Green Cavvy tour

[Purfleet]

Sorry if you have seen this else where

i am currently visiting all the service stations on the 2026 Service station calender in the correct month in my 1983 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.3L - i have just completed May (Stafford) and next week will be Wetherby which will be the landmark of 50%
 

[Andyrew]

Im so supportive of taking adventures in old cars, especially with other people. 

but you are parking your car like an inconsiderate plum, 

[Purfleet]

I am not parking it - i am jumping out when its clear, taking a photo and jumping back in, 10 seconds max, even with my rather portly frame. Many more bellends drive around service stations at 2 mph looking for the perfect spot or parking in 2 bays and cause far more issues than me.

[Split_Pin]

Welcome, I think I follow you on Instagram, CharlieCavalier?

Anyway, what a great idea, especially in a car from a time when Service Stations were king. Please keep us updated

I can clearly see you're not parked as well and were just jumping out for a snap. Different if you were in lane 3 of the M6 😂

Love the old Cavvy!

[Purfleet]

1 hour ago, Split_Pin said:

Welcome, I think I follow you on Instagram, CharlieCavalier?

Anyway, what a great idea, especially in a car from a time when Service Stations were king. Please keep us updated

I can clearly see you're not parked as well and were just jumping out for a snap. Different if you were in lane 3 of the M6 😂

Love the old Cavvy!

Yes that’s me mate, set all these accounts up at different times, so used different names depending on the car or location i was at the time!

the Green cavvy rarely makes it in to lane 3....... 

[Sigmund Fraud]

What a splendidly eccentric pursuit - this is the kind of stuff that Autoshite was made for !!!

 

[Purfleet]

We have some stats as well!

15 minutes ago, Sigmund Fraud said:

What a splendidly eccentric pursuit - this is the kind of stuff that Autoshite was made for !!!

 

 

[danthecapriman]

That Cavalier is absolutely awesome👍 

That green is the colour for these. Any more pics info about it?

 

[Purfleet]

100's of them mate! I usually post complete rubbish on faceache https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089904782257

One piece of geekiness was that i got all the dates of the change of ownership from the V888.

Her first owner was Vauxhall as a car roll (demo/managers/press car?) and then on the 5/6/1984 she was sold in Coventry and the sticker in the window mentioned George Cox Cars - more digging found that George Cox cars was a little car dealers in the back streets of Coventry. I then cross referenced the date to various newspapers and found this advert - i am 95% sure this is the ad for my car as all the specs agree

[Dan302]

Love the car, love the adventure!

[Bmwdumptruck]

Next time you pass Luton you need to pop in to whats left of the factory and get a pic there.  I believe there’s one building left thats been protected by being listed.  
Edit…maybe not, just had a look and can’t see anything left. Thought I’d seen something about one old office building being saved but can’t see anything on maps showing it!  Oh well.  

[Purfleet]

Yeah i missed all the old Luton stuff, i did plan on it, but it never happened

[Lord Sterling]

That's a brilliant Cavalier. A car I've always wanted to have a go in. 

My Dad had an A-reg Cavalier 1.6 GL in red. I loved that car bit of course, I was too young to properly appreciate it being only around 5 years old.

It was once stolen in a house burglary and later found abandoned. The Cavalier was later chopped in for the then-new 1990 Mk3 Fiesta. 

Are you planning on having it painted or keeping as is? I remember seeing pics of when it was still leaf green.

[CreepingJesus]

Epic! I have a soft spot for those, as my dad had three estates on the trot as company cars, at the time. One beige, one in that dark-ish green, one midnight blue metallic. All Bedfordshire reg'd - in fact I'm sure one was another LTM, but I can't remember which - all did interstellar miles, and only ever minor, silly faults and the odd recall. Brilliant cars! 

Last one I had was a present, which cost £40! It was exactly as rough as you'd expect; but it did me a year's idiosyncratic motoring, needing only a stick of Bars Leaks for the iffy radiator, and only expired when the rear brakes exploded on the A92 at speed. I didn't have time to investigate and fix, so it got scrapped and replaced. Disposable cars, eh?

[Bren]

What a honey.

My mates dad bought a 12 month old 1.3L in late 85/ early 86.

We were utterly surprised how much grunt the little 1.3 had - it was equal - if not better - in performance to the Mk IV cortina it replaced.

 

[Purfleet]

1 hour ago, Bren said:

What a honey.

My mates dad bought a 12 month old 1.3L in late 85/ early 86.

We were utterly surprised how much grunt the little 1.3 had - it was equal - if not better - in performance to the Mk IV cortina it replaced.

 

Yes i have heard that a lot. I had a 1.6L Loon (YLC890X) back in the early nineties and that was proper quick. The green cavvy can keep up with modern traffic quite well, she obviously isnt doing 0-60 is 10 seconds, but does okay.

Magnificent car 

[angle]

On 04/06/2026 at 08:39, Bmwdumptruck said:

Next time you pass Luton you need to pop in to whats left of the factory and get a pic there.  I believe there’s one building left thats been protected by being listed.  
Edit…maybe not, just had a look and can’t see anything left. Thought I’d seen something about one old office building being saved but can’t see anything on maps showing it!  Oh well.  

