CHASING CARS
ASKING £14,500 PRICE
ENGINE 2994cc/V6/OHV POWER 138bhp@5000rpm TORQUE 173lb ft@3500rpm MAXIMUM SPEED 109mph 0-60MPH 9.3sec FUEL CONSUMPTION 20-27mpg TRANSMISSION RWD, four-speed manual MoT Exempt ODOMETER 52,801 miles
WHAT’S IT LIKE TO DRIVE?
It steers well but with a slight pull to the left. The engine is sweet and free-revving, to the extent that you wonder if it’s been lightly tuned. We didn’t press on because first, second and third gears are noisy (top is silent) and an occasional thump-bump-bump sounds like the propshaft fouling something under load. A conversion from auto to manual has left the gear lever canted away from the driver, too. The vendor will fit a fresh gearbox if the car is slow to sell but you may wish to negotiate and do the job yourself instead.
BODYWORK CHECK
The vendor tells us that the car was restored and painted a couple of years ago. It’s holding up well but with tiny rust-coloured stains at the odd vulnerable edge low down and minor bubbling on one front wheel arch. The black vinyl roof covering is in excellent shape with no hint of lifting from corrosion but there’s a small crack in the offside indicator lens. It looks sound underneath with fairly fresh anti-corrosion wax and a handsome twin-pipe stainless-steel exhaust. Front and rear windscreen trims are in the boot along with new rubbers. It’s wearing fairly new-looking 185/70 R14 Falken tyres on smart Ghia alloy wheels.
HOW’S THE INTERIOR?
Soft furnishings from the World of Ghia include acres of black velour and deep-pile carpet, all of which are in great shape. The fit and finish around the plastic sections of the dash and glovebox lid aren’t up with German rivals, but that’s normal. The wood fillets are suffering from an unsuccessful attempt at re-lacquering but it’s nothing that couldn’t be sorted. The sunroof works – unlike the radio – but the mechanism clearly
