RE: Shed Of The Week
Discussion
zakmat said:
Perhaps this would have been a more convincing car for DCI Gene Hunt to use in Ashes to Ashes?
They'd have to find one - at the risk of getting banned for too many picturesHere are some UK ones - I'll start with the ones more specifically local to me
3.6 engine, hot cam and rare irmscher kit
AM (Trackday Monza WIP!!!)
Got any of the front mister?????
Currently having an engine refresh, Gold top head, road & track cam, MAF, Calibra turbo inj, Dual ram from 2.6 plus megasquirt to make it all run
Mine and another local member at a recent show
So two monzas
Black one (OK gray ish)
And a white one
So ideal photo opportunity
In black and white of course
I also own this but it's a bit of a mess
Nice bright interior
That's how to blend the paint work in
intricate bonnet detailing
Built in 1980
Crashed same year (too badly to be sold on thro dealer network)
Repaired by Frank O'Rourke
Crashed by Frank on a hill climb
Left for dead for a while
Bought by Austin McHale - repaired
Rallied for two events
Crashed on the first one - rear 3/4 damage (Circuit of Ireland)
Repaired for the Manx
Crashed on the Manx - Front nearside
Repaired and sold
Bought by Ken Lark - rolled it
Repaired (I think) and sold
Most recently involved in a barn fire
Could you possibly imagine a more unlucky car!!!
It used to look like this and will by the end of the year look like that again
Edited by B'stard Child on Saturday 10th May 21:38
Edited by B'stard Child on Saturday 10th May 21:40
SS HSV said:
Fantastic bit of info, thanks for sharing that history 
It was a joint effort by Big Rod and myself with many thanks to a huge number of others including a lot of rally fans in Ireland as well as Austin McHale, co-driver at the time Christy Farrell and Mickey Eiffe who converted and preped the car.Anyway Back to topic
Why a Monza and why are they such great cars
- cheap as chips (good thing for people that know how good they are)
- built with nice quality metal (yes they do have rust problems but once it's cut out the existing metal welds really well)
- unbustable engines capable of huge mileages
- great gearboxes - yes the 4 speed auto isn't bad but the Getrag 265 is pretty unbreakable
(apart from the early 3 speed autos which are short geared and sluggish IMO)
- Seating for 4 in comfort
- versatile load area - rear seats fold down flat so if you need to move a freezer to the local tip it's an easy job (my non colapsable engine crane fits in perfectly and it's bloody huge
- excellent handling, neutral and without understeer (oversteer on the ragged edge when you plant the loud pedal)
As far as colours go the following is IMHO
Barrat brown and any of the golds are a bit Meh!!
Anthracite, white, black and silver are all great
Carnelian red - looks good if the paint is fresh other wise looks a bit naff as it's rarely in good condition and frequently suffers fading and laquer lift
They did a light green and a few other colours that are very rare so I haven't seen enough of them to make my mind up
Whatever colour external the inside has got be charcoal as the brown version fitted to some GSE's looks pretty poor in most colours
Other reasons to buy one are......
- Insurance at £150 per year fully comp and agreed miles
- Monaro style (two door coupe for peanuts compared to BMW 635 and Capri 2.8)
- Opel Badge (exclusive) It attracts more comments than my Lotus Carlton (might be the noise tho)
- Electric Windows
- Electric Sunroof (tilt and slide)
- Central locking
- Opening rear windows
- 6 dial intruments (Oil pressure and voltmeter)
- Trip computer
- LSD
- ABS (if you hunt for one with it)
I'm sorry for excessive posting (and maybe too many pics) but I really am a huge fan of these cars, they are terribly underated and not enough people are saving them - the manuals are frequently broken just for the gearboxes which go on to be used in kit cars and even cozzies!!!
