Most of my driving life has been driving Vauxhalls.My Dad was a Vauxhall man and brought me up on the gospel of Vauxhalls are better than Fords.
When my beloved Senator inevitably succumbed to the dreaded tinworm I bought my first Omega. A prefecalift 2.5 V6, CD.
I soon regretted it as it had lots of problems that I didnt know how to solve. I was close to cutting my losses and getting rid of it, but decided to have a search around this new interweb thing to see if I could find solutions to some of its problems.
I stumbled across the Omega Owners Forum - I never knew such things existed - about a year after it was set up, and immediately became hooked.
The answers to all my car problems were there, and advice when I got stuck was always in plentiful supply.
More than that though, the fun and banter was something to behold. I still remember well staying up later than I should the night before early starts, because I was splitting my sides laughing at the banter with Loo-Knee, STEMO, Mike Dundee, Captain Zok and quite a few others.
The atmosphere as well as the info on OOF was superb.
Its perhaps inevitable, given human nature, that after a while arguments started. Often about politics, but also other stuff too.
It is to my eternal regret that I allowed myself to get drawn into quite a few of the arguments, which became more and more personal, and this eventually soured the atmosphere for a lot of members.
Im older and less of an angry bloke now, and most of the time can take a deep breath and step away from the keyboard. We live and learn.
I managed to sort all of the issues with my first Omega, thanks to the forum. Even managed to swap the autobox on my drive by myself, and changed the oil cooler too, as well as the standard stuff like breathers, camcover gaskets etc.
In my "accident prone since childhood" way though, I still have a scar on my hand from dropping the old autobox on it, and scalded both arms from boiling coolant when I drained it from a hot engine, to flush the oil out of the cooling system.
Christ that was bloody painful !
A year or so into my membership I lost my job of 20 years, but managed to find another, lower paid job. I then started buying broken Omegas and breaking them for parts.
This was very useful in two ways. It helped me keep my head above water when I really needed it, and I got to meet a lot of members, most of whom were very decent and interesting people.
I spat my dummy and deleted my account a several years ago. Cant really remember why, but I rejoined about a year later, and am very glad I did so.
I have had a few Omegas since the first one that I initially hated, and currently have my beloved 3.2 Elite, which is almost just how I have always wanted an Omega to be.
I have no sensible reason to keep it, but I cant bring myself to get rid of it. Not only would I be parting with a lovely old car, but almost certainly cutting my lifetimes ties with Vauxhall, which really would be the end of an era for me.
Those earlier halcyon days are gone now unfortunately. Omegas are few and far between, so the forum is much quieter,( which must be good for admin stress levels), and Im too old and knackered for dismantling cars on my drive.
Its still a nice place to spend time though, and I will always remember those early days which were so much fun.
It was like a family / community, with all the good and bad things that come with that. But mostly good.
Much praise should be heaped on TB and his fellow admins for running the show for all these years, which have provided so much for so many people over the years.
Thanks guys.
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Topic: OOF Memories (Read 4603 times)