The Auto SOS Opel Astra GTE is for sale

So they were left out. The parts supply probably wasn’t as good as the more popular cars, and if prices were at rock bottom, the incentive wouldn’t have been there to source parts for a restoration. You have to really love something to spend more than it’s worth on a rejuvenation, even if it was a bona fide PH Hero. That was the case with this Astra 1.8 GTE, which was left in a somewhat sorry state; in fact it had stood still for twenty years. There was once a time when insuring one of these wasn’t easy either, now that I think about it, so better to keep a GTE off the road.

Fortunately, the CarSOS team had other ideas, and this Astra was already on the show in 2016. You can still see bits of the episode on YouTube, where the engine was rebuilt, rust was worked on, and new hubcaps were 3D printed. A lot of time, effort and craftsmanship has apparently gone into getting the Astra back to its best, which is great to see: the world is a better place for GTEs on the road.

Since then the Vauxhall has been with another collector, who is said to have taken the restoration work even further, and now it’s time to move it on again. Actually, seeing an Astra GTE these days, a car now mature enough to no longer require an MOT, is a real treat – and the black must make it extremely rare.

The condition both inside and out looks very good, and there is nothing to report under the hood. The front ride height looks a bit low, although in the grand scheme of classic car issues that seems quite minor. The ad suggests that it now needs ‘absolutely nothing’ and in fact ‘can be considered truly perfect’. That’s quite a statement.

What do you pay for the privilege of owning a perfect GTE? Currently £20,000 for this one, or more than the kind of money you’d buy a good Golf GTI, 205 1.9 or Escort RS Turbo for. But for those whose wasted youth was dominated by the Griffin, obviously none of these will pass the test. An Astra GTE for this kind of money would require the most dedicated Vaux collectors, but we all know they exist. And what a way to make the usual suspects look normal at next year’s classic car shows.