LooseCannon said:
B'stard Child said:
Two drivers did use Monzas on the RAC and it's possible you could have seen either of these
Gavin Cox - Group A car - registration was RAW 606X
That car was damaged beyond repair several years ago IRC
And
Martin Stockdale - His Monza was a 1979 Opel Monza EBL 260V and it died on the RAC in 1991 - he hit a big tree stump and whilst it was patched up enough to get him home it was never ever going to be possible to be repaired properly and safely
We "believe" that Martin Stockdale had the original engine out of Austin McHale's car and that went on to live in a Carlton GSI3000 that Martin also rallied but haven't found that car yet
Martin currently rallies this
I'd better stop now cos this is going way off topic - Monzas are adictive like that - better than any drugs I reckon
Peter Brock tried to import Opel Monza's back in the mid 1980s to Australia under his Holden Dealer Team banner. HDT were responsible back then for keeping the muscle-car market alive and HDT Commodores are now fetching some exorbitant prices. The HDT Monza was a stillborn concept (you can Google it though), although Brocky planned the fitment of a 180kW 5.0 litre V8 engine for road use. Our late 1970's and 1980s Commodores were based around the Opel Rekord/Senator and our serious performance cars (back then) were real road rockets and Group A homologated.
There was once a guy, about five or six years ago by the name of Eddy Tassone, who took what you guys would call an '83 Opel Senator and created Australia's most powerful road-registered car. His 383ci twin turbo VH Commodore put out somewhere in the regions of 1300bhp at the rear wheels and was able to run the quarter mile in 8.1 seconds flat.
The last time I was in Europe a few years ago, I came across a few run down Opel Monza's and the odd Senator and they were sorry sights indeed. Good to see that there is some love in Europe for these cars after all, as an Opel Monza in Australia, fitted with the right engine, period interior and Bilstein suspension would fetch a fair bit of dough.
There was once a guy, about five or six years ago by the name of Eddy Tassone, who took what you guys would call an '83 Opel Senator and created Australia's most powerful road-registered car. His 383ci twin turbo VH Commodore put out somewhere in the regions of 1300bhp at the rear wheels and was able to run the quarter mile in 8.1 seconds flat.
The last time I was in Europe a few years ago, I came across a few run down Opel Monza's and the odd Senator and they were sorry sights indeed. Good to see that there is some love in Europe for these cars after all, as an Opel Monza in Australia, fitted with the right engine, period interior and Bilstein suspension would fetch a fair bit of dough.
AERO_HDT said:
Peter Brock tried to import Opel Monza's back in the mid 1980s to Australia under his Holden Dealer Team banner. HDT were responsible back then for keeping the muscle-car market alive and HDT Commodores are now fetching some exorbitant prices. The HDT Monza was a stillborn concept (you can Google it though), although Brocky planned the fitment of a 180kW 5.0 litre V8 engine for road use.
The one he planned to make for the road looks good still 
Especially with that 5.0 litre V8
AERO_HDT said:
The last time I was in Europe a few years ago, I came across a few run down Opel Monza's and the odd Senator and they were sorry sights indeed. Good to see that there is some love in Europe for these cars after all, as an Opel Monza in Australia, fitted with the right engine, period interior and Bilstein suspension would fetch a fair bit of dough.
There are a few in Oz and NZ - in fact there seems to be a developing club over there with a forum to cover old OpelsEdited by B'stard Child on Sunday 11th May 09:09
When I left school my first job was in a Vauxhall dealer that had converted from being an Opel dealer, so I was around cars like this, big old Senators, Mantas etc. Seeing this thread really takes me back.
One thing I seem to recall on these was the tilt steering column used to get sloppy and there wasnt a way to repair without replacing. Also the heater matrix wasnt good and was a P I G to replace, dash out iirc. We used to have lots of customers with them in Bristol, and I used to post parts out all over the country for them. There was an AA or RAC patrolman who had a handfull of them, all running iirc. Must have been better paid back then.
One thing I seem to recall on these was the tilt steering column used to get sloppy and there wasnt a way to repair without replacing. Also the heater matrix wasnt good and was a P I G to replace, dash out iirc. We used to have lots of customers with them in Bristol, and I used to post parts out all over the country for them. There was an AA or RAC patrolman who had a handfull of them, all running iirc. Must have been better paid back then.
PATTERNPART said:
Blimey I've just seen more of these in the last 5 minutes than in my life prior to that! (Not bad motors though) I had a 3 Litre Carlton for a while which had a very likeable personality.
Wanna see some more 
I've had several 3.0 Senators and I know what you mean - very likable cars
Great piccy of the HDT Monza! Note the VL Group A in the background, that's also an Opel-based car. Last car Peter Brock won Bathhurst in I think. And to think that I could have bought one of those a few years ago for $20K. They're now worth $80K plus and in a year, they'll top a hundred!
Nice investment for an Opel Senator don't you think?
Nice investment for an Opel Senator don't you think?
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff