Faults:

Chassis needed complete rebuild on purchase due to lack of rust proofing the later model had galvanized chassis so rust would not be a problem.

Replaced all brake pipes with copper and aeroquip braided hose.

Door hinge pins have a habit of wearing so were replaced.

Alternator replaced last year.

General Comments:

Cheap open top motoring at its best this car handles so well and holds the road like no other I have driven.

It is light being fibreglass bodied and with a ford 1600 cvh engine all set on a light weight chassis.

The interior is simple and functional most switch gear is pinched from the mini-metro the seats are very comfortable.

The soft top is easy to put up and down less than 1 min and stays dry in all, but the worst downpours the normal leaks being where the roof edge meets the windows.

Hard top hardly ever gets put on, but when it is it tends to be as noisy if not worse than the rag top.

Price wise you won't do better £1000 will get you a car needing work, but running and probably with mot.

£2000 and a good sorted car can be yours.

Pay upwards of £3000-?6000 and you can get a galvanized chassis condition A1 1800 turbo and hit 125 m.p.h.

Faults:

The first thing I did when I acquired the SS1 was strip the doors down, because all the rubbers had hardened and cracked, causing the electric windows to operate badly.

The first major breakdown happened at a festival when the car would not start.

With the help of a very nice man in a yellow van we got it started. This fault happened a number of times before finding that I had an intermittent fault in the distributor, once replaced this gave me no further trouble. cool.

Then 4 month's later the alternator gave in causing me the awesome task of finding out which car the unit came from. Also considering that the alternator that was on the car was not the one it should have been.

General Comments:

WOW what a car for its money!!!

With its 15 inch 5 spoke alloys (205/55/15) this car handles like no car I've driven before.

You do not steer it you aim it, with 2.9 turns lock to lock the steering is so responsive, that when I get in to my old banger (that was kicked out of the garage by the SS1) it feels like a tank despite the power steering.

The cab is small and cramped and the heaters leave a lot to be desired, but I find the driving position to be very good although the pedals are wedged into the right hand side of the foot well.

Faults:

Shockers had failed when purchased, replaced with spax - a lot better.

General Comments:

Corners on rails.

£200 insurance (fully comp).

Brake fade built in.