearing the M17 CUP plate and the owner's had it since 2014, so it hopefully should be the same guy.
Some mileage anomalies, but the last MoT (2018) on 91,808 miles had just a couple of advisories, nowt major.
Of course cars – particularly Italian ones - can degrade fairly quickly. Key thing is the bulkhead...

If he replies I’ll let you know

 

[del mar 2]

Yes all of that is correct, I remember now that the suspension was stuck in position 2 and that the filler cap key was snapped. The other thing that concerned me when I saw it was that it was on budget tyres, always an alarm bell for me. As you say, apart from potential bodywork issues there aren’t really any major concerns with that particular car but for some reason it’s past modifications have given it a bad reputation. You are indeed correct about the CEL being programmed to be a shift light, very clever.
I don’t think there was any difference between a road Cup engine and an Open Cup engine as they developed similar power in road and race specifications. In fact this is kind of proven in the power graphs, on the original engine it was developing 360bhp with Motec management, then the new engine developed 365bhp.
I suspect the story of factory mistakes is more likely when it comes to kph speedos. Whilst your Cup may be the last UK RHD, it’s certainly not the last UK RHD Ghibli, there were quite a few GTs built after yours and they have mph speedos (which are identical to the Cup units) so they should have had them in stock when your car was built.

Whilst it might be clever surely a CEL is a useful thing to have !!!??

 

[Nayf]

A silver car has entered the game. @Ewan - you were taken with the idea of Henry’s silver one, this one appears to have a red interior.

 

[del mar 2]

Whoa zam400209 - i know you mentioned selling it but are you serious ??

It is a pampered car......

 

[Ewan]

A silver car has entered the game. @Ewan - you were taken with the idea of Henry’s silver one, this one appears to have a red interior.

I remember that car from years ago! Lovely.

 

[Nayf]

Blu Francia - with the help of Cyclone1 I’ve found the owner, but he’s not replied to Instagram prompting/messages. Specialists don’t have a contact for him, is it bad form to phone someone via Instagram?

 

[Lozzer]

Blu Francia - with the help of Cyclone1 I’ve found the owner, but he’s not replied to Instagram prompting/messages. Specialists don’t have a contact for him, is it bad form to phone someone via Instagram?

I would say not, a courteous chat to get your little toe in door will do.

 

[Nayf]

I would say not, a courteous chat to get your little toe in door will do.

Yeah I thought so. Last recourse is via the DVLA, and I may get a response by the time the earth has turned to Jarlsberg

 

[Cyclone1]

Blu Francia - with the help of Cyclone1 I’ve found the owner, but he’s not replied to Instagram prompting/messages. Specialists don’t have a contact for him, is it bad form to phone someone via Instagram?

Give him a call, worse case he takes it the wrong way but at least you know where you stand. Best case; the cars a minter and he sells for peanuts……

You never know.

 

[Ebenezer]

Yeah I thought so. Last recourse is via the DVLA, and I may get a response by the time the earth has turned to Jarlsberg

Will the DVLA give out names and addresses of cars?
Eb

 

[CatmanV2]

Will the DVLA give out names and addresses of cars?
Eb

If you can convince them that you have a valid reason, and there's a fee. I'm not sure that they would think 'I want to chat to him' was valid. If, for example, you said 'It's parked on my private land', that's another issue....

C

 

[Ebenezer]

I have an abandoned car outside the house and the Council say that they have to request the owner details from the DVLA which can take weeks. I have been waiting for 2 months for them to do something. However, I have just seen that the car has just got a yellow sticker slapped on its windscreen this morning saying "Untaxed Vehicle", so progress at last! Ears must have been burning!
Eb

 

[Nayf]

If you can convince them that you have a valid reason, and there's a fee. I'm not sure that they would think 'I want to chat to him' was valid. If, for example, you said 'It's parked on my private land', that's another issue....

C

Well I’d like to buy it off him rather than have a chat.
If he’s not using it - it’s untaxed/unMoT’d - then I’d hope he’d want to sell it.
Unless it’s one of those situations where ‘I’ll get to it one day’ means it’s sat under a tarp for decades

 

[StuartW]

Well I’d like to buy it off him rather than have a chat.
If he’s not using it - it’s untaxed/unMoT’d - then I’d hope he’d want to sell it.
Unless it’s one of those situations where ‘I’ll get to it one day’ means it’s sat under a tarp for decades

Good luck, the chase is always exciting!

 

[Nayf]

Good luck, the chase is always exciting!

Well I have a possible direct link via Mark Donovan's customers, who knows him.
It's immensely frustrating as I have to fight off my rabid terrier journalistic instinct...