Kiltox’s 1994 Vauxhall Astra Cabriolet! 09/06 - notDITCHFINDERS

[sporty-shite]

Had quite a few, so I'll try to summarise here....

Two Golf GTi s and one Clipper. One GTi was swapped for a 5 Turbo, one sold to an RR member, and the Clipper went to a friend of @Pete-M

Alfa Spider S3 rescued, MOTd and later sold to a local MP

Dutton Phaeton. Bought on a whim, never turned a wheel in my ownership and was sold when I realised I'd never get it on the road.

Mercedes SLK  Raffle win. Enjoyed it briefly, then swapped for a Mini Cooper, for Mrs S.

MX5.  Another raffle win.  Liked it , but obviously not practical for a family. Sold on here. 

MGF. Yet another raffle win! Flame me here, but I really didn't like it. Felt like I was sat on, rather than in, it. Again sold on here, and when I last heard, was in the custody of @scaryoldcortina (where is he now?)

Finally,  Saab 9-3, which I bought  to take the kids through Blackpool illuminations.  Decent thing, which did it's job well. 

 

 

[hairnet]

5 hours ago, 500tops said:

ban right now

[Six-cylinder]

This was Mrs6C idea!

[HMC]

My favourite but also most scary as it repeatedly tried to set fire to itself.

[Rusty_Rocket]

Current convertibubbles are a 1990 MX5 and a 2004 Boxster S... but this one (from many years back) was clearly the best-

Utterly tragic and fantastic in equal measures.  It was a proper GTE with the digi dash and the marvellous 2.0 8v lump under the bonnet.  Scuttle shake was comical, but not as bad as the contemporary Escort.  Trim was awful, baggy, damp and mouldy of course.

Sold in 2003, no idea if it survived.  I guess not! 

[Split_Pin]

That is spectacular.  WANT.

[Kiltox]

Woaft.  That is quite something.  

Bet the cunt that bought that new thought they were the dogs bollocks.

[Rusty_Rocket]

10 minutes ago, Kiltox said:

Woaft.  That is quite something.  

Bet the cunt that bought that new thought they were the dogs bollocks.

The one that bought it for £300 when it was 14 yrs old was too embarrased to drive it with the roof down!

[Dick Cheeseburger]

17 minutes ago, Rusty_Rocket said:

Current convertibubbles are a 1990 MX5 and a 2004 Boxster S... but this one (from many years back) was clearly the best-

Utterly tragic and fantastic in equal measures.  It was a proper GTE with the digi dash and the marvellous 2.0 8v lump under the bonnet.  Scuttle shake was comical, but not as bad as the contemporary Escort.  Trim was awful, baggy, damp and mouldy of course.

Sold in 2003, no idea if it survived.  I guess not! 

Pure GM class. It looks as though it survived until 2010 so it did very well compared to most of its contemporaries. I wonder how many ended up with an XE dropped in?

[Rusty_Rocket]

Wow, that is something.  I sort of thought it would have been scrapped shortly after I sold it.  It wasn't really that rusty though.

An XE would have been way too much for it.  The thing literally wobbled all over the road.  The steering is frightening enough on a Mk2 Astra, even with a metal roof!

[Inspiral_Mondays]

I've only had 3 cars which vaguely qualify as convertibles. This was pre digital cameras and can't find any photos of them so found similar jalopies with Google.

First one was an early 70s white MG Midget which I bought ca. 1987 as an MOT failure. I rebuilt the mechanicals and a mate did the welding and painting. Being 6'2" it was a pain to drive and I sold it with the profit paying the deposit on my first house. It looked like this one, except I'm certain it was a square wheel arch model.

In the mid-nineties I sold my Mk2 Golf GTI 16V and bought a blue MR2 T-Bar. I still think they are great looking cars and at the time genuinely different to drive. The generic 90s Toyota dashboard is bland, but the generic 90s Toyota reliability was highly impressive, though the rear tyres wore out at an alarming rate and I once spun it in the wet. It looked like this:

After 2 years of ownership I entered a midlife crisis phase and bought one of these:

It was that colour and similar year, TVR Griffith 500. Neck snapping acceleration and still gorgeous to look at, but horrendous build quality. Not even the TVR dealer could sort out the overheating, cutting out and myriad electrical problems, and indy garages wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. The exhaust system fell off it once as did one of the driving lights, the nearside indicator and the rear number plate. Sold it after 2 years for what I'd paid for it.

Since then, a sunroof gives me as much fresh air motoring as I need.

[Split_Pin]

5 hours ago, Inspiral_Mondays said:

I've only had 3 cars which vaguely qualify as convertibles. This was pre digital cameras and can't find any photos of them so found similar jalopies with Google.

First one was an early 70s white MG Midget which I bought ca. 1987 as an MOT failure. I rebuilt the mechanicals and a mate did the welding and painting. Being 6'2" it was a pain to drive and I sold it with the profit paying the deposit on my first house. It looked like this one, except I'm certain it was a square wheel arch model.

