72 Vauxhall FD Ventora (updated 13/07/06)

they're all fantastic, liking your new purchase.

A lot of cool cars especially like the red FD vx 4/90

Excellent cars! Welcome to the forum

Yeh, the bonnet has done the rounds. It came with the red VX4/90 as a spare. When I sold the car I kept it to put on the purple car. After I sold that car I sold the bonnet to Dale who you bought your car from, wish i'd kept it now though.

Like your estate, was tempted when it was for sale, but couldn't afford it at the time. The only thing I would change is that bonnet, you could sell it back to me then!

Heres the under bonnet shot of the 305



Looks quite lost in there, room for a much bigger engine!

Did you get that from Mark Wilkinson by any chance?

I remember your red 305 FD - I notice the lack of heater in there same as mine was. I was very tempted to buy that one off you when I was part way through the white V8 conversion.

I often wondered what happened to it.

Do you know Adrian Sutton over your way with a Aqua Starmist 2000SL which he is V8ing.

If you need anything let me know (except front doors!)

Yes, I did buy it from Mark, small world ain't it!

I'm guessing you were tempted to buy my red Victor off the bloke I bought it off, as I never actually advertised it when I sold it, just a word of mouth thing to a friend of a friend of a friend. I bought it off a bloke called Damien Haliwell, who was in the VX4/90 drivers club. You probably saw it advertised by him. It is currently off the road having a load of body work done, he has opened it back up into a four door, replaced the fibreglass front wings with steel ones and rebuilt the rear arches. As you can see from the pics of it, the back arches were a bit of a mess. They were modified by the previous owner to clear slicks that he used for drag racing, unfortunately it didn't leave much to work with to put them back to standard. I gave the lad who bought it some BMW E30 rear arches that I had bought to use, as they looked a similar shape to original FD. I havent seen it, but he tells me it has worked out quite well. Doesn't look standard, but they don't look out of place either. I'm quite looking forward to seeing it when its done.

The name Adrian Sutton rings a bell, but don't actually know him, is he on the NSRA forum or UK hotrods?
I do know a few people over this way with modified Victors. Theres my old red one as mentioned. One of my mates has my old purple 1600 also pictured above, its currently got a 2 ltr pinto and five speed fitted. May seem a strange choice when he could have fitted a 2.3 Vauxhall engine, but the pinto was basically free and he was strapped for cash at the time. He wants to fit a Rover V8 soon. Theres also a young lad named Paul with a light green 1600 who is fitting a Rover. As well as these, there is a bloke fairly local with a nice metallic red estate with a Rover V8 who sometimes turns up at our hot rod show (Wet N Wild, July 7th to 9th, shameless plug over ) and of course Andy Frost is local, although I don't actually know the last two. Seems like theres more than enough modified Victors around the West Midlands to form our own club though!

One quick question about the vents in the C pillars. Mine seem to stick out a fair bit, but the ones I had without vinyl roofs were flush. Are they different for vinyl and non vinyl? If so, have you got any non vinyl ones?

Hmmm.... let me know how much when you put the Elcky up. '66 is about my facourite year for them. I rarely have any money but you never know.

Yes, of course it was Damien Haliwell. Funny how you just forget stuff and then it seems so obvious when someone says it.

I also nearly bought Speedy's Toy (Remember that one? Still about somewhere... but with a Ford big block last I heard) which I really aught to have done. bargain at the time.

Do you know the lad a little further north with the blue VX 4/90 with a Rover V8 in it? Used to chat to him a bit and lost contact a while ago.

Theres a guy on Vauxhall Herritage who has/had 2x FD with V8s, one is Martin Clewlow's old white ventora and one is Mike Hayman's old 3300SL estate which was chopped down into a pickup like an El Camino with nice scuplted buttresses. That one was up for sale recently. I think Davie Toole owned it after Mike and it was him pulled the straight six for a V8.

Adrian is on NSRA as Stumpy1973 or some such. Not on there all the time though. Nice bloke.

I don't think theres a difference in the C pillar trims. I'll tell you when I refit mine. Thinking about it you'd imagine there has to be a little extra clearance for the vinyl top cover... I best go check if I have any non-vinyl types for mine first if they are different! If I have a second set I'll let you know.

A moddified FD club would be a good call!

Will let you know about the elky when I decide.

Vaguely remember speedy's toy, but I might be getting it mixed up with northern hustler. I think it was northern hustler that got smashed up a couple of seasons ago, then came back out in a metallic bronze/gold colour, or am I getting the two mixed up?

Don't know the guy with the blue VX4/90, whereabouts is he?

Whats Vauxhall heritage? Is that another forum? Nearly bought Martin Clewlows car when it was for sale about 3 to 4 years ago. Also fancied buying your white one when you advertised it, but didn't have the money at the time. Always thought it was bonkers (in a good way) having 165's all round, bet the back ones didn't last long!

I will try putting my vent back in tomorrow, cant imagine how its going to fit though. Maybe its just a case of shaving a bit of the mounting lugs to pull it tighter into the body?

Been making slow but steady progress with the Ventora bodywork. Finally remembered to take the camera up the workshop, so here goes........

Before


After


Replaced most of the top of the rear wing were it meets the C pillar. I have also seam welded it too the C pillar to remove the join and make it look smoother and also to hopefully stop it going rusty again.



Repair directly under the rear window finish welded and ground off.



Started replacing the channeling for the window itself, having to replace both skins in places and having to plug weld them together to keep it looking original(ish)

Have also started looking at making some minor mods. The air duct in the C pillar has always looked a bit of an after thought too me. I'm sure they wouldn't have been on the original design sketches. This is how they look standard. It would be painted body colour as standard


This is the alternative I have been thinking of.

Fabricated out of sheet steel with a smaller slot than the standard one and just thin horizontal slats to break it up a bit, once finished it would be welded in and smoothed over, giving the impression of just a thin slot in the C pillar itself.

So, what do you think. Will it look OK, or should I just leave well alone!