I spent hours studying the Irmscher catalogue, compiling a virtual shopping list of tasty tuning and styling bits. Way above my pay grade at the time unfortunately.
Me too. I used to pass the Irmscher UK showroom every Saturday as a very young lad in the early 1980s and I remember seeing the cars through the windows of their small showroom.
I remember Mantas seemed to be the showroomâs star attraction most often, usually in white and I loved their trademark yellow and graphite coloured âslashesâ on the bodywork.
I couldnât have been more excited to see the place and the cars on a grey and wet Saturday even if had been a Strosek Design or Koenig Specials dealer, such was my excitement for those cars.
Unfortunately Irmscher stopped doing fulling-on âtuner carsâ, offering mechanical mods and more extreme bodywork, and just focussed on bolt-on and stick-on parts instead.
As I grew older I had an interest in many car brands, but fast Vauxhalls were always special for me. That Irmscher showroom and the cars in it really had a lasting effect on me!
My early cars were quick-ish Vauxhalls including Nova SR, Corsa SRi 16v, Omega V6 24v, and peaked with an Astra Coupe Turbo. I loved them all, truly great cars, and often underrated.
The Astra Coupe Turbo had some very subtle Irmscher visual tweaks including the grille which transformed the front of the car, and some interior pieces like
heater control rings.
Thatâs not my car but it was the same apart from the wheels a rear spoiler - mine had the standard Turbo wheels, without the large rear spoiler and very rare full leather interior.
I sold it with the Irmscher parts still fitted almost 20 years ago but I had some bits like the optional Irmscher grille badge, keyring, etc which I recently sold quickly on eBay for more than expected.
Irmscher had given me an interest in tuner cars and therefore Brabus and pre-merger AMG but had never seen them in the metal until much much later in life. I sold it to buy my first AMG.
It wasnât a pre-merger car, but it was an early-ish post-merger car, and to me at least it felt like it had some of the âspecialnessâ of the tuner cars, with the reliability of a production car.
Back to Irmscher Iâve never been able to find one for sale, but I would love an Irmscher Senator 4.0, very subtle to look at, wonderful straight six sound, and super rare. A proper Q âtunerâ car.
Who knows, perhaps if I had found an Irmscher Senator 4.0 for sale, and I had bought that instead of my first AMG, then I wouldnât be typing this post in this forum right now.
