Cavette's Carlton collection capers.

[Cavcraft]

OMF FACEBOOK IS SHIT, etc. Or maybe not.

Retro80'sboy of this parish pointed out a cheap old Vauxhall barge on eBay that wasn't too far away. Having faffed about for a full 7 minutes after seeing the message I went for it, partly as it looked prime oval fodder.

So here it is...

 

 

The lady selling it was a real diamond, one of those wonderful people you occasionally get the pleasure to meet in life. It'd had been her (now deceased) husband's car from 6 months old, he'd got it as a company car because he started his own business. It's got 160,000 miles on the clock because 'oh, he went to Germany in it a lot. Sometimes a few times a month. And Poland. And other places in Europe.'

I got shown round the full extent of photographs on the walls, lots of her husband who was in charge of designing a universal joint (or something like that) for the Jeep Cherokee and he'd also done work for ERF in his time on design of components.

Lots of offers of tea or coffee, sifting through reams of paperwork with the car and just enjoying her company, she'd led a fascinating life and her and her family are still involved in the Royal Choir, or something like that.

Anyhow, the car wasn't there when we arrived, we were escorted to the local tyre company as once a month she used to drop it up there for a 'quick once over' and payment was always a nice box of donuts for the lads!

Considering it resided in a seaside town (Llandudno) and it's a Vauxhall and it's a Carlton, the bodywork has held up remarkably well. In all honesty so nice was the seller that I was never going to cock on the deal, as on the way twixt hers and the tyre place she was worried I wouldn't want it. The o/s/r wheelarch looks fine, not opened the n/s/r door yet but not expecting any agro.

Paintwork at the front has 'done a Vauxhall' and looks like it's been cleaned with a wire brush and some Vim, but that's Vauxhall lacquer for you! Even the debts had a story to tell, the one on the boot she thinks was done by an ambulance in the dark, it'd been called to one of her W.I meetings but 'never mind, these things happen', and the nearside doors were done passing two council trucks, one of which decided to start pulling out.

 

Inside was far more Cavalier Mk2 than Mk3 (or anything else) but still quite unique to these Carltons. The seats and inside have held up really well considering the age and mileage and I bet it's never seen a smoker in it's life. It had been looked after in earlier days by Network Q and any MOT work was always done, including some of the advisories. One that wasn't done was a slight oil leak 'couple of drips a week' that we think is the rocker cover gasket, an old Vauxhall favourite.

The drive back was uneventful, save the temp gauge dropped to nothing and the heating went cold after having stopped for fuel, hopefully just a bad earth or something as the radio went a bit mental too.

Drove really nicely, still pulls clean and well, and the interior seems huge. Took me back to whanging round in one or two of these years back, though for some reason I never especially took to Carltons years back. Anyhow it's a brilliant car and I'm really happy with it. I think the history/previous owner made the deal to be honest, just a nice bit of a story behind the car helps it's attraction to me. The price was a no brainer too (£200 with loads of MOT and a couple of months tax) and I'd never have tried to knock it down in a million years, it was a bargain at this price.

Now, if truth be told I had a home for this from a bigger Vauxhall fan than me who wants to do it up further, I was actually due to drop it off straight after picking it up but I can't do it, least not yet. I want to enjoy blezzing round in it for a while yet, it's a complete contrast to a dirty, smelly diesel.

[Wilko220]

Looks marvellous - these have really grown on me and that looks like a bargain. That kind of seller always makes you feel better about a purchase.

Hope you continue to enjoy it.

[Mr Lobster]

Bargain!

 

I like dealing with that sort of person, its always nice to see that not everyone isn't a tosser selling some overblown shitbox or expecting the world.

[Six-cylinder]

In the Oct 1993 I had a new Carton 2.0i GL Auto in Frost blue company car and enjoyed it very much.

 

I have looked a couple of times at Carltons for sale but never seen the right one.

 

Yours looks good have fun.

 

Chris

[dollywobbler]

Very nice. If it wasn't such a late one, I'd've snaffled it up myself.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Not many M-reg carltons around, thats a very late one. These are a real quality motor if you find an unrusty one, which this looks like it is.

[Cavcraft]

Yeah, seen loads of 'L' platers around (most of which had the suffix ANL for some reason) in the past, but can't remember ever seeing an M regger. I'll comb through the history later, it seems to have been really well looked after. I suspect constant use has helped it too, sitting around gradually seizing bits up and rusting away wouldn't have done it any favours.

[Tetleysmooth]

If you need any spares or want to sell the beast, have a word with these lads.

They have sheds full of Carlton bits.

 

http://totalcarlton.com/forums/index.php

[Cavcraft]

Ta, just joined up! I've found someone not too far away breaking one for spares. If the removeable panels (bonnet, doors, wings?) are in good nick and the right price I might just have to go for them, as it's the same colour as mine I think.

