1981 Opel Monza 3.0E S Series 1.5
(Featured on 8th December 2013)
Make: Opel
Model: Monza
Year: 1981
Registration: ULF 100X
Sellers original description:
An opportunity to acquire the rarest and, some say, the best Model of Opel Monza ever made.
A 1981 3.0E from a short production run, that was to become known as the series one and a half (1.5), that was manufactured between the series A1 and the face-lifted series A2.
Just 108 of these cars were sold in the UK. Most of which were the standard car with automatic transmission.
A few though were factory fitted with the Sports pack. The 3.0E 'S'.
Today it is the very desirable 3.0E 'S' series 1.5 that is the rarest and most highly sought after Monza by enthusiasts
Offered here is one of the very few remaining examples left in the UK.
Presented in outstanding unmolested original condition, never welded with all of its originally fitted panels and the vast majority of its factory paint finish.
47,000 miles, with MOT's back to the eighties.
Remarkably rust free. Clearly cherished by its previous owners and suffering none of the usual corrosion problems associated with Monza's.
A beautiful looking coupe very, very Rare a collectors dream and an absolute sure fire investment if ever we saw one!
The Monza was planned as a successor to Opel's large and luxurious Commodore Coupé.
Unlike the commodore though which was also available as in a saloon version the Monza was always destined for the emerging 2 door coupe market and was aimed as direct competition to the Mercedes W126 and the BMW 6 series coupe's
Work began in 1976 and the first Monza's (series A1) were in the showrooms by 1978.
An attractive and sporty looking car with plenty of space inside for a coupe the enormous seats left you with a feeling of sitting in a much more up market brand than Opel.
Early engines however were the dated Opel 2.0, 2.5 and 2.8. Gear boxes were the 3 speed Borg Warner automatic Opel's with a 4 speed manual, again dated, rather than the 5 speed that the car should have had. All of which left buyers with a feeling of owning one of the best looking, well equipped, spacious and most comfortable modern coupe's of the era but feeling let down by outdated engines and gear boxes and an interior from the Opel Rekord - that lacked that little something extra special.
This was all to change in the early eighties with a full facelift imminent, the A2 series. The top of the range car became the 3.0E 'S' using the newly developed and superb 3.0 injection engine. Opel turned to gearbox producer Getrag for a 5 speed box, the outstanding 265 which was the only manual gear box used with the 3.0E. With the 3.0 litre engine, the Monza was at the time the fastest car Opel had ever built.
The 'S' represented the Sports package which as well the 'S' motif on the front wings gave you 15" Ronal alloy wheels, a 45% Limited Slip Differential, manual gearbox and factory sports suspension.
Prior to the full launch of the A2 series Opel built a limited number of Monza's that took the best of the A1 series and combined it with some of the forthcoming improvements that were to be made to the A2 including the re styled interior. Only 108 of these cars in total across all models were sold in the UK. Very few of these were the 3.0E fewer still cars with the desirable Sports or 'S' pack and only a hand full of those with the Getrag 5 speed manual gearbox.
These 108 limited build cars became known as series one and a half or 1.5.
Today as you may expect with so few built, 33 years or so later, very few remain and they are the rarest of all the Monza's. They are referred to affectionately by Opel enthusiasts simply as "hens teeth" The most sought after is the highly desirable 3.0E 'S', of course, with the Getrag 5 speed gearbox. Trouble is they rarely come on the market because anyone who has one will know what a rare and collectable car they have and that their values have risen of late and are set to sore in the coming years.
So if you have the chance to acquire one, especially one in outstanding original unmolested condition, you should take it because it may well be a very long time before you get offered such an opportunity again.
UFL 100X
UFL 100X is an example of the most sought after and rarest of the Monza series 1.5. A 3.0E 'S' with 5 speed manual.
Supplied new on the 13 October 1981, and first registered in their name, by Vauxhall Opel dealers B&H Motors of High Road, Whetstone, London. This Monza is clearly a car that has been cherished all of its life.
