The Other Sport Wagon: 1975 Opel 1900 Sport Wagon
If you wandered into a Buick dealer in the early 1970s you would be surrounded by the kind of land barges you’d expect from Buick. Big chrome, big bumpers, and big V8 is what you expected from GM’s performo-luxury brand which was not as luxurious as Cadillac, but not as performancy as Pontiac…but certainly better appointed than Chevrolet. Anyway, if you wandered off into the corner of that Buick dealer, you might be surprised to stumble over a little compact thing with European construction and an Opel badge…because you could buy a Buick Sport Wagon for hauling your wife and 9 kids or you could buy an Opel Sport Wagon for you, your wife, and few small Pomeranian puppies. Find this 1975 Opel 1900 Sports Wagon offered for $1500 in Nashville, TN via craigslist. Tip from Rock On!
From the seller:
1975 Opel 1900 Sports Wagon
VIN: 0L15N55075990
condition: fair
fuel: gas
odometer: 98033
paint color: white
title status: clean
transmission: automatic
type: wagon
Antique project car. Not running properly. Just needs more work
Got it for 3,000, asking 1,500 because I am leaving town and don’t have the time to work on it.
See a better way to drive a sweet sport wagon? tips@dailyturismo.com
Probably worth the gamble at that price, but I'd be concerned with parts availability and potential rust (though it looks clean in the photos). Still, if it was in my town I'd go look at it.
I'm guessing you'd be ordering from Europe for some items, though maybe the mechanicals are shared with something domestic. According to the web, this runs with Bosch fuel injection.
Cool little wagon that must be one of only a few left in the US. It's been years since I've seen any Opel in the wild that wasn't a Manta or GT and those are few and far between.
I wonder if there were many people walking into Buick dealerships specifically looking for an Opel. I can't imagine many salesmen of the era steering someone towards one of these. I'm always fascinated by dealerships that also offered some other "off brand" back in the day when foreign and domestic were two entirely different things.
You are definitely not going to see another one driving around anytime soon.
Saab Ignition Switch…..lol
I believe Buick is discontinuing the Regal this year, so Opel is finally leaving our shores.
I saw one of those on the highway here the other month and did a doubletake. That I've only seen one makes your note of them discontinuing it not to be much of a surprise, but it was a good looking machine.
There is someone here in Anchorage who drives a kelly green Kadett around and smokes cigarettes like they're going out of style. Other Opel sightings are few and far between, however.
The front sheetmetal looks VERY nova inspired…..
I wonder what the sticker price was on these, it seems like this would be an infinitely better choice than say a Vega wagon or some other GM small car from that era.