BIG STU Posted November 20, 2019 Share Posted November 20, 2019 (edited) Hi everyone. PLEASE HELP..... I was wondering if anyone could help me out. As you know I am currently in the middle of selling my 1977 opel manta b SR Coupe. But when the new owner has come to insuring it there is no mention of it been an SR. So I have looked on my log book and it only states limited information. All it says for MODEL IS MANTA.1900. I obviously want to get this changed ASAP so I can complete the sale. So the dvla have asked me to get some verification from the owners club in writing that my car is a 1977 OPEL MANTA B SR .COUPE 1900CC IN PASTEL BLUE. So if anyone on here can help me, I would be very grateful. If it helps my reg is SPP129R. VIN 5975117323. If some one could kindly email me confirming that my car is a GENUINE OPEL MANTA B, SR COUPE. THEN I CAN ATTACH IT WITH THE LOG BOOK AND GET MY LOG BOOK UPDATED ASAP. I HAVE TRIED THE MAIN DEALERS BUT THEY DONT GO THAT FAR BACK.🤬 MANY THANKS. STUART. P.s. please can anyone confirm whether or not the letters SR are mentioned or documented on any of your log books for an Sr manta. CHEERS. Edited November 20, 2019 by BIG STU More information added. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rapierdave Posted November 20, 2019 Share Posted November 20, 2019 (edited) This is a strange one as the National Insurance data base indicates your car as an Opel Manta L There was never an L model when your Manta was made it was either DL, SR or Berlinetta, all DL models were sold with 1.6 engines & most SR & Berlinetta models from your year were sold with 1.9 engines. As you say your V5 indicates it's an Opel Manta 1900 & the DVLA will have recorded what the original supplying dealer told them. This can sometimes mean that variants of Mantas are not fully described on the V5 The DVLA are very reluctant to change the original model details on a V5 unless you can prove a mistake was made. In your case there is no mistake on the V5 but by a process of elimination we can say that as yours has the 1.9 engine then it must be either an SR or a Berlinetta model, however as yours has SR features such as vinyl instead of cloth coloured door cards, an SR steering wheel ( early Berlinetta's had a different wheel), 6 clock dash (early Berlinetta's had no rev counter) then i believe there is a high liklehood your car is indeed an SR model. Now for the likely reason the Insurance data base shows L as the model, this is probably due to human error when the computer records data base was produced years ago. I had a 1900 Berlinetta Manta of the same year as your SR & here is pic of the difference in the door cards, steering wheel & dash clocks. Edited November 20, 2019 by Rapierdave 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIG STU Posted November 20, 2019 Author Share Posted November 20, 2019 Thanks for your help and support. I will pass this information on to potential new owner. If he isn't happy then I will keep it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1900SR Posted November 20, 2019 Share Posted November 20, 2019 At that age it would have originally been registered with the local authority rather than Swansea, and then the details would have been transferred to the DVLA computer at a later date. My Manta A which is also an SR is on the V5 just as Manta 1900. It is incredibly common, and I'm amazed that DVLA are even willing to change the description on the V5. The insurance database is quite often wrong, maybe because someone has described it as a different model sometime in the past. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buz Posted November 20, 2019 Share Posted November 20, 2019 I've just checked my logbook and mine is just Manta 1900. Could I ask and apologies for asking a question within another topic but is there any way of knowing if the engine in mine is original ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1900SR Posted November 20, 2019 Share Posted November 20, 2019 3 minutes ago, Buz said: I've just checked my logbook and mine is just Manta 1900. Could I ask and apologies for asking a question within another topic but is there any way of knowing if the engine in mine is original ? 4 hours ago, BIG STU said: Hi everyone. PLEASE HELP..... I was wondering if anyone could help me out. If you want more information on your cars it may be worth contacting Opel on this email opel.post@de.opel.com , send them the Chassis number of your car and they may be able to supply more detail, including original engine number, colour, trim colour etc. 4 hours ago, Rapierdave said: This is a strange one as the National Insurance data base indicates your car as an Opel Manta L There was never an L model when your Manta was made it was either DL, SR or Berlinetta, all DL models were sold with 1.6 engines & most SR & Berlinetta models from your year were sold with 1.9 engines. The Glass' Check Book lists the models as L, SR and Berlinetta for the 77 model year, I suspect this info was supplied by Opel UK. I know the logbook for my old 1979 hatch had it listed as a Manta SRB SH. I'm guessing SH stood for Sports Hatch, which of course was a description Opel didn't use. My old 1977 Berlinetta was listed on the V5 as Manta 1900 Auto. