MSGManta Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 (edited) Hi guys, I should have joined this site 21 years ago, as I have owned this Manta GTE for the past 21 years, I used to be a service engineer and it was given to me in 1989 as a company car to run around carrying tools and equipment across the breath and width of the country! much better than a white van I guess! The company then went broke in 1991, owing me 12 grand but I could not drive away this car in lieu of money they owed me, when i tried the administrators told me they would report me as driving a stolen car! So they frog marched me to my bank (on my feet) and I had to withdraw 1200 quid in cash to purchase it from the company receivers! ever since then this is my car, not stolen! It now needs restoring and I am planning to do this if the parts aren't so much of a problem, it hasn't got too bad a rust underneath, some welding has been done around the swan neck and other chassis members, and thye floors, but it could do with a lot better welding and other restoration work. Its been neglected as Calibra took over my life from 1994 onwards, since then this car mostly stays put on road, driven only roughly 100 miles max per year! sad really! That Calibra killed it! There is also some bad rust forming around the roof hatch, and the front lip of the bonnet has big holes which were hastely filled with body filler and the rust is perforating once again, so this needs a good treatment and makeover on its bonnet. Edited November 12, 2012 by MSGManta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymanc Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 hi mike and welcome to the forum, i hope your posts are as entertaining as they are on mig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSGManta Posted November 12, 2012 Author Share Posted November 12, 2012 (edited) Nice to meet you here Garry! and thanks for putting that other post on my behalf prior to my joining this site, let us hope someone somewhere will feel sorry for my manta and offer me a complete headlight! (RHD) If not, the car is going to the crushers if it fails its MOT! (only joking of course) if worst comes to worst and for the sake of getting through an MOT, I will have to stick any light from any car just to get through the MOT, the Manta's headlight recess or opening is big enough to take most lights from cars like VW Passat, Cavalier, VW Polo, quite a lot of others with similar rectangular shaped lights and with a little imagination a bezzel surround could be manufactured to accomodate the new lights, sure then they can't fail on that can they! That would leave just a little hiccup with insurance........is the Manta standard and not modified....errrrrrrrrrrr yes and no, and yes, its got Polo lights! Edited November 12, 2012 by MSGManta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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