10k: Blue Opal: 1973 Opel GT
The Opel GT was a compact sports car by GM’s European subsidiary Opel
from 1965 to 1973. The little “poor man’s Vette” (reference to its styling
similarity with Chevrolet’s C3 Covette) was sold and maintained at Buick dealers in North America, an odd place to find a European transplant and undoubtedly part of the reason it was sales failure. The Opel GT has been cheap
enough for years that scores have been crushed and sometime soon we
expect the remaining cars to keep appreciating…such as this one. Find this 1973 Opel GT offered for $8,700 in Berkeley, CA via craigslist. Tip from Kaibeezy.
When Kaibeezy first sent us this Opel he noted that it was a nice looking car but asked why the seller only included one lousy photo? Fortunately a few hours later the seller added a slew of additional photos – highlighting a feature of the current version of craigslist that we like. The lack of external links, HTML code or embedded photos…not so much.
This Opel GT is an original California car and has great paint, decent interior, a 4 speed transmission and functioning A/C…what more can you ask for? Speaking of AC… all Opel GT’s had to have dealer installed air that was mounted with the
a/c vents next to the center console. It was the only place they could
put it. It worked but it was really ungainly with the controls right by
the shifter and you’d kind of bang your hand on it when shifting into
3rd gear.
Except, the Buick dealer installed AC is not what the this owner has in this car…here it shows a unit in the back coverd by a crude panel. Note that the controls would have to be operated with the driver reaching blindly behind the console and also behind the passenger’s seat. The A/C vents are aimed at the back of the front seat cushions.
See another oddball classic in great shape for cheap? tips@dailyturismo.com
The AC issue is a constant confounder for me. Most of the country gets pretty hot during the summer months, enough to make DDing a car without AC a part part time affair unless your daily bread is earned in ways that don't require un-soaked attire. But here in SoFla there is just no way to really DD a car without AC on a daily basis. Forget 92 degrees and 75% humidity because you can (and I do) open every window and vent to stay afebrile. No, where you risk permanent percolation is when it's 85 and pouring, which is pretty much every afternoon down here, and open windows are a non-starter.
Speaking from my experiences with my ES' factory AC and from reading every post on this site for the past 2 years, it seems like getting AC to function is a constant chore that involves some measure of voodoo. AC also seems to be one of the hardest features to successfully employ in an engine swap.
As for the Opel, much of AC's cooling benefit comes from the motion of the cooled air as it passes over the occupants warm skin. This arrangement seems to make that impossible.
Could be worse, he coulda mounted that unit on the roof Winnebago style.