Astra and an Escort

[vit4]

I feel it's high time I put a thread up on here

Vauxhall Astra Merit, 1991. 1.4 engine pushing out somewhere north of 40bhp. No idea how far north, but it doesn't feel like much That said, for it's age and engine size it is surprisingly fast. All about lightness, see! It's been in the family from new; my nan bought it. She had it up until 2006 when she stopped driving. It still looked like it had just rolled out of the showroom, and had done 30,000 miles. She then gave it to my dad. He sold it to me last year for £200 looking like this:






I will never, ever know how he did this. In under 3 years he managed to put a lot of wear and tear on the car; far more than what should be possible. The rust is what baffles me the most, it was spotless before It had done 80,000 miles when he sold it to me, because he didn't think it was going to last long with his mileage

Still, it passed it's MOT last year with no advisories (all that needed doing was that broken foglamp, which was a bh to find) and this year's one too, a few weeks ago. The rust on the sills needed sorting, which was done before hand.

I don't have any pictures of the car as it is today (will get some tomorrow), but I am bringing it back up to a very smart and presentable condition (as and when funds permit!). The car really is proving itself to be an excellent workhorse (despite the fact it's currently awaiting a replacement clutch; 20 years on one ain't bad!). Here are a list of what is planned for it bar the clutch:

- Boot pistons need replacing, Daewoo Nexia in local scrappie so that's sorted when I have time
- When money & time permit, replacement passenger side door. Has been crowbarred and bent back badly, window is very stiff and the door's got its fair share of dents anyway.
- Complete respray. Have T-cutted the whole car and looks a million times better, but there is lots of primer exposed in places sadly.
- I want to get the additional door seals that the Nexia has, just to quieten it a bit on dual carriageways
- New passenger side mirror case is needed ideally.
- Two wheel trims needed, but want them to match.
- Bumpers need blackening
- Small dent in N/S front wing needs pulling out
- I am tempted to replace the original speakers. They're bloody awful. Still would keep the head unit though.
- Driver's seat needs retrimming
- Back passenger side ashtray missing (I may have had something to do with that at the age of 8
- Need driver's side mudflaps
- Need a new parcel shelf; possibly a stealth shelf to go with the stereo idea but keep it looking standard.
- The little strip thing on the back bumper is coming apart, so new one of them
- Same on the front bumper iirc
- It has the original dealer sticker in the back window. Not sure what to do with this as it is very badly faded but a nice touch.


I do want this car to be in bloody good condition in a year or so. A rolling restoration, perhaps









This Escort has a bit of history in the family! Bought in 2007 by my mum as a stop gap for 250 whole quid, it's never put a foot wrong. It was stolen in 2008 and found by us 3 months later.

My mum's got a new car now, but it didn't really make sense to sell this (classic insurance, still loads of t&t, not really worth anything at the moment, although Fords have a habit of becoming desirable past a certain age...). The car's really served us well, so like my Astra I'm intending to bring it back up to a showing condition. It's still done under 50,000 miles from new. There is a hell of a lot of attachment to this car from all of us, perhaps just because it exceeded expectations in every single way. It really has been faultless, even today despite it being stood for at least a couple of weeks started on the button. Whilst not my thing, as this car will no longer be doing many miles I do want to bring this one up to showroom condition, and maybe take it to a couple of shows? Not sure. This is what needs doing to it anyway:



Dents on driver's side need sorting
New back bumper
One wheel trim is cracked
Lacquer is peeled completely on the bonnet and front passenger side wing
Small spots of rust starting to appear on rear sills
Parcel shelf cables have broken
Tear in driver's seat
Need code for radio
Headlining needs a damn good clean.





As a side, the cars are both the exact Ford/Vauxhall equivalent of each other of that age. The Astra really does feel like the superior car in every way except perhaps the ride; but then, the Astra does corners whereas the Escort just looks at them, hoping they'll straighten out.


Overall, to bring them each up to good/excellent condition requires only easy and cosmetic stuff I'll update whenever I do anything to either car. Started the thread to keep a kind of diary really

[Silent1]

You're restoring an ancient bog standard spec astra and an escort.
On a scale of 1 to mental, where would you place yourself

[vit4]

Silent1 said:

You're restoring an ancient bog standard spec astra and an escort.
On a scale of 1 to mental, where would you place yourself

Quite far from the 1

I've got a soft spot for crap cars in general to be honest. At the moment, insurance would rape me for anything decent or any modifications, so in some ways I guess it's a way for me to do 'something' to the cars without actually having to pay for it. Once I'm earning and I have a few years NCB I'm going to go down the modifying route; the idea of a sleeper has huge appeal.

[Swoxy]

Coool. I was born in the eighties so grew up with stuff like this. Good luck.

