Junk in ya trunk

Hi all

Merry Christmas!

I have been coveting a GTA for a little while now, and having satisfied my wife's strict 'one in, one out policy' with one out coming first by selling my MGB, I am now starting to think in the cold light of day how sensible a purchase it would be.

.....and here is my conundurum, we are just about to move to North Wales, great roads yay!, no garage boo!

I dare say the lack of garage wont be a long term thing (6 months max), but the wife has decreed if i shall buy GTA, she wants to use it and sell her car as we cant have 3 cars blocking up the place in the interim.

The biggest challenge is the boot, we have a baby and ideally need to fit a pushchair. Do all those liners come out? or is that the petrol tank??!! Am i dreaming or can we get by (the buggy collapsed fits in an old style mini boot, its about 70cm x30cmx30cm)

Also the spot in wales is coastal, is the metal work on these particularly susceptible to corrosion?

Thanks Mark

gta boot.jpg

[BIG_MVS]

You are dreaming.

Wait until you can have 3 cars, buy a cheap family runaround for the bride then have the GTA as a weekend toy. I would never recommend using an Alpine as an everyday car let alone a family car. Is it April the first?

Where in North Wales are you moving to? Very jealous as I love the place. Andrew (turbodog) is in Colwyn Bay and I'm sure would be more than willing to show you around his GTA.

Ha Ha!

Its Criccieth, its a bit further down than Colwyn Bay, nice drive though!

I have 5 kids so the bride aint so newly wed now

We've got a LWB VW transporter and a Caddy Maxi Life now, so i would likely keep one of the 'buses' and her car would be just for bobbing around if she needs with baby (TBH having two buses is a bit of overkill). The other kids are at school so we only really need all the seats at the weekends when i'm about.

Previously when we were fostering she used to use my 944 quite a lot as she had no car for a bit....shes happy driving stoopid cars, its just how stoopid do you go? It would not so much be a daily driver, more i need to go to the doctors/ Tesco/ visit a friend driver....

Do they need to be garaged, are they super tempramental?

[BIG_MVS]

Criccieth eh? Hope you are not into Golf, it's got the worst golf course I have ever played. Awful, Porthmadog/Pwllheli and of course Nefyn much better. Sorry I digress.

They are quite reliable but as we have seen recently that as they are getting to 20-30 years old rust is taking grip of the majority left. Yes seaside resorts can be worse for them if not garaged/covered. The worst GTA I ever broke spent much of it's life in Ayr Scotland.

Not trying to put you off as they are cracking cars and at a rock bottom price wise, they can surely only go up in value.

Which model are you looking at? 2.9 non Turbo (Atmo) or 2.5 V6 Turbo?

Not a golfer (see prevous comment about 5 kids!)

Reference price, thats kind of my point- they are not mega money, and as long as they are not total shockers on reliability then i am hoping it makes some kind of twisted sense, because even if it blows up, then i'm not going blow my brains out as there would be some value left in a car which did not cost loads in the first place

You are correct the sensible approach would be to wait....nice garage, settled in etc etc. But i have learnt when my good lady wife concedes with a smile on her face, rather than an angry grimace, then i should grab with both hands (see below he he)

My only real reservation would be if there is literally no storage at all for her to put a buggy/ or shopping. Like i say she could make a 944 work, its just i case of how much more limited is a GTA

I was thinking turbo, only because anything from the 80's has to have a turbo, its the law

autotrader-ad11.jpg

Well the Quinny Zapp fits in the 'boot' (you don't even have to take the wheels off) - http://www.kiddicare.com/webapp/wcs/sto ... tAod_HEA3A

So says someone who ran one as the only car for a long time even post baby! In all honesty though you are kind of battling the laws of physics to try to squeeze it all in, but the rear seats are useful for storage and anything is doable if you have the willpower.

[BIG_MVS]

Would you use one everyday now though Darren?

Yes get a post 1988 model and the rear seats fold down to create more space so yes I think your wife could get shopping, small pram and the rugrat in.

Your next hurdle is finding one if you do go for it. A lot of projects £2-3k come up and then ones that have been for sale for years at £9-12k with not a lot in between.

This one is a well known ex members car that looks good value (rear seats will be fixed though).

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C552094

Are you any good at welding? You could have had the one I just sold which would have been a good project.

thanks chaps

We have a zapp! (classic mini ownership has honed my skills)

so its possible, jus maybe not advised. that will do. I will inform the wife of the balanced discussion, and if it all go horribly wrong i will blame you

thanks again, Mark

[Alpineandy]

Or take the passenger seat out, strap little'un in the back with buggy in the front (tied by seatbelt).


Ok, it's clear I don't have kids!
FYI, in the late 80's (when I was supple enough to do so) I had my A110 and my only transport.
It lugged load of crap around !

Would you use one everyday now though Darren?

'course not. I've gotten old (and boring) ...... My legs are grey. My ears are gnarled. My eyes are old and bent etc etc



However it is technically possible. I'd probably go atmo though if I wanted an everyday runner now, if just for simplicity. And yep Martin you're right in that I wouldn't say it's easy, but there's still a few people out there doing it, but if you want an everyday car then keep it Plain Jane standard, don't get clever and try to modify things.

Mark welcome to the site when you get to North Wales give me a ring on 01492 533430 My car needs a run out I am happy to bring it over for you to see how much room there is in a GTA Andrew

Cheers chaps

All logical comments

As opposed to my mates who just chant, buy it, d d d, buy it, d d d, buy it, d d d

[stephendell]

Recaro young sport child seat fits nicely front or rear

Hi... Can anyone tell me where the chassis number is on a GTA?
Thanks

Plates in the engine bay ,lhs on side of turret and also stamped into top of turret RHS