tell me about opels

[73-charger-383]

Just got to talking to my neighbor, turns out the guy who lives next to him just passed away, and he's been taking care of the house.........showed me and old (early 70's) opel in the garage.  It looks like it's in amazing shape.  He said they are getting rid of everything just to get rid of it.............so, are opels decent cars....are they imports??  It looks like a sports car, is it?.......I'm off to google everything about them, but i wanted to get you guys opinions too.......thanks

[Khyron]

my friend had one he shoe horned a 355 in it  The only car I was ever scared in.


GET IT

[69*F5*SE]

Don't know much about them but always thought they looked kind of cool for a little car. Might be worth zooming around town in.

[Silver R/T]

german built car. we used to have one when I lived back in Ukraine.

[SFRT]

 if itrs like a 73 74 opel GT they look cool but are really poorly made and a total mess mechanically. Back in the day they where such a failure that some places would give you one if you bought another car.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opel_GT


friend of mine bought one in 1978 for 100 bucks. looked cool sitting in his driveway. thing never ran. it was still sitting there rotting 20 years later.

[73-charger-383]

.......i wonder if i could fit a smallblock in it..........can't seem to find any kits......

[Rolling_Thunder]

small block will fit in it...    no kits i know of...    buy a welder....       guy i know put a 454 and a 4-speed in his   --->  SCARY

Another cool thing was it looks like a baby corvette

[69 OUR/TEA]

Just got to talking to my neighbor, turns out the guy who lives next to him just passed away, and he's been taking care of the house.........showed me and old (early 70's) opel in the garage.  It looks like it's in amazing shape.  He said they are getting rid of everything just to get rid of it.............so, are opels decent cars....are they imports??  It looks like a sports car, is it?.......I'm off to google everything about them, but i wanted to get you guys opinions too.......thanks

      Actually,it's a Buick.

[squeakfinder]

In the 70's my parents had the Buick Opel kadet wagon. Different body style, but we lived on Oahu, Hawaii. The one thing I remember was, they could only find one mechanic on the island that would tune it because of the multiple carburetor's.

[mikepmcs]

mini vette, I can dig it!

[JimShine]

When I was a kid my uncle had two orange ones at the same time. I seem to remember the headlights rolled oped rather than popped up.

[bsakal]

Just got to talking to my neighbor, turns out the guy who lives next to him just passed away, and he's been taking care of the house.........showed me and old (early 70's) opel in the garage.  It looks like it's in amazing shape.  He said they are getting rid of everything just to get rid of it.............so, are opels decent cars....are they imports??  It looks like a sports car, is it?.......I'm off to google everything about them, but i wanted to get you guys opinions too.......thanks

             
      Actually,it's a Buick.

Opel is a German car company that sold their cars through Buick dealers. That's the only Buick thing about it.

My aunt bought a '75 Manta brand new, nice little car, I wound up with it and drove it for a couple of years until the frame rails started to rot away.

[Khyron]

.......i wonder if i could fit a smallblock in it..........can't seem to find any kits......

as stated above, you can do it, but you have to be creating, my friend did it with a motor plate

[Daytona R/T SE]

My first car was an Opel GT. Cool looking, good handling little car. Mechanically it was a piece of crap.

Can you say Solex carburetor? 

Of course I was 16 and didn't know shit about cars, but let me tell you this-if you own an Opel GT it will either make you a damn fine do it yourself mechanic-or make you swear off cars completely.

I'm still screwing with cars 30 years later...

These cars are becoming fairly valuable and seem to have a pretty big following-look around the web and be amazed.

I always thought I'd get another one someday and put a small V-8 and a four speed in it....hmmmm....Where are you?

[NorwayCharger]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opel_Commodore

We called the Opel GT the "Mini Corvette"
Opel is GM.......

[whitehatspecial]

Somehow Opel Cadette comes to mind. Was that a model?

[NHCharger]

As mentioned above, piece of crap mechanically speaking.
We use to call them a poor mans corvette.

[NorwayCharger]

Somehow Opel Cadette comes to mind. Was that a model?

Yepp. Opel Kadett

[TiMopar]

I actually own an Opel, as well as Chryslers. Its a 1978 Manta 'B', painted in the factory colour of International distress orange. With the factory 1.6 litre engine it went like a three-legged Tortoise, so I put a Ford Cosworth 16v Turbo engine in it, which improved it a bit! They were best known for their handling and made very successful Rally cars. The stock sway bars on it are thicker than the ones on my 70 GTX!

[73-charger-383]

the more i check out about them, the more excited i'm getting........now i've just got my fingers crossed that the mother gives me a decent price.........

[Steve P.]

my friend had one he shoe horned a 355 in it  The only car I was ever scared in.


GET IT

Yup.... I agree. They can be a WILD ride with a well built motor... A buddy back home raced one with a BB Chevy in it.  It never broke, but that was due to it NEVER HOOKING.... That car drove sideways more than straight....       Hahaha.... 

[Rubberduck]

So, what Opel is it?
Since I live here in Germany I may be able to help.
Here I have listed some of the Opels I once have owned.

That was my first car: 1974 Opel Kadett (crappy as can be) 1.0 liter 50 hp




This here is a 1977 Opel Diplomat 2.8 liters, 150 hp, inline six, very good car (comparable to Mercedes S-Class)






That black car here is a 1977 Diplomat with 327 Chevy V8, 230 hp, it came from the factory like that.
Back then, these cars chased Porsches, BMW´s and Mercedes on the Autobahn.








This is a 1971 Opel Admiral 2.8 liters, 140 hp, inline six:






Mario

[suntech]

I have had a lot of Opels in my young days!
73 Ascona, 74 Manta, and a couple of 68/69 Commodore 2 door HT´s. It was fun cars back then

[0X01B8]

On Top Gear Richard Hammond drove one into a lake, sort of, accidentally.  I believe it was an Open Cadet, like from the early 60s.  They got it running again.  It was from the hysterical south African road trip episode.  Kind of a cool looking car though.  I'd get it just because it's so obscure.

[terrible one]

A friend of mine had (and probably still has) an Opel GT. Everyone is right about them being pieces of shit, but they are kind of cool.

[73-charger-383]

It's a GT, but i'm not 100% on the year........it's late 60's early 70's for sure though.......It's a dark green, with a tan interior--i've found one site that says that that color was only an option on 69 GT's.......but I don't think it nessecarily means that it is one.....

[Steve P.]

Yup, I should have said that my buddy had a GT..

Don't take it wrong when I say it danced all the way down the strip. He COULD have spent some money on a 4 link and made the car right. He just loved a slower dial-in and driving it sideways down the track... The hard part on that car is the short wheel base. If you have some money to put in it and have a pretty large set of marbles it will be an absolute blast... Hell, with a big block I bet it would only weigh about 2500 to 2800m lbs.....

Light is FAST............

[Badbob]

What's a 4 letter word for P.O.S.?