Ascona B SR pics

[GS2.8]

Took a few pics recently of my one previous owner Ascona B SR/Berlina with the 2.0S-engine.

[BQS4]

Nice!! I like the ATS wheels, I have a set of 13X6 on my 75 Ascona A Sportwagon (Voyage)

[GS2.8]

These are 6x13 as well and were ordered with the car back in 1979. They were replaced with the 7x13 only a month later, so there were still the original tires on the 6 inch set. I went back to these rims as I didn*t want to roll the wheel arches after repairing both quarters during resto.

[ggl]

A 4 door SR, that's a bit unusual isn't it ?

I've owned a couple of 2 door SR's myself but this is the first 4 door I've even seen pics of

[GS2.8]

The two door SR's were more common for sure, but I've seen a couple of four doors as well over here. As four doors were considered a lot less desirable, especially during the late 80s-90s I suppose quite a lot of the 4dr SR's were parted out for their equipment to put these items in 2doors.

What's quite unusual for this car is the combination of the sporty SR option and the ultimate and expensive (by 70s standards) luxury option, the Berlina package usually ordered by older buyers, often retirees. Young buyers most often didn't care for that stuff and would have bought some more sporty aftermarket parts like wider rims or engine parts, or simply couldn't shell out another 1500 Marks for the package.

[ggl]

Yes I guess that makes it even rarer, up here we mostly got the basic package, very few SRs or Berlinas and the SRs are all 2 door and almost all of the Berlinas are 4 door

Friend of mine had a 2 door Berlina though and I envied him the opening rear windows as the Ascona doesn't have the best ventilation ever invented...., of course, he also had the sun roof, lucky basstard

Btw, I still think the SR steering wheel is one of the best looking steering wheels ever made

[2 Fast 4 U]

Originally Posted by ggl ......Btw, I still think the SR steering wheel is one of the best looking steering wheels ever made

Simple & efficient

[GS2.8]

My personal favorite for this car as well. I put it back on, the first owner had an aftermarket sport steering wheel installed.

Just recently found this ad from 1974. As can be seen this design was available from Petri before the Ascona B was produced (at least since the early 70s I think). They only revised it with three slots instead of two per spoke and installed the horn knob with Opel flash.

[2 Fast 4 U]

I have an "A" Ascona with that steering wheel

[hallgeir]

That is a beautiful car. Looks almost new. And think of it, that is a design that is almost 35 years old. A masterpiece.

[paul h]

oh that 4 door sr brings back memories we scrapped one 11 or 12 years ago in ireland it was the exact same colour as that same stripes under the body strips and it was a 4 door also i still have a mettalic green 4 door sr berlinetta automatic its totally rotten but im sure it was a beutiful car in its day a 4 door also

[alpharm]

This model wrote rally history...and knows how to forgive mistakes.

[danucul]

I just can't believe how good it looks. How come it is in such a good condition? Have you worked on it or have you bought it this way? I have 2 asconas. One is from '77 and one from '78, with 1.9 and 2.0 engines. The one from '77 has been reconditioned but is not even close to yours. Cheers! Hope to hear more details about your car.

[GS2.8]

Well the car is mechanically unrestored, apart from the usual replacements like starter, water pump etc. it's still original and numbers matching. The first owner had it for 23 years and used to work at an Opel dealership as a mechanic. The body still looked quite good, especially from the outside but more than two decades left some rust especially on the underbody. In the end I had 40 spots where I had to do some welding, most notably frame rail, front jack points/floorboards and inner/outer rear wheel wells. I generally try to save the old paint but in this case there were too many spots to repaint (also replaced the front fenders with NOS parts) that a partial repaint made no sense.

[danucul]

That is very fortunate, having an owner that could easily find parts and know how to look after a vehicle. I've also had a lot of work done on mine but sadly spare parts, even aftermarket ones, are harder to come by in Romania and are very expensive too. I'm a college student (only 20 years old) so i am not doing very well in terms of money so I can't really afford to do more work on it. How much would changing the water pump, the filters and sparkplugs improve performance? I feel very disappointed and think that much of the 73 horsepower (of my 1.9l engine) is gone. If you can help with some advice it would be greatly appreciated. Cheers!

[danucul]

I'm sorry but i'm struck by one curiosity. How much would your car be worth (or a car like yours)? I'm sorry if it's an odd question and i hope you could answer it (on private if you like). I am constantly searching the web to find asconas and comparing prices as i like this car a whole lot. Thanks! (and sorry for any bad english)

[GS2.8]

Official price guide in Germany would say about 4200 EUR, as it's heavily optioned for an Opel maybe 4500 EUR. Like about any old Opel not worth restoring if you don't do to please yourself. 2 door sedans are a bit more desirable though. There are cars advertised for quite some more but if they sell for that price, if not an absolute cream puff I don't know. Only wanted to have this one since I knew it since it was new.

[danucul]

Thanks for the reply. Well, that sounds about right. I would spend that amount of money on a car that looks (and probably works) as good as yours, if I had the money and the car to spend it on.

I’ve done a bit of work on mine recently. I’ve changed the rear shocks and I’m planning on ordering front ones too. I’ve replaced the brake pads with new ones. I’ve replaced the brake pump and brake fluid because of a leak. I’ve replaced the fuel filter and ordered a new air filter too. Tomorrow I’ll be receiving a new fuel pump that I’ve just ordered and will replace the old one, which is leaking more and more oil as time passes. I’ve already bought a new water pump and I guess I’ll be replacing the old one in the spring. Hope I didn’t bore you too much. Cheers!