Our new automotive pride and joy

[The Surveyor]

After much selling of the family silver (well the Aston Martin, Maserati and TVR) we are now the very proud owners of this little fella:-

[The Surveyor]

Cheers guys, it was a dealer-stock car from McLaren Manchester (who have been very good despite the best efforts of the DVLA) with the right colour, spec and the right price. I did ask them to change the seat-belts to orange to match the brakes and to add a splash of colour to the interior but I'm really pleased with it.

[The Surveyor]

CitySlicker said:

likesachange said:

Looks superb.

A nice and compact supercar.


Enjoy

Nice it is compact it ain't. Wider than a H2 Hummer!

They are deceptively big, but it does still comfortably go through the boggo-standard modern single garage door. With the mirrors folded, they're no wider than an Aston Vantage.

[The Surveyor]

CitySlicker said:

The Surveyor said:

They are deceptively big, but it does still comfortably go through the boggo-standard modern single garage door. With the mirrors folded, they're no wider than an Aston Vantage.

Do you find it intuitive placing the car on the road?

In reality, it doesn't feel any wider than the Vantage.

[The Surveyor]

johnnyreggae said:

The Surveyor said:

it does still comfortably go through the boggo-standard modern single garage door.

Oh no ! Your car looks lovely but last summer all the research I did into a 570GT said they would not fit so I had to drop the idea

So just to be clear you are getting your car easily into a garage with a 210 cm door ?

The structural brick-to-brick opening is slightly wider but the doors are circa 210 cm clear frame to frame. I've not got a front-on photo of the 570s in the garage but here it is in the garage:-



And this is the garage from the outside partly obscured by some nasty old Italian snotter....



Typical standard garage doors, on a typical modern (5 year old) home.

[The Surveyor]

trawler said:

Just think the trend for bigger cars spoils the driving on most uk roads.

My god, I bet you're a hoot at parties....

[The Surveyor]

trawler said:

The Surveyor said:

My god, I bet you're a hoot at parties....

Come to think of it, I did wonder why I don't go to many.

Lovely car, enjoy & you have the best of both worlds with that old snotter.

the old Maserati was one of the funding casualties for the 570s unfortunately, now residing with its new owner in Holland

[The Surveyor]

garyhun said:

What ballpark discounts are dealers now giving against existing stock?

It depends on the dealer and depends on how you are buying it, I spent a lot of time trying to get a deal on a 12 month old 570s from Glasgow without any real progress, they dropped £500 (yes, I know!) but seamed to just want to sell me finance to cover the short-fall even though it was going to be a cash purchase with trade-in. Manchester seamed to be much more proactive about actually selling me a car, they had the right car, brand new and they made the experience much more enjoyable despite a few hic-ups along the way.

In summery, Manchester seemed to be in the business of selling cars where Glasgow weren't, also no two deals will be the same so it's best to speak to the dealers and run through your own personally requirements and see what they can and can't do.

[The Surveyor]

koorby said:

RamboLambo said:

With production switching from 570S to concentrate on 720S now I doubt there is a lot of cars in the pipeline and therefore not the pressure to move them on with discounting which has been far less on the sport series than previous super series anyway. Basic supply and demand but there is always a chance you can strike lucky at the end of the year if there is an old stock unit of your particular liking

Edited by RamboLambo on Wednesday 17th May 19:48

I very much doubt they are "switching" production from 5xx series to 720, because both series will be built in parallel in the same factory, and there would be quite a large number of 5xx series still on backorder.

If anything, the Sports Series line will be gearing up for the Spider which is due in September rather than switching over to Super Series production

[The Surveyor]

Pork said:

That is a spectacular looking thing! Has that gone?

I'm afraid so, the sale of that lovely old fella paid for 75% of the 570s so it's not all bad

[The Surveyor]

hornbaek said:

That is a wonderful old Maserati - hope you got your priorities right.

Time will tell, at the moment I'm loving the 570s and certainly not missing the inherent fragility of a near 50 year old sporting GT.

If your comment related to the potential value, IMHO there's more to life than counting pennies

[The Surveyor]

Chris Stott said:

The Maserati is just utterly glorious... was it the one from the restoration thread in the classics forum?

And congrats on the 570!

Thanks, and yes, it was the Mexico from the classic forum. Another automotive chapter begins...

[The Surveyor]

I agree up to a point, there is a greater emotional bond with an older car but it's very different and the reality is often less romantic than the pictures portray.

The Mexico was stunning, a really stylish car with grown-up understated and classy looks. I had a very enjoyable time re-commissioning the car and getting it running reliably enough to cover big distances but for all the joy it brought, there was equal pain. Little niggles which appear every-time it's driven, electric gremlins, keeping the engine in-tune, keeping the Borrani's clean etc, and conversely little niggles that appear when it's not driven such as sticking brake servo's, electric gremlins, keeping the engine in tune etc all add to the frustration. Add to that the reality that it is a 50 year old left-hand-drive car meant that every drive was an event for both positive and negative reasons.

The 570s feels very much an 'event' at slow speeds for all its high-speed ability and I'm confident for a less tempestuous relationship than with the old Italian minx

[The Surveyor]

Completed the 'running-in' period, and then added some more miles in the 570s for Le Mans. Just shy of 1,200 miles covered including Newcastle to Portsmouth, overnight ferry to St Malo, on to Le Mans, general running around and back via some beautiful French countryside and Pont du Hoc on the coast before Caen to Portsmouth overnight then back to Newcastle yesterday. No difficulties with clearance on the ferry either.

Average of 29 mpg and the car was effortless, wonderfully cool and surprisingly practical. All whilst being bonkers quick when needed.

The perfect tool for the job.

The Classic British Welcome


BBQ on Houx (and yes, the chicken was wonderful..)


Lunch stop at Danguel


En route comfort stop..


Finally back on the ferry with another 570s

[The Surveyor]

Just as a brief ownership update, the 570s is proving to be absolutely awesome as well as being impeccably reliable after its first 2,000 miles. None of the reported niggles, has needed a 1/2 litre top-up of oil and is proving relatively frugal on fuel.

In summary, I absolutely adore this car.....

[The Surveyor]

Great run out today with noisy mates, run up Hartside then back to The Crown Inn at Humshough Nr Hexham:-

[The Surveyor]

likesachange said:

Some lovely cars, and fantastic roads local to me.

Hartside is a regular haunt for me in the past. Not so much now I have the M5 though...

I thought I knew most of the 'good' roads around there, but drove the A689 from Alston back to Haltwhistle via Slaggyford and that is a real gem, quiet too

[The Surveyor]

Pork said:

RSK21 said:

One of your mates has a 288 GTO ?!?!??

I'm far from an expert but proportions don't look quite right. Is it a kitted up 308? Apologies to the owner if it's a 288.

Well spotted, it is a very early period conversion on a 308 and beautifully done. The proportions are spot-on though as even the factory GTO's were 308 based with the same fibreglass panels. It's a properly beautiful looking thing.

The meeting outside The Crown in Humshough are a regular '1st Sunday of the Month' thing and there are often some very tasty cars:-







This was June...