... a bit Suffolk| 14 no 2003 | Another Ginetta G4 has turned up from deepest Surrey which Michael Sholl has been restoring two for some years and we have been tasked to refit a body to a chassis. It's nearly done and Michael should be out racing with our gang next year. Spadge is off to MOT the Ginetta G10 any day soon and Mark Faulkner's Cobra dash looks fantastic now that it is trimmed. |
| 31 oc 2003 |
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| 22 oc 2003 | Well! Where do we start?! Thank you to all of you who have emailed or called to ask for a site update. Apologies for not doing so earlier. Current stock additions include the following exciting Ginettas: G21, two more G15s, a G16, a road/race round tube G4 and even a G4R! Dennis' G10 is now up and running. It sounds wonderful. We have a small amount of trimming to complete and then it is off to the MOT station. Mark's AC cobra mk 4 is having a 1960s dash made and fitted here. We are also fitting a period roll hoop that we have made from CDS tube. The Elva Courier Coupe of Lord Boothby has had its cage made and fitted here and the body is all bonded on and all the missing panels have been made and fitted. Fred has taken it away for some fettling prior to paintwork. The Alfa G15 is up and running, the Alfa G21 is coming on well too. Tony Day's G15 makes good progress every time he visits us. Ray Woods G15 will be prised out of it's long term storage next week and delivered to his house; to be joined at some stage by his V8 G21 and a G32 with almost no miles on the clock. And on the horizon? An up and running G10/G11; our race midget, following a major engine rebuild and thorough testing will be for sale; a square tube G4 project and possibly a G12 project. |
| 5 jn 2003 | Congratulations to Ian Streatfield who has recently completed the restoration of this delightful early Ginetta G15. They always did look great in yellow! The Ginetta G11/G10 needs only the radiator for it to run. The trimming is well under way. All the wiring, fuel system, clutch and running gear is finished and the windscreen is going on today for the last time, as this is being written. Lord Boothby's Elva is ready for collection and the trial fitting of the wheels prior to us finishing the body restoration. Tony's Ginetta G15 is at the paintshop, the other two are getting closer and there is a Ginetta G4 waiting for paint also. The Alfa G21 is coming on well also. There is a nice 998 Imp engine coming together on the bench and parts orders destined for Italy, Japan and USA, as well as the UK. |
| 30 ap 2003 |
Incidentally the picture of Roger's wife hitting Spadge over the head with a rolled up curtain brochure has had to be cut. Also R.W. has a very nice Ginetta G27 which is probably surplus to requirements. If it takes your fancy, please give us a call.
The Elva is destined for Gentlemen Drivers FIA racing. We were happy to help Lord Boothby with his Lotus 23. We stretched a door and did various other bodywork jobs on the car that subsequently won awards for authenticity, raced with honour and sold for £45,000 (allegedly! Don't tell Lady Boothby!) |
| 2 ap 2003 | Our latest quest is to find Ginetta G15 registered UTT 299J. This was used as a rally car and featured in the G15 Superprofile by John Rose. (We have a copy in stock!) Any information would be gratefully received by the previous owner, Paul Adams. We are in the process of building a spare 1650 pre -crossflow in case one of us needs it when racing Chris Stapleton's G4. Howard Jones' is entered at Donington on the 5th of May in the Julius Thurgood Best of British Race, whilst we are in the Cloth Cap Enduro in the G12 at the same meeting. We are hoping Chris will make it too and maybe Patrick Ward-Booth and Paul Shipley; all in their historic G4s. This is shown on our updated race schedule. |
| 11 mr 2003 | We have been offered a lightweight Clan Crusader - one of only 5 built apparently. It has a 998cc engine onWe have been offered a lightweight Clan Crusader - one of only 5 built apparently. It has a 998cc engine on strombergs and a standard transaxle. The whole car needs bringing back to life but it is not expensive at £2000 ono We have also been offered a Lightweight Mk 6 Davrian. It is an ex-modsports car we think. It has no registration. It has Mk 7 front and rear panels one set of mililites 9/10" and one set of revolutions 9/10". It is mini - powered at the moment. The engine is out and the head is missing. The gearbox is straiht cut. It has got big brakes, quick rack etc. The car is in SE London and the guy needs to sell it quick to finance a honeymoon. (Big mistake mate, but there you go!) Less than £2000 would buy it. How much less would depend on timing and how cruel you are prepared to be! The Alfa G15 burst into life today. It sounds tremendous. Pictures soon. |
| 8 mr 2003 | Regular readers (we are assured that there are at least three!) may be surprised to see a news update so soon after the last one but, hey, let's keep you interested.