[freebird]

Ive always fancied a GSI one of these.

Thats a fabulous find for bog all money.

Top work.

[eddyramrod]

Top work Billy, that looks a right bargain.

[brickwall]

The Carlton was one of the best cars I ever owned. It was truly splendid, good spec, refined without saying "Hey everybody look at me". It could eat up motorway from London to Glasgow with four peeps and luggage.

[Six-cylinder]

I was selling Vauxhalls at the time and Carltons were slow sellers and in fact I had been driving estates but the 2.0i GL Auto in Frost blue sat in our showroom so long in the end we had to do something with it so I put it on the road and I drove it.

 

 

carlton 2.0i Auto.jpg broad by the_cvsmith, on Flickr

[bigstraight6]

What a bargain, I'd love smoking about it that old girl

[Rocket88]

One of my all time fave motors...........GSi is a lovely machine

[Spiny Norman]

The old RWD Vauxhalls are WIN!

 

These have all but disappeared round here, there used to be a few J & K platers kicking around in various states of decomposition but they all seemed to vanish at once.

[rml2345]

Grand write up Billy and that looks like an absolute steal. Haven't seen a Carlton on the road up here in many moons now, which is a shame as they're corking things.

Many happy childhood memories spent in a 2 litre manual Diplomat probably makes me a bit biased on them, but they are fantastic motors.

[trigger]

Nice buy Billy boy, My neighbour had one in identical colour and spec but on a K plate until a few years ago, that was a tidy, low mileage car (70k) but the body had rusted behind the drivers pedals and he got quoted £800 to get it patched for the mot as you needed to strip so much out of the car so he ended up scraping it instead, seemed a real shame.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I really rated the Carltons BITD. A mate had them as company cars and even the 1.8i was a nice car to drive.

[Lord Sterling]

Top bombing lad, that looks a real corker. Don't think I've ever driven one of these but my form tutor at school had one, I remember the being something like J??? OKR. She later part ex'd it for a newer Frontera.

[Split_Pin]

That's an incredible bargain, well done on that price and the owner seems a very nice lady.

 

I've never seen one on an M reg either.

 

There's a Carlton in the same colour languishing in a yard near me but no idea on the condition as I can only see the roof.

[Alexg]

What a looker! Top job. £200 is a bargain, you really can't beat that.

[Burnside]

That's a real bargain. I remenber my uncle having a Kreg 1.8 GL Estate in metalic dark blue in the late 90's. It tried to set itself on fire thanks to some bodged wiring! So as he was a electrician he rewired the whole car and it was fine after that. Sold it to buy a R reg 406 estate about 2002 ish which he still has at the moment.

[Pillock]

Very fond memories of these.... my uncle had one, Gold I think, a 1.8GL. Coming from my mum's Escort I just remember it having hundreds of switches on the dash and it being enormous, these days probably not much longer than an Astra.

[RichL]

I like it. The best service history you will ever get that is. Can't remember the last time I saw one round here. I'd want to keep it too!

[J-T]

My grandad had a silver/gold one of these on an H plate as a company car for 3 years, then he bought it and kept it for about another 3-4.

 

My abiding memory of these is thinking they were just about the poshest cars ever made, as they had electric windows in the back that I could play with. Compare that with my mum's Mk1 Fiat Panda at the time which refused to start every time it was within 3ft of moisture and it's not hard to see how that opinion was formed!

[Barry Cade]

I crashed one of these in about 1992 when I worked in Reekie Motors, the local Vauxhall dealer. Was delivering it back to the customer, chasing a workmate who was driving a Cavalier Gsi. An old giffer in a Maestro misjudged my speed and tried to nip over the crossroads ,paniced and stalled in the middle of the road... thanks to the " Advanced Chassis Technology (ACT)" in the Carlton, I missed him and ended up in the ditch. Sierra man who was sitting waiting to cross the crossroads on the other side came over, helped me out, gave me his business card and and said " I dont know how the fuck you missed that old cunt, but if you need a witness, give me a shout! "

 

I didn't get the sack! Still hate Carlton's though, especially green ones.

[Bren]

I think they were (and still are) a very underrated car, simpler than the omega, let down by their propensity to rot. Senators were pretty much the same, mine looked immaculate, I spotted a mark on the n/s front chassis leg one day, a quick prod showed it was beginning to rot from the inside.

 

I always fancied the GSI 24V, 150 mph potential with a manual box, hard to find one now that has avoided the tin worm.

[ProgRocker]

Wow, nice buy Billy. Looks in fine fettle for 166k miles.

 

The big rwd German built Vauxhalls have a special place in my heart as my parents owned an older shape Carlton CD and a '79 Royale.

[stuboy]

i always wanted an estate one, a diamond or better a cdx