Rick-Manta

I think I ended up with a spare one for my 4 to 5-speed conversion. Let me know if you get the 'box and I'll find out what I paid for the gear linkage stuff.

Just to bump this up again please, as I have a Raid 1 steering wheel and would like an OE Manta Exclusive boss and cover for the reasons I mentioned last year. Thanks. I'll also have a 3-spoke "SR" Manta B wheel available once I'm all sorted with this, should anyone need one, please let me know here before I eBay it.

I went to get my computer repaired as it was running slow. The shop asked if I had a hard drive. I said, "No, it's gravel!" I took my laptop there as well, because it kept overheating every time I plugged it in. They said, "That's not a laptop, it's a George Foreman grill!!"

Haha! I said exactly the same thing about 18 years ago on this club site. Never heard of "pm" before--it's just an acronym for personal message. I was still in my twenties then, so had no excuse really!

Wow! Never seen a B2/C coupe body shell with the early B running gear in. Even that "2.0S" badge isn't something we ever saw here. My 2nd ever Manta was an Anthracite 1.8S Berlinetta hatch which was registered overseas but right-hand drive, oddly getting registered "new" on an A-plate, despite it being used wherever it was first used. I remember it being difficult trying to get insurance as a lot of clueless idiots at the call centres said "If it's Opel, then it's an import scoff scoff. It would be Vauxhall if it wasn't snarf snarf.." which was frustrating, but in the case of some of these, they were first registered overseas, again despite being declared new at first registration..

Ah yes, I forgot about the front bumper/spoiler decal.

Less than a year for the GT/J "B2" then. This one and mine were A-reg, so must have been registered right at the end of the changeover (that's what made me think they were run for a little longer). Almost all registered would be Y-plate in that case. It was more dark grey, but it was a different material altogether than all the other trims. Looked like the duffle coats we wore in the late 70s early 80s. If anyone has the red Manta brochure from 1982 you can see the seats of the GT/J in all their basic glory--as well as how each model was specced. Hey, check out the side door decals they had. The reproductions were even discontinued when I was trying to do mine in around 2008-9 so I was busy making up templates, not realising you can easily make the J from the G on any manta decal. I later got a tattoo of my daughter's name, Millicent, all in the Manta font by simply using the sections of GTE decals. Supplying 3 is technically wrong as has been said, the "Manta GT/J" or "Berlinetta" appears only on the side, and "Manta 1.8S" on the rear; not to be confused when we're saying 1.8s to describe 1800s.

No, the seats and interior were different and not like the other 1.8s, they had hollow plastic headrests like a Nova, and a rougher, thick seat material called Donegal tweed; the door cards were in Donegal tweed too. My GT/J was broken to XE a guy's Chevette and I wish I'd have kept the cards and I've never seen any anywhere else either on or off a car. No 1.8s had the Recaros, so the seats we're more familiar with were actually the Berlinetta option in 1983/4. There was a lot more vinyl than carpet, all were non-sunroof hatches and according to the brochure, the rear wash-wipe was an optional extra that looks like it never came to have a non-wiper version and instead all hatches had it. Not sure on the steel wheels. I think I saw later "GT" models with them, with the option for the Berlinetta alloys.