RE: SOTW: Opel Manta

[cazzer]

jig said:

Oh yes they did - the Cavalier Coupe.

Yer right....I'd forgotten

[Mr POD]

cazzer said:

jig said:

Oh yes they did - the Cavalier Coupe.

Yer right....I'd forgotten

I went to look at a really nice Opel manta in 1989, was going to do the deal, when I realised the V5 said it was a cavalier. The fact is that the car was very nice, but I felt I'd been lied to and quickly backed out.

[x200sxy]

I had two:

B44EJH GT/E hatch, dark brown, rare colour, bought in 1992, sold in 1994.
B488UNK, Berlinetta coupe, red, bought 1994, wrote off 1996
Both with Jet-Ex exhausts.

Still hanker after one sometimes. Nearly bought one about 8 months ago but the mrs didn't like it.

There's a fab 400 replica up here in Aberdeen.

[german tony]

I had a Chavalier Coupe which reminds me these Mantas were based on the mid 70's Ascona/Cavalier.

[Mr POD]

german tony said:

I had a Chavalier Coupe which reminds me these Mantas were based on the mid 70's Ascona/Cavalier.

The ascona b and the cav mk1 were pretty similar apart from the front end, and the manta was pretty much a cav mk1. A real Q car is a 4 door cavalier with Manta tuning.

[astrsxi77]

So very nearly bought a gold 1.8i Berlinetta seven-odd years back.

It's such a shame there was never a 6-pot version. I would gladly add a white Cartlon GSi 24v powered GT/E coupe to my dream garage alongside a Scorpio 24v powered Capri 280 Brooklands!

[griffdude]

My neighbour had one of these things but it was a '400' ltd edition in white with big squared off arches & lots of induction roar. We had regular tussles between that & my Renault 5 Gordini Turbo.

[Stigmundfreud]

astrsxi77 said:

So very nearly bought a gold 1.8i Berlinetta seven-odd years back.

It's such a shame there was never a 6-pot version. I would gladly add a white Cartlon GSi 24v powered GT/E coupe to my dream garage alongside a Scorpio 24v powered Capri 280 Brooklands!

You do know a brooklands is nothing more than a colour scheme yes? So not so special once you've changed the engine for the 24v unit.

[Sf_Manta]

I had a 1.8 in Orient Blue only 3 years ago and still got my GTE coupe today, be it needing work

Be it was in a bit of a dire situation, i was able to have the sills replaced (or so i thought, typical garage bodger slapped them over the old sills! ) Did have to replace the engine after the old one blew it's headgasket, and the clutch bearing followed suit but i loved it for how fun it was to loon about the roundabouts in MK :thumpup:

One thing i remember was making a guy twice my age scream as i went though a roundabout but not at any great speed, but enough to get the car nicely light off the hump on the exit.
Another was chasing a S14 200SX across town on many occasions on the way home from work and him never quite getting away on the entry and going around the roundabouts

Itching to finish my coupe now, since the engine's a 2.0 8v from a Cavalier SRi though i ditched the injection system for twin 45 Webers, the head is from a friend's engine (now dead) which has been found to be a Bylestine job with the BIGGEST valves you can cram into an 8v head... best bit, got it for free!!! Those, a 4-1 ashley manifold, the bottom end being completely rebalanced and with new bearings and ARP rod bolts... should be a cracker! Also got Astra GTE brakes to go on, a Helix clutch and braided lines amongst my tresure trove of parts for this car...

Now i just need the funds to finish it

[Mr POD]

Sf_Manta said:

I had a 1.8 in Orient Blue only 3 years ago and still got my GTE coupe today, be it needing work

Be it was in a bit of a dire situation, i was able to have the sills replaced (or so i thought, typical garage bodger slapped them over the old sills! ) Did have to replace the engine after the old one blew it's headgasket, and the clutch bearing followed suit but i loved it for how fun it was to loon about the roundabouts in MK :thumpup:

One thing i remember was making a guy twice my age scream as i went though a roundabout but not at any great speed, but enough to get the car nicely light off the hump on the exit.
Another was chasing a S14 200SX across town on many occasions on the way home from work and him never quite getting away on the entry and going around the roundabouts

Itching to finish my coupe now, since the engine's a 2.0 8v from a Cavalier SRi though i ditched the injection system for twin 45 Webers, the head is from a friend's engine (now dead) which has been found to be a Bylestine job with the BIGGEST valves you can cram into an 8v head... best bit, got it for free!!! Those, a 4-1 ashley manifold, the bottom end being completely rebalanced and with new bearings and ARP rod bolts... should be a cracker! Also got Astra GTE brakes to go on, a Helix clutch and braided lines amongst my tresure trove of parts for this car...

