1973 gtm coupe

[guru_1071]

picked up the newest member of my fleet the other day, i had hoped to encourage mark to buy it, but since he has taken to talking in an american accent, driving on the wrong side of the road and giving chewing gum to small children i had to buy it as it was too good to pass up.

no photos thanks to a pesky missing camera cable, but,

one correctley registered, with a gtm chassis number and a proper number plate, 1973 registered gtm coupe. no iva nightmares, q plates or expensive sva tests, no sir, not with this bad boy!

i had bought it with the intention of hacking it up to make it look more like a proper early cox, but now its at home ive discovered that its got history to die for (and if it was a mini id be laid on the floor running round going 'whoop - whooop - whoop' like homer j!

in short, it was bought in 1985 from the factory, finished in 1998 and last on the road in 2006.

in that time it did less than 400 miles, thats correct, four hundred!, it also had a 1071 s motor fitted, but thats vanished.

with it is every bill, recipt, mot, blue print and build manual - even the copy of 'kit car' magazine the guy bought when he was deciding which kit car to buy with his retirement money - handily there was a gtm on the cover and a feature saying how good they where!

it cost the guy a total cost of 4785 to buy and build the car, this doesnt include the engine or the doner mini - the engine did cost 263 quid to rebuild though!

i had planned to hack it about, but with the history and the condition been so good, this would be criminal - instead im going to strip it and rebuild it over the summer - it needs some repairs on one side and painting, then im going to stick a 1071 back into it.

its a 50/50 feeling, ive bought a car that i didnt really want, thats to good to do what i wanted to it, but im really really chuffed with!

will stick some snaps up when i find the pesky camera cord

so ed, the kit car race starts here!!!

[Lurker]

Are GTM's still made?

[austinisuseless]

The bloke that bought the rights of the GTM Coupe about ten or so years ago was from the Worcester area, but I think he sadly died a couple of years ago - that is the strong rumour. Maybe it is for sale through his executors or something if it hasn't been sold yet.

Isn't a 1973 GTM Coupe a Cox GTM Guru? Things were quite complicated in the 1970s for it until the two lads from Loughborogh took it over about 1980 time.


edit- oops Guru, you said it is a 1985 one, with a '73 reg, so it is a later 12"/13" wheeled GTM Coupe.

[guru_1071]

some poor photos - i pushed it out the garage, took some decent pictures - my camera started to play up, so i oushed it back in, then the camera decided that it would take a few more pics, but with a battery warning - so i had to turbo a few off before it died. they are not the best pictures. mr sony will like to apologise for his pisspoor cameras!



back view, lack of engine makes it look like its been kicked up the arse - i really dont like those back lights, but it will be a lot of work to swop them.



engine bay, note the nice bent stainless pipes that go to the front mounted rad - a nice detail and better than the copper water pipe my other gtm had



the most solid and rot free gtm tub i have ever seen - this is what really sold this car to me



the worse bit - needs a bit of grping to make good, but wont be any hassle as im going to paint it



front - the fuel tank goes in here



more front, notice how tidy everything is and the good condition of the grp panels, the front is almost see through its that thin



more inside, only the seats and the guages are missing - the carpets and stuff are there



horrid, fussy clunky detail of where the rear bumper joins the rear clamshell - i have never liked this detail on the later gtms and will probably try and make it look better - i dont know why they made it so nasty and square edged when the reat of the car is so well designed



those huge back lights again......................................

start stripping it tomorrow!

[mini13]

that will be a good project!

there's a honda powered one about that I REALLY like, looks pretty standard but is mentally quick, (sub 12 sec quarters)

theres some pics of it here,

http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/inde ... 70566&fr=0

[guru_1071]

honda powered

thats a nice conversion, however mine is staying 100% a series - im old fashioned.

and drive like a pensioner

[guru_1071]

heres a picture of it when it had the engine in - looks a lot better

[Vegard]

and drive like a pensioner

You haven't always


Didn't you have another GTM as well Rich?

[Tedwong]

Rich,

It looks very nice! Some TVR feel?
Btw, I have this very rare, genuine GTM part for you! Free to you if you pay the shipping cost!
Ted

[mini13]

a 1071 should be interesting in there,

decent oopmf but nice and smooth!

[austinisuseless]

Good Gawd! Some tidying up is required there. You need as much pics of a mid-to-late-1980s GTM Coupe as possible.

The rear lights/badge/number plate light are right.

..but wished the lads from Loughborough hadn't fallen into the 1980s fashion trap of sunroofs...

[guru_1071]

Good Gawd! Some tidying up is required there. You need as much pics of a mid-to-late-1980s GTM Coupe as possible.

The rear lights/badge/number plate light are right.

..but wished the lads from Loughborough hadn't fallen into the 1980s fashion trap of sunroofs...

pah, dont need any pictures, ive got the full build manual for this car, and all the manuals and photos from my other gtm

the sunroof was an option, i quite like it

[guru_1071]

heres some pictures of the rear suspension, this is the early version that featured these 'a' arms. the toe is altered by winding bolts back and forth, but the camber is fixed.

on my other gtm all these where badly bent and rewelded where the welds holding the adjuster bolts had failed, so ive always been a bit dubious about them.

on this car they look ok, so i may stick with them for now.

the more modern gtms use a standard mini bottom arm and lock the steering using the steering arm - far better






the hubs are drum brake, with a modded bottom balljoint hole tapped to take a bolt, it then has rear brake backplates cut to accept the bore of the drum hub - very neat

[austinisuseless]

The sunroof is awful, and you know it too, so do not fool yourself.

The sunroof on a 1980s GTM Coupe, in three words is.... CRAP CRAP CRAP

[austinisuseless]

By the way, anyone that wants to build anything rear Mini engined with the front subframe, the above suspension geometry links and set up are quite good.

[guru_1071]

By the way, anyone that wants to build anything rear Mini engined with the front subframe, the above suspension geometry links and set up are quite good.

unless you want to adjust the camber, castor, drive it hard, put a lot of power through the c.v's, run wide wheels or convert to discs.

bar that they aint bad!

[austinisuseless]

Did I mention geometry, perchance, guru?

That is the point I was making. It was worked out to cancel rear bump steer and things. Just take the same points, and re-maufacture, in heavy duty shit stuff, to take anything. The wishbone legs could be widened for instance, but the way the tiebar comes onto it is right.

[guru_1071]

i agree, its ok from that point of view, but still the weakest point of it is the method of adjusting the toe, the brackets holding the 'toe bolts' bend and break, once one bends the hub can wobble back and forth and start working at the other bracket.

on my other car (which had done a lot more miles than this one) all four of the brackets where bent and welded up (and welded numerous times!)

as john cooper himself proved, the slightest bit of 'unexpected' rear steering from a rear engined 'mini' can be a shock!

i think that gtm themselves accepted that this was a weakness (particually when they went up onto the 13" wheel version) as they started with the new design - which was used on all the later cars.



using the cheaper and readily avalible adjustable mini stuff must have made more sense to them!

[austinisuseless]

Fair enough. Got the drawings myself somewhere, you have to drill and tap the hubs and all that business. Custom machines hubs I think, to accept 12" discs and a land to fit a handbrake caliper is required, from an old Volvo maybe, quite easy to do on a CNC machine these days.

And yes, John Cooper certainly found out about rear engine/subframe conversions, when he left half his brain on the A3 Kingston bypass when his Twini swopped ends.

[tedmcedd]

looking good rich, the race is indeed on! lol

still gonna keep the paint scheme you told me on sat??

Ed