There's definitely some of the old offices left, they've been turned into a business centre. I had a meeting there last year - it was in the old board room.

[Purfleet]

2 hours ago, CreepingJesus said:

Epic! I have a soft spot for those, as my dad had three estates on the trot as company cars, at the time. One beige, one in that dark-ish green, one midnight blue metallic. All Bedfordshire reg'd - in fact I'm sure one was another LTM, but I can't remember which - all did interstellar miles, and only ever minor, silly faults and the odd recall. Brilliant cars! 

Last one I had was a present, which cost £40! It was exactly as rough as you'd expect; but it did me a year's idiosyncratic motoring, needing only a stick of Bars Leaks for the iffy radiator, and only expired when the rear brakes exploded on the A92 at speed. I didn't have time to investigate and fix, so it got scrapped and replaced. Disposable cars, eh?

Unfortunately they were disposable cars back then, my old X plate was sold for £100 (bought for £620) after 18 months or so, then the D plate was part ex'd for a E plate which was then given to a mate.  27 years between out of a mk2 cavalier and i have missed them a lot

 

[Purfleet]

3 hours ago, Lord Sterling said:

That's a brilliant Cavalier. A car I've always wanted to have a go in. 

My Dad had an A-reg Cavalier 1.6 GL in red. I loved that car bit of course, I was too young to properly appreciate it being only around 5 years old.

It was once stolen in a house burglary and later found abandoned. The Cavalier was later chopped in for the then-new 1990 Mk3 Fiesta. 

Are you planning on having it painted or keeping as is? I remember seeing pics of when it was still leaf green.

It will never be perfect, we have done all the brakes, shocks, springs etc and i am confident she is good to use, but next year i will take her to be tidied up and get any welding that may be required done and then i plan to rattle can the grey and filler.

i would cost 5k plus to make her nearish to perfect and i would end up with a car worth maybe £3k? so whats the point? enjoy her, use her and fix her as needed

She is still mainly leaf green! i do have another that is pine green that i need to decided to either restore or part out, so possible panels there that would be a close match

 

[Dan302]

The cav already looks perfect to me 🙂

[Purfleet]

Number 6/June/50% Ticked off - Wetherby on the A1(M)

392 Miles according the google maps and averaged 38.8mpg!

First stop was to see a friend with a mint mk2 Cavalier LX, then on to the services at Wetherby to enjoy the delights of a Greggs Breakfast, before driving over to Northwich to pick up some tyres & rims for another mates Cavalier as they were 'on the way'

Now she can have a nice rest before conquering Chester services in July.

PS i missed the 60k turn over as well and i hate myself!

[Lord Sterling]

On 07/06/2026 at 20:31, Purfleet said:

I like this picture. It looks like a still from Crimewatch UK usually accompanied by Sue Cook or David Hatcher asking if anyone saw some suspicious men getting away in a Green Cavalier after a robbery at one of the services.

[Purfleet]

Not the best get away car, you could probably walk faster

[Purfleet]

7 of 12 - Chester Services

 

402 miles completed today and 37 mpg in the old girl.

 

3 Stops in liverpool for photos and to meet up with friends and then had to stop off and Ellesmere port for a photo next to the big #vauxhall sign. Then the services before the 3.5 hour drive home -

Took Stanley as the co-pilot this time and he didn't complain once about the singing and conversation or the amount of rubbish i ate - might take him along again.

 

No rest for #thegreencavvy as next week we have #FestivaloftheUnexceptional

[Matty]

All good stuff this. Daft adventures of whimsy and a Cav mk2 looking like they did when i was a kid. A1. Looking forward to the next installment pal 👍

[High Jetter]

On 03/06/2026 at 10:55, Purfleet said:

i am currently visiting all the service stations on the 2026 Service station calender in the correct month in my 1983 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.3L

A perfect example of the madness we enjoy around here. Good luck, and may you never FTP.

[Purfleet]

1 minute ago, High Jetter said:

A perfect example of the madness we enjoy around here. Good luck, and may you never FTP.

FTP?

[High Jetter]

Fail To Proceed.

[Jim Bell]

7 minutes ago, Purfleet said:

FTP?

Fail to proceed. Like break down. Mechanically or emotionally. 

[Purfleet]

8 of 12 & 9 of 12 on the Motorway services calendar in #thegreencavvy
 

31st of August travel up to Killington Lake services, 265 miles, took the family this time which was a nice change but the traffic was rubbish on the A1 and M62 (yeah i know bank holiday).

Stayed at a Travelodge in Kendal and then on the 1st of September went up to Annadale water services to tick off September - a trot of only 84 miles.

 

Then tackled the 280 ish miles home which was much nicer .

 

641 miles covered in total according to google maps, and apart from a couple of non starts (attached jump pack and she fires up so will get an new starter motor) #thegreencavvy was faultless and averaged 39.7 mpg on the homeward leg