1963 G4 Round Tube
Discussion
Greetings,
Not sure why it took me so long to discover this site but I am happy to hve done so. I live in Portland Oregon and discovered a 1963 G4 sitting in a side yard many many years ago...15 to be exact. Well it took a long time but I finally convinced the PO to part with it this past fall. I have many questions but will hold off as I have to head off to work. I have been in contact with Trevor who as usuall has been a great help but I am hoping that forum members might also be able to weigh in on the early history of my car prior to being shipped to the US in 1973.
Here is what Trevor found out about my car.
Silas,
Well done for finding this.
What does it tell us? Well a few things really. As I say records don’t exist that far back but almost certainly it is the 11th G4 built and would date ex-factory from about January 1963. You’ll notice the 5 in front of the main chassis number, this means that in actual fact it is really a G5. This was a designation used by the factory to denote cars fitted with the 1500cc Ford engine, the earliest G5 I know of is chassis 5/0125 and as the G5 wasn’t really talked about until late 1962 it is quite possible yours is the second G5 made although I can’t be sure of that. Although the 1500cc model was called the G5, Ginetta always called them the G4 and so it can be quite confusing, in fact after about a year they dropped the 5/ on the chassis numbers and even the 1500cc cars were stamped 4/ as well, so the G5 model doesn’t really exist and chassis numbers for G4 and G5 run in sequence.
The other thing this number tells us is that the manufacture date is entirely consistent with the date of issue of the Birmingham registration number of 377 HOJ in February 1963, allowing time for the kit to be built up into a fully running car. This strongly suggests that the car was originally sold to someone living in Birmingham and so the fact that supposedly the car was purchased by Crutchley in Berkshire is a little confusing and may not be correct.
Regards,
Trevor
Me again..
How do you enclose photos??
Thanks so much and look forward to being part of this forum.
Regards
Silas
Not sure why it took me so long to discover this site but I am happy to hve done so. I live in Portland Oregon and discovered a 1963 G4 sitting in a side yard many many years ago...15 to be exact. Well it took a long time but I finally convinced the PO to part with it this past fall. I have many questions but will hold off as I have to head off to work. I have been in contact with Trevor who as usuall has been a great help but I am hoping that forum members might also be able to weigh in on the early history of my car prior to being shipped to the US in 1973.
Here is what Trevor found out about my car.
Silas,
Well done for finding this.
What does it tell us? Well a few things really. As I say records don’t exist that far back but almost certainly it is the 11th G4 built and would date ex-factory from about January 1963. You’ll notice the 5 in front of the main chassis number, this means that in actual fact it is really a G5. This was a designation used by the factory to denote cars fitted with the 1500cc Ford engine, the earliest G5 I know of is chassis 5/0125 and as the G5 wasn’t really talked about until late 1962 it is quite possible yours is the second G5 made although I can’t be sure of that. Although the 1500cc model was called the G5, Ginetta always called them the G4 and so it can be quite confusing, in fact after about a year they dropped the 5/ on the chassis numbers and even the 1500cc cars were stamped 4/ as well, so the G5 model doesn’t really exist and chassis numbers for G4 and G5 run in sequence.
The other thing this number tells us is that the manufacture date is entirely consistent with the date of issue of the Birmingham registration number of 377 HOJ in February 1963, allowing time for the kit to be built up into a fully running car. This strongly suggests that the car was originally sold to someone living in Birmingham and so the fact that supposedly the car was purchased by Crutchley in Berkshire is a little confusing and may not be correct.
Regards,
Trevor
Me again..
How do you enclose photos??
Thanks so much and look forward to being part of this forum.
Regards
Silas
I agree Geoff. Amazing what is still out there.
Please upload some pics Silas.
Wheeeeerrrrrre is that other G11 Coupe?
Last known sighting it looked like this (no, it's not mine, this is NWD).
What is odd, that's almost exactly the red mine was. Also looks like it's on 13in wires instead of 14in.
Mine had a spare set of 13s but they went over the wall.
Somebody must have an inkling where it is?
now over 30 years of looking!
Please upload some pics Silas.
Wheeeeerrrrrre is that other G11 Coupe?
