RE: Vauxhall Nova SR: Spotted
Discussion
My first car was a brand new red 1990 Nova 1.2 Fling special edition with (importantly) free Vauxhall insurance for 17-year olds
H549YDS (R.I.P).....a special edition for the last of the Mk1 style (when I picked it up the Mk2 had just been launched & was in the showroom). Absolutely loved that car. Colour coded wing mirrors (a rarity in those days), a pop-out sunroof, and the steering wheel from an SR.
It survived break-in's from "travelling persons", blind farmers reversing in SUV's, blind neighbours reversing in Peugeots, uninsured hit'n'runs from siblings of druglords, and many handbrake turns in snowy car parks.
Owned it from delivery miles to around 75k in nearly 6 years of ownership, Traded it in for a new Fiesta Encore 1.3 which was boring as hell and blew up on the M74 a week after the warranty ran out
H549YDS (R.I.P).....a special edition for the last of the Mk1 style (when I picked it up the Mk2 had just been launched & was in the showroom). Absolutely loved that car. Colour coded wing mirrors (a rarity in those days), a pop-out sunroof, and the steering wheel from an SR.
It survived break-in's from "travelling persons", blind farmers reversing in SUV's, blind neighbours reversing in Peugeots, uninsured hit'n'runs from siblings of druglords, and many handbrake turns in snowy car parks.
Owned it from delivery miles to around 75k in nearly 6 years of ownership, Traded it in for a new Fiesta Encore 1.3 which was boring as hell and blew up on the M74 a week after the warranty ran out
I had two SRs back in the day - the first was identical to the one in this article (C666FTA) but without the alloys (but with a Sport red backbox). I then bought the 2nd one (G331BAF) which was red again, but newer and lower miles. Had that tuned by Bill Blydenstein and had a Nova Sport twin 40s kit added with a Janspeed - for a 1.3 it went very well although the brakes were rubbish! Even upgrading to vented discs, they always warped and I considered myself quite light on braking!
Sold he 2nd car to a mate in Bristol who enjoyed it until it was nicked outside his flat in Bristol and used in a ram raid. How they ever started it amazed me as there was a certain knack to it as it was easy to flood the Webers!
Happy Days :-)
Sold he 2nd car to a mate in Bristol who enjoyed it until it was nicked outside his flat in Bristol and used in a ram raid. How they ever started it amazed me as there was a certain knack to it as it was easy to flood the Webers!
Happy Days :-)
s m said:
The 1.5TD was pretty quick back then, had the same top speed practically as the SR and managed to be faster than the MG Metro round a lap at one of the magazine handling days
Chris Harris had a 205XS for a fair while in his collection
Diesels were far more popular than petrols over here in Belfast back then, mostly because they were run on red (or green) diesel. Police had a lot more to worry about than what was in some boy racers tank, and boys could fill the tank for less than £10. Chris Harris had a 205XS for a fair while in his collection
The 205 had a very sharp turbo diesel too, think it was possibly badged d-turbo. Came with a gti interior and gave my xs a very good run for its money.
Spingo said:
I had two SRs back in the day - the first was identical to the one in this article (C666FTA) but without the alloys (but with a Sport red backbox). I then bought the 2nd one (G331BAF) which was red again, but newer and lower miles. Had that tuned by Bill Blydenstein and had a Nova Sport twin 40s kit added with a Janspeed - for a 1.3 it went very well although the brakes were rubbish! Even upgrading to vented discs, they always warped and I considered myself quite light on braking!
Sold he 2nd car to a mate in Bristol who enjoyed it until it was nicked outside his flat in Bristol and used in a ram raid. How they ever started it amazed me as there was a certain knack to it as it was easy to flood the Webers!
Happy Days :-)
The Nova Sports were a proper limited edition homologation special - only made 500 or so and did pretty well in rallies and on track. Offered hot hatch performance although they liked a drink with the twin carb set-up. Reminds me a bit of the later 106 S1 Rallye although they were separated by a decade.Sold he 2nd car to a mate in Bristol who enjoyed it until it was nicked outside his flat in Bristol and used in a ram raid. How they ever started it amazed me as there was a certain knack to it as it was easy to flood the Webers!
Happy Days :-)
Remember turning up at the local dealer with all the mechanics out peering under the bonnet of a Sport and one of them saying it would give my Mk2 RS2000 a scare ( which would have been very true if it had been a standard car )
I was too intent on poking round the Manta GTE coupé they had sat in the showroom, plus the teardrop shape Astra GTE ....all in fashionable white of course! They always used to have a bit of showroom candy with a lovely Monza GSE sitting in the PDI bay
chrisxr2 said:
Those are not the SR alloys those are the GTE alloys.
