The Zohan

Just seen Gary’s post on Capri’s and Escort’s and it set me thinking.

My first car (in 1981) was nearly a 1970 Capri 1.6GTXLR but it was stolen and written off the day before I was due to collect it.

Got a 1971 Mk3 Cortina 1.6 GT (I think) which I had for a couple of months then it went bang.

I then bought an A series Opel Manta 1.6s I had never seen or heard of these cars and compared to the Cortina's, Escorts, Viva's my mates where driving it was pretty stylish and different. I paid £ 350.00 for it and had this car for the next 5 years, over that time I put the 1.9 engine in along with the SR interior with the extra gauges better seats, etc. The 1.9 engine was not a lot better TBH!
Sadly I did not get any pictures of it back then.

It was a tough old bird. I ditched it sideways with 3 mates in the car (young impeetuous and even stupid looking back!), only a shallow ditch and it slid in at around 30-40. All that was required was to push it out, unbend the exhaust from around the back axle and drive home (rather noisily) and change trousers!


I had a friend of a friend who also had one with a turbo conversion A series by Broadspeed which was a beast back in ‘84

I had a GTE B series as well which was OK, a good car but not a patch on the A series for looks and enjoyment


It is one of the few cars that I wish I still had and hanker after another one. My Mk2 RS2000 being another and my first Mk4 AH Sprite in BRG with a very fast road engine.

Picce of an A series, same colour as the one i had

Gutmann pug

Manta 400 ........ mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Sigma Sam

Glad to hear of your fond memories of the "A".

Despite the work I do for FHI and IM on the UK Subaru security systems, they still haven't given me a free Subaru, so I still have my Manta to play with when the weathers good.

Despite the 3.0 12v conversion in the pics below, I'm planning a 3.0 24v conversion. I managed to pick two 24v motors up on e-bay for £100!

Together with the 11lb bottle of N20 it should be entertaining! Just need to find an LSD, but they're like hens teeth!

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...AN/OffSide.jpg

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3.../EngineFrt.jpg

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...N/Overview.jpg

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...InteriorOS.jpg

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...EngineSide.jpg

SS

wrxseeker

iTrader: (1)

Nice Motor Sigma Sam.

I used to have a 400 replica that I used to road rally and before that I had a 1.8GT hatch.

Can beat a bit of Rwd - used drift the 1.8 around the bend infront of college (in the damp !!)

Ahh those were the days.

Nicks VR4

Ohhhh nice Car Sam

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

i used to have a gte on an A reg, iwas thinking at one point to garage it up and wait for it to be a classic i still think i would be waiting

Mike123

I owned an A plate white GTE coupe for 7 years did over 100k miles in it.
Engine went from 110bhp 2 litre to 143bhp 2.2 to a 168bhp litre 2.4 at the end with a LSD, vented front discs and Bilstein suspension ( actually used Chevette 2.3 HS shocks as thicker bodies than Manta ones )


Was a great fun car

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

My first car (in 1981) was nearly a 1970 Capri 1.6GTXLR but it was stolen and written off the day before I was due to collect it.

Ditto, mine was a 69 in 1989, still going according to he RAC checker thingy, changed hands last June !

Castrol

A friend of mine had 2 Manta As and 2 Bs back in the mid '70s and early '80s. His first car in '76 was a year old Manta 1.9SR and it looked gorgeous.

I bought an Ascona 1.9SR in 1983 and found out that it was a chassis looking for an engine and gearbox, as the Opel 1900cc engine and 4 speed box were pretty awful. The engine was asthmatic and the gearbox baulky.

Cheers

dsmith

1st car was a Mini Mayfair (Zircon Blue with velour interior...nice)

2nd Car was an Mg Midget 1275.

That was 1991. Ran it through university and for a year or 2 after. Then it sat in various garages. MOT'd briefly in about 98 but It wasnt really running and got put back in the garage.

Until now.....

Should be MOT'd in the next week or so

http://www.eatworms.org.uk/album/midget