Cavalier Mk2 Memories
Discussion
I had a D reg Cavalier SRi. I can't remember if it was a 1.8 or 2.0, but it was just 115bhp. I did about 85k miles in two years in that car; it was my second company car (the previous one being a 1.6i Orion Ghia).
Despite having less toys than the Orion it was a good car to drive and I loved it. After two years of thrashing it to death it still ran sweet as a nut and never gave me any problems.
It was part of my home for a while when I split up from my girlfriend who I was living with at the time. I lived out of my Dad's caravan whilst we sorted out selling the house etc. Made a good towcar!
Despite having less toys than the Orion it was a good car to drive and I loved it. After two years of thrashing it to death it still ran sweet as a nut and never gave me any problems.
It was part of my home for a while when I split up from my girlfriend who I was living with at the time. I lived out of my Dad's caravan whilst we sorted out selling the house etc. Made a good towcar!
Edited by jdcampbell on Tuesday 14th January 13:53
I used to practice inbetween driving lessons in my Mum’s 1.6 L Cavalier... it was stolen before I passed my test so I never got it drive it in anger.
I did have a mate who had a succession of dodgy Cavaliers though: ranging from a couple of 1.3 saloons up to the mighty 1.6 GL hatch (IIRC). I had a 1.6 Laser Capri at the time and he used to blow my doors off at every set of traffic lights. From memory the Ford 1.6 Pinto put out 72 bhp but the Vauxhall 1.6 unit produced a heady 90 ‘horse... so it wasn’t surprising he used to beat me (these things matter when you’re a kid!) They (the Vauxhalls) were very fragile engines though. My Capri would just run and run, whereupon it seemed like every month or so my mate would rope me in to fitting a new cam into his car or fitting yet another dodgy cylinder head retrieved from a local scrapyard.
They did like to rust, the old Cavaliers. I have a very fond memory of my mate getting pissed off with his car as it wouldn’t start, leaping out and kicking the bodywork in frustration. His boot went straight through the bottom of the driver’s side door leaving an amusingly large hole which we patched up with some steel stolen from his dad’s Humber Super Snipe resto project. His old man was far from pleased as we’d cannibalised some rare panels in our ignorance and he gave us a b
king of epic proportions. In fact, my ears are still ringing almost two decades later.
Great times and those Cavs were good cars in my opinion.
Right, I’m off to ebay to see if there are any left!
I did have a mate who had a succession of dodgy Cavaliers though: ranging from a couple of 1.3 saloons up to the mighty 1.6 GL hatch (IIRC). I had a 1.6 Laser Capri at the time and he used to blow my doors off at every set of traffic lights. From memory the Ford 1.6 Pinto put out 72 bhp but the Vauxhall 1.6 unit produced a heady 90 ‘horse... so it wasn’t surprising he used to beat me (these things matter when you’re a kid!) They (the Vauxhalls) were very fragile engines though. My Capri would just run and run, whereupon it seemed like every month or so my mate would rope me in to fitting a new cam into his car or fitting yet another dodgy cylinder head retrieved from a local scrapyard.
They did like to rust, the old Cavaliers. I have a very fond memory of my mate getting pissed off with his car as it wouldn’t start, leaping out and kicking the bodywork in frustration. His boot went straight through the bottom of the driver’s side door leaving an amusingly large hole which we patched up with some steel stolen from his dad’s Humber Super Snipe resto project. His old man was far from pleased as we’d cannibalised some rare panels in our ignorance and he gave us a b
king of epic proportions. In fact, my ears are still ringing almost two decades later.Great times and those Cavs were good cars in my opinion.
Right, I’m off to ebay to see if there are any left!
I had a blue SRi130 which I bought new in 87. It was a great car when compared to its contemporaries and had very nice sports seats in it. The interior trim and dash were 'of their time' - thought they looked the dog's danglies back then but would be considered very garish these days. Those injected 8V engines were the best of a dying breed and only bettered by the twin cam 2.0 litre 16V that Vauxhall first served up in the Mk2 Astra GTE. Fuel injected, central locking, good sporting looks, alloy wheels, went well - things didn't get much better back then. However, a 0-60 time of around 8.5 secs (and only then if you got it absolutely right) looks pretty mediocre nowadays for anything with sporting intentions.
Some good reads there on Cavs and some of the pics really bring back the memories. The blue D reg facelift looks very nice - i wonder how many in the photos have survived?
The Cavalier 2.0i Calibre on an F plate looks in great condition. Did any Cavs get more than 130bhp I wonder from the factory? I cant recall any higher powered versions than the SRi 130 and Calibre versions.
I do recall the Mk2 shape LX and LXi on the 1988 facelifts - they were rather attractive specials. Seem to remember they had electric mirrors and manual windows or was it the other way around?
Who remembers the early pre-facelift Mk2 "Commander"? Awful. I dont think the Club or Antibes were much better. Back then manufacturers were quite good at applying a set of terrible side stripes and a passenger door mirror or a fog light, then calling it a "special edition".
The SRi advert states "4 speaker radio cassette" - I remember back then to have 4 speakers was the dogs danglies
The Cavalier 2.0i Calibre on an F plate looks in great condition. Did any Cavs get more than 130bhp I wonder from the factory? I cant recall any higher powered versions than the SRi 130 and Calibre versions.
