Featured Sylva Star

[mgh369]

Hi, bought a Sylva Star last year and over the winter have stripped it bare and rebuilt it. Documentation with the car and letters from DVLA plus Jeremy Phillips himself confirm this Star as the one featured on the company website and in magazines at the time as 'TWL 198P' which I believe is the No2 Star produced. As it had spent most of its time in Jersey DVLA would only re-register it on a Q plate on return to this country.
It has had a hard life as a race/hillclimb car and was garaged and left in 1990. It has mostly survived the ravages of time and has been fitted with a Ford 1600 711M engine and gearbox. The interior trim and seats were toast but other than that it is relatively as it was made even down to the Viva dash and Revolution alloys. Haven't had time yet to see to the bodywork but it is now MOT'd and on the road.
I would be interested in any information on this car that is out there and also as to how many Star's are left on the road?

[MaRkStar]

Hi Mark,
I'm another Mark who also has a Sylva Star, mine is the blue one with the wide curved bonnet bulge you see around on various sites/mags.
Great to hear of another one the road, there are a few, although it's hard to track them down.

I probably have copies of most of the magazines your car featured in somewhere, can always dig them out again if interested, scan them and email them, although it tended to be the same in each.

Regarding the history of the car, I likewise sort to find out about mine, and I got a lot of information by requesting it from the DVLA using a V888 form, you may need to cover both registrations. After about 3 months I got back copies of all the V5's which showed that I was the 15th owner, the info also including the owners of the original viva L the registration of which the car still has, despite most of the viva now gone. With the V5 info. I then used an online address search website to find out whose details still matched and wrote letter off to the previous owners. I chatted to the lady who sold the original viva to the garage that did the conversion saying how when they got in, the seat went through the floor. The chap who owned it twice, once turning it from the original green (as yours) to pink and yellow, and then to it's current blue. I found the guy who sadly threw away the build history (gutted), although he was not too impressed of me finding his address. Well worth the cost of the form.

When I got mine a few years back I too started to see how many I could fish out the woodwork, by simply noting when they came up for sale etc.
I have come across 21 other than your one. Some I know are now defunct.

Be good to see some picks of yours in it's current state

Mine likewise is rapidly heading for a complete strip and rebuild.

Enjoy it!
Mark

[mgh369]

Thanks Mark. Car came with original copies of the relevant magazines so OK there thanks. History with the car suggests only 4 owners, Sylva Autokits, the guy in Jersey who bought it from Jeremy, the bloke I bought it from who brought it back to England finally me. As is the norm I have spent far in excess of what the car is worth on new and used spares to rebuild (somewhere north of £1250) to date but that's the fun isn't it?
Tried posting photos but kept getting 'file to big' message - am I doing something wrong?

[MaRkStar]

Best way to post pics is to load them first onto a photo hosting website and then put a link in your message to that picture.
Personally I set up an account (free) with Photobucket (other photo hosting sites are available )
The pics I want to post on here I first upload onto photobucket which is a matter of dragging them from my picture folder onto the photobucket upload page. Once uploaded, you will then be presented either beneath the pic or next to it a list of sharing options and the code you need to paste into your message on any forum. For this forum I use the IMG option. So all I do is copy the code from the IMG box on photobucket into the message box on this forum. Just in case that makes no sense I'm sure someone will have posted in this forum how to do it too.

Haha indeed the amount we spend is never returned and yes that's part of the fun, I have seen one Star also owned by a Mark go for £3500, but that had a significant amount of updating done. My brother also has a Star and that is currently awaiting the final stages of a rebuild.
Mark

[RedStar]

I was looking into buying this Star before it got its second British plate (still had its Jersey number).

Rang DVLA for advice and the guy on the phone told me as it was registered as a Viva before moving to Jersey i.e. never called a Sylva on V5 - the car would "more than likely" need a SVA test to get a new registration......this was the reason I didn't go for it. Kind of gutted it actually didn't need one and got a new registration.

Oh well, I'm happy with what I got (just need to get it back on the road)

[mgh369]

http://s1042.photobucket.com/user/markg ... 9/library/

Hopefully this works. Few photos of the rebuild and one of finished car.

Yes bought it off e-bay for what the guy paid for it. He had involved Jeremy Phillips and DVLA who agreed to issue a new VIN (had to go to Sylva for a new VIN plate to be fitted), guess he got fed up after that and sold it on.
Car is complete including doors, hood and frame. Hood is useable but a bit shrunk as they do and you have to be an Olympic gymnast to get in with the doors and hood on, but I guess sunny days are what its for?
Ford engine turns out to be manufactured in 1976 which goes nicely with the original Viva donor car also 1976. I like the period running gear and will keep it that way though may uprate the engine in time. It's currently running a single Dellorto 45 on a Lynx crossover manifold, 1300 pistons and steel rocker posts with a 4 branch exhaust manifold.
Thanks for the replies.

[RedStar]

Wonder what happened to Star No.1?

DVLA search says its never been re-named as a Sylva (number plate still carries original Viva branding).

[MaRkStar]

I see from the pic you have changed the seats,
I have been looking for some alternatives but struggled to get anything to fit square.
What make/model did you get to fit?
I actually prefer the original cub style seats, but was getting silly quotes to get them reupholstered.

I also had a DVLA issue with mine, with the current paperwork being incorrect. In the end took an inspection and although very little of the original viva was present our local office allowed us to keep the original plate and update the V5c to current details. However what was interesting, when I got copies of all the historical V5's, the car had quite clearly been registered as a Green Vauxhall Sylva in 1984, the response as to how by 2006 it was back to a Vauxhall Viva, was that during computerisation the car must have reverted back to it's original identity.

Wonder what happened to Star No.1?

DVLA search says its never been re-named as a Sylva (number plate still carries original Viva branding).

What was the registration no.of the first one??

[RedStar]

http://www.sylva.co.uk/the-sylva-story/

http://www.sylva.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Star-no-1.jpg

[mgh369]

Seats, yes big issue size wise here. I wanted high backs for safety reasons and eventually picked up a used pair of Cobra High Backs. These were persuaded to fit by standing on the side rails to slightly narrow the frame!
DVLA were adamant original reg couldn't be used possibly because of its registration on a Jersey plate? Now registered as a 'Vauxhall Sylva Star' with original manufacture date 1976 so hopefully historic vehicle tax may apply soon?
What's the best way to paint one of these - type of paint for fibreglass etc?