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buz Posted November 20, 2019 Share Posted November 20, 2019 18 minutes ago, 1900SR said: If you want more information on your cars it may be worth contacting Opel on this email opel.post@de.opel.com , send them the Chassis number of your car and they may be able to supply more detail, including original engine number, colour, trim colour etc. The Glass' Check Book lists the models as L, SR and Berlinetta for the 77 model year, I suspect this info was supplied by Opel UK. I know the logbook for my old 1979 hatch had it listed as a Manta SRB SH. I'm guessing SH stood for Sports Hatch, which of course was a description Opel didn't use. My old 1977 Berlinetta was listed on the V5 as Manta 1900 Auto. That's great info , much appreciated, thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
®evo03 Posted November 20, 2019 Share Posted November 20, 2019 (edited) http://www.opel-infos.de/fgst/fgst9_74.html Try this! Your welcome. Dont worry about the dvla, i had to prove a car was build pre 78, it was first registered, 1/1/78, i said to them, so when do you think it was built then, come on, a bit of common sense. I also have glasses info somewhere, will look later. Although is there a manta sr badge on bootlid? A photo might work. There is a section if info is wrong, it needs corrected, you dont need to pay for it. Edited November 20, 2019 by ®evo03 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIG STU Posted November 20, 2019 Author Share Posted November 20, 2019 Thanks for your help and support. If you could message me anything that might help I would be very grateful. Take care and look forward to hearing from you soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1900SR Posted November 20, 2019 Share Posted November 20, 2019 37 minutes ago, ®evo03 said: http://www.opel-infos.de/fgst/fgst9_74.html Try this! Your welcome. Dont worry about the dvla, i had to prove a car was build pre 78, it was first registered, 1/1/78, i said to them, so when do you think it was built then, come on, a bit of common sense. I also have glasses info somewhere, will look later. Although is there a manta sr badge on bootlid? A photo might work. There is a section if info is wrong, it needs corrected, you dont need to pay for it. Considering the the DVLA's own rules say if the car was registered before the 8th January they will count it as built the previous year then you shouldn't have had to prove a build date. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1900SR Posted November 20, 2019 Share Posted November 20, 2019 Just entered a few early Manta registration numbers into confused and they all come back as Manta L. I wonder if this is because the type 59 designation in the chassis number is for the "Luxus" shell, which I think all UK Manta A and most if not all early Manta B's came with? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrCarlos Posted November 20, 2019 Share Posted November 20, 2019 The logbook for our yellow coupe currently for sale says Berlinetta on it And the other b series currently with me (steves old car) says sr bsh on it I would be very surprised if the dvla would make any changes though, ive never known them do. Let us know how you get on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIG STU Posted November 20, 2019 Author Share Posted November 20, 2019 Will do. Not really arsed if they don't. Looks like quite alot of mantas aren't recorded properly on the log books. Lack of information given by dealerships and local authorities when everything went electronic.🤪 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessopia74 Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 My first Manta, a 78 auto berlineta’s log book sad vx4/90 on it. But it was correct before I bought it, so in that era I guess mistakes was very common. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rapierdave Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 (edited) 18 hours ago, 1900SR said: Just entered a few early Manta registration numbers into confused and they all come back as Manta L. I wonder if this is because the type 59 designation in the chassis number is for the "Luxus" shell, which I think all UK Manta A and most if not all early Manta B's came with? I think this is very likely Steve. I think it is very unlikely that the DVLA will change the V5 details, when i owned a 2.0 litre Manta SR a few years ago it was on the V5 as 2.0 Manta Auto, as it had been converted to manual some years before, i tried to get the Auto bit taken off the V5 they refused even though i sent them a nice letter as a club rep ! My current Manta SRB was first registered in Guernsey in May 1978 & when i contacted the DVLA to get it registered on an age related plate they refused as i could not prove the date even though i supplied them with the Guernsey log book & dealers stamp showing when the car was first sold. Eventually went to my local DVLA office in Bristol who sanctioned it & called the Swansea office a bunch of bureaucratic idiots. Unfortunately all local DVLA offices were closed a few years ago. Stuart if your buyer is concerned that he may be buying a Manta with the wrong model designation then point him in the direction of this forum to see the answers to your question which hopefully will give him confidence to complete the transaction. Edited November 21, 2019 by Rapierdave 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIG STU Posted November 21, 2019 Author Share Posted November 21, 2019 Cheers guys. I have mentioned to him to look on the forum at this thread. But unfortunately he wants it saying sr on the log book. So rather than keep being messed about and listening to his moaning and the shit he is chatting. I gave him his deposit back. More trouble than its worth 🤬 So back to the drawing board. Need to find someone who understands mantas and not a knuckle dagger.