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Hello from Canada


Limeysore
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Good day all, As a new member to the group I thought it would be plate to tell you a bit about myself.   I moved to Canada from the UK in 1981 prior to my departure I was employed by Opel main dealers McGill Automotive in St Albans.  I spent five years in the sales department at McGill's and developed my love for Opel's during that time.  Since moving to Canada I have restored a few cars, a couple of Vauxhall Viva Gt's, Vauxhall Firenza Coupe, Morris Minor and an MG Midget.  Over the years I have searched for an Opel to restore but have never found the right vehicle, that all changed this weekend when I found a 1978 Manta Coupe, it's a bit crusty and has had a rather crude V6 conversion done to it but I couldn't pass it by.  

Manta A's were imported and sold in Canada through GM Buick dealers but the Manta B was never imported so the car I am now the proud owner of is a gray import.  In addition to the V6 conversion the car has been converted to automatic however the clutch pedal was was left in place!   I need to have a good clos look at the V6 and decide wether or not I rebuild the unit and convert it back to a manual bid (T5).  My other option is to junk the V6 and replace it with a 2.0L GM LTG motor from a RWD Cadillac CTS or ATS, I beleive these engines are developments of the trusty GM XE series but I need to do some research on this.  

For your amusement here are a couple of pictures of the car: if you look closely to the second picture you will notice it has a tree growing from under the rear wheel well.

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17 minutes ago, Danny D114BCW said:

Welcome along to the club. Thts one hell of a find and looked like it has been sat there for many years! Whats the underside like?

If you need any parts or anything please PM me as we can ship parts all over the place. 

keep us posted with the build.

Thanks Danny, The underside is pretty rough will need sills on both side and floor pans.  As far as I can see the swan necks look fairly solid, I'll no more when I pull the motor out and get a better look.  The plan is is strip the car out have the shell media blasted and take it from there.  The car was last registered in 2002 and probably sat idle since then.   The good thing for me is the car as a grey import has previously been registered in Canada and as we have no SORN type requirements or MOT's I simply have to prove ownership and proof to insurance to license the car.  Had the car not been previously registered in Canada I would have been faced with a very difficult process of inspections and paper work to get it licensed.  I'll be in touch on the parts requirements once I've had a chance to fully assess exactly what I have taken on.   

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