One of the more delightful developments in the car world over the last few years is that these days, when we see a car with an asking price of $500 or less, the first question many of us ask ourselves is, “Could I run that in a 24 Hours of LeMons race?” This ’74 Opel Manta, shared with us by reader Levi Andrus, gets a hearty “Yes!” from me. It just makes it under the magic threshold, and you might have to get creative to keep your overall budget low enough, but it would be worth a shot. Check it out here on craigslist out of Silver City, New Mexico.
I wish I could say this was a totally original idea, but there has already been one Manta in LeMons, along with enough other Opels to merit their own photo gallery on AutoWeek’s website earlier this year. But why not a second? The Manta has enough legitimate racing and rally cred to make it a theoretically credible track machine, and this one is questionable enough to ensure that it’ll be entertaining.
It’s not a “rust bucket,” according to the seller, but it also has not run “in years,” so while body parts may not be littering the track as they fall off, getting the car onto the track in the first place will require some creativity. These are pretty tough little mills, so it might be revivable, but how much stress it could take is a big question. A new radiator, included in the sale, certainly wouldn’t hurt. The seller mentions an additional 1,900-cubic centimeter inline four and four-speed transmission available separately for $400—with no mention of whether they would run—but that’s one option. I don’t know if the rules have changed, but it used to be that you could sell parts off of your vehicle to bring its value down to compensate for anything you spend over $500.
What this car has to offer that might cumulatively be worth $400—or whatever sum it would take to get the engine already in the car running semi-reliably—is an open question. The interior is pretty rough, so even though you might jettison much of it in the race prep, it probably doesn’t have much resale value. The aluminum bumpers (complete with saucy bumper sticker on the rear) look pretty straight, but they’re the undesirable 5-MPH battering rams, so you might not find many takers.
Still, when you take its condition and the historically low value of even very nice Mantas into account, then factor in the missing title and keys, there’s not much economic advantage to going too crazy trying to fix up this $500 car—although Mantas are neat, and if you like them enough to not care about the economics of the project, this could be a solid base if it’s truly mostly rust-free. It’s clearly been keeping interesting company up to now; why not keep it in the company of its fellow automotive oddballs and give it one last hurrah?
Meh, I’d rather have the Dauphine that was next to it. I had several Opels, and friends had several more, good cars, but certainly nothing I’d stick any money into. Opels were hot when there was not much other choice, but the Asians blew them out of the water. Parts for some lucky person restoring one,,,if any.
Or,you buy this Opal for $500,in Red Bluff,CA………
http://redding.craigslist.org/cto/d/1973-opal-manta/6677345719.html
So Nathan, you see a $500.00 car and your first thought is to destroy it?
Kind of funny seeing this article now, I bought this car last November from a fellow that brought it to Los Angeles from New Mexico.
I’m using it as a parts car for my ‘74 Manta. The body is very solid and I’ve only pulled the engine/trans, and some cosmetic pieces. It may be ready for its next home, message if you’re interested.
Jordan, I am interested, but the trip to L.A. isn’t one that I’d like to take myself. I am located in Northwest Kansas – had a blue ’74 manta when I was in high school 40 years ago.