Can anyone tell me a bit about the saloons? (G26, 28, 30 31)

[Chris71]

Hi,

Can anyone tell me a bit about the Ginetta saloons? Thinking about getting one as a runaround. If I did it would have to offer practicality and a degree of reliability. Can they:

• Live outside
• Carrying a reasonable ammount of luggage (do they have folding seats and a hatchback?)
• Be relied upon to start in the morning

Was looking at nice sensible mainstream saloons, then the idea of a Quantum saloon popped into my head (I used to run a 2+2) and then it struck me that a RWD Ginetta would probably be a bit more fun?

Chris.

[JakeR]

coincidence, I was only thinking about these this morning... I went to have a look at one (eons ago) that was for sale for £1300 iirc. I bottled it, but I wish I hadnt! cant be much help with info i'm afraid, but good luck...

[Chris71]

Think I might bottle it too - really, I'm looking for something sensible, reliable etc. but the theory was a G26 should be pretty much as sensible and reliable as the Sierra it's based on, just without the rust.

Can you remember what sort of hatch they have at the back - is it a proper lift up hatch or just a bootlid? Need something I can get mountain bike frames and the occasional pair of skis in

Do see quite a lot of them appearing on (dare I say it) eBay for peanuts, sounds like £1300 would buy you quite a good one.

[jamesG20]

They are all cortina based not sierra... and most cortinas of the same age are now scrap... bear that in mind.

They are going for free, there's no need to buy! I know of two which were recently available for anyone who could be bothered to collect, one had tax & mot!

They are not the most beautiful things in the world to say the least, and i'm afraid they drive about aswell as the donor - but leak more....

[Broomsticklady]

jamesG20 said:

They are not the most beautiful things in the world to say the least, and i'm afraid they drive about aswell as the donor - but leak more....

They are probably the most practical of all Ginettas and, if you find one that was built from properly reconditioned bits and has been looked after properly since, there is no reason why they should not continue to provide good, reliable service.

The chassis were galvanised, and the handling was better than a Cortina (which was not bad for its time, let's face it..) as the weight distribution is quite different and the front subframe bolted to the chassis rather than large rubber bungs.

All have a rear boot rather than a hatch, but it opens well enough to get cases in, although the rear sill is a bit high.

Having a roof, they leak a lot less than a G20 does - and they probably look nicer as well (just my opinion - we built both a G26 and a G31 back in the 80s).

I believe some of the last chassis were built to take the Sierra rear subframe, but I might be wrong on that. There is an unused G31 kit on Ebay at the moment.

[jamesG20]

Here you go...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FORD-BASED-KITCAR-GINETTA-G3...

Less practical but a lot more fun. You are going to need to get stuck in though....

Check the chassis is galvanized or you will be making a new one in your spare time.

[Chris71]

Might take a pass on that G31. The thought was that they might provide a turn key car that didn't require any more looking after (or building!!) than a mass produced ford of the same era.

Hmmm, boot (as opposed to hatch) might put an end to that one - don't suppose the rear seats fold allowing you to 'post' things into the cockpit from the boot do they?

[Broomsticklady]

Chris71 said:

Hmmm, boot (as opposed to hatch) might put an end to that one - don't suppose the rear seats fold allowing you to 'post' things into the cockpit from the boot do they?

Both had a boot, and the G26 used a Cortina rear seat as it stood, while the 31 had its own rather cute +2 rear seat which actually wasn't too bad if you sat sideways in it, but otherwise forget it!! So no, no foldable bits!!

[Chris71]

Doh! Probably a good thing. If it had the pre-requisit boot space theres an alarming possibility I would have bought one and found myself stranded on the M25 one rush hour, whereas I might just be sensible enough to get something dependable and Japanese now

[dandarez]

ANY car from that era (including Japanese) could leave you stranded on the M25 today.

Reliability was not what it is now.

Talking of Japanese dependability, 'today' I'd rather be driving a G32 round the M25 than the MR2 of the same era!

[Volker]

Does anybody know if the original G26 back seats are the ones from the Cortina Mk3/4/5 range or special Ginetta units?

Volker

[ginV8]

Read the Post from Broomsticklady again. Cortina rear seat in G26. Front seats were made by Richfield seats.
H

[Broomsticklady]

ginV8 said:

Read the Post from Broomsticklady again. Cortina rear seat in G26. Front seats were made by Richfield seats.
H

At the time, if you bought the seat pack from Ginetta, they would arrange to have the rear Cortina seat recovered to match the Ritchfields. The same applied to the G31, except that the seat pack included a moulded fibreglass rear seat that was then upholstered to match.

[Prolex-UK]

Had a G26 a few years back. Excellent car for its generation

[browser07]

hi
I own a ginetta g26 it has a 2liter pinto on tein 40s in it
I also have a 2 liter twin cam with efi and all accocated hardware to fit it to the car includeing an mt 75 gearbox does any one know if they will fit and if they dnt wat mite I need to do to make them fabrication new engine monunts ect.

any help would b great