In the seventies not one automaker offered such a wide variety of car models in Europe as Opel did. Their lineup between 1970 and 1980: the GT, Kadett, Ascona, Manta, Rekord, Commodore, Admiral, Diplomat, Senator and Monza. Not all of these models were available throughout the whole decade, it’s merely to give you an impression.
A small hatchback with a 993 cc engine ? Opel had it. A big luxurious sedan with a Chevy 327 ? No problem. An inline-4 or 6 cylinder engine with fuel injection ? Check ! Any car body type, it could be found in an Opel showroom.
Last month I came upon two fine representatives of those days, a 1974 Opel Ascona and a 1977 Opel Kadett. The Ascona was Opel’s Mittelklasse-model, quite literally a middle-class car. The Kadett was one segment down the ladder.
Here’s a splendid 1974 Opel Ascona A, the letter A refers to the 1970-1975 first generation. The Ascona’s main competitor was the contemporary Ford Taunus, also from Germany. In the US, it was called the Opel 1900.
A clean 2-door sedan. The Ascona was also available as a 4-door sedan and as a wagon. The sporty coupe based on the Ascona was called the Manta, evidently Opel’s Ford Capri fighter.
The Ascona 16 S at the show is equipped with an 80 hp 1,584 cc 4-cylinder engine. Other engine options were a 60 hp 1.2 liter and a 90 hp 1.9 liter. The 1.6 liter engine without the letter S was good for 68 hp.
And there was this, a 1977 Opel Kadett C. That’s the 1973-1979 third generation, based on GM’s global T-platform. The Kadett, all generations, was our Opel. As if Opel had especially designed it for us. Our best selling car model for many, many years in a row.
Simple and spartan. Because hey, what’s not on the car can’t break down. And that’s a big plus. Furthermore a good overall quality, well built, good value for money. And with decent rust proofing, certainly compared with anything from Southern Europe. Or from Japan, for that matter.
This is an Opel Kadett City 1.2 S. The City was the 3-door hatchback. A sedan, wagon and coupe were also available. And there was a convertible with a targa top, called the Aero, built by coachbuilder Baur. I never saw that one in the metal though.
The 1.2 S has a 60 hp 1,196 cc 4-cylinder OHV engine. The most powerful engine in the Kadett C was a 115 hp 1,979 cc engine with Bosch L-Jetronic fuel injection, which was the power unit in the Kadett GT/E 2000 EH.
Noteworthy is that this very bright blue Kadett has a 3-speed automatic transmission. Uncommon in this segment, only high-end automobiles were supposed to have an automatic back then. Like an Opel Admiral or Diplomat, for example.
In my childhood our streets were littered with Kadetts and Asconas. What a treat to see a pair of classic Opels in a showroom condition, after all these years !
The seventies, Malaise Era ? Certainly not for GM Europe.
Related: CC 1975 Opel 1900 – What The Vega Could Have Been  PN
holy chevette. that’s where they got that design from.
The hatchback version was developed by Vauxhall at Luton hence the Opel has that unusual looking flat area under the bumper where the UK registration plate would be fitted; they had V A U X H A L L lettering between the rear lights, on brushed aluminium on some models.
The simple and spartan, as you put it, style, is such a contrast to the Tbird in the below post. The 1.2 engines that were base in these Opels, must also allow economy of operation the must have been easy on the checkbook. Just the basics of getting a family mobile. GM could have done worse, and obviously understood the differences in world markets.
Like both of these Opels, but especially the Kadett C.
Reminds me of my ’84 Chevette, which was built to your recommendation… 4 cylinders, 4 speeds and power nothing. Lack of A/C and power steering meant that I dodged some bullets that other owners of contemporary small American-built cars did not.
Mine was quite dependable and stayed rust free. It made a good fit for my not exactly prosperous life at the time.
(If only mine could’ve had a 1.9L and a 5-speed.) 😉
1984 was the last year for the Kadett D, which replaced the C in 1979. Clearly a direct VW Golf and Ford Escort competitor. The last Kadett “built to last”, as far as I’m concerned. My brother had a Kadett D, same color as the one below. A very solid car. Front wheel drive, BTW.
Things went wrong with the Kadett E and Ascona C.
