RE: Opel Manta GTE: Spotted
Discussion
I joined a small company in 84 & for August chose one of these as my company car. A red Manta GTE hatch B686YMP delivered brand new in 85, it was fantastic. Lived in Newbury on 24 hour call out, used to do Angel court in the city in 45 minutes, in the early hours. Handled much better than a Crapi & better than the equivalent VW Scirocco. The bane of my life was crappy Vauxhall dealers who were dreadful. Sold it to one of our customers after 1 year with 42K on it & needing its second head gasket.
This is the only pic I have of it, yes it does have a dented wing after a pissed neighbour reversed into it.
This is the only pic I have of it, yes it does have a dented wing after a pissed neighbour reversed into it.
j4ckos mate said:
Mine was this colour but a berlinetta 1.8s,
it went rusty not long after i bought it, and had lots of problems with the wiring,
on one occasion the fuse box seem to melt a little and a row of fuses just sort of dropped about 1 cm in line from the others, another time, the alarm went off, i turned it off, still was going off, i pulled the wires out and it was still going off,
it was getting a live feed from the hazard lights
Remember that time you did your best full bore sideways exit from the Fridays car park ? in the wet, on bald tyres for the amusement of GMP's finest who were waiting nearby, who stopped you to tell you how impressed they were it went rusty not long after i bought it, and had lots of problems with the wiring,
on one occasion the fuse box seem to melt a little and a row of fuses just sort of dropped about 1 cm in line from the others, another time, the alarm went off, i turned it off, still was going off, i pulled the wires out and it was still going off,
it was getting a live feed from the hazard lights
Spannerski said:
Totaly underrated even in it's day.
I'm not sure they were that underrated against the competition at the timeGot the nod in a group test vs the AE86 and Alfa Sprint
Also the Fast Lane group test vs the AE86 and Scirocco GTX
Most mag reviews seemed to rate it fairly well
They'd hit 60 in 8.5 and go on to over 120 .....from 110bhp
Long 5th gear gave them decent economy on a motorway run too
Russell Bulgin certainly thought it outstayed its welcome by 1988 though!!
Monty Python said:
That one is also very rusty in some places & worth £2000 tops, its been on that dealers forecourt for 9 months now.Very few good Manta's come up for sale & good ones get snapped up quick
I had various Mantas in my yoof, and a Cavalier Coupe. Liked my old GT/E but did feel it was gutless. A minor change to a 2.2 engine made all the difference and it was much more enjoyable then 
Reliving some of those old times with my current Manta, a rally car with an old dog Rover V8 in it.
https://flic.kr/p/eLjhp5
Reliving some of those old times with my current Manta, a rally car with an old dog Rover V8 in it.
https://flic.kr/p/eLjhp5
I did 100,000 miles in mine, a black 1987 3-door, which I ran for about five years from about 1990.
It rusted a bit, above one of the headlights (common place for them to go) and having needed a fuel tank replacement (also common, and responsible for sending a lot of them to the scrapper). Some skilful welding in both cases kept mine looking OK.
I upgraded it steadily as bits wore out, and by about half way through my time with it, it was a fine drive, much better than the Mark 2 RS2000 I'd had previously. Though it absorbed quite a bit of money to make it so. The brakes were marginal but much improved for a set of big Carlton four-pot calipers and vented discs on it, a quick rack which made the steering too heavy for the missus, and a tweaked, balanced 2.2 cam-in-head Carlton motor with an unleaded-compatible cylinder head done by Bill Blydenstein himself. With that engine it was smooth and quiet and an absolute torque monster, pretty fast for the early 90s, with lovely handling, especially in the wet given a good set of dampers. It could keep a standard 2.5 litre Porsche 944 surprisingly honest, being substantially lighter. The extra torque also wiped out the gearbox after about 20,000 miles , though the replacement (another ex-scrapper standard unit) was fine.
It only went in the end because a lot of the mechanical everything I hadn't replaced was getting very worn and it started stranding me with things like fuel pumps and ignition components going pop and at the time I needed super-reliable transport for long distance work journeys. I still remember it fondly though.
It rusted a bit, above one of the headlights (common place for them to go) and having needed a fuel tank replacement (also common, and responsible for sending a lot of them to the scrapper). Some skilful welding in both cases kept mine looking OK.
I upgraded it steadily as bits wore out, and by about half way through my time with it, it was a fine drive, much better than the Mark 2 RS2000 I'd had previously. Though it absorbed quite a bit of money to make it so. The brakes were marginal but much improved for a set of big Carlton four-pot calipers and vented discs on it, a quick rack which made the steering too heavy for the missus, and a tweaked, balanced 2.2 cam-in-head Carlton motor with an unleaded-compatible cylinder head done by Bill Blydenstein himself. With that engine it was smooth and quiet and an absolute torque monster, pretty fast for the early 90s, with lovely handling, especially in the wet given a good set of dampers. It could keep a standard 2.5 litre Porsche 944 surprisingly honest, being substantially lighter. The extra torque also wiped out the gearbox after about 20,000 miles , though the replacement (another ex-scrapper standard unit) was fine.
It only went in the end because a lot of the mechanical everything I hadn't replaced was getting very worn and it started stranding me with things like fuel pumps and ignition components going pop and at the time I needed super-reliable transport for long distance work journeys. I still remember it fondly though.
