Specs You've Never Heard Of Before.

[Station]

And I thought the dashboard was an optional extra.

[capsuleboy]

Mardi Gras was definitely Peugeot. Rather bizarrely, I have the tape Peugeot supplied with them to play on the fancy standard tape deck. The dealer sent my mother one (she had a 309SR)

 

http://hatchheaven.com/archives/806.

Here's my old one...

[Hendry]

Please tell me the Fiesta Quartz just had a digital clock as the extra option?

 

I had the ultimate in shite badge trim - Fiesta mk3 Popular. It had nothing. Nothing!

Corsa B Merit would beat that would it not? I think it was that bad Vauxhall actually removed the glovebox and went to the hassle of tooling up for a cubby hole where the glovebox should be.

 

 

Another I've just thought of which I've only ever seen once, never seen one since I saw this one, was a Citroen Xantia "Sensation" and I think it was an S or T reg so a face lifted Xantia.

 

I also once saw a mk3 Astra in a scrappy, P reg I think, with Euro 96 badges on the front door rub strips where mine said LS. Was a weird spec, air con, velour trim and a rear armrest and black plastics which my LS didn't have but mines had electric front windows and a factory sunroof this didn't have, keep fit winders all round, it also had "half" colour coded bumpers, not the base Merit black unpainted ones but not the full colour coded ones like my LS, had front fogs but steelies and trims while my LS had standard alloys, I've always wondered what special edition this Astra must've been.

[red5]

Premier. Same as Corsa

[sierraman]

My father always used to bring home Merit Astras. Despite the base spec they still had the head up display for the radio/time etc which at the time was pretty good.

[Timewaster]

In 1981, if you found the Chevette E too extravagant, you could go even more basic with the black bumpered Chevette ES:

 

Chevette ES.jpg

Several of my mates had Shoveit Hatches. One hit the jackpot with a one owner ES in silver with about 20k on the clock from an elderly relative who gave up driving.

 

He was not at all pleased when we christened it ES, for Extra Shit.

 

He replaced it with a JPS Capri which improved his credibility x100

Black with gold pin stripes. Mmmmm

 

Our local Vauxhall dealer was always knocking out Stripes and Wheel trims special editions around 1984 / 1985

They're speciality was to paint the door bottoms grey before Rover ever thought of it.

I worked there years later and there was still a draw full of "COSMOS Special by Vincents" badges in the sales office.

One or two survived in the hands of the Old giffers who bought them but I've not seen one lately.

[Mr A Lawrence]

When I worked in a Saab dealership in the early 90's they took in an escort mk3 RSE as a part ex.

 

It looked just like a RS turbo with white paint and blue graphics on it but it was a ringways special edition based on a 1.3 popular, think it had wheel trims on it too.

 

Proper shit.

[Ghosty]

What car was it that had the 'jeans' edition with denim seats?

[adw1977]

Station, on 19 Mar 2017 - 10:53 PM, said:

Please tell me the Fiesta Quartz just had a digital clock as the extra option?

I had the ultimate in shite badge trim - Fiesta mk3 Popular. It had nothing. Nothing!

Corsa B Merit would beat that would it not? I think it was that bad Vauxhall actually removed the glovebox and went to the hassle of tooling up for a cubby hole where the glovebox should be.

 

Mk3 Fiesta Popular also had a cubby hole where the glovebox should have been: 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/61090099@N04/6886948488/in/photolist-yAftAp-yAfufv-x3VTkE-nTAu3b-o93VXC-nfqjY9-nhBRNX-nfzch2-mfVLwF-mgLdki-kVcg1x-ftNBs6-evYT8Z-dY1ZFi-dY7Fn1-dVnpBN-dUqzXq-dUiMgD-dGpyfA-duEgjY-cXn6T7-cGiC4q-cFCuih-cvpxkh-crnczC-cp7Gym-cp7HhQ-cbGfPj-bUk3up-bHubW2-buzpRb-bHubMD-bHubwR-bsv7ZW-bFq1cv-bFq16a-bFq11g-bp63G1-bp63xf-bqvWKz-bqvWV4-b36wEn-aHuhNk-aHuhwz-avXEHQ-avUZTg-as86mX-as86ig

[Eddie Honda]

What car was it that had the 'jeans' edition with denim seats?

 

VW Beetle.

[Station]

Corsa B Merit had no anti roll bars.

[Station]

Corsa B Merit would beat that would it not? I think it was that bad Vauxhall actually removed the glovebox and went to the hassle of tooling up for a cubby hole where the glovebox should be.

Another I've just thought of which I've only ever seen once, never seen one since I saw this one, was a Citroen Xantia "Sensation" and I think it was an S or T reg so a face lifted Xantia.