My mother had one of these, bought new in 1983. She had a Kadett B before that, which I don’t remember as well. These had a very enviable reputation in Europe in those days. Built to last as you said — funny how GM Europe was almost diametrically opposed to GM US in the ’70s/’80s. Kind of like if Rolls-Royce also owned Moskvitch.
So Opel is like RR and GM USA was Moskovich. And I thought my views were unenlightened.
you’re right, I’m probably being unfair to Moskvitch.
Hah!
Technically, Moskvich started out building Opels.
That looks closer to the Omni/Horizon.
It certainly looked like a Simca~Talbot Horizon. But the Opel Kadett D was in another league, in terms of overall quality and longevity.
In the seventies, eighties and nineties there was this “Golf-Escort-Kadett Triangle”. The main rivals in the most important segment (compact cars) in Northwestern Europe. Year in, year out.
It’s called the C-segment these days and the main models now are the VW Golf, Ford Focus and Opel Astra. Although Renault (Megane) and Peugeot (308) also got a big slice of the cake. Brands like Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo also have a hatchback-representative in this segment.
This is the only Manta i’ve seen here. Back in 07. For sale at a closed mechanic shop.
2nd.
3rd.
Last one. Wonder what it needed for “restoration”?
That’s a Manta A alright. Here’s one next to its Ford rival.
That is a truly complex photo.
The steet cars in Denmark stopped in 1972
The license plates on cars changed from black to white in 1976.
The Street Car Museum opened in 1978.
So the photo must be from any time after this.
The Ascona is such a pleasant looking car with it’s simplified Nova front end. While it’s been said many times here, what if GM had set up a line to build this car in the US, and sold it through Chevy dealers? Considering this car went FWD in Europe in ’79, a mirror of that in the US would have had GM way ahead of the pack.
(Yes, I know it was imported as an Opel Kadett and sold at Buick dealers, but how did that work out?)
The first FWD Ascona was the 1981 Ascona C. The Kadett, see my comment above, went FWD in 1979.
The Ascona C must look familiar.
Thanks. A tad confusing with Opel interchanging the Ascona name with Kadett in the US.
Ascona would have been a great name for a car in the US. Most people here probably would not pick-up on it being a city in Switzerland. But, it has a nice innocuous sound like a Toyota name such as Corolla or Camry.
Kadett (cadet) sounds like a bit of a put-down on a car in the US. Nothing like trying to sell a Kadett next to Electras, LeSabres and Rivieras. GM just seemed afraid of doing this car justice in the US.
Well, to understand the Kadett name, you may have to know the other navy names in the Opel series up through the 1960’s and into the 1970’s, such as Kapitän (dating back to the 1950’s) and Admiral. I am not sure about what connection is in the Diplomat, Commodore, Rekord, Olympic, and Manta names.
Dave, the Opel didn’t interchange the Ascona name with the Kadett name in the US. The Kadett (A &B) were sold as Kadetts in the US; the Ascona was renamed Opel 1900 in the US. Two different sized cars.
Same in Brazil, the first GM with FWD and the most charismatic Chevrolet of 80’s and 90’s, although GMB produced the Vectra A ever since 1993, GMB produced it until 1996.
My parent got an Ancona C in blue around 1986. There were a lot of blue Acscona C cars in the Denmark in those days, so what do you do, to be able to spot your parents, unless you read the license plate?
When it needed a rust repair in 1994, mother let go for a modification, starting out with a tinted windshield …
… two tone pain on the side, custum crome framing the wheel well, white wall tires, and wheel covers brought home from Florida.
Very un-Danish, but she enjoyed it.
Was the inspiration just personal tastes, or a homage the Ascona C’s Buick Skyhawk cousin?
My inspiration comes right from the 1977 Chevrolet Caprice Classic and the French quote from Citroën:
“La vie est trop courte pour les voiture triste.”
Ah, I see your Grand Marquis beside it.
I started my limousine business up with it
it had a champagne bar
when I got busy, the Fleetwood took over.
On my first trip to Europe back in June 1975, we rented an Ascona A at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport. It took us a couple of hours, driving around in circles, to get anywhere near the Amsterdam youth hostel. Amsterdam is a city full of narrow streets, canals and bridges, so it was a challenge to find our way there.
