I bought a Vauxhall Carlton and called it Vanessa, naturally.

[richbraith]

I've been having a love affair with the mk1 facelift (this bit is important) Vauxhall Carlton for a very, very long time. 

Two of my dad's mates owned CD spec versions in the late 80s and early 90s and I fell for them, they were so wafty and comfortable.  One of them was my transport to see Tina Turner at Gateshead Stadium in July 1990...,my folks went on the bike so I was left as a 14 year old at the mercy of four 'big boys' and their Carlton, which probably endeared them to me forever.

Anyway, a 2.0 CDi model with a slushbox came up on the 'bay, B plate like both the ones I remember were, in gorgeous Anthracite.  The funds were there and I almost broke my typing finger messaging the seller.   The price seemed almost too good to be true...less than 24 hours later I'd dragged my stepson down to just outside Mansfield and the thing really was as good as it looked, with a new, advisory free MoT.  I couldn't believe my luck.  Of course, it came home. 

And yes, she's called Vanessa.  What else can you call a Carlton?

[warren t claim]

I have bad luck with Carltons.

 

 

[Ghosty]

'kin A. One of those fait accomplis jobs. Nice job Rich. 

[somewhatfoolish]

Surprising lack of brown. Well bought.

[twosmoke300]

Lovely . My parents had several that shape Carlton’s over the years and were bloody nice cars . 
Well done 

[ETCHY]

Nice motor.

Lovely plush interior.

Enjoy the waft.

[sutty2006]

May as well weigh nine in now eh? Lol 🤣

 

I did wonder if that one was bought by someone on here, it’s a lovely looking thing indeed! 
 

if you’re on Facebook, can you please join the Carlton Appreciation Society page. I set it up a few years ago for hard core Carlton apologists. 

[Spottedlaurel]

Excellent! One of those examples of a facelift that is much more successful than the original.

I don't think I could have stretched to a CD, but the facelift Carlton was a on a list of possible cars I wanted to buy in 1990. Trouble is all the ones within budget were high mileage ex-company cars, so it never worked out.

[mk2_craig]

Nice one Dicky!! Just looking at one of those wheeltrims is enough to teleport me back to a different world where these outnumbered the equivalent BMW or Audi.

[Schaefft]

If this is the one from the ebay tat thread, well bought! Feels good that it ended up here, it seemed to be a great price for what it looked like, glad a closer look confirmed that. It looks fantastic with these trims!

 

[High Jetter]

9 hours ago, richbraith said:

And yes, she's called Vanessa.  What else can you call a Carlton?

Um...Car? Well bought though!

[richbraith]

6 hours ago, sutty2006 said:

May as well weigh nine in now eh? Lol 🤣

 

I did wonder if that one was bought by someone on here, it’s a lovely looking thing indeed! 
 

if you’re on Facebook, can you please join the Carlton Appreciation Society page. I set it up a few years ago for hard core Carlton apologists. 

I did wonder at first if it was your old Rekord before I clicked on it! 

[richbraith]

4 hours ago, Schaefft said:

If this is the one from the ebay tat thread, well bought! Feels good that it ended up here, it seemed to be a great price for what it looked like, glad a closer look confirmed that. It looks fantastic with these trims!

 

A lot of people think they're trim, but they're actually alloys...with huge centre caps!

[richbraith]

6 hours ago, sutty2006 said:

May as well weigh nine in now eh? Lol 🤣

 

I did wonder if that one was bought by someone on here, it’s a lovely looking thing indeed! 
 

if you’re on Facebook, can you please join the Carlton Appreciation Society page. I set it up a few years ago for hard core Carlton apologists. 

Can you post us a link to it?  I can't seem to find it.

[sutty2006]

9 minutes ago, richbraith said:

Can you post us a link to it?  I can't seem to find it.

Sorry its "group" not "society" lol. my bad.

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/217018702392334

[somewhatfoolish]

11 hours ago, richbraith said:

And yes, she's called Vanessa.  What else can you call a Carlton?

 

[richbraith]

14 minutes ago, somewhatfoolish said:

 

That would work if it were more brown, and if I got another one.  Incidentally my wife has a picture of her mother in a mermaid costume being leered at by Terry-Thomas in the 1950s, during her modelling career.  So I always have a chuckle when I see his name.

[RoadworkUK]

I know the centre caps are vital for completeness, but those alloys look properly horny without them.

Also, holy crap that's nice.

[sutty2006]

I genuinely hate those alloys without the centre caps. I was relieved when I ditched the crappy centres and put the originals back on mine lol

[camryv6]

The most important question is what does @barefootthink on the name Vanessa ?

[DVee8]

And yes, she's called Vanessa.  What else can you call a Carlton?

[barefoot]

43 minutes ago, camryv6 said:

The most important question is what does @barefootthink on the name Vanessa ?

Twat.

21 minutes ago, DVee8 said:

And yes, she's called Vanessa.  What else can you call a Carlton?

See above.

[stuboy]

very well bought.

[chaseracer]

18 hours ago, richbraith said:

I've been having a love affair with the mk1 facelift (this bit is important) Vauxhall Carlton for a very, very long time. 

Two of my dad's mates owned CD spec versions in the late 80s and early 90s and I fell for them, they were so wafty and comfortable.  One of them was my transport to see Tina Turner at Gateshead Stadium in July 1990...,my folks went on the bike so I was left as a 14 year old at the mercy of four 'big boys' and their Carlton, which probably endeared them to me forever.

Anyway, a 2.0 CDi model with a slushbox came up on the 'bay, B plate like both the ones I remember were, in gorgeous Anthracite.  The funds were there and I almost broke my typing finger messaging the seller.   The price seemed almost too good to be true...less than 24 hours later I'd dragged my stepson down to just outside Mansfield and the thing really was as good as it looked, with a new, advisory free MoT.  I couldn't believe my luck.  Of course, it came home. 

And yes, she's called Vanessa.  What else can you call a Carlton?

OUTSTANDING.

Presumably 'A Thousand Miles' won't be a problem...

😁

[brownnova]

80s Vauxhall’s FTW! 
 

Especially Carltons, we’ll bought! 

[sutty2006]

They’ll be taking over this beige place and turning it dark grey VERY SOON. Muhahaha….. now where did I put my welder…..
 

 

 

 

 

 

oh 

 

it broke down

[egg]

Great car. You know Vanessa Carlton once responded to Petrolblog on Twitter.....?

[richbraith]

4 hours ago, DVee8 said:

And yes, she's called Vanessa.  What else can you call a Carlton?

Nah, never watched it! 

[richbraith]

1 hour ago, sutty2006 said:

They’ll be taking over this beige place and turning it dark grey VERY SOON. Muhahaha….. now where did I put my welder…..
 

 

 

 

 

 

oh 

 

it broke down

Well, I do have another 80s Vauxhall, a 90s Vauxhall, and a Lancia so...yeah.   

The friend of my dad's who took me to see Tina in the Carlton also had a very late model Manta in black, I think on E plate, that was spectacularly rotten at about eight years old. 

[CaptainBoom]

Phwoar,that is nice!  Well bought, there is something about Vauxhall styling of that era, where they got it just right.  Each model was different enough, but they had styling cues in common so they had a 'family' look. 

<Insert comment, these used to be so plentiful, etc, etc, etc>