For sale; GTM Rossa K3 kit car requiring repair/light renovation.
This yellow peril is a GTM Rossa K3 kit car that I built during the summer of 1997 & is based on a 1993 Rover Metro GTi.
The kit comprised of the chassis, doors and body panels (the yellow bits) which are all manufactured from glass reinforced plastic (GRP) along with a metalwork fixing pack. The main mechanical components coming from the donor GTi Metro being:-
By utilising all of the above components from the one donor car I was able to keep the original registration mark thus avoiding a `Q’ registration.
The donor Metro had only covered 5000 miles where the complete kit has now covered around 15000 miles.
The non standard and slightly large alloy wheels along with the recovered BMW E30 M3 seats are the only items that did not originate from the donor Metro.
The multi-point injection 1400cc 16 valve `K’ series engine is very mildly tuned & produces 120 bhp @ 7250 rpm which in such a lightweight car of 740Kg gives sprightly performance with a 0-60 time of around 7 seconds accelerating to a top speed (estimated, not tested) of 120+ mph.
The vehicle itself provides a slightly different form of everyday transport and during its 15,000 mile history has proved to be extremely reliable &
economical returning an average of 40 mpg with a little enthusiastic driving thrown in.
The car has been dry stored off the road in a heated garage for the past 12 years where there are a list of jobs required to get it back roadworthy:
The head gasket needs replacing – this was the bugbear of the Rover K-Series engine where there are competition head gaskets now available which are used on Lotus Elise / Exige, very wise to fit one of these = no more head gasket issues.
Little bit of fiberglass work to re-secure the rear engine cover to it’s hinge point. This has not completely separated but could do with a reinforcement / re-bond.
Front O/S headlight cover needs replacing or you can just remove them both.
New battery.
Rear window requires re-bonding to hard top.
The car would greatly benefit from a thorough checking and maybe a re-paint of what metal chassis bits there are.
As the main bodyshell is GRP there is no steel to rust and there is no crazing of the gel-coat though it could do with a T-cut to get it back to it’s original lustre.
There is probably a month or two consisting of a few easy hours in the evenings and weekends to get it in great condition and back on the road ready for next spring/summer. The main bit is the head gasket although this is relatively easy to change.
Once you have done all this, you’ll have a completely unique, head turning and relatively practical vehicle that can easily provide reliable everyday transport.
I’m looking at offers over £1000 where you are very welcome to visit and view all areas of the car.
Also included is a soft-top kit where I never got around to assembling this.
For all enquiries / questions and viewing requests please contact Jon on