The next morning, it took quite a while to get the Ascona started – it would crank, but not fire. It can get quite damp in Holland (there’s water everywhere, and frequent rain/fog), so condensation wreaks havoc with the electrical system. It finally sputtered to life, and we were on our way.
After that first morning, the Ascona served us well. We were bound for Denmark, so we drove through Germany, where I got my first taste of driving on the autobahns. Which is also where I learned to drive a stick shift… In hindsight, this was probably not the smartest move on my part, but we all made it safely to Kiel, Germany, where we took the ferry to Korsør, Denmark.
Here’s a picture of the Ascona taken in front of the Kiel youth hostel. (DJH = Deutsches Jugendherbergswerk, or German Youth Hostel Association)
How hard would it have been to just build these in Lordstown and dispense with all the money spent developing indigenous models? The mind just boggles.
+1
Imagine the Ascona instead of the Vega. Put a bowtie on it, maybe a larger engine as an optional extra and Bob’s your uncle, you have a great subcompact.
Unlike US-market cars, European market-cars in the 1970s did not have to contend with emissions controls and 5-mph bumpers.
Also, by the 1970s, WWII was a distant memory. Living standards were rising. People had more money to spend.
So, what the 60s were to US automakers and cars, the 70s were to Europeans. A golden age–despite the energy crisis. And remember, fuel was already expensive in Europe before 1973, and larger engines were taxed accordingly in many European countries, so the oil shock did not shock them like the US.
You’ve got a point there. Mainstream brands (like Ford, Renault and Peugeot) started to offer “executive cars” with 6-cylinder engines in the seventies. Examples are the Ford Granada, Renault 20/30 and Peugeot 604.
And about fuel prices and large engines. One of the reasons that the Japanese brands didn’t penetrate the Euro-market as successful as the US-market must be that we already had mucho small and compact cars with 1.0 to 2.0 liter 4-cylinder engines. An Opel Kadett or Ford Escort were typical Average Joe family cars, way before the Japanese started to open their dealerships.
Sure, there’s the reliability-aspect. But guess what, in the seventies a Japanese car rotted as fast as an Alfasud, which is really saying something. While the old Kadett, Escort and Golf were still puttering about the streets, their Japanese alternatives were already in the junkyard.
I also don’t think the reliability chasm was as big between the Japanese cars which came to Europe and the locals as the one between them and US-made cars in the 70s, so that it was not _that_ big a factor when buying. Plus, as you’ve said, they rusted very quickly.
An average VW Golf, Ford Escort or Opel Kadett from the seventies. With a 4-cylinder engine,
a stripped to the bones-interior, and manual-everything: as dead simple as car technology can possibly get.
Average Joe -there he is again- didn’t give a damn about OHV, OHC, DOHC, RWD, FWD, independent suspension or whatever. He wanted a solid, practical and cheap-to-run family car. Hence the success of Opel and Ford in the seventies.
In the USA, the 1975 model (top pictured green model) came with fuel injection.
FI transformed the 1.9 litre 4 cylinder! It became, smooth, torquey with no flats spots associated with the previous carburated models.
Equipped with the slick shifting 4 speed manual transmissions this was a most enjoyable, fun-to-drive car. High off the ground seats, easy manual steering and intuitive power disc/drum brakes, compliant all four corner coil springs suspension; it truly became the “Poor Man’s BMW” for this year (in the USA) only.
But those seat covers! That plain looking, dull German interior! Dull compared to any American small car at the time.
Still, I wish now, I could find a pristine ’75 fuel injected model; and pay an upholstery shop to “Trick It Out” just a little bit.
Yet another “if only this had been the Vega instead of the Vega” point with the interior; that would be the first thing to get swapped out. Likely not to the detriment of ergonomics, too expensive to change the German hard points and they test-market well with “small-car intenders” willing to pay a premium for a deluxe version – but color, fake wood and maybe some plaid velour would all have been on the to-do list.
+1
Ascona or Manta
These cars arrived down under with the panels mix n matched with Vauxhalls to create the Holden Torana using Auusie power trains it worked they were quite good cars but seeing these Ascona I can recognise many of the parts, The Kadette C came in Vauxhall or Isuzu Holden flavours with a variety of engines the Chevette from UK was a better selling car in NZ than the Gemini from Japan.
