Lust for Mantas
Discussion
s m said:
Nice, they were long geared for only 110bhp - as standard they couldn't pull the long top at top speed - they never felt that quick compared to all the early 80s GTIs and mine understeered a bit more than the old rwd Escorts as it came out the box but I enjoyed owning it. Boot was quite big as well
I remember seeing an indicated 100mph in third, 120mph in fourth and, in favourable conditions, down the steep Glenshane Pass hill I snapped a speedo pic at an indicated 140mph in fifth.cheddar said:
I remember seeing an indicated 100mph in third, 120mph in fourth and, in favourable conditions, down the steep Glenshane Pass hill I snapped a speedo pic at an indicated 140mph in fifth.
Seeing as the fuel cutoff came in at over 6k and 5th gear was about 24.4/24.5 mph per 1k rpm, then if you could find a long enough downhill...... 
The i240 Steve Thompson cars could pull that long gear to nearly 130 - I bet the speedo was well towards 140 at that speed!
There were a couple of fabulous 400s for sale recently,one a turbo and the other was in Ireland. Having owner an Exclusive for just over ten years.I had rebuilt everything,2,4ltr engine lowered,flared the arches in steel etc etc. The car went straight through ten MOTs on the trot,cannot understand why they are not more popular than they are.
terenceb said:
There were a couple of fabulous 400s for sale recently,one a turbo and the other was in Ireland. Having owner an Exclusive for just over ten years.I had rebuilt everything,2,4ltr engine lowered,flared the arches in steel etc etc. The car went straight through ten MOTs on the trot,cannot understand why they are not more popular than they are.
Seems like many of the nice ones are now in Ireland - they seem really popular over there. My old GTE went over there in the early 90s when the Irish lads seemed to have a buying spree of anything retro and rwd from over here. The lad who bought mine had come over with his mates and were convoying back with a Carlton 3 litre estate and 1.8 Manta GT/J that they had come over to buy that weekend. They don't seem to have the love that Escorts/E30 BMWs have although they make a similarly good Tarmac car and were competitive after the Escort era - wonder if it would be more expensive to do a 250bhp one than a 275bhp E30 M3 like Chris Harris is doing. Perhaps spare parts are the issue. Most of the ones I see for sale now are hatch GTEs whereas I'd always want a coupe. Got any more pics of your old one terenceb?
s m said:
Seems like many of the nice ones are now in Ireland - they seem really popular over there. My old GTE went over there in the early 90s when the Irish lads seemed to have a buying spree of anything retro and rwd from over here. The lad who bought mine had come over with his mates and were convoying back with a Carlton 3 litre estate and 1.8 Manta GT/J that they had come over to buy that weekend.
They don't seem to have the love that Escorts/E30 BMWs have although they make a similarly good Tarmac car and were competitive after the Escort era - wonder if it would be more expensive to do a 250bhp one than a 275bhp E30 M3 like Chris Harris is doing. Perhaps spare parts are the issue. Most of the ones I see for sale now are hatch GTEs whereas I'd always want a coupe. Got any more pics of your old one terenceb?
Yes,quite right. Funny situation in Ireland a few years back with the scrappage scheme,seems most older cars got crushed leaving a massive hole in the classic side of things.They don't seem to have the love that Escorts/E30 BMWs have although they make a similarly good Tarmac car and were competitive after the Escort era - wonder if it would be more expensive to do a 250bhp one than a 275bhp E30 M3 like Chris Harris is doing. Perhaps spare parts are the issue. Most of the ones I see for sale now are hatch GTEs whereas I'd always want a coupe. Got any more pics of your old one terenceb?
We're currently sorting the house out for sale,came across quite a few pictures of it,I keep meaning to get them scanned anyway,when I do,I'll post them up on here. I retained the black vinyl roof but resprayed it into BMW Anthracite,did look nice sitting on 7" Minilites.Really wouldn't mind another Manta,but that will have to wait until the Capri is finished/we are settled in Germany.
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