Hello, my name is Phil and I have a problem.
It relates almost entirely to a collecting habit and a magnetism toward slightly rusty General Motors products. There is no known cure.
Are we sitting comfortably?
Then I shall begin.....
One of my customers came in a few months ago. . . . .
He: "My neighbour has an old car on his drive, it's an Opel, you like Opels don't you"
Me: "yup"
He: "I think he wants to get rid of it, it might be a Monza or a Manta..... I think it's a Monza, it's red"
Me: (I don't like red cars) "OK, let him have my number and I might go and have a look"
Anyway, the owner phoned me soon after and gave me his address, I said didn't you have a grey one a few years ago, he confirmed this. Off I trotted to have a look.
When I got there, it wasn't the house I had been thinking of (so I think there is another late model GSE awaiting rescue about 100 yards from this one)
(that's for another day though)
Anyway I digress, it's taken some negotiation and organising but here we are.
This particular car was a Vauxhall Motors press car originally, it was then bought by the owner of British Car Auctions and used to have the numberplate BCA 1.
In the late nineties it had an extensive restoration in the West Country
It is painted in a Piaggio bright candy red
The seats have been piped in red leather
It's an auto (my preference) 4 speed, air conditioning, ABS, electric sunroof, stainless exhaust, lowered a little.. basically perfect spec.
After an electrical fault developed, it became unreliable and was parked up on a driveway under a bush but partly covered. The paint has faded very badly so it is silver on top, metallic pink in many places and candy red in the door shuts and lower surfaces.
The seats are perfect, it was a much cherished car.
Acquired as a non runner, I had it going in about 25 minutes
Obviously there are a few issues, it doesn't like to hot start at all, one of the rear brake pipes burst (which was nice), the lighting needs sorting out as there are some bad earths and bulb holder corrosion issues, it needs a respray. It's original colour is Carnelian Red and the plan is to return it to standard(ish)
I'll upload some underneath pictures shortly as it's up on the ramp already.
Oh, and the spares, OMG the spares.......
It relates almost entirely to a collecting habit and a magnetism toward slightly rusty General Motors products. There is no known cure.
Are we sitting comfortably?
Then I shall begin.....
One of my customers came in a few months ago. . . . .
He: "My neighbour has an old car on his drive, it's an Opel, you like Opels don't you"
Me: "yup"
He: "I think he wants to get rid of it, it might be a Monza or a Manta..... I think it's a Monza, it's red"
Me: (I don't like red cars) "OK, let him have my number and I might go and have a look"
Anyway, the owner phoned me soon after and gave me his address, I said didn't you have a grey one a few years ago, he confirmed this. Off I trotted to have a look.
When I got there, it wasn't the house I had been thinking of (so I think there is another late model GSE awaiting rescue about 100 yards from this one)
(that's for another day though)
Anyway I digress, it's taken some negotiation and organising but here we are.
This particular car was a Vauxhall Motors press car originally, it was then bought by the owner of British Car Auctions and used to have the numberplate BCA 1.
In the late nineties it had an extensive restoration in the West Country
It is painted in a Piaggio bright candy red
The seats have been piped in red leather
It's an auto (my preference) 4 speed, air conditioning, ABS, electric sunroof, stainless exhaust, lowered a little.. basically perfect spec.
After an electrical fault developed, it became unreliable and was parked up on a driveway under a bush but partly covered. The paint has faded very badly so it is silver on top, metallic pink in many places and candy red in the door shuts and lower surfaces.
The seats are perfect, it was a much cherished car.
Acquired as a non runner, I had it going in about 25 minutes
Obviously there are a few issues, it doesn't like to hot start at all, one of the rear brake pipes burst (which was nice), the lighting needs sorting out as there are some bad earths and bulb holder corrosion issues, it needs a respray. It's original colour is Carnelian Red and the plan is to return it to standard(ish)
I'll upload some underneath pictures shortly as it's up on the ramp already.
Oh, and the spares, OMG the spares.......