Minty Fresh

Complete with Cliff Motorsport body styling, Steva Armstrong’s cool Calibra Turbo is one of the cleanest Vauxhalls on the show and shine scene…

- Emma Woodcock

A riot of Rio Verde green and sharp angles glimmers under the sun. The Calibra shape is one you’ve seen a thousand times before, but step close to Steva Armstrong’s Turbo and you’re immediately hit by the differences between his cool coupé and a showroom standard example of what was the most aerodynamic production car in the world when launched almost thirty years ago. Sure, his ’95-plate stunner is the same iconic Vauxhall, but not as you know it!

He bought the car in 2002 before using it as his daily drive for a couple of years. “I settled for the Calibra when I couldn’t get hold of the Cavalier Turbo I’d been after. I must admit, I’m glad things panned out the way they did. Time spent driving the coupé has left me convinced that I’ve ended up with the better car,” he smiles.

The green four-wheel drive machine was a seven-year-old Vauxhall by the time Steva’s name appeared on its logbook. Before long, the car became well-known on the show and shine scene due to its near-concours condition and numerous striking styling upgrades. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it went on to star in this very magazine, becoming the cover car for our Autumn 2006 issue. Coated in a darker shade of green than it wears today, and dressed in a square-jawed, floor skimming Rieger GTX body kit coupled with mahoosive Mille Miglia EVR alloys, the customised Calibra had just finished second to a Lotus Carlton in the Vauxhall Bedford Opel Association (VBOA) Chairman’s Cup competition held during the organisation’s annual National Rally at Billing Aquadrome.