Hi there, newbie here, my name’s Sam and I plan on owning a 1990-1993 GTO one day.
I thought going on here would be a good starting point to realizing that dream like so many others.
I want to say so much more but I don’t want this post to be a novel long. All I’ll say on my first post is that I’m looking to talk with others about the pros and cons of buying one and as well as that, meeting up with other owners to get to know what it’s really like to own one.
Not going to lie to you I do feel intimidated by the amount of 3KGT/GTO guru’s I’ll meet on here as I am not a mechanic or a hardcore enthusiast (yet). I’m just a guy who is obsessed with the idea of owning one.
I’m hoping to start my first job soon so I can start saving up £10,000 for one. Either I want to save up 10K or save up 5K then get a loan out for 10K so I can buy the car alot sooner. But I haven’t got my driving license yet so I don’t know if I should be saving up for one immediately or wait until I get my license then start saving for one.
There’s alot of uncertainty with what I want to do, going about getting one so I’m looking forward to meeting members on here that can make things just that little clearer/easier for me instead of fogging my mind up with too many things at once.
The GTO will be my first car so I want to make sure that I can secure a really good example for the 10K I hope to spend on it. I don’t know if I should get a import from Japan or try my luck at finding that one listing that shows up on UK Facebook Marketplace. Geez I’ve just realized while writing this I’ve already bored everyone half to death with these ramblings, my apologies XD
Anyways just wanna say hi and cannot wait to see where this GTOUK club will take me.
Looking forward to it!
To be that ‘boring dad guy’ first off… Being your first car I’d definitely recommend working out the running costs of it as most cars the buying’s the easy / cheap bit!
Tally up your basics:
insurance costs (this might be quite depressing )
general maintenance (servicing etc)
Fuel costs
You should really account for the fact these cars are now all 30~ years old, they’re going to need extra work (so more £££) to keep them running nice, look tidy and importantly be safe.
Unfortunately garages are also a little hard to find who will work on these so often members choose to do their own mechanical work / servicing.
Theres a ton of useful information across this forum to help avoid any nasty pitfalls when it comes to picking up a 3000gt/GTO so have a good read through. Keeping an eye on the forum is also a great way to find any members who maybe letting go of their cars and likely have a bunch of the cars history on here over the years.
Now on the less boring adulty side, the car’s a ton of fun, gets buckets of attention and hugely underrated. Every single day it puts a smile on my face, it’s worth every penny
Welcome, as you said this is going to be your first car and your just starting your first job, im going to assume that your are still young (under 25) and want the twin turbo version , i got mine when I was 24, I found only 2 companies that would insure me on the car and even then it was only 3rd party.
I personally depending on what space you have, get a cheap car and find a cheap gto or a decentone that you can work on and learn the car until the insurance get cheaper and your more experienced with driving, you can always use the car on a track aswell, just get it transported to one (last thing you want is to have an accident and with alot of power for your first car is more chance, we were all young once and like to show off)
I personally have also found these cars look more complicated than they actually are, i had little mx5 and Peugeot 306s before this, but i also removed the engine a few years ago and still got to finish rebuilding it and put it back, so i could regret these words
Where about in the country are you, there might be some members nearby you
I’m in the East Anglia region/Suffolk area. I intend on using my e bike as my main mode of transport to and from work day to day and use the GTO on a limited mileage, classic car insurance which I believe Adrian Flux provides? Additionally I hope to use my club member code to get a discount on that insurance as well.
My primary use case for my GTO to start off with whilst I’m young (and have no obligations yet like a house of my own) is to use it as intended. It’s a grand touring car so I hope to do long distance road trips in it on occasion and do car meets as well.
The eventual long term goal, while it being very ambitious is to take it overseas to California for a month long holiday to see my friends over there. So I’m willing to dedicate alot of time, money and resources into ensuring that my GTO is built to last a lifetime. Yes it’s going to be expensive and painful at times, but I only live once and I want to make the most of it.
My ideal GTO would be preferably a '93 Series 1 GTO Twin Turbo-Manual-in red, but I also don’t mind a '90, '91 or '92 GTO. I’m just aware that the older the model is the more is to go wrong on them. I’m also aware that the transfer case particularly on a Gen1 GTO is notoriously unreliable and made out of cheese. It’s good for about 2-3 launches before it dies on you. Some people online say that you can interchange the transfer case between the newer gen 2 and 3 models to the gen 1 model which is what I’ll end up doing on mine if that is indeed true the whole transfer case thing.
There’s so much more that can be said about what I specifically want but I don’t want this message to be a hour long. But thank you for replying I appreciate your wisdom and advice, I really appreciate it!
Hi RosCai,
Thank you for your advice and wisdom. I don’t intend for my GTO to be a daily driver just yet. I have a e bike which I intend to use for the day to day work runs and use the GTO maybe twice a week perhaps? I intend to go on a limited mileage, classic car insurance through Adrian Flux and use my club membership id to get a discount on it.
Initially I want to take it out occasionally for 2 days a week just to keep it warm so It’s not sitting collecting rust, but I also want to take it out for long distance road trips, maybe one a month or two, but saving up miles on the limited mileage insurance.
But the biggest thing I want to do with my GTO is take it on a month long holiday to California because my best friend lives over there and we hope to do some driving on the American roads some day. I know it sounds very ambitious and unrealistic to think of right now but that is the end goal so I’m not thinking about it too much right now. I am aware that I got a lot bigger things to worry about in the present to get to that point.
For now I’m just focusing on getting my job secured and once that’s in place then I’ll start my driving lessons. That will then ultimately dictate the reality of owning one of these GTO’s. I am confident I can get one if I work really hard so we’ll see what happens, but one way or another I am getting that car.
Thanks for your advice you gave me, I’m gonna need it.
Kind Regards,
Sam
Im in suffolk, bury st edmunds, i have a 93, which is a mk1 with a mk2 engine, i dont think any of the years like launching, i normally do a rolling launch if i do, but its gearbox i see more than transfer box, where people have miss treated and you cant find any internals to rebuild, the mk2 onwards have 6 speed that require alot more than just the transfer case.
As for long drives, these cars love them, i have done Blackpool and back and it was brilliant, i know someone else on here done europe without issues.
It is achievable, but as with any car, especially older cars, its best to add extra to your planned budget of running and maintaining them, as you will always forget or miss something
)