Opel Monza GSE 3.0 Coupe

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Launched in 1978, the brutishly handsome Monza was a real eye-opener for the British public who had formerly associated the GM brand with boring repmobiles like the Rekord, Ascona and Commodore.

True, there had been flashes of sporty inspiration with the GT and Manta Coupes, but the Monza was a proper car in every sense. The flagship of the Opel range, it was designed for the European executive class and was in its element whisking Hans from his jacuzzi factory in the foothills of Bavaria, cocooned in velour and shag pile splendour while the lazy 3-litre six munched up the miles and the MacPherson strut front end and semi-trailing arm rear ironed out the bumps and bends, delivering him fresh enough to extract another few million marks from his financiers in their glassy tower in Zurich.

In 1983 the last and best iteration of the Monza arrived, the sporting GSE. With anthracite alloys, aggressive black grille, meaty spoilers and Recaro sports seats, it sent lesser motorists scampering to the kerb as Hans shot by, locked safely to the tarmac by his GSE’s limited slip diff, the digital dash flickering up to 135mph as the 180bhp six-pot did its work and the onboard computer monitored fuel consumption, speed and range.

A worthy rival to the BMW 635CSi and the Mercedes SEC, it was not really replaced until the epic Lotus/Omega Carlton arrived in 1990, some 43,800 being sold by the time production ended in 1986. With only 178 still UK registered today, the GSE now has something of a cult following and good ones rarely escape onto the open market, owners tending to hang onto them for years.

Which is where this one comes in. The prized possession of one family for over 20 years, it has covered less than 42,000 miles from new in June 1985 and looks stunning in Polar White following a glass-out £4,000 repaint some years ago. With a lovely charcoal grey Recaro sports interior and an electric steel sunroof, all the pixels still work on the LCD dashboard and it is shod with a matching set of quality Goodyear tyres. Said to drive superbly with an MOT until July 2016, it also comes with a distinctive single-digit GSE number plate.

Hard to find in any condition, let alone as fine as this, the GSE is a sure-fire classic of the future and prices can only go one way. Act fast – or Hans will get there before you…