Monday 26th March 2012

Ginetta delivers first G60

It's taken a decade, but the car that started out as a Farboud, became a Farbio and ended up a Ginetta has finally found a customer

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OK, we admit it. We were afraid of filing this one in the pile marked 'never going to happen' but, after much delay, the first Ginetta G60 has been delivered, to a customer living in Bavaria.

"I am very happy to receive the car today, it sounds great, has great performance and I love the 'race car' feel of no assisted brakes," says an understandably chirpy Hubert Krae. "Whilst the car was in production I flew over about three times and tested the car to give my input on how things were developing.

"It is very important for me to use a car company which talks to the customer and listens to the things which they want and don't want. I would take the car out for a while and come back with my feedback which ultimately resulted in a car designed specifically designed around what I wanted."

The delivery of a car to the customer must be quite a relief for Ginetta, even if it is one of only three road-registered G60s in existence (the other two belong to Ginetta), as the gestation of the car has been protracted to say the least.

It actually started life as a Farboud in 2002, named for its creator Arash Farboud, before being bought out by former Marcos man Chrish Marsh and morphing into the Farbio GTS with significant changes under the skin. It then became the Ginetta F400, before undergoing a complete under-skin redevelopment (again), with a new engine (Ford Cyclone 3.7-litre V6), new chassis and a significantly revised interior.

[GTiFrank]

Good to hear that they are making cars tailored to the customers requirements. I guess this is only something achievable in for low volume manufacturers though.

[Spiritual_Beggar]

Great news!

They do look like a boat load of fun....

But....

Price puts it amongst stiff competition.


I hope it takes off though. Would love to see Ginetta succeed in their road car division.

[johnpeat]

GTiFrank said:

Good to hear that they are making cars tailored to the customers requirements. I guess this is only something achievable in for low volume manufacturers though.

Yeah, at the moment it's limited to a company who's made ONE of them with a development period of 10 years...

[anonymous-user]

How much are these and what are the vitals?

[Roo]

Why didn't he wait for them to build him a new one?

[Krikkit]

MonkeyMatt said:

How much are these and what are the vitals?

£70k OTR(ish)
Engine – 3.7 litre V6 (3721 cc)
0-60mph - 4.9sec
Top speed - 165mph
Economy - 31mpg (average)
Weight (kerb) – 1080kg
Location – Mid-rear transverse
Power – 310bhp @ 6500rpm
Torque – 288ft/lb @ 4500rpm
Power-to-weight – 305.6bhp/tonne
Transmission – 6 speed manual
gearbox coupled to an Automatic
Torque Biasing (ATB) limited slip differential

[anonymous-user]

Krikkit said:

£70k OTR(ish)
Engine – 3.7 litre V6 (3721 cc)
0-60mph - 4.9sec
Top speed - 165mph
Economy - 31mpg (average)
Weight (kerb) – 1080kg
Location – Mid-rear transverse
Power – 310bhp @ 6500rpm
Torque – 288ft/lb @ 4500rpm
Power-to-weight – 305.6bhp/tonne
Transmission – 6 speed manual
gearbox coupled to an Automatic
Torque Biasing (ATB) limited slip differential

You would be have to be brave to buy one of these over an Evora S or Cayman R!

[gmh23]

yeah........"brave"

[fathomfive]

I passed a pale blue one of these on the M1 just south of Leeds about a month ago.

I thought it looked pretty good.

[MrFreight]

Lovely Panel fit for a Circa £.70K Car!!

[Oelholm]

Normally, all of these cars get the typical praise for being a small, British manufacturer, independent, etc... And when they build it, the comments are on panel fit and it being in stiff competition with Porsche and the like.

And who bought it? A German.

[Krikkit]

Very true - panel fit will be pretty adjustable given its newly-developed status. I bet the performance stats quoted are pretty conservative too, unless they've fitted it with a ludicrously long-ratio box.

[danielhodgkiss]

MrFreight said:

Lovely Panel fit for a Circa £.70K Car!!

Maybe the bonnet is open

[JohnoVR6]

article said:

It actually started life as a Farboud in 2002, named for its creator Arash Farboud, before being bought out by former Marcos man Chrish Marsh and morphing into the Farbio GTS with significant changes under the skin. It then became the Ginetta F400, before undergoing a complete under-skin redevelopment (again), with a new engine (Ford Cyclone 3.7-litre V6), new chassis and a significantly revised interior.

And all this time, they've overlooked the one thing wrong with it. It's exterior. It was pig-ugly a decade ago and time hasn't been kind to it.

I know looks are subjective and all that noise, but my god its not a looker.

[MarJay]

JohnoVR6 said:

I know looks are subjective and all that noise, but my god its not a looker.

I think it looks awesome (forgive me for sounding so... American).

If it was £40k or even £50k it would sell by the boatload, but £70k is pretty steep IMO.

[kambites]

JohnoVR6 said:

I know looks are subjective and all that noise, but my god its not a looker.

In a perverse kind of way that's a good thing for me, as are the poor panel gaps. It shows they've spent the money on the bits that matter to me, not on employing some over-paid artist to put a few weird curves in the bodywork.

[JohnoVR6]

Oh I totally agree, and it was said purely out of vanity. I'm sure its an excellent car to drive.

But in comparison to the G40R (itself a very pretty car) it just looks a bit awkward and low-rent kit car. And I don't see why saying 'well its good to drive' should be a valid excuse for poor build or design.

Or maybe it's just the choice of images on the article that aren't particularly flattering, and that I'm being overly critical of something I've not even seen in the metal

[griffdude]

A friend of mine has one of these Farbood things. Powered by a twin turbo V6 Audi engine. It goes pretty well & looks much better in the flesh.

[kambites]

JohnoVR6 said:

But in comparison to the G40R (itself a very pretty car) it just looks a bit awkward and low-rent kit car. And I don't see why saying 'well its good to drive' should be a valid excuse for poor build or design.

Why not, they don't come free? If they are going to throw a given amount of money at the car, I'd rather they left 2cm panel gaps and improved the handling or engine slightly, personally.

Nothing wrong with wanting a car to look good, but it's always going to compromise it somewhere else. You don't get anything for free.

[HeMightBeBanned]

kambites said:

In a perverse kind of way that's a good thing for me, as are the poor panel gaps. It shows they've spent the money on the bits that matter to me, not on employing some over-paid artist to put a few weird curves in the bodywork.

I'd worry that they'd skimped on everything else too, tbh.