After the past week’s 144 and 131, yet another classic European “box” from times past. I liked the fuel-injection 1900 sold here in the US but finances and timing never worked out. I did drive one later (I think FI) Manta; nice to drive, but I never cared for the coupe’s styling as much as the 2 door sedan’s. And then they were gone here, replaced by “Opel by Isuzu” which made even less branding sense than “Buick Opel”.
My mother had a Kadett like the blue one, same 1.2 s engine, mated to a automatic, because she till this day refuses to drive anything else then a auto. I learned to drive in that kadett, back in 1984, and wrecked it badly when grabbing for something in the console, turning the steering wheel the same direction and hitting three parked cars….oops…..my dad and I rebuilded it, and spray painted the yellow car red…..she had it for three more years before moving on to her next car. I really learned a lot in that car, it did feel pretty fast, despite being handicapped by the transmission and 1.2 engine. My mother was kind (or mad?) enough to let me use it whenever I wanted. I made some great miles in that car with friends, and some girl-friends…..to bad we never were a picture taking family, nothing left of that car.
The minimal size difference between the Ascona and the Kadett B and C sedans along with the former’s long run make me wonder if the Ascona A hadn’t been planned as a Kadett replacement and kicked upstairs due to size and feature creep.
I always admired the styling of the Ascona, but in the UK it was seen as a bit smaller than a Cortina it was otherwise matched against. Whenever you look at a GM Europe car from this period, you see elements of others. Look at the 3rd and 4th photo, and then think Viva HC
The Ascona B became the Vauxhall Cavalier as well.
I see so much ’71 full-size Chevy in the Ascona.
This was the “full-size” Opel in the seventies, a LWB Diplomat B, which always had a Chevy 327.
Opel was the only mainstream Euro-automaker that offered a car in Mercedes-Benz territory.
I still think the first series of Kapitän/Admiral/Diplomat is the best looking Opel ever designed.
They were very popular in the area where I grew up in all three versions.
They shared door handles inside with the Buick Skylark.
My first ride in a “luxurious” car as a kid in the seventies was in an Admiral B. Big (to my eyes) and plush (to my eyes), with an automatic transmission and a purring inline-6 engine under the long hood.
Till then I never sat in something like that. I had many rides in a Benz W115 diesel (not owned by my parents) before, but that was clearly not the same experience…
I must have been around 7 or 8 years old, when I started going on trips with our lutheran priest Larsen to bible meetings with my mother, or with my father, and my brother, doing “big boy” things, such as sailing with model ships and going to ship museums. Mr. Larsen and my father were great model ship builders. In Denmark you hang model ships in churches, and they started making these in particular.
In 1972 our neighbours uncle started turning up in a black 1965 Lincoln Continental with tuxedo interior – and I was LOST.
Mr. Larsen really went into details about his 1965 Admiral with 6 cylinder engine and beautiful grey interior and treated it with much dignity.
Only my age prevented me from taking it over from him, when he got tired of the exploding annual car taxes in the 1970’s and bought a horrible Vauxhall Chevette (equivalent to Opel Kadett) instead.
The Admiral ended up with a school teacher, who wrecked it in no time. His huge dog tore the back seat up on top of that.
Mr. Larsen tought me how to maintain a car (he “only” had daughters), which was good, because my father had absolutely no ideas about cars.
He was my Latin tutor in Highschool, and after having done my Latin homework with him in the rectory, we dropped the books and dived into his vaste collection of car litterature.
When I started buying cars – always US cars except for one – I always had to come by the rectory, where he would make me a list of things I had to check and keep an eye on.
He would then make a note on his list, every time I could tell that I had done it. 🙂
Unlike many Danish academics in the 1970’s, he was never offended by my choice of cars:
1974 Ford Ranchero GT, 1965 Buick Skylark sedan, 1974 Chevrolet Caprice Classic hardtop sedan, 1977 Opel Commodore GS/E Coup̩ and finally Рwhen I was 24 years old Рmy beloved car for 9 years, a 1973 Cadillac Coupe d̩ Ville.
Well, here we go again. Had a 74 Caprice Classic eh? Well I currently own a 74 Impala Sport Coupe, the 2dr Hardtop. Belonged to Grandma. She didn’t drive much, so it only has 68,000 some odd miles on it.
