Hello to all, new member, old car.

[myfirstcar]

So I finally cleared out the garage enough to fit a car in.

For the first time in 15 years!

Anyway it was my dream to find my original Calibra and restore it, but I think scrappage saw to that.
Then I thought about tracking down the Diplomat that I bought new in 93, but that seems to have disappeared too.

Then my mother in law's neighbour tells me he's getting rid of his old car that he's owned since 1994 but hasn't driven for a few years.
"Just take it, it needs a bit of work on the body for the MOT, but it does start" he says.

So that's the good bit, a free car.

The bad bit? It's a 1.6L in (very) dull blue. With some extra holes in the body in the usual places.

So now I have project that me and the boy (10 last birthday) can have some fun with.

I can show him all the basic maintenance stuff on the car (although the oil is still golden) and I get to re-learn how to weld stuff. Once I've begged, borrowed or stolen a MIG welder.

I'm in 2 minds whether to keep it original, or make it look a bit BTCC.

Anyway, this forum is a great place to get some good gen and now I can really get started.

[TurboDan]

If its going to be a joint project with your son then surely doing it into a btcc replica is going to be allot more interesting than a standard cavalier 1.6 model.

Get some pics up

[myfirstcar]

I think that too, although I have some friends who do the classic car shows in the summer.

I'll be teaching him to drive as well (cue nervous Dad shouting a lot) now he can reach the pedals in the Corsa.

[Cavalier342]

Welcome to the forum, a free Cavalier is always a bonus. Being very affordable cars anyway, a free one is a bonus for a project or a run-about.

Good luck with the project, they're good to work on. Being the 1600 it'll be straight forward too.

[planetc]

Excellent stuff. I have tried to get my 11 year old daughter interested, but it's not really her thing. She did get the concept of suck squeeze bang blow though. Welcome to the forum.

[Kevwaggy]

She did get the concept of suck squeeze bang blow though.

11 is a bit young for that is n't it? Saying that I'm working in hull at the no and by 11 they have 2 kids themselves... :L

[myfirstcar]

Got my photobucket sorted out.

[Cavalier342]

I don't believe that!!!!! Thought for a moment that was the one I scrapped not long ago!!!


This was my old one:

It was ( ) a G reg China blue hatch, L spec too, just like your one, but not as moldy





I honestly didn't think that I'd see another one the same as that.... I thought mine was one of the rarest Cavaliers, apart from the 8v 4x4 ones. Do really miss my old one but had to break it for parts. If you need a front and rear bumper for yours, I still have them from mine, they're in fairly good nick.

Andrei.

[myfirstcar]

Thanks. Your bumpers look better than mine, I might have to come your way one day.

I've had a couple of other rare cars, I just didn't know it at the time lol.

The rarest was a 2 door, 1300 L, Ford Cortina Mk3, with the facelift dash.
I don't think there were many made. Scrapped it when it was only 10 years old and the cost of MOT repairs was more than it was worth.

This Cavalier has 2 owners, now I'm the third, last owner 19 years, probably hasn't done more than 12,000 miles in all that time.

The mileage stopped changing after 1997, so I think the odometer needs some attention, although the speedo works OK.

Plenty of work to do, just going to do what it needs for the MOT for now and run it for a bit.

[Cavalier342]

I'm in Dorset, as per my username info on the left of the forum page. If you're interested, please see my For Sale thread regarding early spec bumpers. You might get away with a good scrub and bumper treatment spray or wax, but if not, have a think about it. Mine were the same colour as yours when I bought my early Cavalier, I managed to bring them up nicely, it depends how far the plastic has been degraded.

Quite common for the clocks to stop working, that's just the internals seizing up after not moving for ages. I've taken mine apart and played with the speedometer so many times, it's hit or miss whether they'll work again or not. New instrument clusters pop up from time to time on ebay, may be worth keeping an eye out, although mileage reading is guaranteed to be different.

[iangsi]

Hello & Welcome