RE: Vauxhall Nova SR: Spotted
Discussion
I had a 87 d plate with about 100k on as my first car . Forever in the garage that car, i even had the engine rebuilt instead of getting rid of it and getting something better - that was my first stupid move when it came to that car ! Me and my mates were all into mountain biking, we all had nova sr or gte and one with a gsi - we'd go in convo to our local woods (erlestoke) rip it up, then convoy back to mcdonalds for sustinance. Good days those were ! Stereo was worth more than the car ! ha
My wife and I had quite few 3dr hatchback Novas in the day.
A959JRY, 1.0 Base, wife's first car/new car, fell off DVLA's records in 2002
B45OBC, 1.2 Swing, my first new car, £4500, departed this life, according to the DVLA in 2003
E383KJF,1.3SR, my second new car, the Swing was traded in, DVLA loses track in 2000
????? 1.2 Star, wife's second new car. No idea what happened to it, traded with a dealer for a new Polo
G859XRY,1.6GTE, sold for a Morgan 4/4 I still have. Fell off the DVLA radar in 2006
All were carmine red and all were reliable. The GTE had three attempted thefts, which got rather annoying after a while.
£16k for nostalgia seems too much. Much as I would love to be in my 20s again, just having the car doesn't cut it.
A959JRY, 1.0 Base, wife's first car/new car, fell off DVLA's records in 2002
B45OBC, 1.2 Swing, my first new car, £4500, departed this life, according to the DVLA in 2003
E383KJF,1.3SR, my second new car, the Swing was traded in, DVLA loses track in 2000
????? 1.2 Star, wife's second new car. No idea what happened to it, traded with a dealer for a new Polo
G859XRY,1.6GTE, sold for a Morgan 4/4 I still have. Fell off the DVLA radar in 2006
All were carmine red and all were reliable. The GTE had three attempted thefts, which got rather annoying after a while.
£16k for nostalgia seems too much. Much as I would love to be in my 20s again, just having the car doesn't cut it.
I had a Nova for a few months in about 2006. The kind of car that you buy when you've only got £250 in your pocket and need some transport because your main car has died.
So I bought a 1984 Nova, 1.2 L with the optional nearside mirror, rust around the tailgate and a missing wheel centre cap.
Oh and it was in "Poo Brown"
But, it worked, got me to/from work for a few months until I had the ability to buy something better, and I was able to sell it for nearly £400, a rare thing to do!
So I bought a 1984 Nova, 1.2 L with the optional nearside mirror, rust around the tailgate and a missing wheel centre cap.
Oh and it was in "Poo Brown"
But, it worked, got me to/from work for a few months until I had the ability to buy something better, and I was able to sell it for nearly £400, a rare thing to do!
I learned to drive in one of these. It was custard-yellow coloured. Good bit of marketing by the driving school to run one as it was the reason I picked them.
I didn't know any better at the time and thought it was awesome.
My mate had a Mark 2 several years later (by which I'd learned what a car was and wouldn't go near one of these with a bargepole) and he lost count of the number of times it was TWOC'd and abandoned somewhere (with the hazard warning switch upside down).
I didn't know any better at the time and thought it was awesome.
My mate had a Mark 2 several years later (by which I'd learned what a car was and wouldn't go near one of these with a bargepole) and he lost count of the number of times it was TWOC'd and abandoned somewhere (with the hazard warning switch upside down).
Edited by r11co on Wednesday 20th June 11:42
[quote=Shakermaker
So I bought a 1984 Nova, 1.2 L with the optional nearside mirror, rust around the tailgate and a missing wheel centre cap.
Oh and it was in "Poo Brown"
...
[/quote]
Yes - the optional mirror, as mentioned above it was on my new one. Remember getting called by a very apologetic salesman saying he could only find one 5 speed in red but it had an extra mirror.
It duly appeared, indeed it was extra, totally random & unmatched to the driver's side. Looked as if it had just been stuck on as after thought. Very odd looking. I'd forgotten about the centre caps, the 3 spoke alloys would flex a bit and pop them out, used to keep spares in the boot.
And yes, the colours, a real design triumph. Rest assured the poo brown looked just as bad fresh from the factory, living proof that you can't polish it...
So I bought a 1984 Nova, 1.2 L with the optional nearside mirror, rust around the tailgate and a missing wheel centre cap.
Oh and it was in "Poo Brown"
...
[/quote]
Yes - the optional mirror, as mentioned above it was on my new one. Remember getting called by a very apologetic salesman saying he could only find one 5 speed in red but it had an extra mirror.
It duly appeared, indeed it was extra, totally random & unmatched to the driver's side. Looked as if it had just been stuck on as after thought. Very odd looking. I'd forgotten about the centre caps, the 3 spoke alloys would flex a bit and pop them out, used to keep spares in the boot.
And yes, the colours, a real design triumph. Rest assured the poo brown looked just as bad fresh from the factory, living proof that you can't polish it...
greenarrow said:
Lot of comments saying how terrible these were. They weren't actually that bad. Not as good as the period 205 maybe, but competitive with the equally average Fiesta and as I recall, the basis for a competitive rally car....
Harry Hockly did pretty well in his Group A Sport back in the 80s as did Colin McRae winning the 1988 Scottish Rally Championship. The Sport was a limited homologation special on twin 40s and used to see a few tuned ones about as Hockly's place was just down the road. Reasonably quick back in the mid 80s for a small hatch - Swift Sport performance. Guess the Saxo VTR/VTS took over from these as the must have hatch for youngsters. Not sure what the modern day equivalent is now that everyone can be in a new car on PCP or whatever.