We now have pictures of the red Ginetta G4 that we have for sale. Take a look. It could be on the road or track in a small number of weeks. Tony Day's Ginetta G15 makes good progress every time he takes a drive up from Kent with his father and bolts some more bits on. It's a great colour too. (By the way, they were posing, not actually working, can you tell?) |
| 4 Mar 2003 | You may have noticed a new picture at the front of the web site. This is of Howard Jones and Simon Packford, racing their Ginetta G4s in days gone by. Spadge managed to steal this from Howard during an excellent gathering of Ginetta enthusiasts at an Hotel in Essex last Saturday night. It very well was organised by Ivor Walklett's daughter Charlotte and everyone had a most enjoyable time. It was good to see so many long - standing friends and also to renew a friendship or two. Better news still, was that Spadge's wife was still talking to him the next morning, unlike the previous year! |
| 10 Jan 2003 | A look back back at 2002 This is the time of year when the TV and newspapers are full of top tens and "best of selections". Here are our highlights of last year:
2. The Goodwood Revival. This really is a special event. Working with an excellent bunch of chaps was a hoot. Although the sheer quantity of work keeping the period cars going left Spadge with very little time to see much of the racing the whole experience was fantastic. It did get to the stage where he was mending things that clearly had not worked for years. Relief came in the form of Julius Thurgood and his team needing some help with their race car which was being shared with Touring Car Supremo, Jason Plato. Several hours of hard graft got the car working for qualifying. Several more were required to get it fit again for the race as a number of gremlins appeared. This was achieved and some good laughs were had along the way. 3. Although it is not in the same league as the |
| News as at 29th October 2002-10-29 | Peter Bornhauser's G15 is in for a repair after being cruelly "T - boned" by an Elan. The G10/11 is coming on well with several large hurdles overcome, not least the roll bar and the hood. We have a G32 in for a new fuel tank, cooling pipes and headlamp work - all to be expected in an everyday, high mileage example. There is a queue of G15s waiting for paint, next year's G4 is coming on ... but most importantly; We've been racing! the owner, Mark was 6th fastest of the day ahead of all the Evos and Cosworths. He was fastest in class, fastest Ginetta and won the Trevers Walklett Memorial Trophy. Good work Mark! |
| News as at 3rd October 2002-10-03 |
One of the absolute highlights of the entire year, including racing was the Goodwood Revival. Spadge was lucky enough to get a job with Julius Thurgood's team of helpers who were running all the period vehicles. He actually ended up being the only full time mechanic. It got to the stage where people were bringing him things to mend that hadn't worked for years! Julius' own race car, a lovely Peugeot 203 freshly restored by Micky Bolton had a couple of minor niggles so Spadge helped with that and got to rub shoulders with Rowan Atkinson, Stirling Moss, Barry Sheene etc. Julius' co-driver was Jason Plato who was a good laugh and not slow either!
Next year we hope to be there with our F.I.A. G4. In the workshop we have finished two lovely G15 restorations, both of which are still in the hands of their original owners. Although both white, the cars are surprisingly different; both smashing little cars in their own individual way.
We will be out racing with The Top Hat/ Cloth Cap racers on 19th October at Snetterton. Howard Jones in his G4, Mark Faulkner in his G12 and us in the Sprite. Peter Bornhausers G15 is coming for repair having been attacked by an Elan. We have just put a new front on the G15 chassis of Mark Shadforth. Our new G15 chassis jig came in very handy to put right the damage inflicted by an aggressive gate post. Tony Pollock's G15 is ready for paint now, Tony Gaskin's G15 shell is nearly done, Robin Burt D'Arcy's G15 is on it's wheels with a new chassis, the Alfa G15 is only a few hours from being finished and there's been plenty more besides. USA ties strengthened. Previous visitors to our site may remember how we harp on about Steve Smith and his company Twin Cam Sports Cars in Sarasota, Florida who races a G15 and Tony Ingram's company GB Components who look after a number of G4s and G12s in Santa Barbara, California. We are pleased to announce a third tie in with the company "GoGinetta" who primarily deal with new Dare G4s and G12s in the USA. With regular shipments of cars into America we hope to make our selection of classic Ginettas and spares more accessible to the U.S. market. It is also envisaged that we will be actively involved in their proposed Ginetta race series. Their site is www.GOGINETTA.com. |
| News week ending April 12th |
G12 number 31 is headed for Steve Smith's emporium: Twin Cam Sports Cars in sunny Florida. Not content with beating most things with his G15 he has bought the G12 with the intention of finishing it off and campaigning it on the east coast. This will naturally involve a vital liaison trip by Spadge; who hopes to cash in a long standing debt and take the G15 for several laps around, if not a race at, Sebring. It's a tough job but someone has to do it. Chris' HSCC G4 is in for pre-season tweaks. We have just done the front end of an Elise, some jobs on a Marcos 1500 GT and some parts for G12 number 1; which incidentally Mark will be racing with the Julius Thurgood Cloth Cap races and various others. |
| W/E 6/4/02 |
We are hoping to import a beautiful G12 back from Japan. With a virtually unused Lotus twin-cam engine and Hewland transaxle it is an absolute beauty. Spadge's lack of organisation and Fos's hectic social life mean that we will not be racing on 16th March at Silverstone in the Spridget but we hope to be there spectating. |
| WE 26/1/02 | There has been so much going on since Christmas that we have not had time to write about it.
