I am reluctantly selling my Rossa Mk1 which was manufactured in December 1987 (chassis No 31A) and passed through several owners before I bought it still unregistered in 2008. It was stripped down to literally the last nut and bolt and went through a five year rebuild before passing the IVA test and being road registered for the first time in August 2013. It was a real challenge to make the car meet modern IVA requirements and, as far as I am aware, it is the only Mk1 to have passed the test (which lasted for nearly five hours!) and that also confirms that it was built to a high standard - there were only two very small issues which needed attention before the certificate was issued and one of them was a 'factory' fault in the rear light connectors.

There are far too many new parts to mention and stainless steel fixings have been used as much as possible. The car comes with a hard top, soft top (possibly the last brand new one remaining at the time), roll bar, indoor car cover and all the spares that I have. There are also two spare soft tops, one of which is in excellent, unfaded condition (hardly used) and only requires the front of the material re-gluing to the header rail while the other has a good frame but tatty hood suitable for use as a pattern for making a new one. There is one spare set of 'basic' soft top handles which are not chromed but still do the job.

The engine is an MG Metro 1275 which has had a 40 thou rebore and which has a Piper 270 fast road cam. The crankshaft was reground 10 thou and new cam bearings fitted. Valve guides and springs were replaced, seats recut and the cylinder head had a light skim just to clean it . New parts include duplex timing gears, oil and water pumps, electric fuel pump, alternator, distributor, etc. A stainless steel exhaust system from a Mk2 Rossa was fitted and the differential was rebuilt.

Cooling is by a new MG Metro radiator and twin electric fans with override switch. Two inline fans have been fitted in the engine compartment - one to blow cold air in and one to suck hot air out.

Brakes are MG Metro 4 pots with vented discs on the front and solid Mini discs with MGF callipers on the rear. There is an adjustable brake balance valve behind the speaker on the bulkhead behind the driver and also a double acting remote servo which cost £360 on it's own.

The car is correctly registered as a GTM Rossa and all paperwork including the IVA certificate is, of course, included together with the build manual, detailed wiring diagram, Mini and Metro workshop manuals etc.

The car has only done 2000 miles since registration and is MOT'd until August 2020.

I am asking for £1750 and the car is in Dumfries DG2.

Just need clarification on the V5 info.

What is the first date of registration? Looks like 2013. Hoping it's possibly earlier to make our minimum 15 years of age importation rule.

Regret selling my GTM Coupe so this would do nicely.

Thanks.

Dan in Canada

‘Tis a lovely thing

Good luck with the sale and mine may be joining it soon due to lack of use



J.

Dan, you are correct, I'm afraid . The car was registered on 1st September 2013 as a new car and therefore did not require an MOT for 3 years! The Lord (and DVLA) works in mysterious ways... I'm sorry because I would have loved seeing it go to Canada!

Jaybee, thanks for your kind words and good luck with yours if you decide to sell it.

Still for sale - sensible offers welcome. As an added bonus I have found another set of soft top handles which I had completely forgotten about so there's even more for the money!

I can't believe that it is still available, if you are wanting to move it on I would suggest Fleecebay at £2K do it as a Classified Ad rather than an auction listing, maximum fees are £35 I think, there are a lot of wasters on there, but there are more good people. I personally think that it's a bargain at that price GLWS

SOLD! Had a call this afternoon from a local garage owner who had just heard that it was for sale and jumped at it for his family to use. Also, and most importantly, I know that it will be looked after. Thanks, everyone, for your comments, kind remarks and help over the years - it's the end of an era for me and it's been great fun in spite of the blood, sweat and tears (and money!)

Raymond

Glad you've got a sale and that it'll be looked after. If it stays local you might even see it around from time to time. Must be hard to see it go after all the work you've put in but I'm sure the new owner will appreciate it.

Now that I can post again I can complete this story by saying that on it's first weekend with it's new owner my (ex) Rossa successfully completed a 400 mile round trip to Islay. It ran perfectly all the way and he is over the moon with it so everyone's happy

That is such a nice car. What a shame you had to let it go after all your hard work. Looking at that wonderful view in the last pic has made my decision to get a tow bar on my K3, hitch a small trailer to carry the camping gear and go touring next year when I retire.