Santa Claus came knocking on Christmas Eve

FTO GPX - Probably the best car in the world

The ownership of this car started in a very strange manner, on Christmas Eve a Red FTO GR was parked just outside my driveway. It felt as if Santa Clause was saying, here boy, this is for you, take it... I had a weird feeling inside, as if I already owned the car, excitement and amazement all at once... Words can not even start to explain how I felt, it was like when I was a little boy again, in the candy shop, jumping up and down waiting for the candy...

I was arriving at my house, having had my morning walk through Epping forest with my parents. They had come over to spend the Christmas break with me. My mum just started peeking at it and me and my dad also had a good look and I was really impressed. Having never seen an FTO up close it was a great experience. We then went home and got ready to leave again, as we needed to go do some food shopping, it was then that I saw the owner outside.

An old man comes along talking with a friend, again I was looking at the car and wondering at it, then I jokingly said I would buy it, asking him if he would sell and for how much.

The next thing the old man said was that he was trying to sell it and that he would sell for £5000, then I haggled a bit and got the price lowered to £4,500. Had a look at the internet and read some more about these cars.
Then the next day we went to have a spin, strange though was that the old man did not let us drive or touch much of the car, even the paper work was strange, with no model or year on the DVLA papers. My dad then asked him about a few things and all seemed ok, I asked about the auto gear box and he then became a bit nervous, with remarks that the car had no clutch. "As it was an automatic it didn't have one" he said rather stressed, alarm bells went off in my head, the deal was almost off, I went home and surfed the internet and found out I was being had, a GR at £5k was too expensive.
Another thing was he didn't even show us the insurance papers, and all other papers seemed rather funny, no MOT papers at all... The old man started saying, I will have to get them next week...
So I then called the old man and told him the deal was off, he tried to haggle and I just said I had lost interest in the car.

At home that day, I went onto the internet, searched good o'l google and found a dealership up in Scunthorpe, near Doncaster, a place called Ebony & Ivory. They claimed to have over 20 in stock !!!
So I called them up and well they confirmed they had a large selection of cars. Confirmed with them that we would go and see them the next day, talk about quick and decisive, hehe...

Got my dad to come with me, was a great trip, we went on the british rail from London up to Doncaster where we had to catch a regional train to Scunthorpe. It was great, it was snowing and it really felt like Christmas, amazing I was about to get my own present.

When I got there had a good look at all the models, and there she was, my black beauty, 1995 GPX FTO Mivec with all the goodies. List of extras was good indeed, Tiptronic, with ABS, 6 CD Changer from Mitsubishi, Automatic Air Conditioner, Electric Windows, Central Locking, Traction Control, Power Steering, Alarm & Imobilizer, Black limited edition Speedline Rims and best part all, only 55,000 miles. No japanese log book, but it did have all the service stickers on the side of the door with service dates and milage, also came with the latest shaken certificate document taken before export (japanese super mot test).

Discussed all the things I wanted done as part of the deal, asked to replace scratched side mirrors, 6 cd changer fitted also agreed to have the car serviced as part of the deal including cambelt change, oil filters change and whole car polished and valeted, then we agreed the purchase of the car at £5,000 including vat and registration fees.
Got down to London with a big smile on my face and then one week later returned to Scunthorpe to go and collect my baby.

Although recently I had a driveshaft seal fail, they agreed to cover cost and my baby is now being slowy moded with new bits n' peices, what a great car !

I know you are reading this and thinking this is all a made up story, but you know what, it's all true and I guess it's fitting the situation as I was and am going through the toughest times yet, my divorce and this little gem was a gift from the heavens above to put my chin up and put a smile back on my face.

And this was how I aquired my little FTO and how I then joined the FTOOC (FTO Owners Club www.ftooc.org)