The Rare V8-Powered Roadster That Time Forgot

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

British sports car history is full of brands that burned brightly but briefly. The country's very literal cottage industry has spawned some well-known makes, from brands like Lotus to the much more modern Gordon Murray projects. However, for every success story, there's also a brand or a car you'd be forgiven for having never heard of. See one on the road, and it's like seeing the brontosaurus from the back of the Jeep in Jurassic Park -- the sight simply doesn't compute.

Ginetta is one of those cottage brands, long since come and gone, that time has certainly forgotten. But for a few years, it produced something with almost universal appeal. Ginetta's G33 was a front-engine, rear-drive sports car with no roof, a feathery curb weight, and, for its time, supercar performance. It had a better power-to-weight ratio than the 911 Turbo of the day, and just as quickly as it came, it went. By 1993, Ginetta was done and gone, and the G33 along with it.

To give you the most up-to-date and accurate information possible, the data used to compile this article was sourced from Ginetta directly.

2:16

Related

Top 10 V6 Powered Sports Cars That Deliver V8-Like Performance

For years, the V8 has been the benchmark for sports cars, but these ten V6-powered machines prove that fewer cylinders don't mean less excitement.

Posts

The Ginetta G33 Is A V8 Roadster With British Flavor

As with all good "here's how the sports car got made" stories, this one starts with a pen and some tablecloth. As the legend goes, Ginetta designers were out for pizza in 1990. Two company employees, Mark Warklett and Noel Palmer, are credited with the pizza tablecloth sketch, which somehow made its way back to Ginetta headquarters. A blueprint followed, and at some point, the project was greenlit by upper management.

Ginetta Built The G33 To Promote A Whole Other Car

In one of history's ironic twists, it appears the G33 was only built to support and promote the company's G32 sports car, which was intended to be a low-cost, volume-driven competitor to Toyota's MR2, using engine and chassis components from a Fiat XR2. The G32 and G33 were shown simultaneously at the British Motor Show in the fall of 1990. However, customers took much more interest in the front-engined, V8 roadster, and a look at the specs sheet reveals why.

Ginetta G33 Performance Specifications

Engine

3.9-liter V8

Transmission

5-speed manual

Horsepower

195 hp

Torque

220 lb-ft

Driveline

RWD

0-60 MPH

5.3 seconds

Top Speed

137 mph

Ginetta Was Swamped With Demand For the G33

With its lightweight body and big engine, the appeal was obvious, and this ethos was Ginetta's intention from the start. The body is made from glass-reinforced polyester resin, with double wishbones front and rear, and coilover suspension. These were fully adjustable, not unlike some of today's track-focused supercars. Power was, of course, sent to the rear wheels with a locally built differential at the back. Underneath lived a tubular chassis.

As a result of the unexpected demand for its new roadster, Ginetta rushed into production. Test units were sent out to all the big British automotive outlets of the time, including Top Gear and Autocar. The latter praised the Ginetta for its big, high-energy V8, but predictably, the roadster suffered from its short development time.

Autocar's test unit came complete with a "fiddly, leaky, ingress-hampering" roof, and the fixed seats and "badly offset" pedal box were an issue, though apparently fuel economy could be described as "reasonable for this genre of car," which really means "poor." However, it wasn't all bad, and the G33 was broadly praised for its handling, and testing at the time praised the feathery 1,926-pound curb weight. With so little to move, the V8 pulled hard, and the limited-slip differential helped to reign it in.

Related

10 Most Reliable Luxury V8 Cars You Can Still Buy Today

V8s used to be the gold standard in luxury sedans, but that way of thinking is changing. Here's how you can still get into a reliable V8 luxury car.

Posts

Ginetta's Tumultuous History

In many ways, Ginetta's history is a mirror image of the G33. Ambition mixes with failure and some poor decisions in equal measure. The company was founded in 1958 by four brothers: Douglas, Trevor, Bob, and Ivor Walkett. Of course, all four were racing enthusiasts, and the company's first projects were race cars based on other British sports cars of the day you've probably never heard of, like the Wolseley Hornet and the Hillman Imp.