I also once saw a mk3 Astra in a scrappy, P reg I think, with Euro 96 badges on the front door rub strips where mine said LS. Was a weird spec, air con, velour trim and a rear armrest and black plastics which my LS didn't have but mines had electric front windows and a factory sunroof this didn't have, keep fit winders all round, it also had "half" colour coded bumpers, not the base Merit black unpainted ones but not the full colour coded ones like my LS, had front fogs but steelies and trims while my LS had standard alloys, I've always wondered what special edition this Astra must've been.

Arctic probably.

[overrun]

Vauxhall were appalling for their 'special editions' for a number of years. They have a side stripe and different wheels trims and that was about it, wonders such as the Antibes that thankfully have rusted off the face of the earth.

 

The Antibes had a bonny coloured carpet, too!

[sheffcortinacentre]

Mk3 cortina 2000E Olympic special avl for 3 months spring 76, no known survivors.

Mk5 cortina carousel late 81.

There were loads of TC3 taunus (MK5 cortina) Inc festival,bravo,holiday (Mainly 2dr saloons)to name a few. plus an Austria XL.

Australian mk4s Inc X pak 1 & 2 (nothing to do with European X pack).

 

There was a UK mk1 Capri GT in 71 something like vista.

 

73ish HC viva X13 had 13 extras as std .

 

90s pandas had loads

 

Italia 90 (football hubcaps),pink,Sergio tacchini,colour (multi coloured ints),sisley (higher spec 4x4) to name a few.

[oldford]

What car was it that had the 'jeans' edition with denim seats?

Peugeot did the 205 Denim with denim seats incorporating a jeans like label.

[17-Coffees]

Before last August, I never knew a 'Poverty Spec' BMW 3 series existed. 

Then I got drunk one night and found a white, un-painted bumper E36 BMW 316i for sale on eBay...I ended up co-buying with Supernaut for the sum of £191.

 

Having bought a copy of the 1995 sales booklet for the 3-series, it turns out it is fully base spec in every way!  

[PiperCub]

Recall in the 90's esp. that Renault & Vauxhall were the worst offenders (closely followed by Peugeot) for coming up with endless streams of 'Specials' that were usually little more than a few bits of trim (often like deckchair pattern material) and some crass stickers with meaningless names and/or associations. 

[RoadworkUK]

What car was it that had the 'jeans' edition with denim seats?

I think the answer we're all waiting for is SEAT Marbella.

 

 

Though there were Levis edition AMC Gremlins and Pacers

[Six-cylinder]

Reading an Oct 1987 Austin-Rover price list last night I was surprised to read "Maestro van 1.6 700 city", I thought all the petrol Maestro vans were 1.3.

[paulscavalier]

Premier. Same as Corsa

Also a vectra premier I believe

[Mr A Lawrence]

When I met the missus she had a mk3 Astra California.

 

All it had was a blue insert in the bumpers and a California badge on the rub strip.

 

1.4 pez too.

[sierraman]

The Cavalier Cesaro looked tidy. As did the Commander.

[timolloyd]

My Aunt had a Nova Merit ... the passenger door mirror was optional! (And she hadn't specced it)

[bub2006]

My vectra b was a 1.6 Arctic. Had electric front windows, power steering and central locking but had air con, odd colour seats I've not seen in any other vectra and alloys.

[sierraman]

Merit was the fleet spec, they did a Merit plus as well. Grim but not as grim as a pop plus.

 

Remember the Fiesta Classic and Quartz ranges, extremely basic... 1.8d for extra misery.

[ChinaTom]

I have just discovered that the Sierra was available with a 2.0 V6. The 80's was the decade I thought I knew everything about car specs. I had always thought the 2.0 was a 4 cyl pinto, joined later by the i. Or is the internet lying?

[sierraman]

Who is the nutcase from Doncatraz?

[quicksilver]

Apparently there's a Fiat 500 Diesel. Sounds straightforward except that it's a special edition named after the fashion brand and has a petrol engine. WCPGW?

 

I'd never heard of a Vauxhall Astra EXP until recently but just look at it. Those alloys were optional and the standard spec was even better with steels painted in the same metallic beige.

 

Going back to VW's rock band specials, the first of these was the Polo Genesis. A weird one this, the European version was based on the G40 and really quite special but here in the band's home country we got a lame one based on the pov-spec Fox.

[holbeck]

My vectra b was a 1.6 Arctic. Had electric front windows, power steering and central locking but had air con, odd colour seats I've not seen in any other vectra and alloys.

 

I remember the Vectra Arctic, I very nearly ordered one as a company car - it was the only vehicle on the list with A/C.

[holbeck]

When did limited editions start?

 

The earliest one I can think of is the Morris Million.