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I've not had a particular interest in cars for very many years. There does not seem to be much point seeing as the South East UK is so crowded. The joys of sitting in a traffic jam do nothing for me.
Lately, however, I've owned a thoroughly loud (in every sense) Ford Escort XR3i which was a lot of fun. It was my first powerful car since a really nifty Vauxhall Ventora that I owned in the late 70's. The result has been a rekindling of my interest in cars, albeit very low key.
My latest "Jam Jar" is an ex-Job 1991 (J-plate) Vauxhall Senator 3.0i 24V which I found purely by accident at the back of a car lot. This motor sticks to the road like it's been glued there and shifts like a cat with it's arse on fire and being chased by a pack of dogs! And that's with a fault in the air flow meter which I'm getting fixed shortly. Gawd knows what it's going to be like when that's sorted[1]. Now then, we all know that the Police don't modify their cars, don't we kiddies? Well, I reckon that's a load of cack unless this particular one's an exception. A friend of mine who builds Formula One racing engines was suitably impressed when he took it out for a drive so it can't be all bad :-)
Have I got the car bug back? I don't really know. Certainly it's not like my "Passion", that's my motorcycling, but I do seem to be taking an inordinate amount of interest in 4 wheels again! It is very worrying, to say the least!! I've even taken to reading Max Power magazine which features some fabulously modified motors. My only gripe about the magazine is that most of the content is of the "Hot Hatch" variety. Maybe people don't upgrade their large family saloons much. I'm not sure if I'm going to go too far with the Senator, it's likely to end up costing me the proverbial arm and leg if I do. But then, they do say that you cannot take your wedge with you when you go so I may just splurge out on one or two mods. Keep watching this space and see if I crack!
As of (26/9/98) the Sen (in the main picture above) has been treated to a nice new set of shiny CEC129's of the 17" stylee. The original wheels were the regular pressed steel variety with very naff plastic wheel covers. Having fitted the CEC's the tyres proved to be a bit of a snag, trying to get the rolling radius right without busting the bank and totally pissing off the Mrs. In the end I kitted it out with four Avon ZZ1 235/45ZR17's which have a 5mm smaller rolling radius, the effect to the speedo should be negligible or at the worst slightly over optimistic which is a shame really seeing as the speedo has been calibrated and was probably 100% accurate. All of this work was done by those awfully nice people at Elite in Essex (01708 525577). If you want any wheel or exhaust work done you will not go far wrong by paying these people a call or visit.
It's a funny old world! News of my Senator ownership is getting out courtesy of a number of search engines putting me near the top of their results list no doubt. I'm flattered - okay, so I'm pleased as punch really :-). One of those awfully nice people who've corresponded with me is one Richard Brunt who's put together a neat web site with plenty of pictures of his car and some of the stuff he does with cats and bent bits of metal (I'm not giving it away here, go look at his site). Richard also took the time to remind me to mention here that I'm recently a member of an enthusiasts group for all things Vauxhall and Opel. The Autobahnstormers has a web site and regular magazine and also exhibits members cars at various meets and rally's. I was relatively happy until I clapped eyes on a Lotus Carlton [dribble!].
If you're a bit of a net head like myself you'll be wanting to explore the Global Village for other like-minded Senator owners. A good place to start would be Steve Corden's eGroup at http://www.egroups.com/group/Vauxhall_Senator where you'll be able to exchange views with other Senator fans.
[1] - It's sorted! The fault turned out to be the Lambda Sensor in the exhaust system which was giving misleading emission readings to the Engine Management Unit which was going ballistic trying to compensate appropriately. It was almost like having a Poltergeist in charge of the accelerator pedal!! Very scary indeed. Now, the Senator does as it's told quite nicely thank you, and with no hanging about either (you have to experience for yourself 3 ton of motor that behaves like a Whippet that's seen a bitch on heat!! Words are simply inadequate.)
A few people have asked me to show them around the Senator so this section will give you a brief look around the motor.
I suppose the first thing people tend to ask me is what's the engine like? Various verbs spring to mind like "awesome", "fabulous", "terrific", "mindblowing", "terrifying"....... Eh? ......... What?, Terrifying?? ........ Well it was a bit when I first let my Mrs drive the thing. She's more used to the power in a Nissan Prarie which is 2 litres of very boringly average power, just enough to pull the car and a family of five up a gentle gradient. The Sen on the other hand pulls like the proverbial train! As we lurched around the Kent countryside all that I could think of was my ............ nothing! My mind went entirely blank with fear!!
Anyway, enough of this nonsense, what of the powerhouse itself. Take a look to your right, this is the 3.0 Litre, 24-valve Fuel Injected machine that pulls near on 3 ton of vehicle at any speed you care to travel at. Some perfectly legal and within the realms of reasonableness, and others at the kind of extraordinary pace that will have your UK Driving Licence instantly removed from your person. However, not only does this beastie pull to these kinds of speeds it will get you there awfully quickly too. Much smaller vehicles like the Ford Sierra Cosworth 4x4 get blown away while their turbo systems try to scramble enough air to keep up while the sheer cubes in this lump just do their stuff effortlessly. Hence the saying "There is no substitute for cubes". So very true and totally embodied in this awesome vehicle.
The luxury interior is largely composed of some very high-class grey leather work worthy of any front room. The only thing missing is the coffee table, hi-fi stack and television.
It really is that comfortable. The carpeting and door panel work is a matching grey velour and the dashboard is a non-glare black plastic finish with walnut fascia panels.
All of the Driver's controls spring readily to hand, literally. There is no need to reach away from the steering wheel except to turn the lights on or change gear (this one's a manual shift to UK Police specification).
The more observant of you will have by now noticed that the electric windows are in fact manual! Once again, the UK Police specification bites. A lot of the regular Senator gizmo's are simply not there in this vehicle. All non-essential kit has been removed or not fitted in the first place to keep weight and complexity down. That also includes the active suspension (??) which has been replaced by a well-sorted rig that makes this motor stick to the road like the proverbial "poo to a blanket". You can chuck this one around any bend, corner or roundabout you like and it'll do it like a hot hatch, which is why it used to be a totally futile exercise trying to evade one of these kitted out with blue lights, two-tones and a pair of Kent's Finest boys in blue on a mission to ruin your evening.
As you can tell, I'm a bit of a fan of the Vauxhall Senator 3.0i 24V. It is a motor that is worthy of respect for it's sheer power and roadholding (in this variant - I have no experience of the "civilian" version of the car). The comfort of the car has to be experienced to be believed, and is an easy match for vehicles costing very much more than the Senator ever did. If you want as near the ultimate experience you will not go far wrong with one of these.
Thank you for visiting this site.
Danny Thompson
Copyright © 1999 Danny Thompson
Last Updated: 21 April 2000
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