G15S Banned by the HSCC! We were sweating for a couple of weeks after receiving a letter from an HSCC official who informed us that the G15S was not a production model so we therefore had to race with 875cc in the up to 1300cc class! We think that the situation is now sorted although there are still more letters to write and unpaid work to do. It's happened before of the history of Ginetta racing and it's the price paid for being such competitive cars! The G10 is coming on apace as are the two white G15 restorations. The ex John Absolom G4 is back for a roll hoop and hardtop. The Alfa G15 is nearly done. We have another G15 in for wiring work and other bits.A G33 awaits attention and the list goes on ... |
We have a G26 on site with a Pinto engine. The car is for breaking and we don't want it hanging around too long. Prices are cheap, cheap, cheap so don't delay!
With exceptionally low (proven) genuine mileage it is a very original car that now sports Leda suspension, up rated exhaust, fuel tank, rotoflex and gear linkage, restored chassis, paint and trim. Encouragingly for others wanting to do the same, it has cost Ian pretty much what it is worth, spread over a year or two and he has ended up with a very desirable little English sports car.
Firstly, apologies again for a gap since the last update. Readers will have been on the edge of their seats following the tale of the epic journey to deliver the Ginetta G12P project to Roger Williams (no, not that one!). We can now bring you the scene of contentment once our delivery system had spewed it's contents all over Roger's lawn. And there's more around the corner, out of shot!
With a recent spell of unusually good weather came the opportunity to roll out the Dry Bead Paint Stripping Processing Plant. Graham Roxburgh's G15 and the Honourable Lord Boothby's Elva courier Coupe were soon bereft of their once shabby paint and left in their bare, shattered, glassfibre glory.
Spadge knew of the G12 shown left and below. Having had a number of conversations with Graham Myers, the owner we were aware of the history of meetings it shared with our last G12 and the film featuring Dr Who's Jon Pertwee going up a hillclimb in the car. When it recently passed into the hands of Brian Ashley of Ashley Exhausts, he had to go and have a peep. What a time warp classic! Despite offers to sell various wives and children, it remains in Brian's possession. Changing hands for an awful lot of money, the car needs a total rebuild. It is a wonderful thing and as such, probably unique as a genuine Ginetta G12 in this condition. As the picture on the right shows: times change. Look at those arches! Furthermore, we can reveal that they were drilled with holes to enable further arch extensions to be bolted on to this Ginetta G12. These Carlos fandango additions covered up Formula One rear wheels from the 1970s!!!! Love it.
1. Racing the G12. What a blast. Especially as it was unplanned, spur of the moment and very generous of Mark to let Spadge play with his toy. There we were, back in 1966.
above we enjoyed a fascinating and scenic trip up to the Yorkshire moors to see Bill Needham and collect one of his creations; a Coldwell GT. It was a fascinating car although a bit limited in the head room department. There are many miles covered in a year here, many of the journeys being fun and interesting and this typifies the best elements of this aspect of our business
As anyone waiting for parts at the moment will realise, things have been hectic here for the last couple of months to say the least.
Incidentally, if the car shown was an A40 rather than an A35, I think the axle may have mysteriously disappeared for use on our G4!
The G10/11 is very nearly ready for paint. Since this was taken the doors and hood have been fitted.
The G4R 25 URO has left us for final fettling in the hands of Bob Sands the owner. We will bring you progress reports of his racing exploits as they occur.
The Graham Hill road test G4 that was converted to G4R specification by the factory and subsequently raced internationally is now in full FIA trim. We have fitted the original hardtop (the factory prototype incidentally) repainted the car in it's original colour and restored the period features that it had lost over the years.
G12 chassis 31 is undergoing restoration, for sale. Road registered in period, it could be raced, hillclimbed in road or modified class or just used for trips to Tesco (NOT!).
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