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Leon
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Hi All

I'm Leon, I live in Leicestershire and here is my reason for buying a Manta

When I was about 9 years old my nextdoor neighbour had a green R plate Manta Coupe and a brown Cavalier Sportshatch.

When he blew up the Manta, he took the whole front end (it had 400 type bonnet, grille and quad lamps) from the Manta and fitted them to the Cavalier, leaving it half green and half brown. He used to do handbrake turns and burnouts on the road and was my absolute hero

I still have the bonnet badge and number plates from the green Manta

I promised myself that one day I'd be as cool as him and have a Manta too.

Nearly 20 years later, I have a Manta. It's a 1.8 Exclusive fitted with the GTE interior, skirts and wheels. The paint finish isn't brilliant but the car is absolutely solid and seems to have an interesting history.

At the moment I'm just enjoying driving it, I'd forgotten how tight they drive

Long term I'm looking at an XE conversion as the 1.8 is a little bit underpowered.

Here are a couple of pics:

Manta01.jpg

Manta02.jpg

Manta07.jpg

And yes, I know that generally everyone wants coupes and looks down on the hatch, but I purposely bought a hatch because I need the load space.

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I have a hatch and would not have a coupe! Its a good looking motor you've got. Looks good debadged and is a nice colour, uprated lights at some point, GT/E interior and a lowered stance.

Leicester has at least 4 members so you're not out there alone.

Know what you mean about being a kid and seeing a burnout, if someone did it at the end of our strret now id think about moving.

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Looks a good straight car,if you need any advice on the 16 valve conversion i have a 16 valve coupe that will be back on the road at the end of the month and its also in Leicestershire.

Dont give up on the 1.8l you can tune that engine if it still in good nick.

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welcome to the club Leon , theres nowt wrong with the hatches , they have a good following & you sure as hell can't fit most engine cranes in the back of a coupe( not if you want a back window), yours looks a tidy motor & i will look forward to seeing more of it :thumbup

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Looks a good straight car,if you need any advice on the 16 valve conversion i have a 16 valve coupe that will be back on the road at the end of the month and its also in Leicestershire.

Dont give up on the 1.8l you can tune that engine if it still in good nick.

Heck Manta88 didn't know your valver was not back on the road yet, thought it was all sorted.

Leon, sorry for going off topic there, welcome to the OMOC discussion forum, where abouts in Leicestershire are you? that church in the background looks very very familiar, as most on here will tell you I'm a strict religious and God fearing person.

And if Manta88 is thinking the same as me, there is a chance depending on your age that we could know the person you mentioned in your post above.

As for your Hatch mate......

I just sold a 1980 2.0s hatch and was quite possibly the most solid and best handling Manta I've had to date, it just didn't go fast enough for me and was too rare and original to modify, hence sale.

Many say the hatches are the better handling over the coupes.

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Heck Manta88 didn't know your valver was not back on the road yet, thought it was all sorted.

I got a bit side tracked this winter Clive with a front brake upgrade to 320mm discs,just tryed them out to day and all looks ok.

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I'm just between Coalville and the A511, though I doubt you know my ex-nextdoor neighbour as this was when I was growing up in deepest darkest South Wales

His name was John Faithfull, better known as "John English" to the locals!

Gutted I don't have any pics of his old cars as they were what really got me into Mantas and Sporthatches

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Aha not the person I would have been thinking of then Leon.

I know the area you live reasonably well and have in fact been working out there last week and will be again this week.

I'm not a grillion miles from you, so if you ever need any help/advice or parts, feel free to get in touch or even drop round mate.

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Year right lol

I can just see you turning down a cheap 400 coupe now lol

You would have one if ot was good enough and cheap enough even to sell / swap for another hatch.

Seriously and quite controversialy - I dont like the 400

Any car with big arches and kits just doesnt do it for me. Now im not saying they're rubbish or look awful, just in my opinion it doesn't do anything for me.

I have a hatch because its what i had when i was 20, sure id have a grey GT/E coupe like Andy's from Skellingthorpe, but not over a hatch!

Im lucky enough to have my ultimate manta, what i've got is what i want.

Sorry for the "off topic" Leon, Normal service will now resume!

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No problem and FWIW I'm not overly keen on the 400 either! In fact, if I could choose my perfect Manta it would be a nice early Berlinetta with chrome bumpers and vinyl roof but the quad lamps. No skirts, no airdams - yum.

But I wanted a Sportshatch or a Manta hatch for reasons I mentioned earlier, and all the 1.8 Manta is a better "base" to start with hence my choice!

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