Shite Update! This time it's a Ginetta....

[Futuramic]

The Volvo soldiers on. But now I have a fun car. Read on to discover more...

 

It seems these days that between the Retro Kool roofrack and silly tyres scene tax and the RWD!!!! GR8 4 DRIFTIN !!!!!! lot; that a cheapo fun car from the decade that never finished (boasting about plasma screens is little different to boasting about Akais with graphic equalisers) was out of my reach.

 

Well not so.

 

RWD Escorts have become ludicrously expensive, as have Capris and old Corollas. Even Sierras are becoming pricy. I'm not a great fan of Vauxhalls and a Hillman Avenger seemed too much like scraping the barrel. Seriously, there are those who attempt to run them as rally cars, but that's another story.

 

Imagine, if you will, a RWD Ford. Easy peasy. Now, mentally, make it look better; go faster; be easier to fix; be more reliable; become lower, harder and handle better.

 

Finally imagine that it will never, ever go rusty. This car can't exist, can it? Well it does. So therefore, if it is so much better than the saloons it is based on the price must be astronomical. No, far cheaper.

 

Anyway, I present to the assembled audience exactly what £800 buys yoou nowadays.

 

 

The 1986 Ginetta G26! A strange car in both concept and design. I know, thought a bright spark, let's design a long distance tourer with comfortable seats and generous luggage space and then make it so sporty that driving anything over 30 miles becomes sheer agony. It doesn't make sense. The suspension is hard beyond belief. It makes an Atom look like a Citroen DS. Nothing is absorbed by it, meaning that running over a carelessly placed molecule causes the driver's spine to implode. I have tried leaning on the front wing, above the strut, and the car does not move at all.

 

The same goes for the steering, which is unpowered. This would usually be fine, but as the car is so long it becomes exhausting at low speeds. The engine is a raucous revvy old Pinto that happily sits at 7,000 RPM. This is great but does nothing for the eardrums when coupled to a straight through exhaust with a hole in it.

 

I love this car, as do a select few other owners. However the oxymoronic personality means that they'll never be popular enough to be expensive. Great! She is stunning to drive, possessing genuinely good handling rather than tail happy (which is more than possible still) oversteer. This car corners so well that slowing down becomes a thing of the past. I never knew that such high entry speeds are possible with only a live axle off a Cortina.

 

I suppose all this goodness comes from the fact that there is a separate chassis to keep everything taut. All the building blocks are humdrum Ford. The engine is a 2000 SOHC, in standard trim. There is nothing wrong with this engine; but mine is so decrepit that it has given up on producing power. I would place the level at the fly at between 80 and 90; giving very little at the wheels. The gearbox is a type 9, so it works, and the change is sweet; but it can't take much power and is as worn out as the engine. The axle is in much petter condition (though could do with new bushes) and is the coil sprung unit off a MkV Cortina.

 

As far as bodywork goes, the paint is very tatty and is peeling off, but that is not too much of a worry. The main strucutre is fibreglass, and the chassis fully galvanised, so there is literally nothing to go rusty. The quality of the bodywork, when compared to other kit cars is highly impressive. It all seems to fit together properly. The doors are off a Mk2 Fiesta and need a bit of repair work. This is all non-structural, so is not a great worry.

 

The main reason why these are so good is the fact that they carry almost no weight. Significantly less than a tonne, probably about 4 to 600 kilos lighter than the average modern car. This makes an enormous difference. Power becomes less important. Even with such a lame duck of an engine the car is accelerates better than most other moderns, the handling also is many classes above.

 

The eventual concept is to fix the brakes, carry out a full repaint in two tone blue and black and eventually fit a Scorpio Cosworth engine and MT75 box. With 200+ BHP this will fly.

 

 

This shows the generally tatty condition of the paint.

 

 

The fun part

 

 

Pop up lights are too cool for school

 

 

They are not electric. All you have to do is pull out that big stalk and lock it into place. A ridiculous system that was abandoned on the later cars.

 

 

Pinto Power. Not much of it...

 

 

Surprisingly roomy interior

 

 

Not a prestigious badge by any measure.

 

 

Where Porsche bot the design for the extending spoiler. Actually it's the bootlid.

 

 

What the car usually looks like!

 

What is lost in other areas is more than made up for by the sheer fun of driving the thing. Get one before they all die.

[AlsoMike]

That's definitely.. erm.. interesting! I quite like it's awkward appearance.Perhaps fitting some smaller diameter (and more RWD offset) wheels with bigger tyres would help the spine shattering ride?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Nice one! I have got a lot of time for these old things, its good to read an intelligent appraisal of them. The recipe (pinto-powered 1980's kit car) sounds bloody awful but they look well made and must have a decent chassis, i'm sure theres a lot more to them than just somewhere to put some old cortina bits. Theres a surprising number of them knocking about too, I often find them winking at me on the Bay. If I had one i'd fit a 2.0 injected 8V twink (cos you can buy one for £50) and PAS and see where I got to with it.