Quhet said:
Excuse me for being potentially very stupid here, but why are Manta's Opels and not Vauxhalls over here?
They were both. The Manta B was sold as the Cavalier Coupe and Cavalier Sportshatch in the pre facelift era. Post facelift (and a very good facelift it was, both mechanical and cosmetic) the Cavalier had moved on to the front-drive model so they were not mechanically related any more .And Opel was a cooler brand in the UK for sporting stuff, so that's what we got. Same with the bigger equivalent, the Opel Monza (which in its pre facelift form was a Vauxhall Royale coupe).
I had a Vauxhall badged Manta (A Cavalier Coupe!) and it was a great car to drive.
Excellent ride quality too, but handling good enough to move a mate with a new Peugeot 1.6 GTi that it went round corners pretty well.
Sadly, the 1.9's had engines made of toffee, but heh-ho...
Later 2.0s were supposed to be better, but the GTE always looked a bit "Mutton dressed as Lamb" by the time it came out (although that blue coupe is nice :biggrin: ) with all its plastic add-ons.
M
Excellent ride quality too, but handling good enough to move a mate with a new Peugeot 1.6 GTi that it went round corners pretty well.
Sadly, the 1.9's had engines made of toffee, but heh-ho...
Later 2.0s were supposed to be better, but the GTE always looked a bit "Mutton dressed as Lamb" by the time it came out (although that blue coupe is nice :biggrin: ) with all its plastic add-ons.
M
My Dad had a V-reg Manta 1.9SR and he ordered the new GT/E for August 1st 1984 delivery on the fancy new A-plate.
There were four coming into the UK for then - a silver 2 door, silver 3 door, gold 2 door and gold 3 door.
He went for the gold(!) 3 door and it was very cool (in 1984). We went up to The Lakes in it and saw a silver one coming the other way which flashed at us. It might have been this car!
There were four coming into the UK for then - a silver 2 door, silver 3 door, gold 2 door and gold 3 door.
He went for the gold(!) 3 door and it was very cool (in 1984). We went up to The Lakes in it and saw a silver one coming the other way which flashed at us. It might have been this car!
Rapierdave said:
That one is also very rusty in some places & worth £2000 tops, its been on that dealers forecourt for 9 months now.
Very few good Manta's come up for sale & good ones get snapped up quick
Then there's this oneVery few good Manta's come up for sale & good ones get snapped up quick
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C481819
Lowtimer said:
Quhet said:
Excuse me for being potentially very stupid here, but why are Manta's Opels and not Vauxhalls over here?
They were both. The Manta B was sold as the Cavalier Coupe and Cavalier Sportshatch in the pre facelift era. Post facelift (and a very good facelift it was, both mechanical and cosmetic) the Cavalier had moved on to the front-drive model so they were not mechanically related any more .And Opel was a cooler brand in the UK for sporting stuff, so that's what we got. Same with the bigger equivalent, the Opel Monza (which in its pre facelift form was a Vauxhall Royale coupe).
Had a black GTE hatch on an 'A' Plate just like this one, from when it was a couple of years old through five/six years of ownership. It was only my second RWD car and the first time I took my mate out in it I did a 180dg out of a wet roundabout listening to "Don't Leave Me This Way" by The Communards. Used it to tow my Riley Elf autocross car and what it lacked in real speed and acceleration, it made up for in torque. I really should have bought the Astra GTE but in the decision making process, the Manta won on looks (subjective, but this was the 80's).
Quhet said:
Lowtimer said:
Quhet said:
Excuse me for being potentially very stupid here, but why are Manta's Opels and not Vauxhalls over here?
They were both. The Manta B was sold as the Cavalier Coupe and Cavalier Sportshatch in the pre facelift era. Post facelift (and a very good facelift it was, both mechanical and cosmetic) the Cavalier had moved on to the front-drive model so they were not mechanically related any more .And Opel was a cooler brand in the UK for sporting stuff, so that's what we got. Same with the bigger equivalent, the Opel Monza (which in its pre facelift form was a Vauxhall Royale coupe).
Up until circa '82/'83 (I think) you could buy the full ranges of either Opel or Vauxhall in the UK, which differed in little other than badge. It was around then that the Opel range was culled to just the Manta and Monza until both models retired, the Manta being late '87 or thereabouts.
Monty Python said:
Why?My first ever car on the road was an Opel Manta.
A metallic blue 2.0 SR coupe with a K&N filter and a Peco exhaust.
I was 17, just passed my test and I still clearly remember the nice lady in the insurance brokers office telling me it was going to very expensive to insure - about £200 Third Party Fire and Theft for the year.
I sold it to a mate who had not yet passed his test and I drove him around in it. When he did pass his test, he spun it off a damp road at 'high' speed neatly wrapping about 100 metres of livestock fence around the car - oh how we laughed
Happy days!
A metallic blue 2.0 SR coupe with a K&N filter and a Peco exhaust.
I was 17, just passed my test and I still clearly remember the nice lady in the insurance brokers office telling me it was going to very expensive to insure - about £200 Third Party Fire and Theft for the year.
I sold it to a mate who had not yet passed his test and I drove him around in it. When he did pass his test, he spun it off a damp road at 'high' speed neatly wrapping about 100 metres of livestock fence around the car - oh how we laughed
Happy days!
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