Now i just need the funds to finish it

I wish my wife was as mad as you.

[Morningside]

I thought all Mantas are supposed to be white.

[RicksAlfas]

My Dad had two. A 1.9 Berlinetta on a V reg. Metallic brown (!) with Webasto sunroof, vinyl roof and Rostyles. He swapped that for one of the first GT/Es. Gold hatchback on an A reg. The first four cars into the UK were two silver and two gold. On the way up to The Lakes we spotted the other gold one!

They were colour coding gone mad - gold bumpers, spoilers and wheels!!! Gold...

[defblade]

Loved Mantas... had 3

The first was a B series 1.9 auto coupe. Well, the insurance company said they only made 1.9s, but I found 1.6 badges in the glovebox after buying it Then I learnt how to read the engine number code, and it was actually a 2 litre So I stuck the 1.6 badge on the back and upset a few people

The next was a c series 1.8 hatch.
This is what happens when your wife meets a deer in one:





Then I got my dream car - a 2 litre GTE exclusive coupe. Regularly seen round Castle Coombe I believe I managed to lay hold of the last new set of Irmscher racing wing mirrors available, too. As someone else mentioned, it did get broken into - twice - the only car I've had that has been (touch wood).






But she started breaking down too much so I decided Mantas were getting too old to be reliable.

Although that didn't seem to occur to me when I bought an Opel GT







Mantas started me on decent sized RWD cars; I reckon the BMW E36 holds the same place in the world now. And are similar money, too.

[Shropshiremike]

astrsxi77 said:

It's such a shame there was never a 6-pot version.

There was...but genuine i300s are extremely rare

[RICYP]

The Manta, when cars were proper. I had 2, 1.8 GT, and then a 2.0 GTE which i kept for 4 years, would love to know if it is still around E548SKJ white hatch would buy it back if i saw it, great rear wheel driving, an icon to many.

[x200sxy]

Shropshiremike said:

astrsxi77 said:

It's such a shame there was never a 6-pot version.

There was...but genuine i300s are extremely rare

Wasn't the i240 a 6-pot too?

[x200sxy]

Love the GT, there was one for sale in classifieds about 8 months ago. I did ring about it and then thought better for some reason.

[Dunk76]

x200sxy said:

Shropshiremike said:

astrsxi77 said:

It's such a shame there was never a 6-pot version.

There was...but genuine i300s are extremely rare

Wasn't the i240 a 6-pot too?

No, all the i models were four bangers (I can't honestly recall the i300 without looking).

The inline six modded ones I've driven have plough-on understeer like you never thought possible. Sound great, handle hopelessly.

[Beach001]

Oh I had one an 85 x 1.8 S, Learned to drive in it. Really enjoyed it.
Well up to the point I stuffed it into a field.

[JayMan]

dern said:

rubystone said:

Friend of mine bought a Cavalier coupe from our old history master, bolted a 400 kit on it, painted it red and boy did it look good. Then he started tuning the engine, and that broke gearboxes.

I went out and bought a genuine Manta - 1975 1.9SR in Orange with black and white dogtooth check interior. Bolted a small (and I mean smaal) steering wheel on it and merrily opposite locked round the lanes of Epping and Abridge - Russell Brooks or Jimmy McRae - never could make up my mind. Finest moment was getting it very sideways at the mini-roundabout in Chigwell High Road - nearly ended up having lunch with the ladies that were lunching.

Happy days

A highlight for me was some walkers waving their walking sticks at me as I tried to chase down a golf gti down in the lake district in mine or navigating roundabouts on opposite lock on rainy days. Happy days indeed.

Replaced it with a 1.9 205 gti but it just wasn't the same thing at all.

Mate of mine had a white GTE coupe which had been 'fettled' dont know how, but it could do 60 in 1st gear. When he first bought it, on hard acceleration I thought the clutch was slipping until he informed me, no, thats just wheelspin. He was in 3rd gear at the time.

Good memories.