RE: Shed Of The Week

[infradig]

In '87 the company I worked for aquired another firm and with it their company cars,one of which was a blck D reg Monza. I borrowed it one night and as I joined the M1 floored it expecting similar go to my 528.. the thing lit up its rear wheels at about 40 and pulled like a train up to 150. When I got home and looked under the bonnet there was an extra lump on the exhaust manifold glowing cherry red! Apparently this was a semi factory approved Turbo Technics conversion and I've never heard of another one since. I seem to rember a mechanic at the Vauxhall dealership bought it for a couple of grand when it ran its big end bearings at 30,000 miles!

[B'stard Child]

infradig said:

In '87 the company I worked for aquired another firm and with it their company cars,one of which was a blck D reg Monza. I borrowed it one night and as I joined the M1 floored it expecting similar go to my 528.. the thing lit up its rear wheels at about 40 and pulled like a train up to 150. When I got home and looked under the bonnet there was an extra lump on the exhaust manifold glowing cherry red! Apparently this was a semi factory approved Turbo Technics conversion and I've never heard of another one since.

Nice very tasty - I've seen a royale with that conversion and a 12V Carlton Estate owned by an autobahnstormers club member has a turbo conversion - nice sleeper that is too

infradig said:

I seem to rember a mechanic at the Vauxhall dealership bought it for a couple of grand when it ran its big end bearings at 30,000 miles!

Very unusual for the CIH engines to give any problems - bullet proof is how they are normally described, duplex camchains just get noisey with age and thats about it

My Monza had 220,000 on it's original 12V engine and it still ran sweetly - I pulled it out to replace it with a 24V lump and gave it to another club member - they are so infrequently needed it's pointless keeping them.

[Fleckers]

I am an opel pervert, have had 8 Manta's & Monza's over the years [and some other the other opel stuff, I still want an Opel GT], great cars none of mine were standard for long, lots of tuning goodies especially for manta's due to their rally heritiage etc

[infradig]

[quote=B'stard Child]

Very unusual for the CIH engines to give any problems - bullet proof is how they are normally described, duplex camchains just get noisey with age and thats about it


Yes, now I come to think about it there was a lot of fuss at the time and the transport manager always reckoned there was someting dodgy going on with the dealer! But when you've got a fleet of 500 cars to worry about I suppose it was just a case of being happy to get rid of a weird one off.

[TheodoreBagwell]

Ahh thats proper 80's cool, one of the best sheds yet!

Coincidentally, theres a very similar manual version on ebay right now, very tempting...

Edited by TheodoreBagwell on Friday 9th May 15:30

[crossle]

TheodoreBagwell said:

Ahh thats proper 80's cool, one of the best sheds yet!

Coincidentally, theres a very similar manual version on ebay right now, very tempting...

Edited by TheodoreBagwell on Friday 9th May 15:30

Don't touch the manual version - they were real dogs... The Auto was the no-cost default on the original car.

I had a lovely pale blue one (V reg, IIRC) back in 1984. Gerry Marshall kindly supplied me with a "naughty" cylinder head when I had trouble with the hydraulic cam followers in mine. It went like stink when his mechanic had finished with it!

[roadie]

Looks like the Mad Max interceptor from the front. One of these would look pretty sweet with some cash dumped into it.

[flattotheboards]

NiallOswald said:

Another good choice. Anything RWD with a straight 6 in the front is worth a punt IMO. Shame about the slushbox...

Ideal to learn how to properly drift a car.

[Big Rod]

crossle said:

Gerry Marshall kindly supplied me with a "naughty" cylinder head when I had trouble with the hydraulic cam followers in mine. It went like stink when his mechanic had finished with it!

Now ain't that funny!?!?!?

I've, (Supposedly!), got the engine from Gerry Marshall's, (was Tony Lanfrachi's before him), old Monza in my garage!!!

You wouldn't have any idea who originally tuned it would you? I'd be very interested in finding out what - if anything - it has inside that's non standard.

Edited by Big Rod on Friday 9th May 16:19

[SS HSV]

Strawman said:

SS HSV said:

Me actually, I just bought it!

That must be the fastest bought for a S-O-T-W ever

Have a soft spot for these

Fastra said:

SS HSV said:

Me actually, I just bought it!

Good for you!
Always loved these, you'll have to keep us informed of what it goes and looks like.

Pick it Sunday, pcitures to follow - can't wait

[Bobdenero]

Always regarded an Opel as quite cool, while its Vauxhall equiv. are just not.
Love the Monza!

[crossle]

Big Rod said:

crossle said:

Gerry Marshall kindly supplied me with a "naughty" cylinder head when I had trouble with the hydraulic cam followers in mine. It went like stink when his mechanic had finished with it!

Now ain't that funny!?!?!?

I've, (Supposedly!), got the engine from Gerry Marshall's, (was Tony Lanfrachi's before him), old Monza in my garage!!!

You wouldn't have any idea who originally tuned it would you? I'd be very interested in finding out what - if anything - it has inside that's non standard.

Edited by Big Rod on Friday 9th May 16:19

Sorry mate, it was a long time ago....

