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20th November 2005 - Event Report: Vauxhall Owners Photoshoot (for Flat 2 The Mat Magazine)

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Event: Vauxhall Owners Photoshoot, Junction 1, Antrim, Northern Ireland

Date: Sunday 20th November 2005

For some time there had been talk of holding a Vauxhall Owners Meet/Photoshoot, and so when a date and location was finally decided upon it was well recieved by everyone. The word was out on most of the Irish cruise sites, as well as some of the model-specific websites which are out there such as astra-sport etc.

A cold November morning could have put off most from leaving their house to head down the road to Junction 1 retail outlet in Antrim for the meet, but thankfully a great deal of Vauxhall Owners ignored the cold air and ventured down to show off their cars. Over 100 Vauxhall's were on show throughout the day, from Jamesey's old Ascona with a 2.0 16v red top engine sitting pretty in the engine bay through to some modern day models such as a few tastefully modified Mk5 Astras.

For those of us in and around the age of 30, one of the cars of our teens would have been the Mk2 Astra GTE, which always stood out from the crowd back in the late 80's and early 90's thanks to it's digital dash which even now is being transplanted into all sorts of cars such is it's continued status. It was great to see 3 GTE's sitting side by side in the car park, and judging by the interest they were receiving from young and old it's still a car that commands people's respect.

Keith Robinson brought along his 20 year old Nova which he acquired last year after it had spent most of it's life tucked away in a garage with only 4800 miles on the clock. He even joked about how it had to be one of the oldest cars at the meet and at the same time had one of the lowest mileages too! It has to be one of the most genuinely immaculate kept examples of a Nova to be found anywhere.

A new shape Vectra Estate drew a lot of attention too thanks to it's Irmscher bodykit, snowflake style rims, 4 exhausts and PS2/TV inside to keep it's occupants happy. A number of heavily modified Mk4 Astra's arrived later in the afternoon sporting huge ICE installs, flip/pearl paint jobs and awesome bodykits.

Judging by the number of shoppers who took the time to wander over for a look around the cars, coupled with the number of people in attendance who were impressed with the number of cars who came along, this is going to be a meet that will definitely be happening again.

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