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Thread: Sport Project 1990 to 2016 (hopefully)

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    Default Sport Project 1990 to 2016 (hopefully)

    ​Part 1 - 1990-1992

    OK so a few of you will have seen some of my posts either on here or on Facebook about my Nova Sport. For those who don't, I will recap and make this the start point of my project thread.

    So, I owned C67 between 1990 and 1992 during which it was a standard road car. The only bits of note that I had done to it whilst I owned it was had the cam replaced for the genuine Irmscher one (managed to blag that through the Car Care warranty I got with the car) and it was done at my local Vauxhall dealer, Millwards of Wirksworth. I have the invoice from this and the part number was 1406108 and all I paid for that job was £27.12! I will come back to this later in the thread no doubt.

    In 1992, I had the car repainted at a local body shop. At the time, they couldn't find the decals and it only had the flash sections so I am ashamed to report that I think these were painted around. This is the car a few months before it went in - I had put some Kure-rust on every single chip on the car (I used to work in a disused quarry so it had a few) to protect it pending paint:



    At the same time, I fitted a new back box (£48.16 inc p+p direct from Steve Thompson Cars) and had the wheel trims repainted. I haven't found the photos of it after paint but it did to me seem a good job at the time. The car was always looked after by John Noble Engines and John himself always tuned/set it up, introducing me/it to running without the airbox lid. For those who know Derbyshire, on full chat coming up Slack Hill on the way home from a service was worth the cost itself.
    Last edited by slimtater; 20-12-15 at 12:18 PM.

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    What will 2016 hold?

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    Part 2 - 1992 and things change...

    We have all been there at some point but in 1991 I met my now wife so priorities changed. I had known her a few years but August 1991 (around my 21st birthday) was the time we went on our first date. I met her at a pub in town and then gave her a lift home in my Nova Sport. She seemed very impressed (must have been) and thought it was hilarious that the induction noise (and air horns) scared pedestrians! Remember this date - its important: August 1991.

    So, with changed priorities and an enthusiasm to get engaged, buy a house and then get married, the Sport may need to go. If it wasn't for my then brother-in-law (my sister's husband) being very keen to own a Sport and making me a top price offer (in excess of £3000 in 1992) then I may have held on to it a bit longer. However, £3000 was a 10% deposit on our first house so it was sold.

    During the time he owned it, he used it hard and started getting in to more motorsport. From memory, he did a few 12 cars and club sprints and I can remember taking it to Nobles for him and it running on Colway Road Plus tyres - the cheap but popular road rally tyre of the time.

    Sadly, my sister separated from him and I started to lose track of the Sport. As I was in to motorsport (and had no grudge with my now ex BIL) I saw him a few years later at Curborough where he was sprinting a heavily modified Nova SR. He told me he had done a swap with the Sport so as not to ruin it as he did more and more Sprints. He told me the name of the guy he had swapped with (lets just call him AG) and I actually knew him but not well.

    So, I sort of lost track completely in the mid to late 90s and the internet wasn't the thing it is now so wasn't much help.
    Last edited by slimtater; 20-12-15 at 12:19 PM.

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    Part 3 - The chase begins...

    As the internet became more and more useful during the 2000s, I kept doing random searches to try and find C67. The only thing I ever found was this reference:

    http://www.migweb.co.uk/forums/off-t...tml#post398142

    This must have been nearly 10 years after it was posted and the only other thing I found was what the DVLA site would tell me:

    Vehicle enquiry
    Registration number: C67 MNH
    Untaxed
    Expired: 01 March 2002
    MOT: No details held by DVLA

    Vehicle details
    6 month rate £79.75 12 month rate £145.00
    Vehicle make VAUXHALL
    Date of first registration 21 August 1985
    Year of manufacture 1985
    Cylinder capacity (cc) 1297cc
    CO2Emissions Not available
    Fuel type PETROL
    Export marker No
    Vehicle status Not taxed
    Vehicle colour WHITE
    Vehicle type approval Not available

    I kind of conceded that given the time gap, the car must have joined a few others and no longer be around.

    It wasn't until this summer that I went to a Car Cafe event, spotted an immaculate/original Sport and got talking to the owner (who is well known on here) about his car and my old one. He must of thought I was a dreamer as I could only vaguely remember mine - the non standard sunroof, the Halfords stereo (disgraceful for what I think was a non radio version) and the incomplete stripe kit. I must have sounded like the owner of a fake!!

    This conversation did reignite my enthusiasm for a Sport and after a few searches to confirm none were for sale, I thought I will start buying bits. By coincidence, the first bit I bought off eBay was from said owner above and the conversation continued - especially as by chance he only lived a few miles from me. He tried to help me with a few potential cars but no luck.

