When I was 18 years old I bought my first car, an Opel Ascona B model from 1979. This car had a 1.9 liter engine. From then on it was my favorite car. Despite being a 'cheap' car, a bit of a banger car, it was THE car for me. After the 1.9 I bought a 2.0 SR with my saved money. This was, at the time, the top model of the Ascona. A two-liter engine with a two-stage carburettor. The car was completely repainted but I didn't have the money to further expand the car, I was about 20 years old at the time.
Since my youngest son got his driver's license (he's only 17, so he can't even drive alone haha) he's been looking at cars and sharing my passion, the Opel Ascona. He had set his sights on this car, but we are now 30 years later and you hardly see them (at least in the Netherlands) anymore, so I warned him that it could be difficult to find a good copy.
He has searched all over the internet, joined all kinds of Facebook groups and I went with him several times to look at Asconas for sale. Often they were in very bad condition or people really asked for the top prize. But in the end we succeeded on the other side of the Netherlands. A Frog-green 2.0S. We took it for a test ride and it drove absolutely fine (and I felt like 20 again haha). In the end we bought the car and my son was as proud as one can be.
After we had transferred the car, we took it with us. My eldest son was also with me, so he could drive back in my car.
My youngest had big plans for his 'new' car, he wants to fix it up completely, and of course I wanted to help him with that. As I've mentioned before, he's been through a rough patch, and tough times are ahead, so we wish him this piece of luck.
He handled it well, we first had the car checked technically, and then we saw what he wanted to do with it. He wants to make it a replica Sport. You used to have the Ascona Sport and T400 models that are (still) used a lot for the rally.
From that moment on the euro counter started running hahha. He first took everything out, the entire interior, etc. Then we took it to the welder, a few pieces had to be replaced.
Then we took it to the sprayer, where it is now, to have it sprayed over.
The nice thing about the whole story is that the man who sprays the car is also crazy about old Opels, he drives rallies himself together with his son in an Opel Kadett GTE, completely converted. So my son gets a lot of information from him and 'cheap' addresses for things. And the great thing is, he thinks it's very cool that my son (aged 17) is so crazy about those old opels. He also texts every time he is a bit further.
While his car is at the paint shop, we are buying all kinds of new parts to put on it later, so he already has a new dashboard, new rally seats, new window rubbers, a new windscreen. Actually too many to mention. I think the great thing about this is that I didn't have the resources for it in the past, but that we are now building a nice car for him together. It will soon be a super beautiful classic car that will attract a lot of attention. And dad? Dad really enjoys this...
I will keep you informed of the progress.
Take care,
Peter