A registration ??? Monza 3.0 e hatchback "coupe"

[macabethiel]

Monza dream

I always wanted a Monza but they were just out of my reach I settled for a Manta GT/E Hatchback in Metallic Gold with Gold Alloy wheels.

Four years of solid service and parted with it when the rust started spreading. Shame they never had PAS though !

Whenever I drove it I was commiting mental adultery as I was driving her but thinking of a Monza !

 

[EDZ649]

Look at that dashboard

Virtually the same as an Astra GTE. Very reliable digital dashes they were too, I had 4 GTE's over the years and never once had a problem with them apart from the backlight bulbs blowing now and again. It was always a good crack to flick them to KPH when you had one of your dopey mates in the car, thought you were doing light speed in a 1.8 8V!

 

[DITTRICH]

I am simply amazed that so many people have a hankering after such a car.
Mind I know almost zero about motoring.
It was nice to see something so apparently rare.
Ought it to be in a museum?

 

[Tiff]

I am simply amazed that so many people have a hankering after such a car.
Mind I know almost zero about motoring.
It was nice to see something so apparently rare.
Ought it to be in a museum?

This isn't aimed at you Dittrich-just in rant mode..

Why should it be in a museum? Its still a useful,usable,and as you saw, rather rapid car! Why does everyone assume old things are crap? Cars,electronics,and increasingly-people.. It needs to stop!! I drive old cars because I prefer their engineering and build quality.I have a fairly old Tv, because..well it does what a tv is supposed to do. its certainly no less reliable than a new one.Do I need, or even want HD?I certainly don't remember sitting watching telly and thinking " This picture quality is crap, I want better..why does that have to change because someone decides HD is the next big thing.. until the next..and the next" Same with my mobile phone and loads of other things. Maybe I'm a bit odd, but I don't think you can ever be truly happy,until you are satisfied

I'd even go as far as to say I'd rather have a mint Monza than a new C-Class. Serious!


Flame away!!


P.S. PAS in a Manta??!! NOOOooooooo have we all gone soft?

 

[DITTRICH]

People assume that if something looks crap and uncared for then it most likely is crap. This is what I was thinking. This on the other hand was an intriguing Q car. The museum bit was a little over the top and was not intended to rubbish the car as obsolete or out of date - more to suggest something sufficiently rare as to merit being cherished, which the example I saw did not appear to be. After the first 2 posts, even I started looking up such things as availability (not alot), fuel consumption (drinks fuel) and spare parts. And I never inferred or said the car was crap, merely unusual. And I do agree with the principle of keeping cars relatively simple. Cars have too many buttons in them and I often have fun thinking about the replacement costs of the bits behind each button.

 

[corned]

I have just spent the weekend at the Woodbridge Speed Trial. I co-piloted for my mate in his 1974 E-Type roadster. His was one of the newer cars there.

We ran many times and got a best terminal speed of 145mph. And that was with one of the hood catches popping half way down the run. I grabbed the hood rail and hung onto it while my mate floored the throttle again!

The fastest E-Type of the day (1964 roadster example, modded engine) ran at just over 170mph. Without the hood catches popping!

No museum pieces there!

The only casualty of the day was the car which posted FTD (just over 190mph). This was a new-ish Ford GT which had received a new Rausch modded engine (600bhp) but looks like it has blown some piston rings. Lots of smoke.

Anyway back on-topic. Those Opel/Vauxhall luxo-barges were belting cars in their day and extremely capable machines at that. One of my wife's relatives had a 3-litre Senator in the early '90s and still says it was the best car he ever owned. Extremely comfortable, fast, solid and reliable.

 

[A-AvantGarde]

I've always liked the Monza & Manta too.

Brings back some memories, one of our neighbours had a Senator Royale saloon, it was silver with the red crushed velvet interior, nice looking car.

 

[johnsco]

We ran a couple of Senators some 12 years ago.
Really good performers, but the dreaded corrosion finished them off.
Fuel pipe leaks on the top of the engine were pretty frightening

 

[MD5]

No mention of the Lotus Carlton yet! I always had a soft spot for the coupés though.

 

[MCWright]

I had a Vauxhall Chevette once upon a time.

It had clutch issues (it was like a switch and groaned loudly on release) and a horrible carburettor. Considering the (lack of) power it liked to go sideways and did go sideways in the first two of its four gears rather too easily in anything but bone dry conditions and even then it could be persuaded without too much effort.
I thought this was great fun and I was great at doing this until it caught me unawares on the way to a mates house where upon the back end stepped out on a gentle left hander, stepped back in again hit the embankment (nearside) and stepped, I mean bounced, back out again causing the car to spin 90 degrees drive up the embankment and role along on it's side (there were tarmac scrapings all the way up to the roof seam) before landing back on all four wheels.

This action resulted in wiping out:
the new spot lights i fitted a week earlier (yes, like it really needed them), a petrol cap, a tyre, a wing mirror.
And left me with:
a bent half shaft and the car being an inch shorter on one side than the other.

I still think it was a much better car for a boy to have than a Nova or Fiesta.

Is was in that classic 'china blue' colour btw.

 

[Adam230K]

The 3.0 Monza has 148bhp with 170ftlbs of torque on ~1350kgs, my dad used to have one and he loved it.

Although it seemed fast at the time, even a standard C230 (non-kompressor) with 150-160bhp or whatever it is, should be able to handle it no probs. So in my eyes it is slow by these days standards!

 

[219]

Back in the day , one of the guys in the Scottish Section of MBOC had one ( as well as his Mercs ) , quite a few of us had 280E/CE/TE models which were probably the equivalent model in the Merc range - our cars with 185bhp could 'handle it' even then

 

[moonloops]

The 3.0 Monza has 148bhp with 170ftlbs of torque on ~1350kgs, my dad used to have one and he loved it.

Although it seemed fast at the time, even a standard C230 (non-kompressor) with 150-160bhp or whatever it is, should be able to handle it no probs. So in my eyes it is slow by these days standards!

The 3.0 GSE had 178 bhp and 183 lbft of torques

 

[LESTAYLOR]

Aaaah. One of my teenage automotive wet dreams. Fabulous cars, full of imitation crushed velvet velour and more dials than a jumbo jet.

Me too however I was not a teenager. I was married with kids, but felt it was a great car to want to own.

 

[BTB 500]

I had a Cavalier Coupe (the one with a boot, rather than the more common hatchback version).

Great car, and looked pretty mean with a ducktail spoiler and rack of 4 Cibies on the front

 

[James1976]

I had a Cavalier Coupe (the one with a boot, rather than the more common hatchback version).

Great car, and looked pretty mean with a ducktail spoiler and rack of 4 Cibies on the front

Love the car and the drain pipes (first time around )

I loved the old Senators and particularly the Royale - too young to own them at that time though!

Mum had an Astra GTE with white alloys and the digital dash which I always thought was really cool when it was red-lined (which dad did frequently), and he had a Senator around the same time, however, it rusted quite amazingly fast - it was rusting well from stone chips at 2 years old and by three it was looking well dog-eared, but by that time it did have over 150k He did high mileages in those days... always on the look out on car and classic etc for a low mileage Cavalier sportshatch!

 

[markjay]

The Manta's big brother....

 

[st13phil]

I had a Cavalier Coupe

I had a 2000GLS saloon of the same series. Great car

 

[BTB 500]

Yep mine was a GLS. The coupe had a roll bar (as standard) that ran over the front seats ... that was quite cool too! I never had any problems with mine at all, it was quick, reliable, and handled well. Rare car as well, compared to the hatchback version.