Oh my God, what the hell have I bought yet again!?

That really is in great nick underneath! IIRC on my Coupé the outriggers were the first to really start rotting before anything else but then they did tend to have contact with various road surfaces occasionally back when you did not have to worry about a safety camera the other side of a nice hump in the road..
 
Interior is almost exactly the same as my Mum's 1977 Mk1 Cav apart from the Recaros.

She replaced with with a new Metro Mk1 in 1986...

Stunning nick for the shell. Was it kept wrapped in Cotton Wool in a heated Garage or someat?
 
Cheers

This car has got a weird history.

Some years it has covered less than 300 miles between MOT's

It was donated to a motor club at one point and auctioned for charity.

I've sent some emails to see what I can find out. Very interesting (for me, anyway!)
 
Hehehe...Straaaange!

I had an Astra a couple of years back that had almost exactly 1100 miles between each MOT (literally give or take 5 miles) until I gave it 3,000 in a fortnight causing it to crap itself and me to push it 2 miles to a scrappy who gave me £60 for it. A tenner's profit :D

*n
 
Gotta love the ID crisis it has too.

In 1988 you could only buy 2 models of Opel Manta:

Opel Manta GT Exclusive (1.8 carb engine, all hatchback, checked interior, no side skirts, steel wheels)

or

Opel Manta GT/E Exclusive (2.0 injection, all coupé, grey recaro interior, side skirts, alloys)

Confusingly, mine has been retro-fitted with the skirts, alloys and interior from a GT/E so it looks like a GT/E except for the fact that it's a hatch so that means it can't possibly be a GT/E as they never made them that shape and that age.

Confusing innit? :p
 
At the time it was made I know the Vauxhall Plant in Ellesmere Port used to have something like an Employee Order ticket for their Astras that had been ordered by their own workers, these cars got everything 'extra' or upgraded you could get on the car, it was just a special tag to show the line it was for one of them, they got the very best paint jobs too, it's possible your Manta was an 'Employee Order' all those years ago from the Manta Plant :)
 
mmmmmm manta :D just a shame it aint a coupe!
Was looking at various gte's and exclusives before I picked up the escort.
Love the 80's look!

edit* xe lump will be good! Still regret selling the astra gte I had a while back, let it go for 200 quid just to get shot, should have broken it down for parts tbh.
 
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Lopéz said:
Just took it out for a blast. It absolutely needs an XE engine. If Kate thinks it needs more power then it must do!
Click to expand...

haven't checked this out but in theory at least, if a C20XE engine fits, a C20LET should also?

it's the same block as far as i know.. LET with the phase2 kit being good for what, 225bhp? :D

can i also recommend: the omoc? membership is around £20/year and it's well worth it, theres quite a few midlands members.. i can think of two in Leicester and one in Fleckney offhand, and theres at least two in birmingham including me :)
 
karoshi said:
haven't checked this out but in theory at least, if a C20XE engine fits, a C20LET should also?

it's the same block as far as i know.. LET with the phase2 kit being good for what, 225bhp? :D
Click to expand...

Yeah but I've never been a huge fan of turbo power, I'd rather have the noise and grunt of an N/A engine :)

Well, my Dad always said it was easier to keep a nice car nice than make a bad car nice. So I'll be undertaking a minor series of jobs to keep any vulnerable spots on the car in good condition.

Project 1: The sills

Sills on Mantas rot spectacularly. Mine are solid but obviously 20 years of road abuse take their toll and there are blemishes and blisters along them as you'd expect.

So take one side sill:

Manta23.jpg


Remove the self tapping screws and cut along the seams, freeing the skirt. Remove skirt and marvel at grime:

Manta24.jpg


Clean up with sponge and water, and lightly key the surface with a Scotchbrite pad:

Manta25.jpg


Nitromors round any corroded areas:

Manta26.jpg


Coat corroded areas with Bilt Hamber DeOx Gel to remove corrosion:

Manta27.jpg


Paint clean metal areas with Bilt Hamber Hydrate80 stabiliser/primer:

Manta28.jpg


That will be ready to receive a good coat of stonechip black tomorrow, followed by top coat. Then the side skirt can go back on with new stainless screws and washers to replace the old rusty ones.

To lift the mood following that grotty job I ordered replacement decals for the car. These are in the correct red - I will be dropping the "E" from Manta GT/E as mine is just a GT.

Also picked up some period underbonnet DTV decals which I couldn't resist :D

Manta29.jpg
 
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Sill now painted body colour over the stonechip:

Manta31.jpg


A blast of lacquer later and we will be ready to refit the sill.


Waiting for paint to dry - so on with the correct decals. When new, the Exclusive had red stickers (no actual metal/plastic badges) so on they go.

First off, clean up the front grille where the sticker will sit

Manta32.jpg


Manta33.jpg


One Opel badge:

Manta34.jpg


Manta35.jpg


Then the boot, which has a small black badge at the moment:

Manta36.jpg


Bye bye old, hello new:

Manta37.jpg


The Manta came with a variety of stickers in various sizes over the years, as mine is a GT I dropped the "E" at the end

Manta38.jpg
 
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