Thinking of buying GTA Turbo

Ime thinking of buying a GTA Turbo which my dad has owned for the last 8 yrs or so, BUT the prob i have is he paid £10000 for it then and has only used it for the 1st year, ime thinking if i offer somthing around half this
At present i have a Nissan Pusar GTIR with mods which has 310 bhp and a TR7 V8 rally rep fitted with a 4,6 RV8 on quad webers which is somwhere around the 330-340 bhp mark, i enjoy having somthing fast and taking them on the drag strip, so what ime thinking is if i bought the GTA (at the right price) to modify it to get somwhere near the 300bhp mark? what sort of money?and can they take it and would be looking at new wheels, and poss a change of colour ( I had a Spider last year which was in the Renault sport yellow more of a golden pearl yellow) on the colour side of things i keep thinking it would look great in the spider yellow but the other side says would it could be a no no re: classic status and de-value
The last option is to pay a bit more n get a Escort Cosworth proberbly with 350bhp
Think ill have to be visiting the Docs for some sleeping tablets Dont know if its a underdog thing, but you go to the drag strip and everyone has japanese rockets, its great in the TR showing (some of them) a clean pair of heels even though i have the Nissan which will have to go to help finance the GTA if, it would be nice to be able to take a GTA to the strip and stay with some of the japanese stuff.
DECISIONS

I think you have to decide what you want out of a car. The Sunny and Escort cant be compared to the GTA, as its a completely different car to drive, and its a waste of the car's merits to prepare it for the drag strip.

You have to consider running costs too, the Escort and Sunny are far cheaper and easier to run and maintain, so if you are going to buy a GTA, even though its in the family, make sure the one your buying is in good all round condition, and well looked after.

Powerwise, upto 250-260 is quite acheivable, but they feel far more powerful, than most other 4 cylinder turbos.The power may sound low compared to other cars, but it peaks around 5500rpm, whereas other turbo machinery peak far higher around 6500 plus. Ive driven a broad spectrum of tuned Japanese and Cosworth turbos, and low end torque midrange wise, they feel weak in comparison to even a mildly tuned GTA, as it has the ability to driven fast, very easily.

Just drive one and see if it suits your needs!

Take your point david when you say they are different, i have managed to put a few mls on the GTA and was really impressed how planted it felt on the road, much better then the pulsar saying that i didnt take it to its limit i think i had rear engine on my mind , I wasnt thinking of turning it into a drag-strip monster or some maxpower car but somthing that will go has fast as it looks. Is the 250-260 bhp on the limit or is there more with different Turbos etc
i know colour is a each to his own thing, any idea what the general opinion would be to a Alpine changed from a standard red to somthing different

Go easy with the colour if you want to resell it. I think it would look good in Spider yellow though. I have owned loads of quick cars and my favourite is my GTA (owned 14 1/2 years now - never owned anything else longer than 3 years!) They aren't as quick as modified japanese stuff in a straight line, but on a dry twisty road they are fantastic.

have your fathers car been on eBay a few times?

Its not the one with Stephens photo is it???
Buy the GTA...be different....300bhp is acheivable for about £3000ish (exhaust, injectors, turbo, cams, intake kit, ECU and set up....actually the ECU doesnt really exist in ready to go form yet, but its imminent!)
Escorts are ten a penny as is japanese stuff....everyone will love you for your GTA ,it hits the spot with classic car nuts and speed freaks. As for drag racing.....its a no brainer and you'd be wasting the GTAs talent.....it sticks like glue (in the dry anyway), and will make you grin on a twisty track or back road .

He doesnt know he's selling it yet Ime really tempted with it though, Re: the ECU, when you say its imminent As i mentioned the idea wouldnt be to make it into a dragstrip car but with 300 bhp ime sure it would be on par with a lot of the fast(ish) stuff, one thing it would have that my TR7 V8 hasnt is traction, 300 bhp, yellow, split rims, coil-overs and---------- Stressed or what

[stephendell]

If you look here http://www.renaultalpine.co.uk/My%20GTA's.htm you'll see a yellow car that used to be silver.

I wouldn't worry too much about the classic status and de-valuation unless you're starting out with a really mint car. Coil overs, engine work and a few other discrete mods won't hurt.

So drag racing is a no brainer and japanese cars 10 a penny. Bit of a generalization there. Original Toyota 2000GT (James Bond car), 240Z, Skyline GTR's, to name a few, very rare and world beating dynamics when new. Yes theres lots of Evos, Scoobys etc but theres also plenty of rare and beautiful japanese stuff too.

And as for drag racing - I agree that it may not be as rewarding or as much fun as Sprints and hillclimbs but it costs a fraction of the money, theres virtually no chance of damaging your car and it still is good fun.

I suppose it depends where you live. You wouldnt believe how many Skylines, 200sx, Pulsars, Impreza's and RX7s there are in Colchester, but then there are 3 japanese tuning firms here...

I was talking about realistic japanese alternatives to a GTA......an original 2000GT is not comparable. I agree there are some interesting japanese cars, but not many (considering how many cars theyve put out over the years) and not many of those appear to have survived (when did you last see a 2000GT or a Honda S800?).
As for drag racing, its safe and fairly easy and wouldnt show up the best talents of a GTA......you need twisty stuff for that!