Ha! Turned out that I had a little more to spend than I thought (cleaned out my old checking account with that bank that sold itself to a bigger bank who eliminated my wifes's department but that's another story...)
After reading all the testimonials on thetirerack.com on how Dunlop SP Sport 9000s were very sticky and predictable in the dry and great in the wet, I made some phone calls until I found a local tire store who's so hungry for my business that they underquoted everybody in town by $25 to $100.
After I got them mounted - '90 GTU, stock 15" rims - I set out to scrub them a bit for break-in and was impressed with the lateral grip. When they get near the limit they squeal, then break smoothly and evenly - and regaining grip is quick and easy. Very nice.
Since then I've driven the car through several good rains and one frog-strangling downpour and I am still astounded at what I felt: THESE ARE GODLIKE IN THE RAIN.
Highly recomended for wet climates.

 

I just put a set of those on a Lotus v8 Twin Turbo last week. Even though the sp8000 is a much better tire than the sp9000. Dont be fooled by the #. The 8000 has a 200 UTGQ treadwear rating that puts it right with the Yoko avs sports and almost up to the S02,S03 territory.