1980's MK1 Vauxhall Astra GTE...your thoughts about them

[Drago]

Very nice, but at that price...?!

Looks like it may have belonged to a copper at some point.

 

[Illaveago]

They were strong cars which were easy to work on.
I had a Y reg 1800 sohc Cavalier CD hatch, bought to do up . Someone had parked in the boot . Easy to work on and if the cam belt went it didn't bend the valves! Owning that car made me a Vauxhall fan .
I later had an Astra MK2 1300 , Vauxhall Carlton 1800, Vectra 2.0 . I bent 8 valves on the Vectra when the cam belt went.

 

[lazybloke]

They were strong cars which were easy to work on.
I had a Y reg 1800 sohc Cavalier CD hatch, bought to do up . Someone had parked in the boot . Easy to work on and if the cam belt went it didn't bend the valves! Owning that car made me a Vauxhall fan .
I later had an Astra MK2 1300 , Vauxhall Carlton 1800, Vectra 2.0 . I bent 8 valves on the Vectra when the cam belt went.

Yep - cam belt went on my brother's Mk2 GTE; I replaced a load of bent valves for him.
It was an 8 valve, so could have been twice as much work!

 

[stephec]

I'd rather have a Capri.

 

[midlife]

I'd rather have a Capri.

2.8i

I had the official Ford poster on my wall. The once in a lifetime car it said

 

[Colin Grigson]

I had a ‘Polar White’ Mk1 GTE with Irmscher front grill and 4 lamps , the later ones had better ratio gearboxes that were fitted to Mk2’s - my friend had the Mk2 with digital dash and it was quicker than mine by some margin ... didn’t look as nice though - I’d have mine back in a flash. Swapped it for a Mitsubishi Starion Turbo that was nice too

 

[DRM]

Had use of a 1.6 non turbo diesel van, does that count?

 

[T4tomo]

Had use of a 1.6 non turbo diesel van, does that count?
View attachment 584210

Luxury, My first car was a Chevette 3dr saloon- like the red one below, but in light blue.

 

[DRM]

I did have an Opel Ascona like the above, was a cracking car with the 2 litre engine, always thought it looked better than the Cavalier, and seemed to be screwed together better too, I’m sure they were built in Germany too, the Cavalier being built in Belgium, I got it off my Dad who had it from it being about 6 months old, seem to recall when he got it the new price was about £3,500, the dealers had an Ascona 400 on display for sale, iirc it was £12,500

It looked like the above

 

[T4tomo]

The Ascona was a size up wasn't it - cavalier sized and a base for the fabulous Manta. My 1.3 Chevette was a tinny as a tinny thing, but we had some fun, particularly in the snow, it needed a fair amount of weight in the boot to get traction!

 

[DRM]

Yes it was basically the same as a Cavalier, and was mechanically identical to the Manta, it was the model up from the Chevette, and Opel Kadette, available with either a 1.6 or 2.0 litre engine, GM’s competitor to the Ford Cortina

 

[Deleted member 23692]

Luxury, My first car was a Chevette 3dr saloon- like the red one below, but in light blue.
View attachment 584212

My first car was the same as the green one - Metallic green 4dr GLS with those super fake alloys wearing super chunky 175/70/R13s

Dad had a light blue 3dr L hatch in the light metallic blue... which also got used to repaint my Carlton bike

Loved that car. I modded the crap out of it

 

[stephec]

2.8i

I had the official Ford poster on my wall. The once in a lifetime car it said

That's the difference with the Capri isn't it?

It was designed from the start not to be an average family car, whilst most of the hot hatches started life as a little old lady's shopping trolley before having a bigger engine wedged in it.

 

[battered]

That's the difference with the Capri isn't it?

It was designed from the start not to be an average family car, whilst most of the hot hatches started life as a little old lady's shopping trolley before having a bigger engine wedged in it.

I don't know about that. All the mechanicals were Cortina.

 

[smokeysmoo]

Saw this a while ago that tickled me.