Registered in another dealers name before entering private ownership with a Farmer in January 1984 who kept UFL 100X for 2 years before it was acquired by a court officer for his private use in February 1986. He was to own the car for just 5 months before it sadly had to be sold.
A new owner acquired UFL 100X in July 1986 and a cherished number was transferred to it in the following May. In April 2007 title to the Monza and the cherished number passed to the that owners son.
In 2009 the Monza was acquired by its last owner, an Opel Monza enthusiast who put his own cherished registration number on it.
There are invoices in the history file that show during the last owners care UFL 100X had new tyres, battery, brake callipers, service items, discs, Kenlow Fan, and part exhaust etc.
As we say UFL 100X is evidently a car that has been cherished since new.
Today the recorded mileage is 47,000 and there are MOT's back to 1989 when the mileage was 42,390. All the MOT's since show an annual mileage of on average of just a few hundred. In fact often less than a hundred miles per annum.
This year UFL 100X, the Monza's original registration number, was reunited with the car.
BODYWORK:
Anthracite Grey metallic just suits this car so well.
The vast majority of the paint finish is original and we can only find signs of aged localised paint only rectification in one or two small areas.
There are no signs of any rectification to the body work in these places and we would imagine that they were the result only of minor parking mishaps.
The car is remarkable rust free and the only sign of any surface only and very superficial oxidation is just below the last 3 letters on Monza on the tail gate were it has been touched in with a small brush.
Overall the paint finish retains a fantastic lustre.
Any blemishes, very light scratches, and stone chips mainly just lacquer deep only, but of which there are a few, have been touched in with a touch up brush as they occurred. Which would explain its overall excellent condition today.
Door, boot and bonnet shuts are excellent.
No welding has ever been carried out and none is required.
As we say there are no signs of body filler being used or bodywork ever being carried out.
INTERIOR:
The interior is exemplary and supports the low mileage.
The crushed velour on the seats is virtually unmarked. There is a tiny burn on the driver's seat but it is in hidden in a pleat so can hardly be seen.
The carpets are in excellent condition and are not marked or stained.
The rear seats are unmarked and look as though they have hardly been used.
The matching fawn perforated headlining is perfect as are the door cards.
Everything works as it should including the windows and slide and tilt electric roof.
There is the standard Philips turn lock radio cassette
UNDER THE BONNET:
The engine bay as you may expect for 47,600 miles.
It is exceptionally clean with original stickers still in place.
Original sound deadening still in place.
ON THE ROAD:
For new tyres that we should think have done less than a couple of thousand miles.
ULF 100X starts on the button with automatic choke.
On the road it performs without fault and just drives so well.
The power steering is a delight and the gears change up and down just as they should.
The Monza is a very comfortable and roomy Coupe and, we almost hate to say, is far more enjoyable and seems quicker than a 3.0.L Capri that we recently sold.
HISTORY FILE:
1. V5C showing 6 previous owners but of course 2 of those were dealers, a father and son and one only had the car for 5 months.
2. MOT until March 2014
3. 20 old MOT's
4. some old tax discs
5. old invoices
6. receipt on court embossed letter paper when the third owner sold the car
7. Copies of DVLA past log books, owners and cherished transfer paper work
8. spare keys with rare master key and original aerial key.
SUMMARY:
ULF 100X is in fantastic original unmolested condition.
There is a copy in the history file of Auto Car Weekly dated December 2009 around the time the last owner bought the car. It the publication is a feature on Monza's.
Under the what to look for section in that feature is a list of common problems. In the main they say that you should pay close attention to these body areas. Suspension top mounts, rear suspension trailing arms, fuel tanks, sills, wheel arches, door bottoms, rear quarter panels, around the headlights and the sunroof. We can report that all these areas are absolutely perfect.
Auto Car weekly ask it that edition "Should I buy one" their answer "Most definitely yes"
ULF 100X is a very rare car being one of only 108 series 1.5 sold in the UK.
It is, without doubt the most highly desirable and sought after model of this series and certainly one of the best remaining original examples.
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