5k: 20 Footer Roadkill: 1970 Opel GT
The Opel GT was a compact sports car built by GM’s European subsidiary Opel
from 1965 to 1973. The little Opel was called the poor man’s Vette due to its
styling
similarity with Chevrolet’s C3 Covette and was sold and maintained at Buick
dealers in North America. The Opel GT has
been cheap
enough for years that scores have been crushed and sometime soon we
expect the remaining cars to start appreciating…maybe? Find this 1970 Opel GT offered for $4800 in Stevens Point, WI via craigslist. Tip from John.
Tipper John says he saw this car on the side of the road and nothing beats a 3rd party view of a classic if you are the type to buy a car sight unseen…in John’s words:
I spotted this little Opel GT parked along side the road this evening, and thought you might be
interested. I have no idea whose car it is, just passing it along.
I’ve liked the look of these since I was a kid – I even built the
plastic model. (Sprayed the body in burgundy metal flake, if I remember
correctly). Very cute car.
This one looks pretty good – from 20′. Up close it looks a
bit more tired and there’s some rust peeking through the paint in a few
places. It does look WAY better than most 45 year old cars up here in
the northern reaches of the rust belt, and the seller seems to be pretty
upfront about the car’s condition. But, who knows, maybe that newish
paint job is covering 5 gallons of Bondo and it’s just one good pothole
hit from total disintegration.
But hey, if it runs well and is reasonably solid it could
provide someone with a lot of grins for the dollar. If I didn’t have a
couple kids heading to college in the next few years, I’d be tempted.
Big thanks to John for the tip and thoughts on the car. See a car sale that would be a good roadkill feature? tips@dailyturismo.com
Rust bucket / bondo bucket. Been there. Done that. Cute cars that can run pretty good for a 1.9L four cylinder but a Datsun 280z is a better overall experience. John
"…..it's just one good pothole hit from total disintegration."
That is probably right, these and the other imported Opel models were notorious for rust, and you can tell just from the surface rust of the areas not repainted that these is more of it, especially in places you can't see. In its heyday though it had excellent styling.
I had 3 German Opel's from 1972-75 year models, drove them until 1985 without any sign of rust problems other than surface rust on suspension components (12 years in the Washington, DC area).
I think your experience is either with 1976 and later Isuzu's branded as Opel.
My Opel GT story: Back in law school maybe around 1981, my good friend who weighed in at about 300 lbs and 5'10 pulled up to my house and got out of a yellow one of these. I was gape jawed watching his mass reenter the car! As I stood outside the drivers door saying goodbye I think I commented on the "tightness of the fit". I remember hm saying: no problem!
Sic Transit Gloria
The GT did sit lower than the sedans. Had a friend 6.2 tall I took shopping for cars; we stopped at a Lincoln dealer and when sitting his head touched the roof of the Mark?? coupe.
Wide seats in didn't have but good leg and roof height.
I've got a '71 GT. Lots of fun! Tons of stuff you can do with these cars. Great Opel forum too at OpelGT.com. A lot of very knowledgeable people, anything you need to know about any model Opel is on there.