Vinny The Vectra

[Purfleet]

I know not everyones cup of tea, but here goes

I bought my n Reg vectra in 2022, a 1.8 GLS with 34k and had been garaged all her life. initially bought as a retro uni run car as both of my sons moved to Uni's about 100/150 miles away and the nissan leaf (work daily) was a royal PITA on long runs. But now is firmly one of the fleet.

She is now sitting on about 51k miles and its a really nice car to drive, but unfortunately she is not ULEZ so the occasional journey to work (near st pauls) works out very expensive

we have been to the last 3 FOTU's as well as Rustival 4 and a few other shows around the country and also taken her back to the original dealership in Northampton (now a lidl) she has also been on the odfs youtube channel
 

 

[worldofceri]

Excellent. I’m impressed that you have parking bays marked out on (what I assume is) your own drive!

[Lord Sterling]

Beautiful car. A firm fave with me and @AnnoyingPentium who is currently breaking a rotton one, but he also had a clean runner first a while before it was sold on.

This is mine:

Since I've had it; I've managed to reinstate the correct-sized tyres, reinstate the correct-spec 'letter-box' exhaust, get in-colour spares...

Reinstate the correct 'V6' decal as it was missing:

And collect many of the OEM accessories:

I also had a sheet of centre-cap stickers made and reinstated them as some were missing.

Unfortunately, due to some rust and some minor issues it failed its last MoT so now is off the road as I was also paying for welding and a new MoT for my Jaguar XJ8.

I also previously had an SRi estate in Diesel form:

This was honestly the cleanest, most rust-free Vectra B I ever had. Unfortunately, I didn't gel with it.

I've also had a Vectra C.

Loved it greatly, unfortunately, it ended up suffering from a bottom-end knock.

[Purfleet]

11 minutes ago, worldofceri said:

Excellent. I’m impressed that you have parking bays marked out on (what I assume is) your own drive!

we have moved now to somewhere with a garage and lots more parking, but at the time the wife told me that we couldn’t fit any more cars on the drive. So while she was out one day i taped them off to prove we could.....

it did take a while for her to see the funny side, especially when i put a ticket on her car when she parked over the line.

[Purfleet]

11 minutes ago, Lord Sterling said:

Beautiful car. A firm fave with me and @AnnoyingPentium who is currently breaking a rotton one, but he also had a clean runner first a while before it was sold on.

This is mine:

Since I've had it; I've managed to reinstate the correct-sized tyres, reinstate the correct-spec 'letter-box' exhaust, get in-colour spares...

Reinstate the correct 'V6' decal as it was missing:

And collect many of the OEM accessories:

I also had a sheet of centre-cap stickers made and reinstated them as some were missing.

Unfortunately, due to some rust and some minor issues it failed its last MoT so now is off the road as I was also paying for welding and a new MoT for my Jaguar XJ8.

I also previously had an SRi estate in Diesel form:

This was honestly the cleanest, most rust-free Vectra B I ever had. Unfortunately, I didn't gel with it.

I've also had a Vectra C.

Loved it greatly, unfortunately, it ended up suffering from a bottom-end knock.

i have a B estate as well, one of the best looking estates in my opinion 

[Purfleet]

15 minutes ago, Lord Sterling said:

Beautiful car. A firm fave with me and @AnnoyingPentium who is currently breaking a rotton one, but he also had a clean runner first a while before it was sold on.

This is mine:

Since I've had it; I've managed to reinstate the correct-sized tyres, reinstate the correct-spec 'letter-box' exhaust, get in-colour spares...

Reinstate the correct 'V6' decal as it was missing:

And collect many of the OEM accessories:

I also had a sheet of centre-cap stickers made and reinstated them as some were missing.

Unfortunately, due to some rust and some minor issues it failed its last MoT so now is off the road as I was also paying for welding and a new MoT for my Jaguar XJ8.

I also previously had an SRi estate in Diesel form:

This was honestly the cleanest, most rust-free Vectra B I ever had. Unfortunately, I didn't gel with it.

I've also had a Vectra C.

Loved it greatly, unfortunately, it ended up suffering from a bottom-end knock.

you have done well to get Matts for a B estate, must of cost you a kidney!

[Lonestar]

Nice to see such an early B still going strong.

Spotted yours most recently at Basingstoke Festival of Transport last month.

[Purfleet]

4 minutes ago, Lonestar said:

Nice to see such an early B still going strong.

Spotted yours most recently at Basingstoke Festival of Transport last month.

yep she has been to the last 2 Basingstoke's. Bloody long way for me, but have friends that way

 

[sierraman]

Good ones are becoming hard to find now, occasionally a late 1.8 petrol crops up which is ok as basic transport but they’re dropping off like flies now. 

[Purfleet]

Yep. Outside of shows or clubs you never seem them in the wild

[Cheezey]

This Vectra has caught my eye a few times. I like that despite it having had all the GSi bits added it hasn’t been badged up as such. The description mentions how exceptional and the bodywork is but you can see a bit of rust in one of the pictures. 
 

https://www.carandclassic.com/l/C2060936

[Purfleet]

15 minutes ago, Cheezey said:

This Vectra has caught my eye a few times. I like that despite it having had all the GSi bits added it hasn’t been badged up as such. The description mentions how exceptional and the bodywork is but you can see a bit of rust in one of the pictures. 
 

https://www.carandclassic.com/l/C2060936

bah, MSD's are 10 a penny. GLS is where the fun is at!

[Lord Sterling]

4 hours ago, Purfleet said:

you have done well to get Matts for a B estate, must of cost you a kidney!

Believe it or not, I got both sets rubber and carpet for about £60! It was the maddest thing. On here, I'm known as the 'mats man' I can often get rare sets of OEM mats thay won't cost the earth (but it is a bit more difficult these days)

I hate universal mats. I will not have them in my cars. However, with the Vectra, I got very lucky.

The first set of mats I got were OEM rubber ones, I was only the bidder and won them for about £20 including postage.

A few months later, I spotted a Vectra B being broken up for spares on eBay, so I chucked an enquiry over. They had both sets of OEM mats, the carpet ones looked like brand new, never seen a shoe. I already had the rubber ones, sonI got the carpet ones for £40 including delivery.

I did see a set exactly like mine on Marketplace for £120 🤣

I sold another set I had to a lad for £20 as they were used.

[Purfleet]

Damn you, sell them to me for £20 pleeeease! I bought proper mats 100% guaranteed to fit 3 times and guess what, they dont! Shit pots

let me know if you see anymore please

[Lord Sterling]

2 hours ago, Purfleet said:

Damn you, sell them to me for £20 pleeeease! I bought proper mats 100% guaranteed to fit 3 times and guess what, they dont! Shit pots

let me know if you see anymore please

Will do. I do keep my eye out for these things.

[Low ontime]

Crazy to think an early vectra is now 40 years old! 

[Low ontime]

Just now, Low ontime said:

Crazy to think an early vectra is now 40 years old! 

30 I mean….

[Purfleet]

7 minutes ago, Low ontime said:

30 I mean….

yes mine was 30 on the 1/5/2026. its the 3rd or 4th oldest one that i have found. There is 1 1995 car on the road that i am aware of

[Wibble]

8 minutes ago, Low ontime said:

30 I mean….

Phew! Thought I’d lost a decade for a minute.

[Low ontime]

Just now, Wibble said:

Phew! Thought I’d lost a decade for a minute.

It’s been a long week of early starts…