I do recall the Mk2 shape LX and LXi on the 1988 facelifts - they were rather attractive specials. Seem to remember they had electric mirrors and manual windows or was it the other way around?
Who remembers the early pre-facelift Mk2 "Commander"? Awful. I dont think the Club or Antibes were much better. Back then manufacturers were quite good at applying a set of terrible side stripes and a passenger door mirror or a fog light, then calling it a "special edition".
The SRi advert states "4 speaker radio cassette" - I remember back then to have 4 speakers was the dogs danglies
jdcampbell said:
I had a D reg Cavalier SRi. I can't remember if it was a 1.8 or 2.0, but it was just 115bhp. I did about 85k miles in two years in that car; it was my second company car (the previous one being a 1.6i Orion Ghia).
Despite having less toys than the Orion it was a good car to drive and I loved it. After two years of thrashing it to death it still ran sweet as a nut and never gave me any problems.
It was part of my home for a while when I split up from my girlfriend who I was living with at the time. I lived out of my Dad's caravan whilst we sorted out selling the house etc. Made a good towcar!
That's exactly the same as my first one; after that I had a very smart dark blue GLS saloon.Despite having less toys than the Orion it was a good car to drive and I loved it. After two years of thrashing it to death it still ran sweet as a nut and never gave me any problems.
It was part of my home for a while when I split up from my girlfriend who I was living with at the time. I lived out of my Dad's caravan whilst we sorted out selling the house etc. Made a good towcar!
Edited by jdcampbell on Tuesday 14th January 13:53
I much preferred Vauxhall to Ford back in the late 80's to early 90's, although I was more of a Ford fan and had a few of them as well.
davamer23 said:
A mates Dad had a 1987 Met Grey SRI in the early 90's, it was like this:
I thought it was the dogs Danglies and it seemed super fast when he'd drop us off at football once a week going via a twisty route over the mountain and open the taps.
Scared the s**t out of me but I couldn't wait for football every week!
my brother had one of them! loved it I thought it was the dogs Danglies and it seemed super fast when he'd drop us off at football once a week going via a twisty route over the mountain and open the taps.
Scared the s**t out of me but I couldn't wait for football every week!
My first car
Mine was considerably more rusty and generally shagged, having covered over 100k miles and being bought for the princely sum of £500.
But it served me well for over 2 years and it never left me stranded, although it did come close. (Wouldn't start coming out of a car wash once. Another time, the clutch cable snapped but I was able to coast to my Dad's about a quarter of a mile away)
My Mum had a bronze Mk2 SRI. She loved that car, and only sold it to get a Mk3.
Mine was considerably more rusty and generally shagged, having covered over 100k miles and being bought for the princely sum of £500.
But it served me well for over 2 years and it never left me stranded, although it did come close. (Wouldn't start coming out of a car wash once. Another time, the clutch cable snapped but I was able to coast to my Dad's about a quarter of a mile away)
My Mum had a bronze Mk2 SRI. She loved that car, and only sold it to get a Mk3.
I spent many years of my childhood being driven around in these. It was the company car my Dad got with his job and I still remember the reg numbers!!
1.6GL Saloon in metallic blue FOO 179Y
1.6GL Hatch in Gold B871 AOB - They now came with a 5 speed box as standard and a 4 speaker Radio/ Cassette!!!
1.6GL Hatch in Metallic Red D71 OKW - A bit of a facelift and now they had added a sunroof and electric front windows to the standard equipment list.
1.6GL Saloon in metallic blue FOO 179Y
1.6GL Hatch in Gold B871 AOB - They now came with a 5 speed box as standard and a 4 speaker Radio/ Cassette!!!
1.6GL Hatch in Metallic Red D71 OKW - A bit of a facelift and now they had added a sunroof and electric front windows to the standard equipment list.
My cousin is a bit of a Vauxhall fan. I drove his 1300 Viva when I was 15 and I had a blast in his Mk2 Cavalier while I was learning to drive at 17. It was a 1.6 and blue. Can't remember the spec but it wasn't very sporty. It still felt nice as it was the biggest and most comfortable car I had driven in my then brief motoring history.
jdcampbell said:
I had a D reg Cavalier SRi. I can't remember if it was a 1.8 or 2.0, but it was just 115bhp. I did about 85k miles in two years in that car; it was my second company car (the previous one being a 1.6i Orion Ghia).
Despite having less toys than the Orion it was a good car to drive and I loved it. After two years of thrashing it to death it still ran sweet as a nut and never gave me any problems.
It was part of my home for a while when I split up from my girlfriend who I was living with at the time. I lived out of my Dad's caravan whilst we sorted out selling the house etc. Made a good towcar!
Looks like my Uncle's old motor.Despite having less toys than the Orion it was a good car to drive and I loved it. After two years of thrashing it to death it still ran sweet as a nut and never gave me any problems.
It was part of my home for a while when I split up from my girlfriend who I was living with at the time. I lived out of my Dad's caravan whilst we sorted out selling the house etc. Made a good towcar!
Edited by jdcampbell on Tuesday 14th January 13:53
Limpet said:
Garlick said:
IIRC that was seen as quite a classy car at the time.
Effectively, an XR3i with a boot, and a better spec.They went well, but I remember the high frequency vibes from the CVH engine used to do nasty things to your fillings. Truly nasty engine.
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