Discussion
Hi ,look out for rusty chassis, I reproduced close to a dozen chassis back in the late 90,s, but each one had to be fine tuned to fit the bodies as the Walklets GRP work was very haphazard, Chassis used parts of a hillman imp rear crossmember married to a box section ERW square section mild steel punt style chassis,not a real space frame. The holes for the radiator went through the chassis, but the holes were never closed off i.e. tubes welded in , so filled up with water every time it rained, BUT, don't let the above put you off the,re great looking cars. and handle well too.
hope that helps
hope that helps
Chassis as mentioned, it rots from the inside. If the exposed parts look suspicious it means lifting the body off to reveal the full story, the central section is a ladder frame and simple enough to repair, front turrets are nothing complicated, an Imp transaxle cross-member is welded to the rear and behind that a frame to support the engine mount. If it is known that the chassis has been subjected to body-off repair I would take that as a good sign, if not the chances are greater that it will be in need of attention.
One of the drivers as to value is the engine. A good Imp engine can be worth more than a complete G15. The Imp Sport spec was very typical and holds no significant value, occasionally you will see higher horsepower options, 998 is the one to have. One of the problems with engine bay layout is that the side chassis rail at the rear very much restricts space and hence carb options.
Interior wise, door handles, switches, gauges etc will be recognised from various 70's origins. A lot of cars lost there original seats, nice little buckets, you will be doing well if they are still in the car you are looking at.
Finally, don't under-estimate the cost of body repairs/painting. You can very easily spend £7k plus if it needs repair/painting, if I was looking for a G15 I would be putting more emphasis on finding one with an excellent body/paint than I would be worrying about chassis corrosion.
There is good info in this book:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ginetta-G15-Super-Profil...
One of the drivers as to value is the engine. A good Imp engine can be worth more than a complete G15. The Imp Sport spec was very typical and holds no significant value, occasionally you will see higher horsepower options, 998 is the one to have. One of the problems with engine bay layout is that the side chassis rail at the rear very much restricts space and hence carb options.
Interior wise, door handles, switches, gauges etc will be recognised from various 70's origins. A lot of cars lost there original seats, nice little buckets, you will be doing well if they are still in the car you are looking at.
Finally, don't under-estimate the cost of body repairs/painting. You can very easily spend £7k plus if it needs repair/painting, if I was looking for a G15 I would be putting more emphasis on finding one with an excellent body/paint than I would be worrying about chassis corrosion.
There is good info in this book:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ginetta-G15-Super-Profil...
I've got one.
Cooling. As above.
Chassis rust. Ditto.
Quality. Most of these are home built, so quality and finish can vary. If youre looking at either of the two that are publicly for sale at the moment, you should be OK though.
Size. It is a small car. If your shoe size is much more than 9, you're going to struggle to get into the footwell. Even in Hero shoes.
I love mine, and would heartily recommend them!
Cooling. As above.
Chassis rust. Ditto.
Quality. Most of these are home built, so quality and finish can vary. If youre looking at either of the two that are publicly for sale at the moment, you should be OK though.
Size. It is a small car. If your shoe size is much more than 9, you're going to struggle to get into the footwell. Even in Hero shoes.
I love mine, and would heartily recommend them!
During the building of the G15 chassis that I produced, in conjunction with a local G15 owner, I came up with an idea to do a round tube version as per the early G4,s. but never actually built one, as round tubes are generally stiffer than square, The G15 chassis is not triangulated, and relies in the stiffness of the tube only, In the ideal world the body could be bonded to the chassis, almost making a semi monoquoque If your chassis has gussets in the corners and sleeve for the rad tubes then its one of mine, ( the Chiltern Chassis Co )
Just to add on engines (as an ex-Imp Sport owner) there's also a popular 930cc based option, using a later engine modded to fit the Imp engine mounts. Was very popular in the mid to late 90s as decent 998 blocks were getting scarce and commanding strong money even back then. The 930 can be modded very nicely with big valve head and carbs - I'm fairly sure it can be taken out to 998 but it's a good few years since the car was sold so don't recall.
