I recently had a set of wheels powder coated for my everyday car. In the past I have used companies as far afield as Birmingham for the service, but this time opted to pay a little more for local service and chose Willow Powder Coating in South London.
Their service was very good, they can blast and powder coat a wheel within a week and normal surface rust doesn't seem to be a problem. For my everyday car I chose Gloss Ford Diamond White for a rally look; but Silk finish silver, Silk/Matt black or many other colours shouldn't pose a problem.
Expect to pay around £50 per wheel and remember to deliver them stripped of tyres, balancing weights and valves, etc.

Powder coating - Before & After

If you want to do a classic Opel or Vauxhall Rostyle wheel, you may get best value by choosing a Matt Black finish and spraying the silver sections yourself. Powder coat takes paint well providing you lightly key the surface by sanding it with 600 or 1000 grade wet'n'dry sandpaper. If you don't have a paint factors nearby, you can buy wet'n'dry sandpaper at a reasonable price from Screwfix, they also stock production paper.

In the past I have used Hammerite Silver Smoothrite paint to excellent effect, I have also had good results from the range of industrial paints available by through CPC Farnell, such as their excellent "Steel Wheels" paint from CarPlan. The last set of Opel Rostyle wheels I had powder coated was around a decade ago, they still look good today and that is with storage outside in all elements.

If you want the best finish for your original Opel or Vauxhall wheels I cannot recommend the benefits of powder coating highly enough, which outshines and outlasts the original finish.

As mentioned in the New Season Kick Off post I have two cars to sell, word must have got out, because one has already gone before I even had the chance to list it here.
It was a 1973 Opel Manta A series coupe in rare Cosmos Blue.

The car came to me following an accident as a stripped out shell, I had the front and rear valences replaced and the shell resprayed. I then spent a pleasant few weeks re-assembling it, taking the opportunity to install the wiring loom from the SR model. This meant I could install the rev counter and desirable supplementary gauges fitted on the SR.
The interior was in a charming light blue vinyl and just needed a little cleaning up.

August 2010 - Scrubbed up well

Unfortunately I never got the engine to run reliably and after a checkered early start fell out of love with the car and it became neglected. It has been rescued by long term Manta enthusiast Steve Godfrey and is returning to Oxfordshire where it has lived for most of its life.

Mirsad Joldic from Hungary is looking for rear axle bearings for his Opel Rekord C Series, sadly I have nothing left to suit. However I forwarded on the mail to Anthony Drosos in Greece who was able to list these pattern parts alternatives:

1604212-1604290 (SET 35X67X22.5)
FLENNOR - FR291191
FAG - 713 6446 20
OPTIMAL - 202202
SKF - VKBA992
SNR - R153.08
TIMKEN - TKR 8538
TRISCAN - 8530 24204
QUINTON HAZZEL - QWB 280
CORTECO - 19017488
AUTEX - 805467

Anthony Drosos has plenty of other parts for classic Opels, you can mail him or follow the link on the side bar to contact him through Facebook.

Opel Rekord, powerful, safe and economical

Steven Fordham contacted me recently, he had spotted I had a trim listed for the Opel Manta B series, he owns a Vauxhall Cavalier Mk1, which is to all intents the same vehicle.

The only significant difference between a the Cavalier and the Manta is that the Manta has air slots in the front panel; 2 on the early models and 4 on the later ones. There were slight differences to the interior trim detailing too. All Mk1 Vauxhall Cavaliers were fitted with the distinctive aerodynamic "droop snoot" front panels, even the humble 2 and 4 door saloon variants; unlike the equivalent Opel Asconas which received traditional looking bluff fronted radiator grills.

Both vehicles were sold side by side at Vauxhall dealers in the UK during the 70's and 80's. But when the front wheel drive Cavalier Mk2 was introduced there was no coupe option offering. Vauxhall fans had to wait for the introduction of the Vauxhall Calibra in 1989 for that privilege.

Vauxhall Cavalier Mk1 "It's an Opel!"

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