As things are starting to move along I thought I'd post a history or the car from Feb 06 to date. I've coppied most of the historical stuff from another forum to catch up to date.
I apologise now for the long read. Hopefully it wont bore you too much
I bought her off eBay at the begining of Feb 2006. She's a 1990 G reg with 24K miles (Feb 06), full service history and one owner from new.
12/2/2006
As the temperature had risen a little above freezing I decided to take the car for its first official wash since the trip back from London. I spent the best part of an hour giving it a good going over including a quick jetwash around the arches and underside. Nothing much to report besides a bit of dirt from around the lip on the rear arches. I was pleased to see plenty of undeseal but did notice some areas that had been missed. These spots were clean and painted so no cause for concern however I'll be dabbing some sealent over them soon.
About 6pm I decided to go out and see what the car looked like under the lights in the garage. On close inspection the paint was overall very good with a few minor scratches. The main issue was the dirt that had dug its way into the paint over the years. I believe the previous owner washed the car alot and garaged it when not in use but don't think she polished/waxed it very often. For the next two and a half hours I lightly T-Cut about half of the car (bonnet, roof, hatch and wings) then polished it up. The difference between the original look to the maintained areas was amazing. I'll finsh car on Wednesday and apply wax etc. So far I'm chuffed with the results and looking forward to spending some money with Meguiars. I'm hoping to get it all done this week ready for the East Midlands MIG meet on the 18th.
Finially finished up at about 9pm as my wax on, wax off circles had rendered my wrists/armes and back usless and I needed a cuppa.
15/2/2006
I had a couple of hours free so I hit the garage again hoping to finish off the car!!! How wrong was I!! About 30 minutes into getting started a mate turns up and stands chatting to me for over an hour. Despite this I still managed to get a couple of hours in finishing off the bonnet, roof and hatch with a coat of Wax. These now gleem under the garage lighting, so I'm looking forward to seeing it when the suns out. I've noticed a few chips that need touching up, nothing major but still needed attention. Called it a day when my arms started to drop off!
16/2/2006
Had more some free time so decided to go out for a few hours (3.5 IIRC) and do some more cleaning/waxing etc. This time I managed to T-Cut/Polish and Wax the whole right side of the car. I also cleaned all the glass inside and out except the windscreen as its got some sticky stuff on I need to attack with thinners. I've purchased the 3 stage Meguairs Crystal kit (Cleaner/Polish/Wax) which works well, however the cleaner seems to struggle getting some of the dirt out so I've been using the Turtle Wax T-Cut carefully. The polish and Wax do a top notch job leaving the surface feeling like polished glass!
I was going to tackle the left side of the car but I can't feel my arms so I'm giving up for the night!
Here's a couple of pics that kinda show its shineyness! Not great as the lighting is artificial but you'll get the idea.
I'll be going out there tomorrow night to do the left side and hopefully the bumpers, however I don't think I'll do them before the MIG meet on Saturday as I need to clean the interior (dust around electrics etc) and hoover the carpets.
Thought I'd post some pics taken while the sun was out (MIG meet) Since buying the car the weather has been really dull so I took a few snaps.
Tried to take an arty pics!
This shows the only rust (besides the other side) I've found on the car. Since taking this pic I've T-cut more of the surface corrosion away. The inner arches are like new! No underseal or paint has been added at all. The outer skin is only slightly rusted. Looks like stone chips that have gone unattended.
This is how both front and back doors look. I've not toched them yet!
The sills all look OK.
One of the other jobs is to try and get the yellow crap off the engine bay etc.
Lastly, this show the condition of the paint before I went to work earlier this week. Still got the bumpers to do!!
Mini Update 7/3/2006
Went out at the weekend armed with a hot air gun. Went over the grey bits on the bumpers to get them a deeper original colour. Worked very well although I did have a few close calls when I got a bit carried away.
29/3/2006
Manged to pick up some Astra Brochures off eBay.
24/6/2006
Spent a couple of hours having a go at 'fixing' the rear arches today. Also managed to remove the remaining stickers from the windows and give the carpets a clean!
Here's some pics!
Passanger rear arch. The worst of the two!
This is the main rusty spot
Driver side rear arch
As you can see there's a fair bit of surface corrosion. I've investigated the inner lip which seems to be OK so hopefully I'll only need a minor repair (just the outer arch skin)
I used some of this stuff for the short term. To get me through the next two weeks of shows until I get her book in at the body shop.
Took the mats out. Original from new, they still clip into the studs!
Drivers side
Passanger side
Not too shabby
The main offending sticker. The old dear who owned the car previously had many stickers plastered over the windows. Time to get them off!
All gone!
The windscreen had a number of tape marks, it was a right graveyard of old stickers. Got most of them off!
Resting back in the garage until mid week when I'll give her another wash, polish and wax.
.... That or build a shed to park the bike in 