Doofus said:
Size. It is a small car. If your shoe size is much more than 9, you're going to struggle to get into the footwell. Even in Hero shoes.
I bought one a few years ago from cottage classics. Lovely little thing, but on the drive home I found even with my size 8 feet I couldn't push the throttle without pushing on the brake pedal as well! I ended up driving home with a bare right foot. It was such an issue, I ended up selling the car.One other point, don't underestimate the cost of Imp engine parts! You can get just about the best Mini race manifold for the same price as a new standard Imp sport manifold!
eccles said:
I bought one a few years ago from cottage classics. Lovely little thing, but on the drive home I found even with my size 8 feet I couldn't push the throttle without pushing on the brake pedal as well! I ended up driving home with a bare right foot. It was such an issue, I ended up selling the car.
One other point, don't underestimate the cost of Imp engine parts! You can get just about the best Mini race manifold for the same price as a new standard Imp sport manifold!
What ever happened to Spadge Hopkins ? He was the chap I supplied most of my chassis too ?One other point, don't underestimate the cost of Imp engine parts! You can get just about the best Mini race manifold for the same price as a new standard Imp sport manifold!
eccles said:
One other point, don't underestimate the cost of Imp engine parts! You can get just about the best Mini race manifold for the same price as a new standard Imp sport manifold!
This is very important. I don't own a G15 but been running Imp / Imp based stuff for over 20 years and have a selection of Janspeed combined manifolds (eyewateringly expensive). Kind of regret selling all my Imp sport manifolds when I was going through a garage emptying / fund raising stage in anticipation of a house move.Ran a Clan Crusader for 6 years back in the 1970'/80s very similar to the G15 except the Clan was a plywood and F/G monococque with imp suspension all round and the G15 had Triumph front susp IIRC.
Loved the look of the Ginetta even more than my Clan although the Clan had windey windows rather than slidey ones.
Oft fancied another or an Imp but costs of running (spares) as said before seem higher than the Mini. BUT I'd rather drive an Imp than a Mini any day of the week.
Loved the look of the Ginetta even more than my Clan although the Clan had windey windows rather than slidey ones.
Oft fancied another or an Imp but costs of running (spares) as said before seem higher than the Mini. BUT I'd rather drive an Imp than a Mini any day of the week.
whirlybird said:
eccles said:
I bought one a few years ago from cottage classics. Lovely little thing, but on the drive home I found even with my size 8 feet I couldn't push the throttle without pushing on the brake pedal as well! I ended up driving home with a bare right foot. It was such an issue, I ended up selling the car.
One other point, don't underestimate the cost of Imp engine parts! You can get just about the best Mini race manifold for the same price as a new standard Imp sport manifold!
What ever happened to Spadge Hopkins ? He was the chap I supplied most of my chassis too ?One other point, don't underestimate the cost of Imp engine parts! You can get just about the best Mini race manifold for the same price as a new standard Imp sport manifold!
Just a thought guys, what about a Smart engine, 700cc turbo, All alloy, plenty of ecu upgrades available, ran Smarts from 2001 until last year, got though 7 in total. Either inline to imp transaxle, or transverse + smart g/box ,paddle shift etc etc, love to build a chassis for that !!!
whirlybird said:
Just a thought guys, what about a Smart engine, 700cc turbo, All alloy, plenty of ecu upgrades available, ran Smarts from 2001 until last year, got though 7 in total. Either inline to imp transaxle, or transverse + smart g/box ,paddle shift etc etc, love to build a chassis for that !!!
Why? The Smart box is rubbish. If you really what to mod-convert a G15 stick a bike engine in, Imp space-frames have been running bike engines for years but for my money I would stick with 998.Gassing Station | Classic Cars and Yesterday's Heroes | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff