Hello everyone.
I have been meaning to join the club, and say hello on here for a while… I bought my GTA non-turbo in June last year, and have thoroughly enjoyed it. Perhaps if I had had more problems, I would have been on here begging for help earlier, but have only had trivial issues so far (lucky me…). It gets used quite a lot – I just enjoy it. For a car that has a reputation as a little, um... fragile, perhaps, it has been very easy to live with. The only thing really wrong with it is that the paint is shot – it is 21-year red paint on plastic/grp, after all, so not wholly surprising. This was reflected in the price, and as the car seemed otherwise completely sound, the seller was a very nice chap who’d owned it for nearly 10 years, and had files full of documentation, I didn’t hesitate.
The speedo is intermittent (aren’t they all?, and the drivers door electric catch works when it feels like it, and the exhaust back-box will need replacing soon, but it starts quite easily, drives very nicely (the clutch seems a bit heavy – as mine is the only GTA I have ever driven, I don’t know whether it is normal or on the way out – it works fine), and I even find it comfortable. Not, of course, particularly fast by modern standards, but as I sold a Yamaha R1 to buy the GTA, nothing would have seemed very quick by comparison. The steering in particular is lovely – makes my BMW feel like a limo in comparison – and gives just a hint of that finger-tip feel that you get from a good ‘bike. My children love it – they are still young enough to be amused rather than embarrassed by it – and even my wife doesn’t object to it (not nearly as much as the R1, for certain). I’ve been away for weekends in it with the children when Madame has been doing other things, and a great time has been had by all. It even does the school run quite often.
The MoT is due next month, and it seems an appropriate time to get it looked over by someone who knows the things, especially as I am taking it, and my son, to Le Mans for the 24hr this year. So, who should I use? Obviously, Paul Sage is probably the most likely option, but he is the exact opposite side of London to me (I am in Barnet), so does anyone know a suitable specialist in North London or Herts/Bucks…? The other question is, having decided I like the thing, which I have, the idea of getting it painted starts to float around my head…. So any recommendations as to painters who know what they are doing with non-metal bodied cars, in my sort of area, and any rough pointers about costs? I talked to a TVR paint specialist in Oxfordshire, who said, from my description of the state of the paint, “about £3,500”. This didn’t surprise me much – it is a lot of work, and paint is expensive – but is quite a lot more than I paid for the car….
All thoughts gratefully received….
Luke
PS: Will join the club, shortly… Honest.
