10th Anniversary with my FTO !!!

[Kace]

Well all, today is a special day - here I am at the 10th anniversary of ownership of the same FTO !!

Unlike some of you guys who change cars every year, I'm one of the ones at the opposite end of the spectrum.
Here's a quick recap on some of the things that kicked it all off for me.....

1. 1998 - Decided against the Celica, Calibra and Prelude and against the advice from friends (you'll never get parts for that thing), parents (buy a Volvo - it's safer) and myself (I'm going to spend a fortune on petrol), decided on a rare FTO

2. Read a lot from the most heavily utilised FTO discussion forum at the time - JCARS.NET - anyone here remember that site ? Searched for a car for a good few months and test drove a few in various garages. Decided to seek out a GPX Manual ONLY and had a strong colour preference for Silver, Navy, Black

3. 1999 (May 26th) - Found an Aussie in Rush who had already imported a beaut of an example. Paid £14,500 punts for the car at the time - 20k km on the clock.

4. Got a mechanic (recommended by a friend) to give her the once over - the guy turned out to be an aircraft mechanic and arrived wearing a pair of pristine white gloves to give the car the once over
Was (and probably still am) addicted to Mivec and went for drives every evening for months if not years after first getting it !!

5. 2000 - Got Paul Nolan to lower the car and got my Mongoose exhaust and decat at the end of 2001 - it's still perfect today !

6. 2002 - Met up with CJ and an original motley crew at the first rolling road meet.

7. 2002 - CJ announced FTO-Ireland go-live on 25 Feb - his email went to a whopping 8 FTO enthusiasts around Dublin

8. 2003 - 2009 Never bothered with any serious exterior mods, but did get my fair share of minor goodies over the years (clear repeaters, grooved discs, stainless illuminated sills, momo steering and gearstick, leatherette interior, Sony and Kicker ICE (now replaced with buggies, scooters, buckets & shovels and 2 kids car seats).

9. Still using the car as my daily driver and have put an extra 120k km on the clock, knocking me up to a meagre 140k km.

10. Insurance has dropped over that time from approx £1400IRP to less than €485 this year (first year that it has dropped below the magical <for a male> €500 mark)

That's it - my 10 years of FTO motoring !!!

As luck (or lack thereof) would have it, I think that today may also be marking the exit of my alternator (in the car since new). Heard a funny noise after driving to work this morning and have a hunch that this is finally wearing out

[CJ]

Congratulations Kace, this is a significant FTO-Ireland achievement of terms of lenght of ownership, theres no doubting your commitment to the cause over the years

Was the Smartgroups FTO list a precursor to Jcars? Its so long ago at this point that I forget!

CJ

[gary d]

If thats the only mechanical failure you've had in 10 years. you've done well, lets hope it's not a sign of things to come. Hope your luck holds out

[Bernard]

Congratulations Kace,
I've eight more years to go before I can make the same boast. (I have the escort 9 years but it's not quite the same )

[mark]

Congrats Kace, you FTO Veteran I think I owned mine for about 6 years and yes, the alternator went and that was about it!

[Dragonheart]

Well done Kace, great milestone! Hopefully I'll get somewhere near that mark too in time, have all the intentions of it anyway!

[kevinod]

Congrats! You'll have to buy it something special to celebrate! I'll have mine 5 years in August (5 years bought since Feb but only arrived from Japan in Aug).

[Dave]

Congratulations Kace, this is a significant FTO-Ireland achievement of terms of lenght of ownership, theres no doubting your commitment to the cause over the years

Was the Smartgroups FTO list a precursor to Jcars? Its so long ago at this point that I forget!

CJ

I think this was after Jcars, I remember it was just emails I used to get....... That's eight years ago mind!

Congrats Kace!! It is indeed a milestone!

[optical illusion]

Kace, great bit of history there, crying at the amount you paid for it though

My 1st anniv. is coming up this sunday - only 9 years to go!!

[Muad_dib77]

wow.. you should get a tatoo or something to mark the occasion...oh and maybe a new alternator

[gary d]

What about a tattoo of an alternator? seems fitting
Seen a guy with a Fireblade tattoo once, as in Honda Fireblade.. NAFF

[Kace]

Thanks all - it certainly has been an enjoyable time, with relatively low cost hassle free motoring for the duration.

