Nova GSi L Reg - Progress Thread
Hi All,
Its been a long time since i have posted a progress thread up but a few members who have seen the car have suggested i throw one up so here we go.....
A lot of you will already know the car as the past two owners have been no strangers to PNG. Finally early this year i managed to get hold of the Star Silver L Reg GSi that i had been keen to get my hands on for so many years. It was formally owned by Caroline Pennington from 2001 -> 2011. I tried to purchase the car from Caroline in 2003 but she was not interested in selling and very attached to the car. Paul Wardman (W88RDY) managed to get Caroline to agree to sell in 2011 as he was local to her and similarly pestered her over the years in an attempt to purchase the car. In his ownership 2011 -> 2014 i badgered him a few times and luckily (as i don't think i was the only one) managed to catch him at a time when he wanted to focus on his new project and a deal was done.
The car is a genuine star silver GSi with the added rarity of being registered as an L reg with a 6 character number plate. I realize that this is seen by many members as no more valuable than the late K plates but it to me it adds something a little extra over a K and is great piece of history to know that i own one of the last Nova GSi's to leave the showroom. However everyone is entitled to their own opinion regarding the plate.
Knowing the car over the last 13 years was also a huge plus as i know Caroline loved the car obsessivly and still holds a keen interest as to its progress and it is great to keep in touch with her and give her regular updates. In the last 10 years the car has travelled very few miles and spent most of its days locked up in Carolines or Paul's garage.
Covering a genuine 85k miles it is an honest car which i hope to bring back to its former showroom glory over the next few years.
So onto some pictures.....
Some early shots Cira 2001 when Caroline first purchased the car, As you can see she added the obligatory Speedlines back in 2001. They are still in amazing shape and un refurbished which shows the little milage that the car has done. I understand the bulk of what mileage in her ownership was in the early 2000's traveling to see her boyfriend Karl's (now husband) which some of you will remember from early PNG days (Silk Violet Valver GSi)
The car was comprehensively restored by Caroline back in 2003 with doors, wings, tailgate and bonnet. Topped off with genuine decals and vinyls allround. All panels and decals were genuine with receipts to prove.
PV 2003 after the restoration
Fortunately Carolines father was a mechanically minded and had the foresight to coat the entire underside of the car in white grease which has preserved all of the brake pipes and chassis areas very well. As far as i can tell so far the underside has no welding and all original.
After 2005ish Caroline parked the car in her garage and her dad kept an eye on it. The car has done very very few miles and scanning through the history i see only 1000 miles in the last 7 years.
Pickup Day,
I am currently living in Dubai and only have time to visit the UK a handful of times over the year so a deal had to be done remotely and Paul was very helpful in organising delivery of the car to my storage facility. Many thanks to Paul for his patience and help with the sale as i realize he could have easily posted this on the forum and sold it easily without any hassle.
And once the car was delivered this is where it sat for the next few months until my next visit to the UK.
More to come..............
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Originally Posted by Alex J
