Vintage Thing No.29 - Ginetta G26

Last Saturday me and Andrew (of multiple tractor ownership fame) picked up this Ginetta G26 in Saltash for another mate of mine. It was an ebay bargain and although engineless has all its other vital organs. Originally Pinto powered there is talk of trialling it - it being that time of year - and possibly installing a Cologne V6. I suspect that it maybe a bit front heavy in that form and for trialling purposes you need good traction but that spec would make for quite a quick car because it's such a light car. I know this because I helped push it onto the trailer.


Designed and produced by the four Walklett brothers, Ginettas have already featured as Vintage Things (Pete Low's G21 was the first one ever) but I had come to regard the G26 as one the less desirable, partly because it's eclipsed by real beauties like the G4, the G12 and an old favourite of mine the Imp powered G15. So many Vintage Things but so little time.

My mate really wanted a G12 but they are worth thousands of pounds. His Ginetta itch will now be satisfied by this G26.

Thanks to Trevers Walklett, Ginettas were always good looking motors but when the G26 came out I thought they'd lost their styling flair. However, having looked at this car from many angles I can honestly say that it's growing on me. Initially it looks as if the component parts don't quite fit together from a styling point of view but when I realised that it's got Fiesta doors, rear and side windows and a Cortina screen, I marvelled at how cleverly the body proportions within these limitations had been worked out. I often wonder how different automobiles would like if they re-proportioned and this one is a kind of grown up sporting coupe Fiesta, although a much bigger car. It's surprisingly wide and only just fitted on the machinery trailer we'd brought along. But three of us easily dragged it over to centralise it. Did I mention it was light?


Front suspension is by Ford Cortina wishbones and with a chassis designed by Ivor Walklett the Ginetta tradition of good handling continued. It was a mature development of the Ginetta G21 as it was a practical four seater and with 280 built was a sales success. The Ginetta G26 was part of a family of 4-5 seater Ginettas and closely related to the G28, G30 & G31. These were a mixture of variants featuring a notchback (G28 & G31) or fastback (G26 and G30) style and either pop up headlamps (G26 & G31) or Mk3 Escort front lights (G28 and G30). Personally, I think the Escort lights do nothing for the looks - they enhance the unfortunate impression of using what was available rather than what might be aesthetically desirable - but were dictated by the higher bonnet required to cover the V6. I think the notchback style has just the edge over fastback so my preference would be for a V6 G31 with a bonnet bulge. They made about 70 G31s and only 14 G30s and 6 G28s so maybe my views on headlight design were mostly shared with customers. The promise of extra oomph did not always win over more balanced lines.

Running propositions cost hundreds of pounds rather than the thousands a G4 or G12 would cost you and they are much more usable. With the galvanised steel chassis option and the high quality GRP body a Ginetta G26 could be highly sustainable motoring. It's light, simple, won't rust apart from the Fiesta doors (you'd fill those with Waxoyl anyway) and handles and goes well. Maybe a 2.3 blown Pinto would be the best way to go or something more modern like an ST24? Mmm, suits you sir.

This Ginetta G26 is in pretty good nick. The steel Fiesta doors are just starting to bubble but the GRP, always of a very high quality on Ginettas, lacks crazing and signs of delamination. It's got a MkIV Cortina dash but will need a complete new interior. I don't think it'll get kitted out as a full four seater. There's talk of using it for trials but I'll let you know what happens to this G26.