Silver GTA Australia

[phildini]

Spotted in Queencliff NSW Australia, I think I may recognise the car when it lived in the UK.

I dont see any silver cars as exported in my register list, yet?
Any idea what the UK reg was?

Registration Model Colour
3 YPG Turbo Red
A2 FMV Red
D111 SGG Yellow
E747 KLN Turbo Red
E747 VHN
Exxx JPA
F448 Red
H15 GTA
OUI 8408 Le Mans Burgandy

I'm sure there is some one on here who lamented his car going down under...(a silver one)...I think I recall photos of it on some ones drive..(only in the last few months )

Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk

It was mentioned on that Pistonheads article in Mar... maybe this one...
Paul Taylor's maybe ???

Edit: yeah..it was that one..same 610 lights and flying A...

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&t=1656519&i=20

[BIG_MVS]

That's the one Dave, now owned by a chap called Howard in Australia.

[phildini]

That's the one Dave, now owned by a chap called Howard in Australia.

Was that the silver dream machine or something?

[phildini]

I dont see any silver cars as exported in my register list, yet?
Any idea what the UK reg was?

Registration Model Colour

A2 FMV Red
Exxx JPA

Simon you can delete these two, I have forward you the reg of my Alpine that went to Australia.

Thanks Phil,
I have E878 JPA Red listed as exported, thats the one you whatsapp to me last week.
Where is A2 FMV Red now? DVLA has no details at all.

[phildini]

Thanks Phil,
I have E878 JPA Red listed as exported, thats the one you whatsapp to me last week.
Where is A2 FMV Red now? DVLA has no details at all.

A2FMV is the same car.

Yep, thats my old car.

Sadly missed, and biggest mistake ever in selling it.

[phildini]

Yep, thats my old car.

Sadly missed, and biggest mistake ever in selling it.

And now having a great life in Australia.

I have just been prompted by a fellow Alpineist in Australia that there is some conjecture as to the confirmed whereabouts of the "Silver Dream Machine", UK reg E29 MTP. It is true that the car now resides in Sydney Australia and has only, as of early May 2017, been put back on the road. I have several other projects on the go which would explain the delay in its resurrection since the accident it had back in 2012. In saying this it has actually been fully repaired since June 2013.

I originally wanted to have the car fully engineered for unrestricted road registration in my home state of New South Wales. This meant that it needed some modifications to comply with ADR"s (Australian Design Regulations). It had to pass an IM240 emissions test which initially it failed miserably. After the installation and plumbing up of a carbon canister from a Subaru, an adjustable fuel pressure regulator and a catalytic converter I eventually managed to get it over the line. The next thing to consider was child safety restraint hard mounting points. They actually have them from factory behind the rear headrests, however they are not positioned directly in the centre of the rear headrests and "dead centre" was the requirement. This meant I had to fabricate and weld up some plates and fix them on the engine firewall side so that the restraint retainers could now be dead centre above the headrests. The next requirement was that of side intrusion bars in the doors. This was actually a bit tricky as they had to mount either end of the door and not foul the window operation. I used some aluminium box tube and right angle to fit them in neatly and thankfully without having to butcher the doors which I was extremely mindful of. The final touches were some simple labelling in respect of correct brake fluid, fuel type and tyre placard specs.

Now by the time all of this was completed it was only a matter of months before it turned 30 years of Age. In some states of Australia this would mean that it becomes eligible for a "Historic" registration classification. The compliance process for this is far simpler and way more economical so in the end this is what I did. Hindsight would dictate that I didn't have to do any of the compliance work mentioned above but I don't regret it as at least I know that if required it will now also qualify for unrestricted registration if I decide in the future.

It has had several other running repairs since to include a fuel pump, water pump clean injectors and basic service requirements, other than that is has been a Gem. It now frequents many places around Sydney's North and Northern Beaches. Plenty of UK expats often stop me at a servo or in a car park for a look and chat. Will try and post a few happy snaps in the future.

All the best

Howard Poignand

[BIG_MVS]

Nice one Howard, thanks for the update.



There was a "flood" of GTA's which were imported to Oz from the UK in the 2000's. I think the regulation for minimal modifications and classed as Historic was 1st January 1989. After that you had to go through hoops like you have done. There was also the option for ex Pat's that if the car you were importing was your own personal car (and you could prove you had owned it for I think 2 years or more) then it would get in under the lesser rules and regs. Hence there was an A610 imported (the other "N" reg one as well #Geekmode).

So it looks like the goal posts have changed since then? Maybe why fewer GTA's are going over?

A lot can be said here, will save it for the weekend.

Here are a few photos of it at the All French car Day in Sydney 16 July 2017.
4th photo is Bazzamac's Turbo originally from Stroke on Trent.