Anyone who knows me must realise by now that I have a penchant for mk1 Astras. Although I have an extremely nippy turbo mk1 astra saloon ( The Minx), I've been casually searching for the right base model 3dr hatch to build my own. The reason behind this is because most GTEs are overpriced and/or rotten due to the bodykit and bulkhead sound deadening. Since it's not practical to remove both of these said items on a sellers drive it would be easier to make my own replica.
I have all the parts her to make one since I have owned a fair few in the past and a 3dr hatch that I had seen in the past at VBOA Billing show came up for sale a mere 80 miles from where I live, I consider that to be local to me because I have traveled 600 miles round trip to pick up a decent one in the past!
So off me and a friend went to pick it up...
The grand unveiling next to my other astras (gluten for punishment!)... lol
Da Daaaaaa!
It sticks out a bit because I usually end up with blue astras (not by choice)
"Lil Red" right and "The Minx" on the right
1300s fruity goodness
The plan was to strip the orangey goodness of an interior and put it all including the dash into the Minx. I was chomping at the bit to strip it all down and start project "Lil Red" the slutty red GTE but I need to make some space in the garage by finishing/selling Beemer 325i convertible that was an impulse buy a couple of years back or moving a lot of stuff around to try and fit three cars in there.
The car came with full service history and I mean FULL including tyres and windscreen wipers!
original receipts
Loads of period brochures
So I went out yesterday morning to strip it down and ended up sitting in it for an hour and decided it would be a crying shame to rip this little car apart to make a GTE. I love the colour and have decided to put it back to original spec except I'm going to put a five speed box in it.
First job, off with the bumper
Second job, change to original indicators
Third job, stand back and admire the standard again front end It feels weird put standard parts on a car for a change. :lol:
When I walked in the house after finishing I had a warm glow in my body like when you help an old lady carry some shopping. It just feels like I'm doing the right thing :lol:
Today's progress....
I promised the wife that I'd work on my beemer and get rid of it before even starting on lil red. So whilst she was away at a dog show all day, I decided to do little jobs that she wouldn't notice :lol:
Today's main job was to get rid of the aftermarket ICE
The last owner had the foresight not to cut the door panels or A pillar panels to accomodate the speakers. But unfortunately he had already cut a set a of 6 x 9 speakers into the pristine parcel shelf, of which he regretted.
So I took out everything...
I found a spare faded blue parcel self and matching shelf supports...
and gave then a spray with satin black and replaced the speaker covers with black ones.
now looks like this...
It doesn't look as lush as the original but it hasn't got big speaker hole in it. I had to change the shelf supports becaue the replacement shelf would have stuck out like a sore thumb.
I then put the Billy two knob non cassette radio back in.
I'll install a stealth system at a later date when I'm ready to use the car.
There was evidence of the doors previously having door bins...
so I put some in.
Some one had bumped it the back end of the car when it was left in a layby by the previous owner and they had bent the bumper, mounts and pressed in the back panel a little
So I got the wood and hammer out and gave it a little tap or two, treated and touched up the surface rust.
It will be getting a full lower respray when I get round to sorting out the sills but wanted to protect it for now.
this bumper is meant to be slightly convex and not concave
so I cleaned up a spare one and mounted it.
That's all for now.
I have all the parts her to make one since I have owned a fair few in the past and a 3dr hatch that I had seen in the past at VBOA Billing show came up for sale a mere 80 miles from where I live, I consider that to be local to me because I have traveled 600 miles round trip to pick up a decent one in the past!
So off me and a friend went to pick it up...
The grand unveiling next to my other astras (gluten for punishment!)... lol
Da Daaaaaa!
It sticks out a bit because I usually end up with blue astras (not by choice)
"Lil Red" right and "The Minx" on the right
1300s fruity goodness
The plan was to strip the orangey goodness of an interior and put it all including the dash into the Minx. I was chomping at the bit to strip it all down and start project "Lil Red" the slutty red GTE but I need to make some space in the garage by finishing/selling Beemer 325i convertible that was an impulse buy a couple of years back or moving a lot of stuff around to try and fit three cars in there.
The car came with full service history and I mean FULL including tyres and windscreen wipers!
original receipts
Loads of period brochures
So I went out yesterday morning to strip it down and ended up sitting in it for an hour and decided it would be a crying shame to rip this little car apart to make a GTE. I love the colour and have decided to put it back to original spec except I'm going to put a five speed box in it.
First job, off with the bumper
Second job, change to original indicators
Third job, stand back and admire the standard again front end It feels weird put standard parts on a car for a change. :lol:
When I walked in the house after finishing I had a warm glow in my body like when you help an old lady carry some shopping. It just feels like I'm doing the right thing :lol:
Today's progress....
I promised the wife that I'd work on my beemer and get rid of it before even starting on lil red. So whilst she was away at a dog show all day, I decided to do little jobs that she wouldn't notice :lol:
Today's main job was to get rid of the aftermarket ICE
The last owner had the foresight not to cut the door panels or A pillar panels to accomodate the speakers. But unfortunately he had already cut a set a of 6 x 9 speakers into the pristine parcel shelf, of which he regretted.
So I took out everything...
I found a spare faded blue parcel self and matching shelf supports...
and gave then a spray with satin black and replaced the speaker covers with black ones.
now looks like this...
It doesn't look as lush as the original but it hasn't got big speaker hole in it. I had to change the shelf supports becaue the replacement shelf would have stuck out like a sore thumb.
I then put the Billy two knob non cassette radio back in.
I'll install a stealth system at a later date when I'm ready to use the car.
There was evidence of the doors previously having door bins...
so I put some in.
Some one had bumped it the back end of the car when it was left in a layby by the previous owner and they had bent the bumper, mounts and pressed in the back panel a little
So I got the wood and hammer out and gave it a little tap or two, treated and touched up the surface rust.
It will be getting a full lower respray when I get round to sorting out the sills but wanted to protect it for now.
this bumper is meant to be slightly convex and not concave
so I cleaned up a spare one and mounted it.
That's all for now.