(first posted in 2010 at the other site) I somehow stumbled upon this picture at an obscure site and used it in another article about Bob Lutz. Shortly afterwards, it quickly made the rounds on the web. But the story behind the picture was left to speculation, beyond knowing that it happened on an Opel test track. I helped a German site (oldtimer-markt.de) find the source of the photo, and in exchange, I got the real story, from Florian Schwaab of that web site, who wrote the following:
Here’s the story in short form:
This happened almost certainly in 1968, eve though Bob believes it’s from 1965. But the car shown in the picture is clearly a 1968 model. This can be recognized by the two slots over the front bumper and the new coil spring suspension on the rear. Also, George Gallion was present, and only joined Opel in 1968.
There was a big test day at the Opel proving ground in Dudenhofen. The engineers and managers where all there to compare the Opel products with the competitors from Ford, VW etc. At noon they all sat together to have lunch and Bob rushed in and said to Hans Mersheimer (Technical Director): “Hans, someone in the US told me the Kadett is not safe. It can easily flip over when performing the J-Test.” “No, that’s impossible” replied Hans, “the Americans are always on the road with insufficient tire pressure. Our car is safe”.
“I’ll show you, but someone has to explain me what to do on the J-Test” said Lutz.
The J-Test is driving straight ahead at around 50 mph, then applying the hand brake and turning the steering wheel to one side very quickly. The car should not flip over in this situation.
Five minutes later Bob sat in that poor little Kadett speeding to 50, applying the hand brake and turning the steering wheel to the left. The Opel showed heavy roll and eventually flipped over.
Bob climbed out of the wreck, lit up a cigar, and sat triumphantly on the Kadett, waiting for the engineers and managers to come back from lunch. Mersheimer was very embarrassed because Lutz had proved him wrong in front of nearly every important engineer of the company.
That explains it, Lutz has always been a master of one-upmanship. I always thought the pose and the cigar was there as an afterthought, to defuse the situation afterwards. But of course, he probably had that cigar in his shirt pocket all along. Well played, mister. Well played…
He looks as if he should be saying: “Now isn’t that the damnedest thing you ever saw?”
We could all be so fortunate as to have lived the life Bob did.
Maybe Bob’s grinning because he just sold it to Steve Martin:
Brilliant and he drives it to the drive -thru. What a gag.Which show was this from?.
Yes we got the “Laugh in ” show in the UK in the 70s and Chico & the Man.All in the Family.. ALL!.
Could you imagine being brave enough to run a little car up to 50mph, pull the emergency brake and crank the wheel to the left in order to purposely roll a car? There doesn’t appear to be a helmet nearby or anything…
Bob Lutz said it happened in 1965 while the model is a 1968, could it be an earlier prototype model of the 1968 Kadett then Bob Lutz tested?
How about we chalk it up to being a memory slip of a guy who would purposely roll a car (without personal safety equipment) to prove a point?
No. The article makes it clear that it was in 1968 from a number of facts. They weren’t testing prototypes, these were production cars. They wouldn’t have made complete running prototypes three years in advance. The Olympia in the background clearly has the new grille that came out in 1968. The new suspension did not take three years to develop. And one of the key witnesses of this event did not join Opel until 1968.
Is that good enough? People do forget dates, especially this far back.
The Vauxhall version of that car appeared in 67, it could be a prototype if earlier, funny thing though the HB Vivas actually handle quite well and can ge provoked sideways but remain under control.
“Good tires” Bob mused, casually lighting a cigarette. “but certainly not great tires.”
Peter Egan
Road & Track
May, 1983
An equally funny black & white photo of a driver, standing above his Ferrari that has slid off the road and settled down hill a ways into a tree, one of R&T’s most memorable PS’s to complete an issue….
Yup…I remember that one!
I remember “Bob” from those PS photos! Always getting into trouble, that guy.
It’s a bit funny that you would refer to “Oldtimer Markt” as a website, when in fact they’re one of the most staunchly old-fashioned print magazines still on the market… complete with an old-school website that is basically just an advert for the printed issues.
I’m not really familiar with German car-selling publications.
We need a like button!
Great picture
Thank you for posting; a classic that always made me smile, thanks to R&T and Peter Egan!
Okay, now I’ve got a song stuck in my head: Dave Edmunds singing “Crawling From The Wreckage.”
Merging two recent cc’s together: since the Gremlin and the Kadette B had similar wheelbases, maybe putting the big wheels from the former on the latter could have allowed it to pass the J-Test…
And now it resembles an alternate-universe Rambler American. Perhaps it would be the Rambler European?
The wheels do wonders for the looks though.
It must stink to work for the foreign operation of a big company and have the big shots come in and act like they have all the answers. When they are proved right that must only add to the resentment. He must have had fun smoking that cigar, but I bet it lowered morale at Russelhiem.