This was a complete impulse buy having seen it fail to sell at an online auction, and always being curious about these legendary cars that most people were told to avoid, and wanting to see one in the flesh. So in 2018 I took my wife ‘just to look’, and we both reacted similarly on seeing it hunched down on the driveway of the seller’s house looking nothing short of fabulous. Flamboyant in a rich 1970s gold reminding my wife of ‘The Jetsons’ as it looked so space age more than any other car does, with swooping lines, faired in headlights (all 6 of them) Kamm tail and hydro-pneumatic suspension. I drove it, nervously, and really had no idea what to expect or what to look for. It is like no other car of that period to drive with its super- fast self centring steering, fierce brakes and 5 speed manual gearbox linked to a front wheel drive Maserati V6.
As far as I could tell it ran like a dog, but with nothing to compare it to I tried not to worry and just did a deal and bought it! It made it home, 150 miles away, but with so little power I was overtaken by lorries. It was nothing more serious than a throttle cable disconnected on one bank so it was running on 3 cylinders rather than the usual 6, which probably explains why the seller wanted rid! Since then we have done some essential preventative maintenance on the engine but contrary to popular belief these cars are very robust and reliable once sorted. The car always feels relatively quick for a modest output of 180bhp but has a top speed of 140mph thanks to unbelievably low drag – it’s one of the ‘slippiest’ cars designed. It’s also incredibly comfortable and noise-free for a 1970s GT, no rattles, no shaking just gliding along effortlessly in modern traffic.
Since 2018 we have driven it across Europe many times, including across the Swiss alps and all the way down to Corsica in summer heat, with its factory AC to keep us cool. It remains largely original and is 1 of 24 Swedish market cars (12000 or so were made in total during its 5 year production) although I recently added a folding sunroof for open top motoring on sunny days.