Last known sighting it looked like this (no, it's not mine, this is NWD).
What is odd, that's almost exactly the red mine was. Also looks like it's on 13in wires instead of 14in.
Mine had a spare set of 13s but they went over the wall.
Somebody must have an inkling where it is?
now over 30 years of looking!
Greetings,
I can only seem to load one image at a time ...so here is the one period shot that Trevor forwarded to me taken in England sometime in the 1960's.
I will post one as found next.
Any help finding out about the cars early history would be greatly appreciated.
What I do know from the extensive paperwork that came with the car is:
Bob Crutchly owned the caras far back as 1965 based on reciepts. He apparently worked at College of Art in Birmingham.
M.A. Bigland Preparations in Worcestershire did major work on the engine in 1969
Car sold to Mr. D. Nehl in 1973 and shipped to Portland Oregon along with a Lotus Seven.
Cheers Silas
Greetings,
Ian asks a good question, "how is the progress" my answer is daunting but hopeful. As I am sure most of you already know tackling a total restoration of a G4 is a bit like disecting a whale...very ugly and messy. Getting the chassis out of the body was scary but finally completed a few monthsd ago. Then other projects cropped up so things stalled a bit. Finally I got some tiome and the frame was sand blasted...further exposing the consequences of 36 years od neglect. Most of the encapsulated tubes had suffred and needed to be replaced. I began to disect the chassis myself then a week ago finally made a providential contact and discovered a local chassis builder who has 50 years of experience building every imaginable motorized chassis and he agreed to take on the prtoject. He has already completed 50 percent of the frame and will be done wirth the rest by weeks end. I feel as though I have Leonardo painting my living room ceiling! Not wanting tom feeel the slacker I have takien all the suspension components to the snadblaste and they will be done tomorrow. Engine is apart and thougn truly knackered from such poor storage will be salvalable. It has a rare Martin rocker assembly and several other period mods as well. Loading images still illudes me but I will get some up here even if I have to do it one at a time.
Thanks Silas
ps sorry for the spelling but it is late here and I have yet to figure out if ther eis even a spell check option...
Ian asks a good question, "how is the progress" my answer is daunting but hopeful. As I am sure most of you already know tackling a total restoration of a G4 is a bit like disecting a whale...very ugly and messy. Getting the chassis out of the body was scary but finally completed a few monthsd ago. Then other projects cropped up so things stalled a bit. Finally I got some tiome and the frame was sand blasted...further exposing the consequences of 36 years od neglect. Most of the encapsulated tubes had suffred and needed to be replaced. I began to disect the chassis myself then a week ago finally made a providential contact and discovered a local chassis builder who has 50 years of experience building every imaginable motorized chassis and he agreed to take on the prtoject. He has already completed 50 percent of the frame and will be done wirth the rest by weeks end. I feel as though I have Leonardo painting my living room ceiling! Not wanting tom feeel the slacker I have takien all the suspension components to the snadblaste and they will be done tomorrow. Engine is apart and thougn truly knackered from such poor storage will be salvalable. It has a rare Martin rocker assembly and several other period mods as well. Loading images still illudes me but I will get some up here even if I have to do it one at a time.
Thanks Silas
ps sorry for the spelling but it is late here and I have yet to figure out if ther eis even a spell check option...
hello Silas
great to see another G4 being restored.. I also had a barn find 1963 G4 fully restored. Please see this thread if u havnt already
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
would be interesting to see how it progresses, let me know if i can be of any help
Shad
great to see another G4 being restored.. I also had a barn find 1963 G4 fully restored. Please see this thread if u havnt already
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
would be interesting to see how it progresses, let me know if i can be of any help
Shad
Hi Shad,
I have certainly spent many hours drooling over your beautiful car. The images have already proved quite helpful but now that we are in actual contact I am sure I will take you up on your offer of assistance. Thank you for the link as I have never actually read the entire story which of course I will do so now.
Regards Silas
I have certainly spent many hours drooling over your beautiful car. The images have already proved quite helpful but now that we are in actual contact I am sure I will take you up on your offer of assistance. Thank you for the link as I have never actually read the entire story which of course I will do so now.
Regards Silas
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