Commercial Break: Vauxhall Astra GTE, 1984 (UK)

Digging In The Crates - Riding The Astral Plane

Our crate digging, deep in the bowels of Amazo Plaza now brings us to our extensive collection of Cars and Car Conversions magazines. Triple C (as it was fondly known) was a tuning and motorsport magazine that ran from February 1965 to October 2003 and was only really rivalled by Hot Car magazine.
Its also a great reading; take this issue for example. the cover feature is a back-to-back shootout between a standard MKI Vauxhall Astra GTE (Vauxhall's press car) and a full-on Irmscher-modified one. While the extra add-on parts aren't to everyone's taste, the modifications to the mechanicals made this car a much more rounded hot hatchback, a considerable feat considering that the MKI GTE was a pretty great package when new.
However, it doesn't appear to be in the stars for many of the cars we see in these scans to survive; The Irmscher car (FEA 696Y) is untaxed since May 1991,  A478 LTM (the press car) is untaxed since December 1999, while the two Opel Kadetts on page 45 fare no better; WPP 901X last saw the road legally in October 1997 while MNK 895V seems to have bit the dust in May 1996. The fact that the records show on DVLA at least means that they haven't been scrapped does at least give some hope that they're holed up in various garages across the land, waiting to be discovered.
Enjoy the scans.

- Amazosan

Digging In The Crates - Opel Kadett D Brochure, 1982

Decluttering a house is a dangerous pastime. Its should be as easy as 'put old paperwork in bin bags (or shred) then sling in bin'. But, amid all of the old bank statements, phone bills, higher education finance statements, club flyers and old amplifier remotes are the odd gem that have to be teasled out: among other things, obscure car brochures.
This Opel Kadett brochure is one of them; I bought it years ago from a stall at a car show I can't remember, but then promptly stashed it somewhere safe. So safe, I couldn't find it until now, where its been dragged blinking into the harsh light of 2015, and scanned to join the digital age and the perusal of all auto-anoraks everywhere. Enjoy it, but leave room for more, as lost waifs and strays from my personal collection are gradually being reunited and reintroduced to normal society.
A lot more...

- Amazosan

Baby Blue Bloc - Trick Kadett D

Anyone who was into the modified car scene in the 90's will surely like this car. A close friend of mine had a MKI Astra GTE with an almost identical front end treatment to this, with the Irmscher spoiler and the polarising twin-headlight grill. He'd rebuilt it from scratch due to the previous owner running it into the ground and it's fair to say that the image of that car has been well and truly resurrected by this baby blue beastie.

This one has a number of subtle little tricks; from the shaved door handles to the Engelmann mirrors, the single wiper, the duo of 45 DCOEs on GM's familiar 20NE engine, the Powertech wheels all add to an image which is very 90's, in the nicest way. hell, squint a bit and you're even knocking on the door of Cal look.

More here; but remember kids, just like Clint Eastwood was told in Firefox, you must think in Russian.
- Amazosan

And in a previous guise: