The Car SOS Vauxhall Astra GTE is for sale

A hot hatch hero in its own right, with 15 minutes of TV fame to its name as well

While all the hot hatch heroes of the '80s, by their nature as old, once affordable performance cars, are rare machines in the mid-2020s, some are true lesser spotted gems. Because they were so loved in period, a 205, Golf or Escort with a bodykit and a performance boost is reasonably common in classic car circles. But a Citroen Visa, Fiat Strada or Vauxhall Astra is much more seldom spotted; less loved in period not only meant fewer sold, it meant the affection and commitment for the cars wasn’t there later on, certainly not to the same degree as some of the others.

So they fell by the wayside. Parts supply probably wasn’t as good as the more popular cars, and with values on the floor the incentive wouldn’t have been there to seek parts out for a restoration. You’d have to really love something to spend more than it’s worth on a rejuvenation, even one that was a bonafide PH Hero. Such was the case with this Astra 1.8 GTE, which had been left in a bit of a sorry state; it had sat for two decades, in fact. Once upon a time insuring one of these can’t have been easy either, come to think of it, so better just to keep a GTE off the road.

Fortunately, though, the CarSOS team had other ideas, and this very Astra was featured on the show back in 2016. You can still see bits of the episode on YouTube, where the engine was rebuilt, rust worked on and new hubcaps 3D-printed. A lot of time, effort and skill evidently went into bringing the Astra back to its best, which is great to see - the world is a better place for GTEs on the road.

Since then, the Vauxhall has been with another collector, who’s said to have gone even further on the restorative work, and now the time has come to move it on once more. In truth, seeing any Astra GTE these days, a car now sufficiently mature to no longer require an MOT, is a real treat - and the black must make it extremely rare.

Both interior and exterior condition look very good indeed, and there’s nothing to report under the bonnet. The front ride height looks a little low, though in the grand scheme of classic car problems that seems a pretty minor one. The advert suggests it now needs ‘absolutely nothing’ and can in fact ‘be considered truly perfect.’ Which is quite the claim.

What will you pay for the privilege of owning a perfect GTE? £20k for this one at the moment, or right up at the sort of money that would buy a good Golf GTI, 205 1.9 or Escort RS Turbo. But for those whose misspent youth was dominated by the Griffin, obviously none of those are going to pass muster. An Astra GTE at this sort of money will take the most dedicated of hot Vaux collectors to take on, but we all know they’re out there. And what a way to make the usual suspects look common at next year’s classic car shows.

See the original advert

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oilit

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