I'm lucky enough to be able to buy a car soon (at last), and I've been looking around for a decent second-hand car in my price range, to get an idea of what's out there. I was in George for a week, and this was in one of the used car lots...

(My apologies for the quality of the pictures, all I had was my Nokia E51 with its notoriously bad camera.) That's a 1975 Opel Manta, model A. It's in immaculate condition (even the interior looks relatively new). In fact, the thing looks like it just came off the assembly line, and is quite cheap at R45000. I must say, it was a big temptation. It's one of the coolest cars I've ever seen. However, I came to my senses. For some or other reason, this rear-wheel drive car has drum brakes at the back and disk brakes at the front. Also, with the petrol prices being what they are, a 1.9 liter engine (no fuel-injection!) may not be the wisest thing for a student.

However, if money was no object, I would've snapped this thing up without a second thought, and spent a potload of money converting it to a relatively modern car...but I don't, so I can't. :(