No, the retrospective sensation is more to do with the simplicity of the G4, its absence of sophistication or pretension; this is your basic sports car in a way that even the Elise can't match. Its design doesn't aim to be trendily Spartan and its low-volume status spares it the necessity of having to be built to withstand crashing into black and yellow-striped floodlit barriers from every angle. It's a car that was built to go briskly and to be enormous fun when it was first conceived in the early '60s, and the same formula resurrected for 21st century consumption with a Ford Zetec engine promises old-fashioned charm with the pace and ability to thrill in a modern world.

Readers of a more mature disposition (not to mention 1960s British sports car spotters) may recognise the shape of the Dare G4 as being the spitting image of the classic Ginetta G4. That's largely because they're one and the same thing, even being manufactured by the Walklett family who designed and made the original. In case you're wondering why the G4 isn't still called Ginetta, it's because the Walkletts sold the company and name some years ago to Martin Phaff, who continues to make Ginettas in a small industrial unit in Sheffield. However, the G4 name and design (together with that of the Ginetta G12) belong to a Japanese company that commissions Dare to produce the G4 (and G12) for the Japanese market and allows the Colchester-based outfit to sell the car under its own auspices in the UK, Europe and the USA.

To further complicate matters, that American connection was masterminded by the Norwich-based Leading Edge Sports Car Company, whose RT190 features in this month's TCOTY feature and who helped Dare re-engineer the G4 for left-hand drive and create a 'long cockpit' version for the larger driver.

Prices for the glassfibre-bodied G4 start at around ΂£18K depending on spec. As with all low-volume sports cars, the personalisation process can bump up the cost considerably; the car pictured here would cost you closer to ΂£20,000, although if you plump for wild engine, transmission and suspension options the price can shoot a lot higher than that.

The car entrusted to evo for the day is Dare's only G4 demonstrator and its set-up leans towards everyday softness - although Dare sells reasonable numbers of G4s to trackday clientele, it also has customers seduced more by the shape than the ability to soft-shoe-shuffle around tracks and down back roads and they need greater pampering.

'Pampering' is, of course, a relative term, because the G4 is a purist and largely uncompromising sports car. Open the small, lightweight door and, with the hood off at least, entry is easy enough. The Dare doesn't have fat sills like an Elise, but you do sit a long way inboard - the G4 is built up around a spaceframe chassis, and the outer extremities of the curvaceous body extend way beyond the outermost chassis rail. As well as sitting quite centrally you're also on the floor, squeezed into a low-backed bucket seat that's more comfortable than it at first seems. Ahead is a plain facia peppered with pleasingly simple Smiths dials and similarly retro rocker switches, while to your left is a tall, fat transmission tunnel ideal for resting your gearchanging arm on. Completing the yesteryear driving position is a footwell that, while fine for heel-and-toeing, provides no left foot rest.

The G4's neatly installed 150bhp 1.8-litre 16-valve Zetec motor is aurally unrecognisable as a mass-produced Ford powerplant. It's gruffer and growlier, in part thanks to modifications to the management and intake systems, and also due to its fab-looking four-into-one sports exhaust. Though not exactly an explosive performer, the 670kg G4 nips along nicely at lowish revs, but then gets down to business beyond 3500rpm. Between 5000rpm and the 6250rpm power-peak, the wispy roadster becomes a blacktop brawler, angrily attacking every straight, lashing forward whenever goaded by the throttle pedal.

Firm, progressive brakes complement the performance characteristics. The steering, too, is crisp and evenly weighted, and while it may lack the micro-switch immediacy of an Elise, it's frothing with feel and feedback. Double wishbones both ends help with the G4's agility and, coupled with well-judged damping control (for road use, at any rate), make the car feel connected to the road surface without feeling ruled by it. Extended stretches of broken tarmac can upset the composure, but most of the time it's comfortable, responsive and fun.

As with almost all specialist sports car makers, Dare can set up your G4 just the way you want it, right up to full race spec and with an engine of your choice, providing it fits and you have deep pockets. Even in this modest state of tune, though, it has a seductive blend of old world appeal and new world ability. It won't trounce an Elise, but it will show you a good time.