Because I love it! It’s as simple as that.
Being an owner of a Reliant Scimitar GTE (my fourth) which I consider a keeper, it should be obvious that I have a penchant for British GRP. French as well, but that’s another story. On the British side I could point to the obvious Lotus (any of them), the not-quite-so-obvious TVR (again: Love them all) or even the exact opposite of obvious, the Rochdale Olympic of our International Editor.
One of my all-time favourites always was the Ginetta G15 – and it still is. This might stem out of an age-old fascination for efficiency, in which discipline the G15 scores very highly: There aren’t many true sports cars out there thriving on only 875 ccm or interpreting 998 ccm as “the big block”. Enthusiasts might recognize the engine sizes from the Imp, and so it is: The driveline and rear suspension comes from Rootes’ little Mini-rival, but has even less weight to push in the G15. Front suspension was from the Triumph Herald and engineeringwise it all blended together brilliantly.
I always found the same could be said of the bodywork: Really functional, purposeful but also with a certain cheeky elegance not leaving anyone in doubt that this is a proper sports car. It goes without saying that a G15 is a tiny car, but sat in the cockpit even tall drivers can get comfortable – not that I care as I am not tall anyway.
Sure, this is a Prime Find not least for myself: It would be the perfect antidote to the Jaguar XJ12 and leave me with enough of a sports car even when the Alpine A310 one day departs my garage! But it would also be a welcome alternative to the much more common steel sports cars of more bulk and size, needing 1300 or larger to achieve what the G15 does. Or maybe no one needs an excuse to buy a G15, because it’s obviously just a terrific little fireball!
I always wanted one and this one seems terribly tempting –Â here’s what the seller said as he put it up in the Hillman Imp Group:
This a very usable road car which i use weekly during the summer and for the occasional historic navigation rally. It is a 1972 Series4 G15 Chassis No. 600. Its is tax and MOT exempt. It had a full rebuild about 4 years ago. The chassis was cleaned, repaired, strengthened and repainted. The body was taken back to gel coat with professionally done repairs and a full respray in period Porsche Signal Yellow Paint. The car has a 875cc sport engine rebuilt by Mark Maynard and a gearbox rebuilt by Corley Conversions. It has weber 28/36 dcd carb on mangoletsi manifold which was rebuilt by Gower and Lee and set up by Maynard on his rolling road. It has the thicker rear drive shafts with the popular BMW donut conversion. It has protech shocks all round. It has a few subtle mod’s to make it more usable including electronic ignition, electronic speedo, uprated heater and subtle headrests on the original seats which were rebuilt with steel backs to replace the old fiberglass items. Any more questions then PM me. The car can be viewed in Shrewsbury, Shropshire. I am advertising it here first as i want it to go to an enthusiastic new owner.
Photos below are of the specific car and it all seems very fine indeed. Only one thing is missing, though – a price. I have contacted the seller but he has not yet indicated what he is aiming for. I sort of hope it is high – in order for me not to jump in. And I sort of hope it is not. Seven or eight years ago I sat in a French one at a race meeting at Nürburgring and felt terribly at home. That I even recall that moment is a sad thing, but there haven’t been that many good G15’s for sale since, and this one might just fit the bill. Please, someone get there before me!
Find the full advert here on Facebook.
With our Saturday instalment of Prime Find of the Week, we’re offering our services to the classic car community, by passing on our favourite classic car for sale from the week that passed. This top-tip might help a first-time-buyer to own his first classic, or it could even be the perfect motivation for a multiple-classic-car-owner to expand his garage with something different. We’ll let us inspire by anything from a cheap project to a stunning concours exotic, and hope that you will do the same.
Just remember – Any Classic is Better than No Classic! We obviously invite our readers to help prospective buyers with your views and maybe even experiences of any given model we feature. Further to that, if you stumble across a classic which you feel we ought to feature as Prime Find of the Week, then please send us a link to primefindoftheweek@viaretro.co.uk