My life in cars - now with added Vauxhall!

[junkyarddog]

  On 09/09/2024 at 21:21, bunglebus said:

Yes it could

 

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Waterford County reg.

[mk2_craig]

How the fuck did that happen .  Judging by the other cars in the photo, that Escort can't have been more than about a dozen years old. 

[trigger]

As alluded to in the News 24 thread I agreed to buy a MK2 Cavalier of a mate, he bought it a couple of years ago from auction to use on his YouTube channel but it took another direction and just sat in his barn unused instead, after having to move it last week to get some cars out for the NEC show and finding the handbrake had welded on he agreed to let me buy it to do something with... So yesterday it was loaded up

And today he dropped it round.

Yep, it's a early 1982 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6L saloon with an amazing 16000 miles from new on it.

I don't know much about it's history unfortunately, I know a garage in Weston Super Mare was selling it 10 years ago for £4995 and then a film company bought it for a true crime documentary and had it wrapped black

Thankfully that's been taken off with no real damage, it's then sat around for ages since so now needs a bloody good clean and some recommissing work

look at the condition of the door shuts, the underside is like new still too

It even had it's original Good Year tyres still on it although they'll have to get binned for new rubber 

So not a bad project, the rad fan motor has burnt out so finding a replacement will be fun and the brakes are really spongy but nothing to worry me.

I'm booked in for the Festival of the unexceptional so hopefully it will be there!

[RoadworkUK]

Entirely sensational. As ever. Your car CV is frighteningly excellent.

[trigger]

Ha! That's debatable but as someone else mentioned I do have the knack of finding excellent examples of shit cars! 🤣

[Matty]

  On 25/03/2025 at 17:11, trigger said:

Ha! That's debatable but as someone else mentioned I do have the knack of finding excellent examples of shit cars! 🤣

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Bloody hell Trigger compared to most of the shit sold now that cav is the perfect family daily!

[dollywobbler]

Ah I was admiring that earlier this year. What a beauty. Also a dead ringer for the first car I ever lap-drove around a caravan site.

[trigger]

So this week between night shits has been spent in the garage going right though the Cavalier, I still want to replace the brakes, cambelt and water pump, fit some rear seat belts and a few other little jobs but it's coming along nicely now.

I definitely need to sort the tyres though as they are the original, I've got a set of Nankangs for £157 and I'll get a mate to chuck them on for me once I've painted the wheels.

I spent a small fortune on two clips as the headlights were loose, I still need one more but I refuse to pay £20 for one tiny clip.

I've had to make a small local repair to the back lip of sills but was the only rust on the entire car which is remarkable for a early 80s Vauxhall, and even that was just a surface scab.

I'm looking forwards to taking it to the Festival of the unexceptional in a few months

 

[tooSavvy]

Z18XER *fit in there, lovely....

TimeWarp[....again...] 😍👍

🚙💨

[Lord Sterling]

Welcome to the world of owning an old Vauxhall. Yours looks tremendously clean. Mine is quite tired, leaky and old. But it's taken me to Brussels and back:

[Wibble]

  On 04/04/2025 at 18:37, trigger said:

So this week between night shits has been spent in the garage going right though the Cavalier, I still want to replace the brakes, cambelt and water pump, fit some rear seat belts and a few other little jobs but it's coming along nicely now.

I definitely need to sort the tyres though as they are the original, I've got a set of Nankangs for £157 and I'll get a mate to chuck them on for me once I've painted the wheels.

I spent a small fortune on two clips as the headlights were loose, I still need one more but I refuse to pay £20 for one tiny clip.

I've had to make a small local repair to the back lip of sills but was the only rust on the entire car which is remarkable for a early 80s Vauxhall, and even that was just a surface scab.

I'm looking forwards to taking it to the Festival of the unexceptional in a few months

 

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That is absolutely gorgeous and brings back some memories.

Back in about 1991, I needed some cheap wheels as I was still rebuilding my Cortina and had been grassed up for using company pool cars.

My mate had an X reg Cav that had been side swiped and written off, not long after he’d rebuilt the engine, which we lifted in together with rope. Anyway, his parents were giving him grief for it sitting on the drive, so after plying him with beers, we agreed a price of £50. 
 

I went round to his the next day and it started with a jump. Gave him £50 and drove it home for a quick clean. Did a few emergency stops to free up the brakes and took it for a test. It went straight through and I then bought two offside doors in the same colour for £20 and drove it for 12 months before selling it on for £200. Mate wasn’t happy it went straight through but it served me well. Great cars. NotAVAS!