In the mid-nineties I sold my Mk2 Golf GTI 16V and bought a blue MR2 T-Bar. I still think they are great looking cars and at the time genuinely different to drive. The generic 90s Toyota dashboard is bland, but the generic 90s Toyota reliability was highly impressive, though the rear tyres wore out at an alarming rate and I once spun it in the wet. It looked like this:

After 2 years of ownership I entered a midlife crisis phase and bought one of these:

It was that colour and similar year, TVR Griffith 500. Neck snapping acceleration and still gorgeous to look at, but horrendous build quality. Not even the TVR dealer could sort out the overheating, cutting out and myriad electrical problems, and indy garages wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. The exhaust system fell off it once as did one of the driving lights, the nearside indicator and the rear number plate. Sold it after 2 years for what I'd paid for it.

Since then, a sunroof gives me as much fresh air motoring as I need.

That MR2 is sweet man. My mate had a lovely metallic blue one about 15 years ago and he fitted a Beams engine to it. K822AUD. Went like the hammers of fuck. I'd forego my 'must be a 4 seater and have a big boot' to own one but they're too dear now.

[Inspiral_Mondays]

50 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

That MR2 is sweet man. My mate had a lovely metallic blue one about 15 years ago and he fitted a Beams engine to it. K822AUD. Went like the hammers of fuck. I'd forego my 'must be a 4 seater and have a big boot' to own one but they're too dear now.

They‘re lovely looking cars. When I bought mine, the dealer had a JDM MR2 Turbo for sale but wanted serious money for it. The chassis is quite twitchy in the wet anyway so anything significantly more powerful would have resulted in some serious brown trouser moments without mods to the rear suspension.

[aotb]

You could say I have a type. The blue one was proper shite, Cheapest on Gumtree at £475, drank oil like a two stroke, Stevie Wonder had painted the passenger side and the hood was mostly Gaffa tape. Had it for a couple of years until the rot got into the rear strut tower. 

Replaced it with the silver one from a small time dealer out the back of a hand car wash, in the rain at night. £1500 in 2020, which I think was a reasonable deal. The body isn’t the greatest with various parking marks, but it’s nice and solid. I did have to swap the carpet out as it used to be owned by a mobile hairdresser.  Done a bit more work as I plan on keeping it for a while. 

[Kiltox]

I bought insurance for an imminent new arrival today that is probably relevant to this thread 👀

£180 for a 3k/year classic policy. Not bad given the Aldi is about £800. 

[Cord Fourteener]

Never had a convertible, I've never been interested. In fact it's the quickest and most efficient way for me to skip an ad. Quicker and more effective even than when sellers spray paint over the number plate...

Closest i had to a vert was the overly large sunroof on a Porsche 924.

[brownnova]

On 03/05/2022 at 08:40, eddyramrod said:

 

Chrysler leBaron V6

 

I very nearly bought one of these a couple of months back. But when I drove it it left me a bit cold, so I passed. Slightly regret it, think it would have been interesting to own! 
 

I realised I forgot my MG Midget, that truly was shite, the most unreliable car I’ve ever owned. Broke down more times than all my other cars ever had up to that point combined! 

It was yellow though, so automatically awesome. 
 

Still going and still local, saw it on the A55 a couple of weeks ago! 

[AnnoyingPentium]

10 hours ago, Cord Fourteener said:

Never had a convertible, I've never been interested. In fact it's the quickest and most efficient way for me to skip an ad. Quicker and more effective even than when sellers spray paint over the number plate...

Closest i had to a vert was the overly large sunroof on a Porsche 924.

I'm in a similar boat but for the reasons that I have no practical use for one really. Hence I've not been interested.

[hairnet]

10 hours ago, Cord Fourteener said:

Never had a convertible, I've never been interested.

but mention sheep in your part of the world.............

KIDDING OBVS

 

[hairnet]

@brownnova can you go round and school him with a 2cv or summat

welshman cant be scared of the rain surely

[bangernomics]

Limited topless experiences sadly.

2 of 2cv, still have the 1959 one. I have driven it 10 ft or so but will use more when it is finally painted and on FR plates again.




Bini convertible.

[Kiltox]

WELL THEN

Lack of live collection shots sadly, but I did a buy 

[hairnet]

confoosed

didnt you do this previous m12?

 

[AnnoyingPentium]

8 minutes ago, Kiltox said:

WELL THEN

Lack of live collection shots sadly, but I did a buy 

I'm no quite sure if @Kiltox is Stevie the Bookie at the back of this GIF, though, while we all cheer him and his purchase on.

[Kiltox]

6 minutes ago, hairnet said:

confoosed

didnt you do this previous m12?

 

I had an Astra F last year but it wasn’t a convertible!

[hairnet]

19 minutes ago, Kiltox said:

I had an Astra F last year but it wasn’t a convertible!

due the kwolitea lighting and the fact im blind i didnt notice that

 

[Kiltox]

Couple more photos shamelessly stolen from @red5 who supplied this fine motor car. I’ll get into it properly later in the week!

[Bear]

If they're not all lost I might have a brochure for that.

[Rusty_Rocket]

Wow! I thought the Astra-F convertible was extinct now!

2.0 and a black dash, a nice spec one! 

[gadgetgricey]

Must admit always thought the Astra convertible looked nice. Did own a three door Astra F a few years ago and it drove really nicely even though was only a 1.3.  Imagine this goes quite nicely. Lovely colour as well.