Whatsthisthen?

[NewcastleFalcon]

Could it be one of the Yugo / Zastava cars ? A Yugo 45 ?

I see in some the coachline/side trim combo on some/ the rectangular number plate on some/ but does seem a more angular stumpy sort of shape.

I wonder if the rectangular number plate could be a false assumption. I think our best chance for getting close would be a psychological profiling of Gibbo's mate as was in the 1980's. Gibbo did say he had a Vauxhall chevette company car. Move on a couple of years and who knows he might have upgraded to an Astra, and the general shape and the double "trim" lines down the side could fit.

I think Gibbo could probably confirm whether his mate would buy a yugo, or maybe even a Japanese Car. I think we can rule out French, I had a brief flirtation with the Alfasud but rejected it, German? possibly an early German made Opel Kadett ( the Astra Equivalent one) but nothing else remotely like it. In the end I keep coming back to a British Marque....80's man from the Midlands...is he going to buy Japanese, when he gets a "free" Vauxhall from work. Would they be a two car family?

It would be handy if Gibbo knew the answer, but I wouldnt rule a two door Mk1 Astra, or if Gibbo's mate turned Japanese it may have been something like this


Nissan Cherry in Autumn 1981Charles01 / Public domain

REgards Neil

[Gibbo2286]

Thing is I sold him most of his privately owned cars so I know he had a red and white Hillman Minx, a Peugeot 305, a red Rover 2000. a black Ambassador, a brown Mini (for his son), nothing else comes to mind.

He was an on the road salesman for the MEB and as far as I can remember he used his own cars with a mileage payment until the Chevette came along, I serviced that for him on the MEB's own schedule

Ps: Also sold him a red Ford Sierra Sapphire so it ain't that.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Thing is I sold him most of his privately owned cars so I know he had a red and white Hillman Minx, a Peugeot 305, a red Rover 2000. a black Ambassador, a brown Mini (for his son), nothing else comes to mind.

He was an on the road salesman for the MEB and as far as I can remember he used his own cars with a mileage payment until the Chevette came along, I serviced that for him on the MEB's own schedule

Ps: Also sold him a red Ford Sierra Sapphire so it ain't that.

Doesn't sound like he was a Japanese or Eastern European buyer Gibbo if that was his car, but interesting that he went for a Peugeot 305. If it was his company car, I can't imagine MEB suppyling anything other than BL, Vauxhall or Ford at the time. May just have been a random car parked in the street of course

You said before you thought the time period was mid-late 80's, is that still your thinking The Chevette would have likely disappeared from his stable by then I would have thought, possibly replaced by our mystery car.

With the quantity of snow I did think originally it may have been 1979.....the notorious "Winter of Discontent"

REgards Neil

[mickthemaverick]

I am erring back towards the Datsuns. I have been looking through the 210s and they came with a huge variety of light configurations and even panel variations. If we make the assumption that the car was a visiting car and ignore the history from the MEB, who seemed to run A35 vans succeeded by Viva vans and hence the chevette Gibbo mentioned, and concentrate on what we can see this has many of the perceived features but not quite there:

BFTW

Going to have a break and go and replace the antenna on the C5 because Talksport has been getting a bit crackly lately!!

[Gibbo2286]

Here's another one, this is to go on ebay but what does it fit?

Still clearing the old stock form my shelves.

[bobins]

Could be anything from a lawn mower to a trailer brake

[Gibbo2286]

Could be anything from a lawn mower to a trailer brake

I thought you would know that straight away bobins, It's off a car of some sort, bought in for a customer who never collected it probably.

With that heavy counterweight I thought Citroen but......................

[mickthemaverick]

I would go for a ZX Volcane Gibbo, I changed it on mine and it looks very similar!!

[NewcastleFalcon]

I did find this on a short fruitless dig, none of the cables you can buy now have the patina of yours or the bare metal expose of a counterweight.

This part number GM90216221 was supposed to cure a problem of noise when disengaging clutch at 3000 revs on Vauxhall Carlton and Omega Models. Now if a bloke came into your garage complaining of such a problem, maybe you assembled a cable for him, but he decided it wasnt that much of a problem and didnt bother coming back

Technical Note 52 Opel Omega (Petrol)Vauxhall Carlton (Petrol)
Noise When Disengaging The Clutch:

Noise can occur on the above models when disengaging the clutch in the 3000rpm range. Vauxhall/Opel have remedied this problem by usinga modified release lever from september 1987 (Chassis No J1031269 ->). By fitting a counterweight available from GM (Part No 90216221) noise on even older models can be eliminated. When fitting the counterweight to the clutch cable ensure that there is free access for the exhaust pipe

REgards Neil

[Gibbo2286]

Similar Mick but not the same.

The trouble with the parts sellers is they advertise the items but only show generic photos so they might have fifty different items with the same photo.

Neil I never made up cables so it's a bought in as is part.

The numbers on it mean nowt.

It will probably end up in the skip with a lot of other left overs.

[old'uns]

Snowy car.... Suzulki sc100 whizz kid?

[mickthemaverick]

That's a fair shout but I can't find a picture of one with the right lights although they are close

[NewcastleFalcon]

Dont think its a hit but its the nearest I have got.

A very nice example of an Austin Allegro 1750 HLS mk.3

Two side trims in the right place
Bigish corner light clusters

REgards Neil

[bobins]

I did consider an Allegro, but unless they built special short wheelbase 2 door versions, I don't think it's one of they

[bobins]

Snowy car.... Suzulki sc100 whizz kid?

Close, but the distance between the rear wheel arch and the bloodline isn't the same.

Mysterysuzuki