After purchasing it, a chat with a mate revealed that his uncle had worked for the lease company and had actually been offered the car but turned it down (as he already had an Astra GTE Champion, which he didn’t want to part with).

A further conversation with another friend (also a Vauxhall technician who worked at Motorbodies) brought back memories — he remembered the car and recalled convincing the second owner that he’d be better off replacing the rear discs with some grooved aftermarket ones (still fitted at the time of my purchase), which he had also installed.

The car pretty much stayed standard until parts started to fail. The first I remember was the rear box — mounted next to the rear wheel, the sidewall had rotted — so at an Elite open day, a Remus twin-square exhaust was purchased and fitted. That was the start of wanting to do more, as it now had a nice growl to it. A K&N cone filter followed, along with a dump valve (it seemed the right thing to do to a four-door family saloon), and then more power (256 bhp) thanks to Regal (EDS Phase 1). It was later lowered (the last kit for this car from friends at Irmscher UK) and fitted with a custom cat-back stainless-steel exhaust by Custom Chrome Racing, to name just a few of the upgrades.