Even Ayrton Senna got to drive one!
My mother had a red 'Swing' Nova around the time I passed my test in the late 80's, think it was a 1.3. B909 YNS. Seems it has been made into cans, was last due to be taxed in 1997.
Great wee car, although it must have left some deep-rooted bad impression on me within my subconscious as I've only owned one Vauxhall since, the Nova's bigger brother the Cavalier, but owned plenty of Fords.
Great wee car, although it must have left some deep-rooted bad impression on me within my subconscious as I've only owned one Vauxhall since, the Nova's bigger brother the Cavalier, but owned plenty of Fords.
I had 3 Nova SRs. A white one I wrote off, a metallic blue one that got stolen and burnt out and a black one that I traded in for a Nova GTE which then got stolen and written off in Newcastle. All of which had a Janspeed exhaust and a bangin stero. Loved them all and that 6 pot dash which in every single one of them the petrol light was always on. Happy days!
All the local chavs used to rag around in these when I was at school and truth be told I really wanted one! There’s ssomething about the simplicity of 80s car design I like. Clean lines and well proportioned rather than bulbous lumps with headlamps that look like they’d be a better fit for a Transit van.
That said, £16 is silly, but that’s ‘because classic’.
That said, £16 is silly, but that’s ‘because classic’.
r11co said:
I learned to drive in one of these. It was custard-yellow coloured. Good bit of marketing by the driving school to run one as it was the reason I picked them.
Exactly the same for me - I picked the driving school because of the Nova. I was therefore slightly gutted when a deeply uncool booted/saloon version turned up for my first lesson instead of the anticipated hatch. The instructor was a 
too. Anyway, Novas were slow and crap then and are still slow and crap now. £16K is insane money and frankly the 'classic car' pricing bubble can't burst a moment too soon.
Never you mind said:
I had 3 Nova SRs. A white one I wrote off, a metallic blue one that got stolen and burnt out and a black one that I traded in for a Nova GTE which then got stolen and written off in Newcastle. All of which had a Janspeed exhaust and a bangin stero. Loved them all and that 6 pot dash which in every single one of them the petrol light was always on. Happy days!
if the price of this one is accurate, that's the thick end of £50K worth of cars you used to own. mp3manager said:
The SR was my first car back in '87. Lots of memories probably seen through rose-tinted specs but good times were had.
That could be my old car's double, B###BVA was the reg I think, being a 1985 car in 1993 meant it was rotten as a pear by then (only 8 years old! Imagine that now) but what a great looking car, proportions and box arches just looked so right.Like an earlier poster said - you had to be there.
You were 19 and you wanted a hot hatch. Anything proper gte, gti, xr3 was eyewatering to insure. Anything with a 1.6l engine or bigger was similarly expensive.
So it had to be a 1.3.
The majority of things like golfs, escorts, maestros with a 1.3 were poverty spec and certainly not cool for a 19 year old.
Then the Nova SR had the sports seats, the rev counter, maybe a sunroof and the 5 speed gear box. It was 3dr. Add to that the revvy 1.3 engine. Fords of this vintage had either the CVH or the even worse OHV thing.
The prices they commanded at the time reflected their desirability.
Yes the brakes were crap and the handling a bit wooden but that was part of the ownership experience. There were plenty of aftermarket mods and upgrades available and 2nd hand parts off astra's and cavalier's bolted straight on.
I had a 1990 1.4 SR. I fitted the larger and vented front brakes from a cavalier and the 14" steelies from the same. Then lowering springs and new dampers.
Ran it from 56K miles to 122K miles in 2.5 years. Great fun, never let me down.
You were 19 and you wanted a hot hatch. Anything proper gte, gti, xr3 was eyewatering to insure. Anything with a 1.6l engine or bigger was similarly expensive.
So it had to be a 1.3.
The majority of things like golfs, escorts, maestros with a 1.3 were poverty spec and certainly not cool for a 19 year old.
Then the Nova SR had the sports seats, the rev counter, maybe a sunroof and the 5 speed gear box. It was 3dr. Add to that the revvy 1.3 engine. Fords of this vintage had either the CVH or the even worse OHV thing.
The prices they commanded at the time reflected their desirability.
Yes the brakes were crap and the handling a bit wooden but that was part of the ownership experience. There were plenty of aftermarket mods and upgrades available and 2nd hand parts off astra's and cavalier's bolted straight on.
I had a 1990 1.4 SR. I fitted the larger and vented front brakes from a cavalier and the 14" steelies from the same. Then lowering springs and new dampers.
Ran it from 56K miles to 122K miles in 2.5 years. Great fun, never let me down. 
My mate had one, it felt like a proper sporty little car, rev counter and nice seats, enough power to be fun back then.
It wasnt running properly and I diagnosed the breather system being full of crud, we took it to somewhere out of the way and ran Redex through it, I undid a breather hose and looked down it, it was completely blocked, so I got to him "Rev it", he did and vehicular Bukkake was invented
It wasnt running properly and I diagnosed the breather system being full of crud, we took it to somewhere out of the way and ran Redex through it, I undid a breather hose and looked down it, it was completely blocked, so I got to him "Rev it", he did and vehicular Bukkake was invented
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