    I decided to resume the search for C67 and just sent a random text to my sister and the conversation went like this:

    Do you ever hear from XXXX (ex husband)?

    No - why?

    Just wondering. Do you hear from AG or are you in touch?

    Sometimes. We are friends on Facebook and I message him occasionally. Why?

    Just wondering what happened to my old Nova. I think it has been scrapped.

    I will ask him when I next message him.

    Thanks.

    30 minutes later, my sister replies with:

    Messaged AG. He still has the Nova. Been stood in his garage and not used for years. He said "make me an offer"

    This was in July just before I went on holiday but needless to say, I started to make contact. A few events hampered things but early in September, I went to look at my old Sport for the first time in over 20 years. As can be seen, it was pretty wedged in the corner of a garage and hard to assess:



    A few weeks later and with Novasports help, we got it out of hiding to have a better look at it:



    I will add a few more pictures of its state then but needless to say, it had had a hard life as a sprint and hillclimb car and little of the original Sport stuff was in the car (it had loads of stuff changed). However, it did still have a lot of the original stuff with it such as original engine, carbs, airbox, seats and steel wheels.

    I honestly thought it was going to be too much work for a home garage amateur like me but after a lot of conversations with Rich, I took the plunge and I (ha ha, "we") took it on...






    Last edited by slimtater; 27-03-16 at 12:39 PM.

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    If this thread is too long or boring, mods please feel free to move it somewhere else !

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    Part 4 - buying it back, getting it back and spending lots of money begins

    Knowing the car needed a lot of work, especially in terms of bodywork/panel work needed to return it to a road car, I managed to negotiate a good deal which included everything that was related to the car originally. I even got a Haynes manual and the one for Webers! I arranged to pick up the car a couple of weeks later which gave me time to sort out a van and trailer, space and more importantly, a very big and expensive shopping list of things needed. This included quite a few rare or hard to get bits and for this aspect, I am forever in debt to Rich for his help in spending my project budget wisely! And at times frivolously !

    Collection day was in October and very exciting - I am sure people recall my early morning Facebook posts when I couldn't sleep:






    I will continue this post a little later with items sourced, purchased or refurbished just to give people an idea of the size of the task - especially considering this is all being done in a home garage and I haven't done anything like it before!

    So, as I said I got quite a few bits with the car but also needed quite a few bits. In fact, lots of bits. As the car had been used for motorsport and had had engine and gearbox changes along the way, getting it back to original road spec was going to be a challenge. The car had a full cage which had been put through the dash to the front turrets (so effectively destroying the dash for future use) and race seats with support plates on the floor. It also had fiberglass bonnet, boot and front wings as well as a plate over the sunroof hole to replace or sort. There was some luck though and within what I bought I managed to get the following:

    5 of the original steel wheels in the correct 5Jx13
    The correct 40s and manifold although not on the engine
    Front and rear seats - usable if unable to source replacements (lets call it patina type aging)
    Front and rear door cards - the fronts without pockets but a little bit of wear from the roll cage. At least they will trace back to its motorsport use!
    The original airbox, alternator brackets and mount
    The original 108 cam within the cam carrier - off the engine and actually looks in good shape

    I am sure there may be things that I have forgotten but some of the stuff like the RFXs, cage and seat would be sold on as not required. That's probably as much as I can think of in terms of money coming in!
    Last edited by slimtater; 19-12-15 at 10:30 PM. Reason: Continuation of part 4

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    Quote Originally Posted by slimtater View Post
    If this thread is too long or boring, mods please feel free to move it somewhere else !
    This is exactly the type of stuff that needs to be posted on the forum, all the builds/stories in one place that everyone can see

    It's great hearing a story like this and seeing the car rebuilt

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    Agreed.much better than "bought a base model for 50quid added a redtop,almost escaped the earths velocity speed.for sale 5grand"

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    Awesome that you could get back your old car again. Don't be discouraged about restoring it from a home garage, plenty of people here have done the same.

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    Real nice story ,I have owned two C811 ULA which I had around 1995 ,bought it quite cheap at the time was a really nice car had an air leak on the webers that I sorted then added a full tubular manifold and system and K& N panel filter .i really loved that car .i had to sell it to buy a van for work .then I bought C599CYL that was a hillclimb car again needed a bit of work but was a nice spec car .my brother and I used it for track days ,sadly he wrote it off at Lydden hill .i would love to get ULA back but I have not got a clue what happened to it

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