Quest To Get Decent Mk1 On Road

[Nrj]

First off i spent a year trying to find a mk1 that would fit the bill i wanted, my original plan was C16XE ruuning around 230bhp, fully stripped, huge custom cage/frame, coilovcers etc... the mk1 needed was a 3dr non sunroofed model, gte would be best as i could sell the kit, interior etc.. to recope money back, finally i found one that fitted the bill on ebay, the car in question was an 'A' reg GTE resprayed in Vauxhall Tigra Kiwi green with loads of extra's like digi dash, 5 spoke alloys and more. This was finally won for £200 as i was the only bidder. Finally once i got her home from Wales i started to rid the interior out and started to find the dreaded brown stuff 'rust' not the end of the world i thought, just needed both footwells, boot floor, rear bumper sections and a couple of sections where the ECU sat. One thing that was annoying was the driveshaft was broken so i decided to replace this so i could drive the car in and out of the garage, i did this in the dark and once i removed the driveshaft i noticed something unusual on the bulkhead where the rear mount sits, finally getting some light to my horror i see a 2" gap leading up the bulkhead, f#@k it, usless Mk1 this was going to be for my plans, so i decide to let this Mk1 die a peaceful death and cut it up keeping a few sections that i though would be handy later on(dont have these now). So back to square one, then i hear that one of the original mk1's i went to see when looking was going cheap because the owner had lost his garage, the only reason i didnt buy this originally was he want far to much, this Mk1 was also an 'A' reg GTE 3dr with no sunroof, this time in white. So i go to see the bloke saying ive already bought one so not really interested, i walk away with the mk1 for £80, result So stripping this one to a shell i find it only needs rear valance, rear side sections and front panel, also the doors were mint. Now this project got the full treatment, i stripped it completly down then due to lack of time gave up. I needed a quick fix as wanted to get into racing asap at our local track, i found a 1.3LS 3dr Mk1 on ebay again with no sunroof, only thing wrong was head gasket was knacked but i didnt care about that as i was planning on running in mod c so had a 1600cc engine ready, so i started to bid, this was wehre it begain with GLM as i won her with a bargain bid of £26, plus it was only a hour away in Brighton, damn for £26 it could be rotton as hell, i picked it up in the dark and the owner was suprised i wasn't interested in looking around her, so chucked her on the trailer and home we went. Next day i decided to look what i had bought and i was amazed the everything on the shell was solid, rear sections, sills, inner wings, doors, i was laughing and instantly decided not to track this but to do her up nice, i did the head gasket which was so bad that it took 6 oil changes to remove the mayo. Once running i drove her to her resting place for her to be worked on. I bought her 01/02/05 and have done nothing to her since due to my wife getting one and working on that, but this year i do plan on transforming her into a top class EURO stylee Mk1, she is already 25years old so one of the oldest in the club, she is actually an Opel Kadett. The original number plates are still fitted as is the original dealer sticker plus ive even the salesmans card who sold it all those years ago. All in all she is one of the best original Mk1's out there.