I do know that when Gerry got Tony's car, he thought it wasn't quite as "production" as the rules allowed. I seem to remember the name Monorep in relation to the original car, although whether they were sponsors, suppliers or tuners, I've no idea, but this link seems to explain:
http://www.monorep.co.uk/shared/vauxhall-dealer-mo...

Incidentally, at same the time I owned the ex-Hamilton Motors Vauxhall Magnum that Gerry took to several class wins in the Radio 1 Saloon car championship in the mid-seventies. I raced it in its original colours in the Road saloon championship, '84 - '88.
Mine! (being driven properly though...) http://www.gerrymarshall.com/Default.aspx/160

Edited by crossle on Friday 9th May 16:52

Edited by crossle on Friday 9th May 16:55

[Nacnud]

TheodoreBagwell said:

Ahh thats proper 80's cool, one of the best sheds yet!

Coincidentally, theres a very similar manual version on ebay right now, very tempting...

I spotted that one too!
It's had some welding done on the inner wing - mine died when the inner wing split down its full length. Was still drivable but the pedals flapped about when it went over a pot-hole!
Check the tow-bar mounts as mine had virtually rotted away and I was wary of even standing on the tow-bar never mind attaching a trailer!

Mine was metallic green with dark green shag-pile interior; so OTT it worked!
Worst feature was the full-size spare which meant there wasn't enough space left to stand a wine bottle upright in the boot!
Fond memory of hooning up Wrynose pass at night, smelt a bit hot so popped the hood and was stunned by sight of white hot exhaust manifold!
Nightmare in the snow - LSD and no weight on the back wheels is recipe for a serious challenge!

Loved it loads - way better car than the Cavalier SRi on SOTW recently - had one of those too!
If I passed a reasonable Monza on forecourt, I would definitely go back and have a better look; but not seen one for ages.

[Nacnud]

[nerd]Did you know there is a 4WD Monza? They were made for patrolling the Berlin Wall and had gun racks in the boot.[/nerd]

[N Dentressangle]

If you just search for "Opel" on Autotrader, then this rare beauty appears:





I haven't seen one for ages. Just waiting for an engine transplant from a rusty Monza, no?

[PATTERNPART]

I got taken for a blast in the back of one by a Vauxhall dealer when I was a wee laddie. (It was all above board - my dad was in the front passenger seat...)
I will never forger the numbers 1....2....5 eventually appeared on the digital dash board. This was on the old A1 near Haddington in Scotland.

[scatmancraig]

crossle said:

Don't touch the manual version - they were real dogs... The Auto was the no-cost default on the original car.

I had a lovely pale blue one (V reg, IIRC) back in 1984. Gerry Marshall kindly supplied me with a "naughty" cylinder head when I had trouble with the hydraulic cam followers in mine. It went like stink when his mechanic had finished with it!

I have to disagree. The later 3.0 manual ones had the Getrag 265 which is a very strong gearbox capable of handling up to 400bhp (iirc also fitted to the manual BMW 535i & manual Jaguar XJS as well). Whilst the gear ratio's aren't ideal, i'd say it's a very capable gearbox, especially when compared with the inferior Getrag 240 based R28 they put in the 24v Senators. Were you referring to the earlier 4-speed manual from the series 1 cars?

I currently have 5 Monza's in various states of disrepair & i love them all! Currently smoking around in a GSE auto, my chrome bumper 3.0E S is away having some welding attention & should be on the road in a month or so. Also have a manual GSE for spares, a 3.0E auto and a 3.0S (carb engine & 4-speed manual box). I personally prefer the chrome bumper versions that had the later series 2 interior (also known as the series 1.5 or series 1 facelift).

[B'stard Child]

Nacnud][nerd said:

Did you know there is a 4WD Monza? They were made for patrolling the Berlin Wall and had gun racks in the boot.[/nerd]

Fergerson 4x4 conversion - owned by a Monza Specialist (one of two specialists for this car)

[Big Rod]

crossle said:

Sorry mate, it was a long time ago....

I do know that when Gerry got Tony's car, he thought it wasn't quite as "production" as the rules allowed. I seem to remember the name Monorep in relation to the original car, although whether they were sponsors, suppliers or tuners, I've no idea, but this link seems to explain:
http://www.monorep.co.uk/shared/vauxhall-dealer-mo...

Incidentally, at same the time I owned the ex-Hamilton Motors Vauxhall Magnum that Gerry took to several class wins in the Radio 1 Saloon car championship in the mid-seventies. I raced it in its original colours in the Road saloon championship, '84 - '88.
Mine! (being driven properly though...) http://www.gerrymarshall.com/Default.aspx/160

Don't suppose you remember who you sold it to do you?

I was investigating the history of another Monza that fell into my posession a wee while ago, ex-Austin Mchale '87 Circuit of Ireland car that was owned at one time by one Ken Lark. It seems that while he owned that one, he also owned the GM/TL car. He took the GM/TL engine out and put it in the COI car. It was in a barn fire just before I got it and appeared to be totalled but after the ash was cleaned up, it didn't seem so bad. I took the engine and other stuff and passed the shell on to someone else.

Small world huh?!?!?!?

[ChasW]

Drove one of these over a weekend in summer 84. Cool car with decent performance in its day.. Seems there is no equivalent today; ie affordable, stylish, distinctive, uncomplicated and unpretentious coupe.