Do you mean the alloys in the car in the article?
They look the same as the original Ronal ones they came with or do you mean something else?
Here is the original brochure below
The later GTE also had the same design Ronals
They were also fitted with trims
Seeing as so many people in here had one, thought some may be interested In one of the original ads that was run for the SR
Had a look at some of the mainstream motor mag articles when they were launched to see the verdict on the handling and whether the Fast Lane and Motor mag positivity was isolated
Performance Car found it pretty decent too according to their review
Only the 205GT seemed to get a higher rating at the time and was the class leader for handling. A fit SR was certainly the pick of the rest which probably explains the number of positive comments from many past owners
s m said:
Do you mean the alloys in the car in the article?
They look the same as the original Ronal ones they came with or do you mean something else?
Here is the original brochure below
The later GTE also had the same design Ronals
They were also fitted with trims
Seeing as so many people in here had one, thought some may be interested In one of the original ads that was run for the SR
Had a look at some of the mainstream motor mag articles when they were launched to see the verdict on the handling and whether the Fast Lane and Motor mag positivity was isolated
Performance Car found it pretty decent too according to their review
Only the 205GT seemed to get a higher rating at the time and was the class leader for handling. A fit SR was certainly the pick of the rest which probably explains the number of positive comments from many past owners
Great post. Enjoyed seeing the old advert. “103mph - where legal”. Today would probably get it banned for promoting speed. They look the same as the original Ronal ones they came with or do you mean something else?
Here is the original brochure below
The later GTE also had the same design Ronals
They were also fitted with trims
Seeing as so many people in here had one, thought some may be interested In one of the original ads that was run for the SR
Had a look at some of the mainstream motor mag articles when they were launched to see the verdict on the handling and whether the Fast Lane and Motor mag positivity was isolated
Performance Car found it pretty decent too according to their review
Only the 205GT seemed to get a higher rating at the time and was the class leader for handling. A fit SR was certainly the pick of the rest which probably explains the number of positive comments from many past owners
When I bought the SR in ’88 the other car I was looking at was the 205 GT. As much as I loved the Nova (not ashamed to admit it) I wasn’t sure I’d made the right decision. However, if I’d bought the Pug, I would probably not have bought the 205 GTI a few year later. Then I’d have missed out on one of the greats. (I don’t usually return to other versions of cars I’ve owned.)
SpudLink said:
Great post. Enjoyed seeing the old advert. “103mph - where legal”. Today would probably get it banned for promoting speed.
When I bought the SR in ’88 the other car I was looking at was the 205 GT. As much as I loved the Nova (not ashamed to admit it) I wasn’t sure I’d made the right decision. However, if I’d bought the Pug, I would probably not have bought the 205 GTI a few year later. Then I’d have missed out on one of the greats. (I don’t usually return to other versions of cars I’ve owned.)
Yep, interesting seeing some of the old ads nowWhen I bought the SR in ’88 the other car I was looking at was the 205 GT. As much as I loved the Nova (not ashamed to admit it) I wasn’t sure I’d made the right decision. However, if I’d bought the Pug, I would probably not have bought the 205 GTI a few year later. Then I’d have missed out on one of the greats. (I don’t usually return to other versions of cars I’ve owned.)
Wonder how often the headlamp wash option was selected!?!!?
I think, as said earlier, the 205GT was definitely the pick of these little hatches back then. The SR was reviewed very positively as well, certainly as good as any of the rest according to all the contemporary reviews I've read.
John Miles, the ex Lotus development guy, used to give his opinions in some of the Autocar tests
Here's his comments on the 205GT as well as Nova SR
Kenny Powers said:
Love it! Especially the yellow one.
Thank you so much for those posting up these scans. It’s a proper trip down memory lane
No worries.Thank you so much for those posting up these scans. It’s a proper trip down memory lane
Someone noted earlier on about the master cylinder being on the passenger side of RHD cars ( like the Mk1 Golf Gti )
Brakes seemed to be rated good in the new reviews but you can imagine as slop got into the linkage the travel and feel of the brakes went south. I had a Mk1 Gti and was certainly a 'feature' on those once they a few miles on
tboxes, can't express just how much i hate these cars and i hope this one is suitably rolled into a river by the new owner and scrapped. Blast from the past, but noticed one of these on 23k miles sold for £10k on Collecting Cars recently, so whilst obviously £16.5k is a fairly big jump from that, they are clearly commanding pretty strong money regardless.
