Did We RUIN Our Lamborghini Gallardo With A Dirt-Cheap Chinese Body Kit?!
Buying a cheap Lamborghini is one of those ideas that sounds fantastic right up until an old beat-up “raging bull” is sitting in your garage, and you realize why it was cheap. That’s basically been the story of Saxon’s wonderfully questionable 2007 Lamborghini Gallardo, affectionately known as the BondoBorghini. What started as a bargain exotic has slowly turned into a radical experiment involving power tools, cheap parts, questionable financial decisions, and the occasional moment where cutting into a Lamborghini somehow becomes the sensible option. The good news is that it’s getting better. The bad news is that we’ve apparently reached the point where boxes from Alibaba are now involved. And somehow, that might actually be the best thing that’s happened to this Italian supercar.
This $50,000 Salvage Lamborghini Gallardo Has Already Been Completely Torn Apart
The BondoBorghini started life in this series as one seriously rough Gallardo. Saxon found the flood-damaged 2007 Gallardo on Facebook Marketplace in New Zealand for $40,000, then spent another $10,000 bringing it back to the United States. That made it a $50,000 Gallardo before anyone even picked up a wrench.
Cheap for a Lamborghini? Absolutely. Cheap because absolutely nothing was wrong with it? Not even close. Whatever the case may be, we absolutely loved the story, and so, HotCars decided to team up with Saxon on this incredible project.
The Gallardo was in pretty bad shape. Bubbling paint, bad bodywork, a leaking windshield and a yellow Alcantara interior that had spent nearly 20 years developing its own ecosystem. Flood damage had even killed the electric seat motors.
Saxon managed to tackle the cabin, replacing the crusty old interior with cheap secondhand parts. Then things got serious and Saxon ripped out the front drivetrain and converted the AWD Gallardo to rear-wheel drive. So, with less weight, more tail-happy V10 nonsense, interior rescued, and AWD deleted… naturally, the next step was a design overhaul from Alibaba.
A $3,500 Alibaba Lamborghini Body Kit Meets A Grinder. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
In our most recent episode of Build Fix Drive on YouTube, things start with Saxon opening a huge shipment from China containing a $3,500 body kit for the Gallardo. And to be fair, the parts initially look surprisingly good. There is a new hood, front bumper, fenders, side skirts, lower diffuser and a collection of extra aero pieces. The front-end has a much more aggressive Lamborghini STO/Aventador-style shape, with sharper edges that immediately make the early Gallardo look much newer.
The first fender gets mocked up and the door gap isn’t terrible, but other areas aren’t even close. Fiberglass needs trimming, mounting holes need drilling and various sections have to be shaved down just to convince the panels to sit where Lamborghini intended a body panel to sit.
One of the biggest problems is the construction itself. Some of the aftermarket fiberglass mounting tabs are much thicker than the original aluminum pieces. That extra material pushes the panels out of position, so Saxon has to grind the tabs thinner before the fenders can move into place.
Things get even more interesting when the hood goes on. The kit appears to have been designed around a later LP Gallardo, while Saxon’s car is the earlier pre-LP model. Mounting points don’t quite agree, so rather than spending hundreds on different hardware, Saxon fabricates extensions for the hood hinges out of steel.
The front bumper still refused to line up, so Saxon did what any sane Lamborghini owner would do… he started cutting. Parts of the front structure were trimmed, moved and welded back together, all while the very expensive radiator sat inches away from the action. Then the lower diffuser needed extra fiberglass just to meet the bumper. After grinding, trimming and a small army of self-tapping screws, the $3,500 kit finally came together. And somehow, against all odds, it actually looks awesome.
The BondoBorghini Is Starting To Become An Actual Supercar Again
There is still a long road ahead. The front bodywork needs proper finishing, the rear of the car is next in line for its own custom treatment, and this remains a flood-title Lamborghini that has now been converted to RWD and attacked repeatedly with grinders.
In other words, exactly the kind of project we want to keep watching.
Because underneath all the jokes, sketchy used parts and homemade Lamborghini surgery, the BondoBorghini is finally starting to develop an identity of its own. Saxon is taking one of the cheapest, roughest Gallardos he could find and slowly turning it into the supercar he actually wants.
And if that requires a little fiberglass, some Alibaba boxes, and an alarming number of cutting discs, so be it.
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