Identifying an FTO

[Bartpabicz]

Hi,


I recently found an ad on DoneDeal, a guy is selling his FTO.

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/4291488

Now, I was puzzled by the front bumper as it's 1998 (February, I had seatbelt tag photo taken) whereas the bumper looks like it's pre-facelift. Could someone clarify please? Thanks in advance

[goz_83]

The thread below you might have seen before should answer your question.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=14229&p=108692#p108692

Stunning example all the same.

[Bartpabicz]

well, pun might have not been intended, but it's my thread Yes, I've read through all the posts, but what caught my attention is:

a) The owner, and the owner before him, said that bumper was on when they bought it
b) this particular bumper is different than other pre-facelift ones I have seen. Notice the indicator section.
c) I had the seatbelt tag checked and it's 02/1998. And at that point all the FTO's had facelift bumpers as far as I know.

I was wondering if there were some special edition FTO's I don't know about that came with stock pre-facelift bumpers, or it simply may have been crashed.

[goz_83]

Reckon it's after market bumper. The skirts aren't standard either. Looks like it was resprayed.

[Mitsinut]

They might have been FTO purist's, I have often considered taking off the facelift front and putting the original on, I have two spare by the way if anyone needs one, but the hassle of re-spraying and colour matching is not worth it now. From some angles the facelift bumper looks a bit like a snow plough...

[Bernard]

It looks to me like someone swapped a facelift bumper for a pre... there could be any number of (odd) reasons for that.
I'd be interested to see if the headlights are pre or post facelift but the steering wheel is post.

[goz_83]

A purist wouldn't have after market skirts, wheels, steering wheel and tinted glass. I would happily drive that gpx though. Clean as you can get.

[Chris_Heilong]

A purist wouldn't have after market skirts, wheels, steering wheel and tinted glass. I would happily drive that gpx though. Clean as you can get.

??The steering wheel is the stranded Momo one, same as mine.

[Bartpabicz]

Grand, much appreciate all your input. Thanks!

[goz_83]

A purist wouldn't have after market skirts, wheels, steering wheel and tinted glass. I would happily drive that gpx though. Clean as you can get.

??The steering wheel is the stranded Momo one, same as mine.

But the momo wasn't standard on pre-facelifts

[Chris_Heilong]

A purist wouldn't have after market skirts, wheels, steering wheel and tinted glass. I would happily drive that gpx though. Clean as you can get.

??The steering wheel is the stranded Momo one, same as mine.

But the momo wasn't standard on pre-facelifts

good point, but it is a facelift in disguise.

[technikhaus]

A purist wouldn't have after market skirts, wheels, steering wheel and tinted glass. I would happily drive that gpx though. Clean as you can get.

??The steering wheel is the stranded Momo one, same as mine.

But the momo wasn't standard on pre-facelifts

It was optional I believe, as I have one

[goz_83]

I don't think so. Many pre-facelift have momo steering wheels installed aftermarket.

[technikhaus]

Unless they went to all the effort of also adding in the Airbag ECU etc, then I'm pretty sure mine is factory...

[goz_83]

For the safety aspect...I would, but sure, it could have been optional. Makes no sense to me though.....airbags should not be an optional extra. That goes for a 15 year old car too.

[Myfeckin FTO]

Just to add my toupence - if your pre facelift (classic) FTO has a Momo (airbag type) wheel then its been added aftermarket at some stage. The classic FTO's airbag equiped steering wheel was a 4 spoke (horrible looking IMO) affair.

That FTO does look like a facelift FTO that had a classic bumper fitted at some stage (most likely after a front end tip).

[goz_83]

Thanks for clearing that up Shane. I've seen those nasty airbag wheels on the classic fto. puke

[goz_83]

Found a pre-facelift on DD with the airbag wheel.

http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/4267020

[colm_mcm]

Looks like it just got a standard PFL replacement bumper. Doesn't seem to line up that well to the wing and the colour seems a tiny bit off.