As is pretty standard for any cars like this still in good condition, it's now on one of the car raffle sites.
As is pretty standard for any cars like this still in good condition, it's now on one of the car raffle sites.
ch37 said:
Blast from the past, but noticed one of these on 23k miles sold for £10k on Collecting Cars recently, so whilst obviously £16.5k is a fairly big jump from that, they are clearly commanding pretty strong money regardless.
As is pretty standard for any cars like this still in good condition, it's now on one of the car raffle sites.
A 36k mileage one sold for 11 grand a few months back tooAs is pretty standard for any cars like this still in good condition, it's now on one of the car raffle sites.
Found this photo of the F reg one I owned, this would be around '04. This was my first, but sort of reliving my youth as when I passed my test my dad had a couple of 5drs, in hearing aid beige and a lovely shade of blue.
Just realised I still use that very same bucket and hose, no sponges now though.
Just realised I still use that very same bucket and hose, no sponges now though.
mikeswagon said:
Found this photo of the F reg one I owned, this would be around '04. This was my first, but sort of reliving my youth as when I passed my test my dad had a couple of 5drs, in hearing aid beige and a lovely shade of blue.
Just realised I still use that very same bucket and hose, no sponges now though.
How did you see over the wheel? Just realised I still use that very same bucket and hose, no sponges now though.
aaron_2000 said:
mikeswagon said:
Found this photo of the F reg one I owned, this would be around '04. This was my first, but sort of reliving my youth as when I passed my test my dad had a couple of 5drs, in hearing aid beige and a lovely shade of blue.
Just realised I still use that very same bucket and hose, no sponges now though.
How did you see over the wheel? Just realised I still use that very same bucket and hose, no sponges now though.
This made me think, Vauxhall were doing very nicely then, mid eighties to maybe 2000, these sold in huge numbers,
Frontera
Calibra
Tigra
Corsa
Cavalier/Vectra
Astra
Carlton/Senator
I know a lot get very sniffy about Vauxhalls and will just remember the list above at the end of their lives but they seemed to me to be producing a range of stuff that sold like mad and was genuinely desirable to a big percentage of the public.
It seems incredible now that a Frontera for example was a car with an enviable if inexplicable image, it was some Isuzu thing rebadged and jazzed up, but they were everywhere, short wheelbase, Long wheelbase, funky graphics and bold colours. Think they just got in on the ground floor of the SUV thing.
The Calibra was very slinky and looked like nothing else, I remember the IT manager getting one when they were new and us all marvelling at it, got a lift in it once, seemed really fast but think it was only the basic 8 valve.
The Tigra is now largely forgotten but it was like nothing else at the time and was really popular, Fords Puma was a better car but the Tigra came to market three years earlier, Ford playing catch up I guess.
The Carlton was a pretty solid effort, good looking, large range from basic 1.8's to 3.0 GSI's, Senator if you wanted posher and Lotus Carlton if you wanted faster.
Do they still sell in the same numbers, I just dont notice them, my uncle has a Vauxhall SUV but dont know anyone else that has one. I worked with a guy who bought a new Corsa like every 8 years, now there is something to look forward to....
Be interesting to know whether it went wrong or do they still sell in similar numbers ?
Frontera
Calibra
Tigra
Corsa
Cavalier/Vectra
Astra
Carlton/Senator
I know a lot get very sniffy about Vauxhalls and will just remember the list above at the end of their lives but they seemed to me to be producing a range of stuff that sold like mad and was genuinely desirable to a big percentage of the public.
It seems incredible now that a Frontera for example was a car with an enviable if inexplicable image, it was some Isuzu thing rebadged and jazzed up, but they were everywhere, short wheelbase, Long wheelbase, funky graphics and bold colours. Think they just got in on the ground floor of the SUV thing.
The Calibra was very slinky and looked like nothing else, I remember the IT manager getting one when they were new and us all marvelling at it, got a lift in it once, seemed really fast but think it was only the basic 8 valve.
The Tigra is now largely forgotten but it was like nothing else at the time and was really popular, Fords Puma was a better car but the Tigra came to market three years earlier, Ford playing catch up I guess.
The Carlton was a pretty solid effort, good looking, large range from basic 1.8's to 3.0 GSI's, Senator if you wanted posher and Lotus Carlton if you wanted faster.
Do they still sell in the same numbers, I just dont notice them, my uncle has a Vauxhall SUV but dont know anyone else that has one. I worked with a guy who bought a new Corsa like every 8 years, now there is something to look forward to....
Be interesting to know whether it went wrong or do they still sell in similar numbers ?
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