For a small company, the brothers did well. The 1961 Ginetta G4 was built for racing and road use, with production totaling around 500 cars across eight years. 1966's G12 succeeded the G4 and was very successful in local racing events. A year later, the company debuted its most successful model: the G15.

A 1.7-liter engine sourced from the Hillman Imp powered it, and the model proved to be so popular that Ginetta relocated to a larger factory in Suffolk in order to accommodate it. At its peak, around six G15s were being made per week, and by the time production ended in 1974, more than 800 were made.

Ginetta Made Scores Of Different Sports Cars Across The Decades

The following years were filled with a rush of cars for Ginetta. Ginetta revamped its older G4 model to keep the lights on in the '80s while it worked on two prototypes, the G23 and G24. Ginetta later produced a Ford-based G25, which made it into production in 1983. Eventually, a four-seater spawned in the form of the G26. Eventually, the company was sold by three of the brothers, with only Ivor remaining at the company as its technical director.

What Happened To The Ginetta G33?

The company's new Sheffield-based management, Martin Phaff and Mike Modiri, were with the company as the G33 was being developed. The car got off to a shaky start, in part thanks to the unexpected demand, which put Ginetta on the back foot in terms of production. Later, the company attempted to diversify the lineup by introducing a turbocharged 2.0-liter engine option, but by 1993, money problems and debt had beset the company, and G33 production was called to a close.

The company was bought by a few dealers around the same time, who looked to continue production by selling the G33 as a kit car. However, later molds for the body and production rights were eventually sold off to Volvo in a joint project with another automaker called Gin 1 (pronounced Gin Etta in the Swedish language), but the project eventually folded, and the G33 name finally died out.

Related

This Forgotten Dodge Concept Could Have Been The Ultimate Muscle Car

In the age of Aries K-Cars, Dodge built the ultimate high-performance concept car that could have been the most brutal ride of all time.

Posts

Is The G33 Right For You?

Predictably, Ginetta models aren't very popular outside Europe. In the last several years, we found fewer than five examples that sold Stateside, none of which were G33s. The cars are old by now, and they'll most often pop up on European auction sites, which means the hard work of importing one of these forgotten V8 roadsters will probably be left to a prospective buyer.

How Much Are Ginetta G33s Worth Today?

Thankfully, that means that the Ginetta G33 is a cheap car. Over the last several years, it's hard to find a G33 that has sold for more than $33,000. Of course, if you were to bring one overseas to the US, the bill would be significantly higher, as importing these vehicles is sure to be a long process full of fees and fines. While Ginetta did make a few four-cylinder models, the V8s were much more popular and easier to find. Often, these vehicles haven't left their home country, and browsing British classifieds will eventually lead to a clean, low-mile example.

Ginetta Is Still Hanging On Today

Other British makes made it further for a lot of reasons, but in doing the research for this piece, it became clear that the company failed to do one thing above all else: diversify. British sports carmakers like Lotus have managed to stay afloat thanks to corporate ownership. Everyone from Ford to Chinese auto conglomerates has owned the company started by Colin Chapman.

Despite that failure to diversify, the company is still around, producing hand-built cars at a 75,000-square-foot facility in Yorkshire. Ginetta also runs its own single-make race series in 2025, and offers cars for sale so that drivers and sponsors can compete in its championship. Two are offered: the G40 and the G40 Junior Evo, which is intended for 14 to 17-year-olds as the "first step on the motorsport ladder."

The company also still builds road cars, including the G10, a "classic remastered." It's a restomodded take on the Ginettas of yore, based on the original G10. The company's website says the resto G10, as well as a more modern Akula sports car, are coming soon. You can also order yourself a road-going version of Ginetta's racers, which the company has dubbed the GTR. With 450 horsepower and a 6.2-liter V8 paired to a rear-drive chassis, some of the G33 still live on in the company's road cars today.