The MK1 GTE is maybe the best looking Astra. Luckily I also like the MK2 Astra shape quite a lot in GTE trim. The MK3 is generally too lardy, especially the back end. The latest one is sort of OK but does look a bit corporate 90's.

The MK2 is the last of the obvious hot hatches from the early 90's before insurance quietened things down. The obvious hot hatchedness of the GTE is what it's all about. A hatchback will never be a true sports car, but that's not the point. The limitations of the hot hatch are part of the appeal. Rather like if you did the engine transplant yourself.

Since the photo was taken I've tidied the car up a bit. I've sorted the side indicator repeaters and lowered it by 40mm. I've also removed all the stickers on the windows, the rear vinyl (had replacement, but looked better without it), the key protector stick ons, the door clip ons and the aerial. I've put new wheel centre caps in. I've also fitted new grey plastics into the bumpers. I can't make up my mind whether to keep the standard alloys since they're quite rare now. In fact a couple of people have urged me to keep them.

I had some simple number plates made for £20 which I then taped on with double sided carpet tape. I went for plain background, single border and normal letters. Before fitting them I though I'd overdone it, but once they were on I loved the look. Very simple and clean. And the letters have an appealing shape, much better than the Halfords playschool ones.

Mesh

Everyone loves mesh and when I had some bumpers resprayed due to a little, er, mishap I took the opportunity to replaced the plastic mesh look alike with the real thing. I bought this Gold plated mesh from a B&Q Whorehouse fire safety section. I fixed in place with some cunning self tapping screws and some brass nuts&bolts that just fit out of sight when the bonnet is down. It didn't look so good on the car becauase the Red and Gold didn't go together too well. So I looked out for some suitable Stainless Steel mesh. I didn't want to spray the mesh, since it chips easy apparently. I sussed all this out for Mesh2.

Top

When I needed a new front bumper I began to consider what styling options were available. Names that cropped up were Zender, Steinmetz, Irmscher, Lexmaul and Mattig. Mail order places sell some Astra styling bits and there are a range of glass fibre places such as Fibresports. Also there are a number of lower spoilers from modern cars such as the Renault Laguna which can be added to the front bumper for a bit of a lower look. Nothing that I saw really appealed to me though. I decided that I would keep it looking reasonably standard.

A local paintshop, Martin Pollards was recommended to me by a few people. They did an excellent job and were happy for me to come round almost every other day to take a look.The work took four weeks, during which time I made use of a 1.1 Fiesta and a 1.2 Punto hire car. Neither was that bad, but I missed the Astra. At first not driving it was a novelty, but that slowly wore off. Luckily the car was coming on really well, so a sense of anticipation grew.

Respray story and photographs.

After my first mesh attempt I knew what I wanted the second time round. I looked around for suitable material. In the end I bought a sheet from Demon Tweeks. It's style ME9, a honeycomb Aluminium. Keeping the mesh attached to the bumper is a common problem. All too often you'll see the mesh flapping around on modified cars. Once upon a time it was held there with bathroom sealant. Well I didn't want any of that hassle this time. So I spent ages fitting very small self tapping screws into the bumper plastic. The most tricky ones were actually tapped into the 2mm plastic end on. This involved drilling small pilot holes and then winding the screw in and out a few times until it had formed the thread. I think it was worth the effort because I'm very pleased with the result. The mesh is dense enough to form a visual screen, but not too dense.