🤪. My lads made up that we are keeping it for the time being. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Limeysore Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 Stu, The appended link might provide you with some additional support on the L designation, if not there are some other interesting sections on the blog that are worth perusing. https://www.mantablog.nl/manta-b/chassisnummers/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
®evo03 Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 Yeh, i had to explain that 01/01/78 was the first day, and it had to be built before ie sometime in 77, he eventually got what i was saying. Ive even got the xe engine number logged on 400r, log book. I think its even down as multi colour! Ha,ha, I had trouble before getting a uk reg number logged in NI. Which is legal, they tried to say it wasnt? WTF, ive three of them, ie uk regs. They knew it was vaulable, ie, it shows BRO WN, they knew this, so if i agreed to get a new NI reg, they got to keep valuable reg to sell it..... need to watch them! Sneaky...........one guy stopped me and offered 2k for reg! It was original reg. So it stays with the car. Now back to mantas, L, DL, and SR. Back soon. Most people do their own homework before purchasing. Time to break out glasses history, back soon....... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
®evo03 Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 Sorry dude, tried to photograph glasses info, if you pm me your chassis number, i will pm you info typed out. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1900SR Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 12 minutes ago, ®evo03 said: Sorry dude, tried to photograph glasses info, if you pm me your chassis number, i will pm you info typed out. The Glass' Check Book won't tell you if it's an SR, Berlinetta or L though. I've not looked at a chassis plate for a while though, do they show type designation? If so 59R will prove it's an SR, 59B a Berlinetta. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KAA Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 The 'How Many Left' website lists all the model designations used on the DVLA database, although the numbers of cars are inaccurate due to unlicensed/un-sorned cars hidden away somewhere and the designations are sometimes wrong on many cars. https://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/?page=6&q=opel 55 Manta 1900 shown, so imagine yours is one of those. There is a Manta SR listed (and SR Auto), however given that only 5 SR and zero SR Auto are currently licensed or sorned your buyer is going to wait a long time before finding one anywhere near the condition of yours if he wants 'SR' on the V5c. It could even be that those are all 'A' series and that no 'B' series 'SR' exist at all unless someone has one tucked away in a shed somewhere... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIG STU Posted November 21, 2019 Author Share Posted November 21, 2019 I know. I tried telling him that. He wasn't a full shilling. Talked a blinder but full of 💩💩. Things happen for a reason. I wouldn't of been happy selling it to him anyway as he wouldn't of looked after it. Anyone who likes dressing up in 70s clothing and going conventions can't be all there in the head can they....🤪. Plus giving the car to him,would of been like giving your pet dog to the owner of a Chinese restaurant. It would of been killed of. At least I have still got the old girl and long may it continue. At least my sons happy 😁. He didn't like the guy in the first place. 🤬Didnt trust him. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-400 Posted November 22, 2019 Share Posted November 22, 2019 You are absolutely right, sell it to someone that makes you feel good. Or maybe your son is the perfect one? 😉 My son is! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIG STU Posted November 22, 2019 Author Share Posted November 22, 2019 Your dead right. My sons the perfect one. 😉 Got more sense than I have and he's only 13...👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessopia74 Posted November 22, 2019 Share Posted November 22, 2019 Get him some Driving lessons with Young Driver Stu, My lad has had 3hours (also 13) and he seriously can drive well already! He just has to unlearn my bad habits lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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