[XJR500bhp]

Your mental mate, I normally refrain from these sort of opinionated replies but in this case, throw them away! Or use it til it dies, but please don't throw money at them. Restore either one and it will still be worth £250 on a good day

[bob1179]

I think it's great! Fair play to you OP.

These are cars that until not so long ago, were everywhere. You just don't see bog standard poverty spec Astras and Escorts from that era on the road anymore, they may not be worth much, but get them looking like new again!

Plus, I'm sure you could make a few quid on the side farming them out to TV production companies for use in 'period' TV programs and movies (probably not much admitedly, but it could be fun).

[Otter Smacker]

Like the idea of the sleeper route. Got speaking to a chap who claimed that some of the vauxhall folk are using the saab 93 - 95 turbo engines as a cheaper alternative to the C20LET.


Keep the Astra standard and a buy Saab turbo engine. Modify the engine while you wait for those NCB.

Edited by Otter Smacker on Thursday 16th September 10:52

[150bhp]

XJR500bhp said:

Your mental mate, I normally refrain from these sort of opinionated replies but in this case, throw them away! Or use it til it dies, but please don't throw money at them. Restore either one and it will still be worth £250 on a good day

What he said.

[RetroCosworth]

vit4 said:

Silent1 said:

You're restoring an ancient bog standard spec astra and an escort.
On a scale of 1 to mental, where would you place yourself

Quite far from the 1

I've got a soft spot for crap cars in general to be honest. At the moment, insurance would rape me for anything decent or any modifications, so in some ways I guess it's a way for me to do 'something' to the cars without actually having to pay for it. Once I'm earning and I have a few years NCB I'm going to go down the modifying route; the idea of a sleeper has huge appeal.

[JAM35F]

I think your dad ripped you off a treat... £200, one born every minute eh.

But your own son, that's pretty low.

[Comfortably Dumb]

If you're doing all the work, sourcing and refurbing parts yourself I say go for it. If you are going to be paying somebody else to do the spannering and welding, you're a nut job.

Wish I'd bought something st (no offence) and done something similar a few years ago. (I'm only 25 now but house sharing means I don't currently have the space or facilities)

I'm guessing you're quite young for the mention of earning NCB and when you're earning.

[vit4]

Mixed opinions Can't be a bad thing! And as for the idea of being able to use them for a period film company, I must admit that hadn't really occurred to me. I like that a lot

doogz said:

You sure the Astra is a 1400?

My Astra Merit, that looked just like that, many moons ago, had the 1.3 SOHC engine. And i'm pretty sure they Mk2 never came with a 1.4, that never came along til the Mk3.

Yep, the post-facelift models had the 1.3 engine enlarged to a 1.4

Comfortably Dumb said:

If you're doing all the work, sourcing and refurbing parts yourself I say go for it. If you are going to be paying somebody else to do the spannering and welding, you're a nut job.

Wish I'd bought something st (no offence) and done something similar a few years ago. (I'm only 25 now but house sharing means I don't currently have the space or facilities)

I'm guessing you're quite young for the mention of earning NCB and when you're earning.

And yeah, I will be doing all work myself As it stands I have very limited abilities so being able to cut my teeth on these will be good.

And I'm 17 What I do earn at the moment barely pays for my insurance!

[Comfortably Dumb]

Good on you then. At least you not going to be fking up on anything nice.

[vit4]

[Porkie]

JAM35F said:

I think your dad ripped you off a treat... £200, one born every minute eh.

But your own son, that's pretty low.

hahahah

[ALfooy]

vit4 said:

Silent1 said:

You're restoring an ancient bog standard spec astra and an escort.
On a scale of 1 to mental, where would you place yourself

Quite far from the 1

I've got a soft spot for crap cars in general to be honest. At the moment, insurance would rape me for anything decent or any modifications, so in some ways I guess it's a way for me to do 'something' to the cars without actually having to pay for it. Once I'm earning and I have a few years NCB I'm going to go down the modifying route; the idea of a sleeper has huge appeal.

bravo, i too have a soft spot for crap cars, always liked the mk2 astra.

i think what people don't get it, you don't need something fast and new to have fun with cars, my old polo was a barral of laughs and looked 10 times worse than that lol

makes me miss it even more now

[soad]

Not many of those left on the roads

Astra had a hard life by the looks of it. Good on you for sorting it out.

[Pablo16v]

I learnt to drive in an F plate 1.3 Escort Popular back in 1988. You're mad but it's good to see one again.

[shouldbworking]

You're entirely nuts.

But I commend you for it

[Rob_F]

I bet you'll have just as much enjoyment tinkering with those old knackers then a lot of people do with their shiny M-Sport BMWs they work so hard to pay the finance for. I always look when i see a car like this nowadays, they just seem to have dissapeared. I remember when a mate of my brother had a 1.3 Astra when i was about 14 and it felt like a fvcking rocket ship

Rob.