Vauxhall Special Editions 1990 - 1999

[lisbon_road]

Given the variety and the obscurity of all these, I wonder if I could invent one for my own car.  

 

No, perhaps not!

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Vauxhall Belmarsh 'Life'.

Insignia Insignificant

Astra Aspergers

[oldcars]

Clubs, think they were run out models of the end of the shape Cavs and Astras. White trims and yellow white and grey interior from memory.

[Split_Pin]

There's a Cavalier Envoy parked up in a drive in my town with 'Envoy' badges on the wings.

[dougiefourspeed]

Now that the Vectra GSi MSD ones have been mentioned, can someone explain to me why Vauxhall sent them off elsewhere to get tarted up rather than do it themselves like a factory model? 

 

 

All Vectra B GSi's 2.5 (98-00) and 2.6 (01-02) were completed by MSD. As far as I remember all GSi's come up as SRi's when you put the chassis numbers into the Vauxhall EPC so that is presumably how they would have started out before being converted. MSD were involved in the BTCC at the time and were the factory Vauxhall team. They swapped the camshafts out for the ones from the 3.0 Omega, fitted 308mm front discs, new bumpers, alloys and Recaro seats. The exhaust was different as well and I *think* was a stainless cat-back system, although that could have been just the rear silencer. The engine was mapped to suit - the 2.5's were tuned for outright power but the 2.6 was set-up for more mid-range grunt. Both were proper flying machines, one of the best long-distance cars I've driven.

[riek]

i had a cavalier expression much like this

 

in about 2007 or 8. It was a woeful bag of shit with no equipment at all except the alloys.

[sierraman]

There's an MSD Vectra near me. It's a bag of festering shit though. Recent 'modifications' include painting the calipers yellow and those covers for the tail lamps that resemble stockings.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

All Vectra B GSi's 2.5 (98-00) and 2.6 (01-02) were completed by MSD. As far as I remember all GSi's come up as SRi's when you put the chassis numbers into the Vauxhall EPC so that is presumably how they would have started out before being converted. MSD were involved in the BTCC at the time and were the factory Vauxhall team. They swapped the camshafts out for the ones from the 3.0 Omega, fitted 308mm front discs, new bumpers, alloys and Recaro seats. The exhaust was different as well and I *think* was a stainless cat-back system, although that could have been just the rear silencer. The engine was mapped to suit - the 2.5's were tuned for outright power but the 2.6 was set-up for more mid-range grunt. Both were proper flying machines, one of the best long-distance cars I've driven.

There was a skip full of exhausts behind MSD so that sounds about right! The bloke I bought the wheels of also had a garage full of brakes, but at the time no demand as Vectras were too new. Wonder if he gradually sold them over the next few years?

[Six-cylinder]

As a dealer in the mid 90s we invented the Corsa Ranger with stripe and decal, really it was a regular Merit dressed up to be a unique model to allow us to advertise a finance deal without standing on Vauxhalls toes for they own finance plan.

[dougiefourspeed]

There was a skip full of exhausts behind MSD so that sounds about right! The bloke I bought the wheels of also had a garage full of brakes, but at the time no demand as Vectras were too new. Wonder if he gradually sold them over the next few years?

 

The irony of that being that at one point it was harder to get hold of a standard V6 exhaust system than it was a GSi one!

[Hendry]

LXi wasn't a special edition, it was a genuine model in the range. There was also an Astra LXi in Mk2 flava (hatch/estate, around 1991) because I remember begging my mum to get one, but she went with a GL instead because it was posher. LXi was a cheaper version of the SRi.

 

Weirdly there was also an Astra LX, without the i, which was a totally different looking car and not just a carb version of the LXi. No body colour bumpers, it was just a slightly spec-bumped version of the L and sat below the GL in the range. We hired one in Edinburgh, which I think was when ma decided to get one as her next company car.

 

The 1990s is when Vauxhall started their love affair with names instead of letters, and dicking around with the lineup on a regular basis. GLSi was also a proper model in the range, but only for a really short time on the Cavalier - just for the last year of Mk2ness. It lasted a bit longer on the Belmont I think but never appeared on the Astra. It was hard to know what the range was, you could walk into a dealer twice, a month apart, and have a different range to choose from it seemed.

 

Unlike Ford who were Popular - L - GL - Ghia across most of their range, for many many years.

 

I suppose technically the GLSI did exist for as long as the mk3 Astra was in production and for quite a large part of the mk3 Cavaliers life, because they did a GLS trim with injection engines, although I suspect they preferred them to be known as, for example, Astra 1.6i GLS rather than Astra 1.6 GLSi.

 

I always found it confusing the number of times id see Vauxhalls for sale which were the same model but were advertised different, for example i remember Carltons were badged on the bootlid "Carlton GL 2.0 i" but youd see them advertised as 2.0 GLIs, 2.0i GLs, etc. 

 

i had a cavalier expression much like this

 

in about 2007 or 8. It was a woeful bag of shit with no equipment at all except the alloys.

 

That photo has just reminded me of Vauxhalls penchant for chopping and changing between actual plastic badge lettering and stick on vinyl decals in place of the badges. 

[sierraman]

I've some brochures in the loft for some cack Vauxhall stuff from the 90's I'll look it up when I get home.

[Guest]

My dad had a Mk Cavalier 1.6SR once.

As did I- very first car I ever resprayed.  Was pretty proud of it!

 

[Pillock]

No doubt there was some official layout for badging that the factory used, and then as cars were repaired after accidents people got a bit fruity with where the i went, and what was on the back and sides etc. At some point in the 90s Vauxhall stopped putting the trim level on the boot and had it on the doors or wings only, so the boot would be model - engine with no reference to GLS or whatever.

 

Also, once catalysts were mandatory and fuel injection was standard across the board, the i became less important.

[Hendry]

No doubt there was some official layout for badging that the factory used, and then as cars were repaired after accidents people got a bit fruity with where the i went, and what was on the back and sides etc. At some point in the 90s Vauxhall stopped putting the trim level on the boot and had it on the doors or wings only, so the boot would be model - engine with no reference to GLS or whatever.

 

Also, once catalysts were mandatory and fuel injection was standard across the board, the i became less important.

 

They had a thing about ABS as well, I remember a lot of mk3 Cavs and earlier Vectra Bs had an ABS badge on the bootlid too. 

 

Not sure if there would have been an official badge layout or if it was just whatever they felt like doing that week, because id imagine they were much like Ford that way, I remember when my old man had an Orion the boot badge read "ORION LX 1.6" but most we saw were "1.6 LX" so assumed it had had a bump and the badges replaced in the wrong order but started seeing more and more of them with the badges in that order, too many for it to not have been a factory anomaly type thing, seemed totally hit and miss. 

 

What special edition Vectras did they do? I can only think of the Arctic (not Artic, as many dealers and private sellers used to advertise them as) and Premier like the Astras, but this being Vauxhall there must be a myriad of them. 

 

Was the SRI 130 some sort of special edition? I know it was an official edition on mk2/3 Cavs etc but I thought on the Vectra B it just went 1.8 SRI, 2.0 SRI, 2.2 SRI, 2.5 V6 SRI, with no mention of the power output but i recall looking at buying an 02 plate 1.8 SRI about 2008, in krypton green, with 130 orange decal stickers on the front doors, reminds me I actually really really like Vectra Bs, nice interior, I like the bonnet/door mirror arrangement, and quite like the styling of the prefacelift SRI, GSI and CDX, and the facelift SRI/GSI, especially in saloon form. Its one of those cars where having one in a nice spec totally transforms the car, its like night and day between them and the lower spec ones like theyre 2 entirely different cars. 

[sierraman]

Here we are... Astra Atlas, in a particularly depressing hue of green. The brochure mentions the high tech features like an electronic EGR. Can't see many people getting wet these days over something like that.

[sierraman]

Astra Merit interior... no merit in sitting here I can tell you...

 

Reading the Astravan brochure, it describes the basic Atlas as 'artisan' with its vinyl seats. Perfect for sitting on for hours on the motorway in August, sweating profusely.

[sierraman]

I've a number of old Vauxhall brochures, with stuff from the Mk1 Corsa to the Omega, yours for the postage. I'll post details in a bit...

[Pillock]

Vectra SRI 130 was an actual factual model - it used the 1.8 engine. 140 was 2.0 and the 150 was the 2.2. Don't know if they sold them all at the same time as that's quite a lot of similar, but different models.

There was also an SXi that lost the front fogs, and was just the 1.8 engine.

[dougiefourspeed]

They had a thing about ABS as well, I remember a lot of mk3 Cavs and earlier Vectra Bs had an ABS badge on the bootlid too.

 

Not sure if there would have been an official badge layout or if it was just whatever they felt like doing that week, because id imagine they were much like Ford that way, I remember when my old man had an Orion the boot badge read "ORION LX 1.6" but most we saw were "1.6 LX" so assumed it had had a bump and the badges replaced in the wrong order but started seeing more and more of them with the badges in that order, too many for it to not have been a factory anomaly type thing, seemed totally hit and miss.

 

What special edition Vectras did they do? I can only think of the Arctic (not Artic, as many dealers and private sellers used to advertise them as) and Premier like the Astras, but this being Vauxhall there must be a myriad of them.

 

Was the SRI 130 some sort of special edition? I know it was an official edition on mk2/3 Cavs etc but I thought on the Vectra B it just went 1.8 SRI, 2.0 SRI, 2.2 SRI, 2.5 V6 SRI, with no mention of the power output but i recall looking at buying an 02 plate 1.8 SRI about 2008, in krypton green, with 130 orange decal stickers on the front doors, reminds me I actually really really like Vectra Bs, nice interior, I like the bonnet/door mirror arrangement, and quite like the styling of the prefacelift SRI, GSI and CDX, and the facelift SRI/GSI, especially in saloon form. Its one of those cars where having one in a nice spec totally transforms the car, its like night and day between them and the lower spec ones like theyre 2 entirely different cars.

Pre-facelift B's were 1.8 SRi 120, 2.0 SRi 140 and 2.5 SRi V6. Facelift cars were 1.8 SRi 130, 2.2 SRi 150 and 2.6 SRi V6.

 

That's going by the sales brochure. I don't recall the pre-facelift cars being badged like this but the facelift SRi cars definitely have '130', '150' or 'V6' decals on the front doors like this.

 

[Hendry]

Here we are... Astra Atlas, in a particularly depressing hue of green. The brochure mentions the high tech features like an electronic EGR. Can't see many people getting wet these days over something like that.

 

That looks to be just a Merit with a different name, I cant see anything in the pics which looks like its an addition over the Merit.

 

My LS had that interior and seats too, horrid light grey shade, but mine did at least have a rev counter, electric front windows, a sunroof, and central locking, and the Blaupunkt CAR300 tape player sounded decent.

 

Not sure what that colour is supposed to be, but mines was a dark green colour, but weirdly its official name was "Nautilus BLUE" now im not being funny but either im colour blind or thats fucking green?!?!

 

bb8e2b5c by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

197c2221 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

ba70c6fe by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

Picture087 by Greg Hendry, on Flickr

 

Aint that green?

[sierraman]

Midi interior. Grim

[Hendry]

Vectra SRI 130 was an actual factual model - it used the 1.8 engine. 140 was 2.0 and the 150 was the 2.2. Don't know if they sold them all at the same time as that's quite a lot of similar, but different models.

There was also an SXi that lost the front fogs, and was just the 1.8 engine.

 

 

Pre-facelift B's were 1.8 SRi 120, 2.0 SRi 140 and 2.5 SRi V6. Facelift cars were 1.8 SRi 130, 2.2 SRi 150 and 2.6 SRi V6.

 

That's going by the sales brochure. I don't recall the pre-facelift cars being badged like this but the facelift SRi cars definitely have '130', '150' or 'V6' decals on the front doors like this.

 

 

Ah! that makes sense then, that pic was exactly what this one looked like only it was Krypton Green. Nice car actually, half leather sports seats, air con, computer, front and rear armrests, etc.

 

Only thing is, im sure the facelift still had the 2.0 SRI 140, A guy my dad knew had one from brand new as a taxi, V365LGB, I remember it well, didnt have half leathers though so I guess they mustve added them to SRI spec some time between 2000 and 2002. 

[lisbon_road]

 

 

Here we are... Astra Atlas, in a particularly depressing hue of green

I like that green.  I admit those seats are grim though, and there were - indeed are - so many of them.  

[sierraman]

I've got an Astra Atlas brochure if anyone wants it for postage I'm guessing it's a large 2nd class stamp.

 

I've an Astravan brochure from 1996 again for the cost of large 2nd class stamp

 

Also I've the brochure for a Monterey, a Midi and a Brava, 94,95 and 96 Corsa brochures, Astra Mk3 convertible

[sierraman]

How many people went for this peculiar bodykit on the Vectra?

[Hendry]

Nobody?

 

Thats honestly the first time ive ever seen that bumper, is it some kind of Irmscher accessory? because the bumper on the Astra in the pic below looks familiar. 

 

this was the best mk3 bodykit (except the actual factory GSI one):

 

[Pillock]

 

 

Pre-facelift B's were 1.8 SRi 120, 2.0 SRi 140 and 2.5 SRi V6. Facelift cars were 1.8 SRi 130, 2.2 SRi 150 and 2.6 SRi V6.

 

That's going by the sales brochure. I don't recall the pre-facelift cars being badged like this but the facelift SRi cars definitely have '130', '150' or 'V6' decals on the front doors like this.

 

 

I had a facelift SRI140. T677BVP. No decals on the doors but deffo the 2.0 as it spat the exhaust manifold off like they all do.

[sierraman]

I can concede the Vectra GSI was very quick in a straight line, fastest I've been as a passenger, a friend of a friend once had one, it did an indicated 135 mph on the elevated section of the M1 past Meadowhell in the early hours. Didn't come as much of a surprise when he got banned about a month later. It wasn't very good at the bends from what I could see, it was all over the shop on the fast bend on the hill out of Burncross.

[twosmoke300]

We had a vectra b tourer on an r plate . Was this a special ed or standard model !