Am I mad, or did VX220s originally have chrome rear lights?

[OwenK]

I would swear blind that Vauxhall VX220s used to come with chrome Lexus type rear lights, and then the black-background lights were on the turbocharged version. I swear that's how it used to be - I can remember looking at them and thinking "urgh, they'd look better without all the chrome". But I can't find any evidence of this anywhere on the internet. Have I just made this up? Help!

[OwenK]

Bump for the daytime people. Have I gone bonkers or is this the biggest cover-up since Area 51?

[kambites]

I think some cars had little round chrome surrounds for the individual bulbs and some black, but the backing of the whole light unit was always black.

[Torquey]

NA lights.



Turbo lights.


Only the small circular chrome parts that are different. Not really like lexus lights.

All Na's came with chrome - All Turbo's were black.
Same with the front lights.
It is possible to take apart and paint them but at £700+ a light its not wise.
Its sometimes a give away if its been in a smash, having different lights front and rear or headlights from the other model...

[tangerine_sedge]

2.2 NAs have some silver bits in the lights.
2.0 Turbos/VXRs have all black light.


NA :


Tubby :




If buying a VX, if it has the wrong lights, then it's the first indication of a poor accident damaged/repaired car (or that the owner decided to swap them for some reason).

ETA : beaten to it - doh!

[sebhaque]

If I may intrude, does anybody know if the VXTs all came with that little chin splitter thing? I've searched Google and pretty much every tubby has a chin splitter - but mine doesn't. Is it an optional extra?

[tangerine_sedge]

sebhaque said:

If I may intrude, does anybody know if the VXTs all came with that little chin splitter thing? I've searched Google and pretty much every tubby has a chin splitter - but mine doesn't. Is it an optional extra?

I thought that all Tubbys had them, but it's possible that it was an extra - a good question for www.vx220.org.uk I think.... Is it possible that yours has had a replacement front clam at some point?

[sebhaque]

I'll stick a message up on there this afternoon then. My VX may well have had a replacement clam - although it's not on HPI and the quality of the repair (if it has one) is good enough for me not to be concerned.



All the other turbo-spec stuff on the car (wheels, spoiler, engine etc) is all fine, maybe it was a case of a speed bump uppercut...

[kambites]

Why would a clam replacement put it on HPI? It's unlikely to write it off unless there was other damage as well.

Clam replacement ought to be pretty much perfect, since it's just a "lift off one clam, bolt another one on" job. My Elise has had one and you can't tell except for the fact that there's less stone chips than you'd expect for the age/mileage.

[Herman Toothrot]

The na lights are not chrome, just matt silver sprayed.

[DanL]

sebhaque said:

If I may intrude, does anybody know if the VXTs all came with that little chin splitter thing? I've searched Google and pretty much every tubby has a chin splitter - but mine doesn't. Is it an optional extra?

So far as I'm aware, all turbos came with chin splitters and a rear lip spoiler on the boot, plus the "ears".

As regards the N/A lights, they were never chrome - they're matt silver sprayed plastic.

[Torquey]

All turbo's should have the chin spoilers and are pretty cheap to by from Vauxhall if not (<£40 IIRC).

I think some people are putting a seat(?) front spoilers on instead - dont know much more than that but look on vx220.org.uk if your interested.