Well, once the bug with these cars bites you, you never get it out of your system again.
My brother drove an 1972 Caprice Coupe, when he was working on a farm in Alberta back in 1981.
I often tease him trying to get him to buy a 1973 Caprice hardtop sedan, which is for sale here now. A car which is exceptionally rare here, and we even knew the original owner.
But he is married to the kind of woman, who won’t let him do it.
Too bad, because I am sure he will relive his youth with it.
She refuses to realise that she will benefit from it as well 🙂
When they married back in 1986 i borrowed “my” Caprice from the present owner and drove him and them from church in it.
From the rear
The coupe was very rare. None of those in my area.
Also, in contrast to the Ford Taunus/Cortina the Ascona never had a 6-cylinder engine. When you wanted a 6-cylinder in your Opel back then, you had to buy a Commodore, which was a dressed-up Rekord with an inline-6 engine. The 4-cylinder Rekord and the 6-cylinder Commodore were Ford Granada competitors.
The Commodore B GS/E below was the top model with a 2.8 liter inline-6 engine with fuel injection.
I had the 1977 Coupe – the last year before Open replaced it with the Monza,
which again is very different from the Chevrolet Monza.
Commodore B coupe, perfect color and rims, GS/E top model. Really, REALLY nice sir !
I came from a 1974 Chevrolet Caprice Classic and thought I could save money by driving this …
… it turned out to be – still – the most expensive car to drive and maintain I ever had.
It sent me straight over to driving a 1973 Cadillac Coupe dé Ville, which I kept for over 9 years and drove over 60K miles in.
The Commodore Coupe is a beautifull car, but the hardtop windows were not constructed very well. They would pop out at the top by strong cross winds. I could not find ajustment screws in the doors, neither did it have the “grip” in the roof, to stop the window from popping our whilst driving, of which I both got to now in the Coupe dé Ville, where this ajustment system worked perfectly fine.
The way to keep the windows from popping out in the doors, was to open the side windows in the rear, to create a vacuum,
When I met my present-wife her mother was driving an Ascona 16, and my wife-to-be subsequently bought a 16s ( these were both 4-door models). They were really good cars, they drove far better than contemporary Fords.
We got the Opel Ascona, re-badged as the 1900, until 1975. By then it had 5-mph bumpers and the engine was emissions legal here. Biggest problem was the devalued dollar and horrible exchange-rate, pushing prices of the final German Opels very close to small BMW territory. So our Buick dealers got the Japanese Kadett/Isuzu I-Mark to peddle as Opels, and our Chevy dealers got US-built Kadetts with OHC Brazilian engines, to sell as Chevettes.
Happy Motoring, Mark
For more views of Opels, including a Rekord wagon and Diplomat, there’s the 1971 bank heist movie, “$” (Dollars), filmed in Germany, starring Warren Beatty and Goldie Hawn.
Happy Motoring, Mark
It has been a while since I saw $, it’s filled with curbside classics !
Here’s an overview: http://www.imcdb.org/movie_68152-$.html
Wow, many childhood memories here! All the Opels from that era had a nice, very clean styling.
I’ve posted these photo’s here in the past, but I think I’ll do so again,as this is the most appropriate CC post.
My family owned Opels growing up, as there was a small local GM Dealer 1/2 mile from where I grew up.(Connecticut). We owned a late ’60’s Kadette wagon & a new ’74 Manta in 1974 when I was 12 y/o. In 1983,at age 21, I bought a used ’74 Ascona/1900 ($800). I also bought a ’74 Manta “driver” as a parts car for $100. (I never needed any parts, so it sat, never used) My ’74 was totaled when a drunk driver hit me back in the late ’80s.
In 2000, I woke up one morning & said to myself, “I really want another Opel Ascona.” I searched the internet & found a 1975 Ascona in California that had been used as an experimental project by a gentleman in R&D for General Motors. He was experimenting in propane turbo charging cars. My “new” Opel arrived with the fuel tank sitting on the rear seat, & the fuel injection intake manifold, etc., all in a box in the trunk. 1975 was the last year the A-body was made & the only year it was fuel injected.