[r.welfare]

Superb! Kind of looks like what you'd expect would have happened, had the Communist Ruskies smuggled the plans for the Matra-Simca Bagheera across the border.

 

I knew these things were Ford based, but I wasn't expecting a full Mk4/5 Cortina interior (dashboard and front and rear seats) in there. But then, what else would you use, I suppose.

 

The wheels look odd, like they're off an Orion or Escort van or something.

 

That and the Volvo provide pretty much the optimum Autoshite 2-car mix, if you ask me.

[Guest]

Intriguing purchase Futuramic, there are so many engine possibilities for that. I'm thinking diesel :lol:Those side windows are Fiesta too, not sure what the wheels are off though, they look a bit like the 15 inch spare my Mondeo had.

[RedSparrow]

That is bloody brilliant!Nice one mate.

[andrew e]

Didn't Peter Filby have one outside the which kit offices, purely to stop somebody stealing there parking spaces? They had 2 on the mag at one stage quite recently. Superb shite BTW!

[Futuramic]

Thanks for all the appreciative comments, makes owning the bloody thing worthwhile.Anyway, to answer some questions. The wheels are 15" steelies off a Mk1 Mondeo. I know that they don't quite look right, but they improve the handling no end and make buying tyres easy. The other advantage is that with Mondeo wheels come Mondeo brakes, which will be the next major upgrade, hopefully with discs on the back too.I don't know if the seats are genuine Cortina as the front ones have a tipping mechanism built in (as do all seats in 2 door cars), possibly they are out of a 2 door?I've never driven a MKV Cortina, or indeed any of the cars that this thing calls parents, however it would seem that Ginetta genuinely have built something better than would seem possible given the basic components used.As for power steering, I don't think it would be a great idea. Although it is like steering a traction engine at low speeds I worry what would happen once properly underway. The steering lightens up on the move and becomes perfectly weighted over about 15 mph. It's possible the front end could become too light and twitchy at speed. Plus the feedback is too good to lose.I thought about a diesel engine, briefly, as the Endura E bolts straight up to the type 9. It wouldn't really suit the raucous, revvy nature of the car. But it's something ti consider.As regards the twin cam I have loked into this and discovered that fitting one would require an MT75 box and hydraulic clutch conversion. That's fine, but with such a setup I've done enough work to fit a Cosworth V6; and they're the steal of the century at the moment and produce great dollops of power with no effort required. I'm erring towards one of those.

[Spottedlaurel]

Excellent write-up, something I'd have been happy to read in Jalopy back in days of yore. You do make a good case for it.

[garethj]

Top motah. I was this --><-- close to buying one on ebay a month ago but the bloke wanted top dollar for it, it looked a bit rough and it's miles away.

 

Will the V6 engine fit? I thought it would only go in the later Ginettas with the really ugly front end?

 

I'm not normally a fan of lowering cars too much, but I reckon the wheels would fill the arches better if it was a touch lower. It wouldn't do the ride any harm as it's awful anyway

 

Some Cortinas had power steering, an option on the 2.3 maybe, would that fit in? Or I've heard lots of people talk positively about these electric power steering conversions - they use them on old Escort rally cars because with Group 4 arches and massive tyres they're quite hard work. Worth investigating maybe?

[ashmicro]

Cool as. Just be prepared for your mates to say "What is it again?"That's just crying out for a normally aspirated YB. Or a Rover V8.Top find, chap.

[michiel]

What a great and quirky machine - great work!

[Gompo]

Hey that's nice, looks good on the steels too I reckon.Do you not like the Pinto then, or is it just that it's not a very good example? I loved mine, for what it was..

[pogweasel]

Quality. I like the idea of lobbing an Endura E dizzla in there. Certainly wouldn't be less fun than a knackd pinto, plus you'd get about a bazillion MPG and still be able to fix it if it breaks. Qual.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

What is this Endura E dizzla you speak of. What does it look like and what cars have it? Is it a blinged-up version of the 1.8TD in my truck?

[Cavcraft]

Fantastic! I love the way it looks like they forgot to put back lights on so just blue tacked some in place.

[UltimateJames]

I like it ! are the doors fiesta as well ?

[Guest]

What is this Endura E dizzla you speak of. What does it look like and what cars have it? Is it a blinged-up version of the 1.8TD in my truck?

Endura E strictly speaking is the iteration of the petrol Valencia/HCS lump that saw service in mk4 Fezzer and early Ka, but Futura-mick is probably thinkin of

Ford Endura D engine

 

which I keep threatening to lob into an old XR2 for no real reason other than to prove it can be done (and get a few yuks by emptying a tin of chip fat down the filler neck in front of all my non-shite-owning mates).