[Roanoke]

See this thread

Got up this mornin' and it's gone. Waiting for Dibble to ring me back now. And if I have to claim I won't be able to afford to reinsure it. How gutted am I right now ?

[Kosh]

Ouch, sorry to hear that. How much was the car worth?

[Roanoke]

Not a massive amount, but it was my pride 'n' joy and they're not exactly common nowadays....

[aldo_14]

The thieving gypo* bastards....

*apologies to real gypos who are not, in fact, thieving bastards and just prefer begging or casual labour

[Styxx]

Shucks. But how much would insurance go up? Here it doesn't change much if you have to actually use it, you lose a few discounts, but that's it (unless you have your car stolen five times in a row like someone I know, after which the insurance companies simply refused to insure his car)...

[Roanoke]

Well it's the difference between Nil or 55% NCD. Enough to be a problem.

[Flipside]

Sorry to hear that, my brother used to have a Red Manta A rebore, moved like ****e off shovel

Problem is with Mantas is that they look far more than they cost, and so are targetted by joyriders, and are pretty hard to come by, which also makes them targets for parts-thiefs. I'd say it's more likely the former in this case.

Styxx, in the UK, you get absolutely ripped if you dare let your car get stolen, or even go as far as to allow someone else to hit it, even if your asleep in bed at the time.

[Roanoke]

Got it back!

It turned up at about 1:30 this morning, having been put into a bollard going against traffic on a one way road.  Looks like straight forward joy-riders. Appeared much quicker than I expected. So I spent all night getting the rcovery sorted. It's in a Green Flag compound somewhere in Rochdale I think. Looks like straight forward joy-riders.

B*stards stole my fledgling tool kit as well. Pretty light damage I should thing though, the wing, steering and Suspension on the N/S/F but pretty localised. Just hope Prudential don't try and write it off as "uneconomical to repair".

Funny though. I'm sat in the middle of frickin' nowhere, at 2 in the morning with rain coming down, my car sat on the road side looking all sorry for it's self and I'm thinking "That is just one ace lookin' car!"(on it's good side anyway)

[vyper]

Knowing how attatched you can get to a car, I gotta say my sympathies go to you Roanoke. On the other hand, I wouldn't hold out hope on that  "uneconomical to repair" issue - given it's age and make.

[Roanoke]

you sayin' my car's a shed ?

[aldo_14]

Most sheds don't rust that much

[Ashrak]

Thank god it was stolen .... better for the people of your town now they dont have to scream in agony each time they hear/see your car

[Cobra]

omg don't open the floodgates!

[Flipside]

LOL Well, depending on age, the Engine was probably made by Opel, in which case you have very little to worry about there, Opel make very good engines, however, the chassis was a sort of joint Vauxhall/Opel design that was later used for the original Vauxhall Cavaliers.

http://www.kolumbus.fi/makkesgarage/protos/car72.html

Just for comparison pictures (The top one is an original Opel Manta B), though Roanoke's car has a newer body on it.

That could be a problem, Vauxhall bodies were noted for getting rust in the wheel arches and the doors in particular. That said though, decent maintenance should keep that in check, and the newer body may well already deal with some of those problems.

Edit : Oh, and finally, the Manta A was always a better looking car to my mind

http://www.cet.com/~hurfy/opel9.jpg

[vyper]

Now that one I like.

[Roanoke]

Originally posted by aldo_14
Most sheds don't rust that much

HaHaha, very good.

Actually Flipside, my car was in remarkably solid condition especially for a later model (dodgy spanish metal see ?)
The roof is the section that tends to suffer as the factory sunroofs are quite a poor seal. IIRC the Manta/Cavaliers were essentially face lifted Asconas ?

Manta As are real nice but whenever I think of Mantas I always remember the later models (like mine). Use to be a couple round near my mam 'n' dads 10/15 years ago. Even then I thought they were ace.

[Roanoke]

sorry for the bumpage but I spoke to the garage who've got the car and they told me it's due to be written-off (though I've not had a formal offer from Prudential or anything yet).

That kinda sucks huh ?

[vyper]

Sucks muchos donkey ballos.

[Fineus]

Aye, that's... really crappy. Sorry to hear it mate.