Farbio GTS: Spotted
This is the car that came before the Ginetta G60 - and the only supercharged model of its kind
Remember Farbio? No, not the blonde-haired Zoolander type who once got hit in the face by a goose whilst riding a rollercoaster, but the boutique car manufacturer. Having started life as Farboud in 1999 - after founder, Arash Farboud, was turned down for a Ferrari Enzo - it wasn’t until 2002 that the GTS came along. It was to be a proper driving machine, powered by a mid-mounted, bored-out 3.0-litre twin-turbo Audi V6 and featuring in-board suspension, Ohlins race dampers and a distinct lack of traction control.
In 2006 the company was taken over by ex-Marcos man Chris Marsh, who coined the Farbio name. He replaced the RS4-based unit with a cheaper alternative in the shape of Ford’s 3.0-litre V6, bolted on a Rotrex supercharger and set about readying the design for production. Carbon-fibre construction resulted in a finished product which was just 1,066kg at the kerb, meaning a power-to-weight ratio of 340hp/ton and a claimed 0-60 time of just over four seconds.
Despite sales which could kindly be described as low-volume, by the end of the decade Ginetta’s interest had been piqued, the motor racing manufacturer having been incubating the idea of a road car division for some time. The acquisition made good sense, too, not only did Ginetta gain a road-going line up, but also its own in-house carbon fibre component production facility as well - a first for the company.
In March 2012, a decade after its initial unveiling, the first Ginetta G60 was delivered to German Hubert Krae. Very little had been altered since the car’s Farbio days, with the substitution of a new supercharger and the replacement of the GTS moniker being the standout differences.
Today’s Spotted is testament to that, being as it is the only supercharged Farbio 350 in existence. Despite its driver-focussed ethos, lightweight approach and minimalist interior, the 350 isn’t short of creature comforts; air-con, full leather seats, electric folding mirrors and sat-nav all having found their way onto the options list. It looks to be in good condition, too, as it should with only 11,000 miles on the clock.
The car’s spec and rarity haven’t been quite enough to tempt anyone to part with £85,000 for the pleasure of owning it, though, which perhaps goes some way to explaining why Farboud, Farbio and Ginetta - which only kept the G60 in production until 2015 - all in turn found it a difficult sell. As a raw, driver-focussed, mid-engined machine, one crafted from carbon fibre and developed with a racing spirit in mind, it’s certainly worthy of highlighting in the annals of motoring. Today, though, if its a manual car designed around a midship Audi engine you’re after, you can get a very enjoyable one for quite a bit less.
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