If thats the only mechanical failure you've had in 10 years. you've done well, lets hope it's not a sign of things to come. Hope your luck holds out

I haven't been unscathed over the years but really only had one thing that actually stopped me from driving - that was a combination of heater matrix and waterpump failure.

I have of course had most of the other minor issues: knocking suspension, exhaust, stepper motor, lambda sensor (for NCT emissions failure), fog light switch) - but all of these are expected

Congrats! You'll have to buy it something special to celebrate! I'll have mine 5 years in August (5 years bought since Feb but only arrived from Japan in Aug).

5 year anniversary is probably also worth a treat !

I was thinking the same - perhaps a good valet, or a daytrip to Carcraft to ask for a quote on the various dents that I have accumulated by letting other half behind the wheel (several altercations with supermarket carpark pillars / other cars etc.)

I did recently treat her to 4 new alloys (mint condition standard GPX) that I managed to secure for a song. The other ones would have needed a sand blaster to clean them.

I'll probably wind up just washing it inside and out for a change - cleaning is another thing that starts waning as the years go by

Kace, great bit of history there, crying at the amount you paid for it though

Yes it was rather a lot at the time - my monthly repayments were the price of a mortgage at the time at the equivalent of about €700 per month. I did then have the car paid off fully after 3 years though.

wow.. you should get a tatoo or something to mark the occasion...oh and maybe a new alternator

Tattoo won't be happening, but alternator is definitely on the cards !!

[Sebastian]

i take my hat off kace . impressive performance

[ftolam13]

Congratulations Kace

[Kace]

Thought you all would get a kick out of this - I dug up an old article from when the UK Owners did a road trip to Ireland and met up with some of the Ireland in late 1999. I wasn't there myself but some of the original Irish gang hosted the UK FTOOC members.

[Uncle B]

Good read that Kace

Congrats on reaching a decade of FTO ownership, really showed your mates didn't you!

I'm sure there's still alot more life in her too!

[Kace]

Christ on a bike - I just realised that I have magically gone from 10 years to 15 years of ownership this month - how time flies !!!

As it stands it seems I am now facing some of my biggest FTO challenges, with NCT testers telling me that it may not be economical to fix some rust on the chassis legs. I haven't managed to get someone qualified to take a look yet, but I have seen the wonders that are carried out on all of these car restoration programmes, so I refuse to believe that my FTO is past its prime !!

Anyway - roll on the summer and some good Mivec days !!!

FTO Time

[brccrx]

You might need to edit Your signature again from 14 to 15

Congratulations! I hope that the rust can be easy sorted!

[Bernard]

Congrats Kace, another milestone... roll on 20

[goz_83]

Now that is dedication. Well wear man.

[Kace]

Well another 5 years have passed! Car is still going. It is on the road and used as a daily driver (mostly) for the summer months and then goes into hibernation.

I seem to have at least one break-in attempt per year at the moment and have already had this year’s. A steering wheel lock and motorbike cable lock is now on every night - unfortunately I have to park it on a public road.

NCT is due and could be fun - I’ll be waiting until after my Summer holidays before I tackle that one.

Had a guy stop me on the street the other day while driving in town. He wanted to know if it was a Mivec and told me he used to have one - fond memories.

Apart from that I see about one FTO on the roads per year, so we’re mighty scarce.


FTO Loughrea

Top FTO

FTO Cloghan Loughrea

[Bernard]

Looking well Kace, nice to see that it's still going strong.
All those ads we've seen over the years for rare cars might be getting more accurate, I haven't seen an FTO in the wild for a while now.

[CJ]

I can't remember the last time I saw on FTO on the road...its gotten like that now, in fact, theres very little in the way of Jap performance cars doing the rounds compared to 5 or 10 years ago. I think there are numerous factors at play - enthusiasts growing up and changing tastes, insurance (always been an issue), upkeep and maintenance, rust, economic circumstances...I remember at one point having 2 FTOs and an RX-7 my driveway, how the times have changed!

Good for you Kace, its great to see that you're continuing to fly the flag after all these years