RE: PH Carpool: Vauxhall Nova GSI

RE: PH Carpool: Vauxhall Nova GSI

Author
Discussion

v15ben

15,795 posts

241 months

Monday 18th February 2013
quotequote all
I had a good run with this very car or an identical one on the A50 towards Nottingham one summer night when driving my old 182.
You don't see many like this any more!

LARK F1 GTR

3,273 posts

146 months

Monday 18th February 2013
quotequote all
I think it looks really tidy, nice to see a non-butchered one.

As mentioned, some of these were complete beasts by the time they'd had a Calibra Turbo engine dropped in.

Lots of folk then took the engine & dropped it into their Corsa quote=ArsE92]
Adz The Rat said:
ArsE92 said:
They are the original wheels, aren't they?
Nope, the originals were 3 spokes, often with the centre caps stolen.
Ah, the "thick" 3-spokes that were also found on the Nova Diamond? I seem to remember a lot of GSI's sporting the Allesio wheels!

My sister had a Diamond. Electric windows!
Are those wheels Speedline Allesio's ?

I remember the Courtenay Sport wheels (I think they were the same as Allesio's) they were highly sought after & damn hard to get hold of back then.

I'm Spartacus

32 posts

137 months

Monday 18th February 2013
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I thought these came with a set of TSW Venoms and a blue mirror tint as standard?

Seriously though, nice car. Brings back memories of school lunch breaks with the older lads doing laps of town in their modded Nova's and 5's. I'm starting to feel old!

Zajda

135 posts

147 months

Monday 18th February 2013
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Only ever saw one another example in my country...rusting before my eyes though rolleyes
Tested current Swift Sport the other day and you'd need every last bit of rev range to be quicker (till the first corner of course). It isn't really fast by modern standards, but it pulls and reacts to the throttle inputs right from the idle, in contrast with today engines, choked below 4k because of emission measurements in that RPM range.

usualdog

230 posts

163 months

Monday 18th February 2013
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Nova - The only car I've ever driven where you could feel the steering column moving between your knees

V8 TEJ

375 posts

161 months

Monday 18th February 2013
quotequote all
anything fast said:
Speedline Alessio Wheels If I am not mistaken.

Never been a fan of Nova's but somehow THOSE wheels and lack of stuck on crap make it look like one of the most handsome of the 1980's hatchbacks.

The GSI was the best version of the hot Nova's

However you might find that there are still many modded ones with 2.0 16v conversions, 16V Turbo conversions and I have even seen one with a 2.5 V6 from a Calibra.. They dont half go!
Yes I think you are correct sir. These wheels were fitted to alot of these. Especially the Courtney Turbo converted ones. I remember there used to be a dark green one with 250 bhp but looked standard (apart from said Alessios) also the Speedline Mistrals IIRC were popular too with the tuned Vauxhall brigade..

BBS-LM

3,972 posts

224 months

Monday 18th February 2013
quotequote all
Nice car, shame about the chavs driving them.

benjiegsi

208 posts

166 months

Monday 18th February 2013
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Hi guys,

Thanks for the many different comments.

I have kept the Speedlines on the car to run about about in. I have the original wheels in the garage, all in mint condition, but dont get used very often. I do now have an original GM exhaust that will be fitted before I get the car taxed and mot in April.

Here is a picture of the interior:-


I will add some of the engine bay later too.


Zajda

135 posts

147 months

Monday 18th February 2013
quotequote all
Very clean, as is the exterior. It's like see a unicorn to find one in that condition.

Edited by Zajda on Monday 18th February 18:12

ArsE92

21,013 posts

187 months

Monday 18th February 2013
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Original head unit too! Think they were Grundig or Blaupunkt?

theJT

313 posts

185 months

Monday 18th February 2013
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I think these have actually aged really well. They look cool now in a way they never did when they were new... and since all the teenage chavs have moved on to other things I don't think we can even beat it with that stick anymore.

Ash-GT

241 posts

225 months

Monday 18th February 2013
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pleased to see another clean example. I have also got a Gsi in silk violet.
I find it funny when people say negtative things about the nova, its clearly not the best car in the world and im fully aware of its faults but I love the car because of them faults... I could not drive it every day though or that love would go out of the window.

Edited by Ash-GT on Monday 18th February 18:13

benjiegsi

208 posts

166 months

Monday 18th February 2013
quotequote all
Ash-GT said:
pleased to see another clean example. I have also got a Gsi in silk violet.
I find it funny when people say negtative things about the nova, its clearly not the best car in the world and im fully aware of its faults but I love the car because of them faults... I could not drive it every day though or that love would go out of the window.

Edited by Ash-GT on Monday 18th February 18:13
I totally agree!

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

54 months

Monday 18th February 2013
quotequote all
Rose tints all round! One of the worst handling hot hatches I have ever driven!

Burt124

122 posts

208 months

Monday 18th February 2013
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MonkeyMatt said:
Rose tints all round! One of the worst handling hot hatches I have ever driven!
I always thought that the Nova was supposed to be a decent handing car.

I must say it must be about 20 years since I've driven one but a quick search has Autocar in 1988 saying "From the outset, the Nova has always been a classy chassis in search of an engine" This is the first line in a road test of the, then, new GTE against a Charade and XR2. The Nova is the winner of the comparison.

moskvich427

227 posts

175 months

Monday 18th February 2013
quotequote all
Liking the boxy wheel-arches - the Nova hasn't aged well, but looks kind of cool because of it!

Nice to see an original example... but please, please put the correct wheels back on it.








HelterSkelter

142 posts

142 months

Monday 18th February 2013
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Who remembers the old 'Hazard switch trick' on the facelift Nova's?...

Baryonyx

17,996 posts

159 months

Monday 18th February 2013
quotequote all
Burt124 said:
I always thought that the Nova was supposed to be a decent handing car.
It's probably the best handling thing in the Nova/Corsa family until the Corsa VXR came out. Which isn't saying much, as Corsas have always been dreadful handlers. Against the contemporary mkII Golf GTI and Fiesta XR2 my dad had, he reckoned the Nova was the worst of the lot, though I suspect the XR2's handling probably clouded his judgement somewhat.

P I Staker

3,308 posts

156 months

Monday 18th February 2013
quotequote all
HelterSkelter said:
Who remembers the old 'Hazard switch trick' on the facelift Nova's?...
Tell me more...

Gribs

469 posts

136 months

Monday 18th February 2013
quotequote all
P I Staker said:
HelterSkelter said:
Who remembers the old 'Hazard switch trick' on the facelift Nova's?...
Tell me more...
Pulling it off and turning it upside down turns on the electrics, allowing it to be bump started. As a youth I and other friends had great fun moving another couple of mates facelift models about. My own was a F reg Diamond so didn't suffer the problem.