I reinstalled the fuel tank…. bought a low pressure fuel pump… found a used carb’d intake manifold & bought a NEW Weber 32/36 carburetor.
At the time I owned 5 older BMW”s: ’72 2002, ’82 320i, ’86 535i, & 2 ’89 325i’s (both Red, but one a ‘vert.). I have now sold every BMW, but will not let go of my 1975 Opel Ascona with a fresh 2.0L “Euro engine”, 5-speed Getrag, lowered suspension, quick ratio steering, stainless steel exhaust, Reccaro seats, & just too many mods to list. This car is just too rare to let go. I see older model BMW’S all the time. I never see Opels anywhere, ever!
I love this car. I don’t know if I’ll ever sell it?
Now…
nt.
Hi Mike
Keep it. It looks great. You have no idea how rare it has become. I cannot recollect when I last saw one.
I certainly remember this blue Ascona A, it’s a keeper.
A used 2-door Ascona A or B (see below), preferably with the biggest engine. Lowered, bigger rims. That’s all a young car enthusiast needed as his first car in the seventies and eighties.
The later FWD Ascona C never got much love. Its overall-quality wasn’t even close to the old RWD Asconas.
Thank you all.
Miraculously, I found (the last?) front air dam/spoiler in the States right after the car arrived. It is identical to the one that was destroyed on my ’74 back in the late ’80’s. The car arrived with my absolute favorite rims… 14″ Panasport MiniLite replicas. However, the lips weren’t polished, & they actually made the car look “dirty”. For $200, I bought an entire BMW 320i (e21) from a scrap metal yard, exclusively for these 15″ Enkei gold basket weave rims with polished lips.
These cars’ huge wheel wells, do accommodate large wheels (I did have to roll the rear wheel arch lip). IMO, these wheels look best with the car’s “M&M Blue” color, that I’m not so fond of. My old ’74 was a more subdued dark blue & not as obtrusive.
I did have one guy interested in buying the car when I was selling my ’72 BMW 2002. But, he wanted to turn the car into a rally car, & I couldn’t bare to know the car might be destroyed. I’d prefer to have this piece of US GM history preserved, rather than abused & destroyed.
This car has virtually zero body roll & handles like a Go-cart (better than any BMW I’ve ever driven). If only it had independent rear suspension… that would be the icing on the cake.
Most people who see the car, assume it’s an old BMW. I tell them “it’s an Opel”. They usually respond with ‘What’s an Opel?”
Now, I know I’m OLD! 8-(
Photo of my totaled ’74…. 30 years ago. (With BMW e21 13″ turbines)
Age does have it’s advantages. 🙂
We are always surprised to see how people keep the BMW 2002 alive in California.
Here they have always been considered dangerous when driving in curves and on slippery / icy roads.
If you accelerate on a slippery straight road, you will in most cars hear the rear wheels spinning – and just that.
If you accelerated a 300 or 500 series BMW, the whole body would spin 180 degrees and go backwards, as quickly as you could snap your fingers.
Swedish car magazines had much focus on this issue.
Nevertheless, we all loved the BMW 635 🙂
I drove a lot of brand new BMWs up untill 1984 working for Hertz Rent-a-Car in Copenhagen Airport. We had to go down the hwy and back again with each and every car to clean them.
A hot dry summer, with lots of exhaust fumes from airplanes, followed by a short rainshower, would make the hwy slippery like soap,
It was an eye opener whilst reading the tests of Car of the Year back then, like when Ford Sierra first came on the road and won Car of the Year, it was rated the Worst car of the Year by any of us guys who cleaned and drove the cars. Imagine anyone putting a car on the road, with the fueltank in the outermost corner of the rear bumper, in a car where bumpers would break loose like anything, turn signal lighs would fall out, side windows would fall down into the door, as well as door and rear window panels would break. That was also the car which tought us that you cannot raise the front of a car with the doors open, if the windshield is cracked. The whole car frame will break.
The Ascona came down under crossed with a Vauxhall Viva with Australian running gear but i’m sure you can see the resemblance
The rear was slightly better disguised except the cheaper models still used HB Viva running gear
The green opel ascona a is mine and fully restored
Wonderful car Hilde! And thanks for your comment, always a pleasure when an owner shows up here.