Imagine my disappointment: my dad and my grandmother both had Opel GTs—my dad’s was blue and my grandmother’s butterscotch, examples of each of which appear in the lineup of five GTs above! And of the five…those are the two that are already sold. Oh, well. That still leaves three resto-ready Opels up for grabs, and three Opels are better than none, right? I guess that remains to be seen—let’s head here to eBay, where these three are listed out of LaFayette, Georgia, and find out!
The three remaining cars are a 1970, a 1971, and a 1972, all 1.9-liter cars with four speed manuals. It’s not clear which is which, but they include the pale yellow, orangey-yellow, and white cars in the lineup. None are running, but all are said to be complete, and a number of extra parts are included and the auction, which has no bids as of this writing and an opening ask of just $100, is for all three cars.
All three cars have some rust, with this yellow car said to be the worst of the lot, requiring new floors in the driver footwell. Opel outsourced construction of the GT’s body to Brissoneau et Lotz in France (which had previously built bodies for the Floride/Caravelle for Renault), and assembly quality was considered quite high at the time, but rust is a known foe of the GT today. It’s hard to say, especially since many of the photos were taken inside, but it would appear that the orange and white cars might just have more surface rust than anything else.
One of the biggest danger zones for rust in these cars is under the hood, and there again it’s a bummer that these photos were taken under such poor conditions. What we can see isn’t as bad as some—that’s the white car above, showing evidence that it may once have been a more orangey hue itself, and if anything it might look the worst of the three underhood. These little Opel fours are simple, sturdy engines; hopefully between the three cars and the extra parts stash there might be most of the needed bits to get at least one running relatively easily.
Interiors, especially the dash covers, are another GT weak spot, but the seats in the white car at least look pretty good—less so those in the orange coupe, although I do like the jaunty white color. The interior of the yellow car isn’t shown, but both others seem to have complete instrumentation, with the dash of the white car in particular looking fairly nice overall. A recovered dash is listed among the extra parts, too, so again between the three cars you might be most of the way to at least one decent interior.
Given my family history, I have a soft spot for these little Opel sport coupes, and while they may not really be as exciting to drive as they look, they’re neat, different, and generally pretty inexpensive to own and maintain. What might you do with this trio?
No “Mini-Corvette” references allowed. They are soup cans at best.
stylish cars strapped to crappy Kadett underpinings.
Disagree with “stylish”. Full marks on everything else.
I would install a Twin – Turbo Mazda Rotary and a 5 Speed Transmission
from an RX-8 !
My sister’s boyfriend had one. He taught me how drive a stick on it when I was around 14. Cool little cars. Thanks Artie!
are them all gone , I would love one.
‘Poor Man’s Corvette’ is what we used to call them.
makes as much sense as calling a raisin a “poor man’s grape”
I am going out on a limb here. Back in the day, I liked these much better than the Corvette. Of course that was in the mid ’70s and we all know what was happening to the Corvette in those years.
My uncle, semi-affectionately, calls these the “Krautvette”.
do u dtill have some or one all I want
Use that eBay link in the write up, as your gateway to Opel GT adventures.
My dad was a Buick dealer in the 60s and 70s. We sold a lot of Opel GTs. They were really well-finished, fun to drive cars. Much higher build quality than the competition. When the 240Z was introduced, everything on the market became overpriced and obsolete, including the Opel. Safety, smog, and the declining dollar finally killed the GT.
As far as Corvette comparisons, the Corvette level of performance was in a different league. But the Corvette cost about 60% more than an Opel GT. As far as build quality, the Opel was light years ahead. Take it from someone who bought a new L82 coupe in 1974. The paint looked like it had been painted on three different days, by three different painters. It rattled and leaked. The Opel was tight as a drum by comparison.
I’ve had many Corvettes, and loved them; but other than styling, it’s comparing apples and oranges vs. the GT.
Actually, Opel lost it’s contract with the French bodybuilder. No body, no car.
Always liked the look of these. I also always thought they had a fibreglass body.
3 Opel GTs better than no Opel GTs; um no.
Awesome looking cars! They look like they would make great restoration projects, one donor car for the other, or possibly a restomod, etc. I had a neighbour when I was a boy who had an Opel GT similar to those in the photo. His was a chocolate brown colour. While I didn’t find the colour very attractive, I found the car itself attractive.
What about rebuilding one as a replica of the winner in the GT 2.0 class – Targa Florio 1971?
Verrry Interesting !
what are u interesting in
fiat 850 Spyder, Saab Sonnet, vedub KarmanGhia, (R. Dauphine, corvair, falcon – not really), the Brit models, 2000 FairLady…all in the same ball prk @ the time. Each a lill different flavor. That’s Y they got chocolate’n vanilla. Choice.
Now what’s there? Korean Accent? Japanese Fit?
TOO MUCH TO LIST, but 1st MOPAR.
how much for one
As someone else told you earlier, click on the eBay link if you are trying to communicate with the seller.
I myself would make a nice one out of the three! These are very cool little cars! I had a friend who had one and for what we were doing it was a very dependable car! I wanted to buy it, but it wasn’t for sale no matter how much reasonable amount of cash I offered him! I would still like to have one of these, but I never will!
Didn’t Philip Seymour Hoffman (Scotty J) have one of these trying to emulate Dirk Diggler in Boogie Nights?
In the mid 70s Mother Earth News published a series about a Detroit shop teacher and his students who installed new running gear in one of these. It was a 22 hp constant speed engine powering a 10000 psi hydraulic motor. The series was titled 70 MPH @70 MPG.