A rare beauty

[TooT]

Was behind another rarity today, a Vauxhall Carlton 2.3D Club Estate on a K

Cant say there ive seen many saloons lately never mind an estate

[Welly]

That is a rare, and really sh_it car.

Hey, remember the Vauxhall 'Diplomat' range?

My works had a 2.0 Carlton Dippy it was spec'd up to the nine's with every extra you could possibly have (in 1992) actually, to be fair, the Carlton was a decent handling car for some reason.

They also had a Cav Diplomat to, the ONLY Cav to get 'levvers' and air con and such.

Happy days..........

[darrenwall]

the Carlton was a decent handling car for some reason.

especially the lotus one mmmmm i want one now

[TooT]

I remember the Cavalier Diplomat

I remember seeing it in the brochure back in 1993 when my dad was getting a new company car. With his budget my old man ended up ordering a Cav GLS with a 1.6 8 valve engine. Wow powaaah

[Welly]

my dad was getting a new company car

Ha ha, when my dad was getting his first Company car in 1990 he had a *massive* choice for his budget including a Golf GTi (the proper one) but he went for a Ford Onion Ghia cos it had more 'features'. Knob.

(I was included on insurance age 19).

[steve_earwig]

That is a rare, and really sh_it car.

Wiv special bulge in the bonnet to take the too tall engine

Hey, remember the Vauxhall 'Diplomat' range?

Yes, my dad had a Carton estate which I'm sure was a driplomat, some knob overtook a queue of cars round a blind bend and totalled it for him.

I always thought the rear wheel arch on the Carltons looked really wrong, but I'm going to pi$$ everyone off now and say I still miss my 24 valve Senator

(I was included on insurance age 19).

Which he probay wouldn't have been able to do on the Gooseberry Tart Ixpress

[mikey s]

all the v and w plate maestros were built circa 94 in lhd. it was a cancelled order if iirc so they were converted to rhd drive and sold in this country.

[STALLED]

I saw a Renault 19 16v Cab the other day - pretty darn rare here considering they were never officially sold. Was in that funky clio williams blue too! Gave the owner a thumbs up when I walked past him!

[TooT]

WTF is this doing on an 06? Must be imported?

An Ambassador Classic

[DaiRees]

Made in India by Hindustan Motors

More (better) info here http://www.austin-rover.co.uk/index.htm?hindambyf.htm

[djp30djp]

M reg was the last official year for Maestro/Montego's although there may be the odd one that lurked in the corner of a dealer for a while.

I hadJ reg Montego Diesel estate, what a brilliant car, never cost me a penny apart from service items.Still with everything "original" when the bodywork let it down at 360,000 miles. This was then followed by an M reg. Montego diesel countryman, same story, fantastic reliability & very economical (55+ mpg). But at 10 years of age the rust started to get the better of her so I got my first 406 Exec.
I've now got 3 Exec's & the're vey nice BUT how I miss the simplicity of the Montego, electic everything but no electonics!

[Welly]

• Other Features = Moulded Door Pad
  Mobile charge station (lighter socket? )

...."Our 1.8 petrol engine features multi point injection and 16 bit technology It produces 71 BBHP (that's Bhangra Brake Horse Power) @ 4100 RPM

Blimey! I've just noticed some of the other specs:

• The 1.5 Diesel puts out 35.5 BBHP
  The 2.0 Diesel comes in 2 flavours, a Bharat Stage II with 50 BBHP and for the performance minded motorist there's the Bharat Stage III with 74 BBHP

You've gotta check out there maintenace schedule for one of these beauties! it's a wonder that you are left any time at all to 'enjoy' the thing http://www.hmambassador.com/files/MS_amby1.5dsl.pdf

[TooT]

That beast in front of me had the 1.8mpi power plant up front.

The straight line speed off the lights was truly staggering.

[steve_earwig]

Also spotted outside the clinic:






Not everyone's cup of tea I know, but I owned 5 of 'em. It was that or Corsets in those days, and these were lighter, potentially faster and, I always thought, better looking. Anway, it's anorak time - Hillman/Chrysler/Talbot Avenger "phase" 2, i.e. mark 7 to 11 (1977 - 1981), tragically restyled to look like the hidious rattly Alpine and built in Linwood (but probably assembled here) of lighter steel (i.e. rusted away before your eyes) in a feeble attempt to increase performance & cut costs.

What's wierd about this one is the grill (half the radiator's covered) and the phase 1 dl headlights (?). It also has a sump guard, which doesn't look home-made and it's got an lpg conversion (union below back bumper). Shame it's a 1.3.

I can't imagine how hard it must be to get spares for it, it was hard enough in the 80s! There's some bubbling on one of the front wings where they always used to start, one of the back doors doesn't look quite right, odd tyres and wonky trim but I haven't seen one in that sort of nick for 20 years. I've seen this one all over the place too, so it's not some old duffer's Sunday special.

*removes anorak*

[teamster1975]

I did a double take there Steve,I thought it was a Mk2 escrote!