Not A Nomad
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- Опубліковано 16 жов 2024
- Few people remember that Germany’s Opel automobile company was once owned by General Motors. But did GM’s influence go deeper than mere ownership? And where was this car’s bidy styled? The answers might surprise you.
Those hub caps just solved a 50 year mystery. My father made a custom trailer many many years ago and put those hub caps on it. I always wondered what they were used on as he (my dad) didn't know either. Mystery solved thanks to the class room. Thanks Steve.
My old man was a home builder who fabricated a very crude trailer back in the late-60’s that he used to haul debris from his jobsites to the landfill. About five years ago I was wandering through the aisles of a local swap meet and glanced at a set of wheel covers a guy had for sale that I immediately recognized as the ones that were on that old trailer from back when I was a kid. It turns out they originally rolled out of the factory attached to a 1956 Dodge Coronet!
It’s funny how something as inconsequential as a wheel cover on an old trailer can stick in your memory bank and be instantly recalled four decades later!
Stevei looks marvelous and got the old classics 👌
I collected Opels and still have a stash but, anything I could find that was a roadworthy was post '68. I saw a few of these Rekords in the salvage yards in the early to mid '80s. I took pics with my Canon to show friends this strange little car with GM stylings. Hanging out in salvage yards with cameras as a kid built up some respect from the owners. Yet another informative video. Thanks again!
Great segment on the Opel. The additional materials you bring to these segments, providing background information, illustrates the amount of behind-the-scene prep for these presentations. Many thanks!
Except no brochures or even pictures of this particular car.
Opel sales in the states were strongest 1972 - 1975 at Buick dealerships. Told it was from the low Deutsche Mark value at the time, but it was the reason I have had them in my life since high school as the 1974 Opel Manta was my second car (first car 1971 Toyota Corolla was stolen!) in 1984. I have the 1975 Ascona Sportwagon (caravan) which was the first year for Bosch FI on the 1.9L engine. No matter as I am installing the Buick 215 matched with BW T5. The Manta gets the Rover 4.6 with T7004r. BTW, Ascona body was a coupe and sedan, but as a wagon always saw them as two door, or Nomad. Good going Steve!
Would absolutely love to see one of these today, restored…or better yet, survivor! Wow. Thanks Steve. Another great find…love your channel.
My brother had a friend who had one in that green color to me at the time (12) I thought it was so cool back in 1967 and now I'm 66 and still love the design.
I remember back in the 70s my Dad going to look at a used orange Opel Kadett 2-door. The engine was worn out and it's overall condition looked like it was run hard and put away wet. He still thought about getting it and rebuilding the engine because of the OPEC oil crisis but ultimately passed on it. I thought it was a good looking body style (the 2 door with sloping rear roof).
Steve is the man!! Please keep up your incredible work.
Great video Steve!!! Your wealth of information and documentation never fails to surprise me, and I am sure your viewers!! I had no Idea Opel was sold to Stelantis. I thought they were still part of GM. Heck the recently failed Buick convertible (severely over-priced) was an Ople rebadge. Great stuff as always and I sure am looking forward to tomorrow's edition!!
That's a cool old step van in the background.
Best video in years. Yes...the hair. I can't help it...this is epic. Please , don't change it ...a good laugh is hard to find these days....
Thank you Steve for another awesome wake-up story about old cars
40 yrs ago, I had a 68 Opal Kadet Rally Sports Cpe with the modified driving lights when I was 16 til about 18.
Loved tuning those twin carbs. Fun car and handled well.
I think that a guage that lists "212" proves that it is NOT a metric guage, but instead is measuring water temperature in fahrenheit! (212° is the boiling point in fahrenheit.)
Dad bought an Opel station wagon in the early 70s about the time they were learning manufacture a shortage of something and then double the price as a national policy. I loved the little thing. Put me an 8 track with two 6x9s and a headphone jack in it and the back seats all folded down to make a bed. Ran forever on nothing with the standard shift overdrive transmission. We named it the "Canned Cloud" from an old Bob Hope movie were a smoke grenade goes off in his station wagon as he is driving.
The later model Opel Rekord’s 1965-71, 1972-77 were really attractive cars. I remember seeing them on the roads in Germany when I was stationed there between 1988-90. At the time I was there many of them were already gone because the climate is harsh on cars there. (Rust).
We have them in Mexico. They come up for sale once in a while.
Very cool long roof! Thanks Steve.
My 1973 Opel Manta was a great car. It was a really good handling car. The 1900 4 was a good engine. I loved it. I knew a guy that raced Opel kadettes on the ice here in Minnesota. They had a 1.1 liter engine that screamed.
🤣🤣🤣 the second car I drove when I was a kid, was a 1978 Buick Opel. By this point in time, it was basically an Isuzu, especially the drive train, which was rear wheel drive. Unfortunately rust and the extremely hard to get/find parts (even the Buick Dealership parts room didn't have anything for it by 1986!!) Led me to drive it to the junkyard. Definitely was very reliable and fun to drive.
Thanks Steve for another great video!
Really cool video Steve. I don't think many people know that usually only the windshield is made of laminar glass having that layer of, what could be called Saran Wrap, sandwiched between the inner and outer layers of tempered glass.
The rest of the windows were/are simple tempered glass.
Audi actually stands for "Auto Union Deutsche Industrie", which translates to Automobile Union (of) German Industry of which DKW was one of the four companies that created the conglomerate.
Horch, Audi, DKW and Wanderer were all four of the companies that make up what is now simply called Audi.
August Horch actually founded Audi and Horch before the merger happened.
I really dig these old German cars from the pre 1980s era.
Hey I think I heard your dog barking. You'd better feed him. 😉
Growing up in Finland my grandfather had an Olympia Rekord 2 door sedan in those very colors of green and white. Many great memories of sitting in my grandfathers lap and "steering" it at the summer house parking lot.
That's got to be THE cutest compact wagon I've ever seen! How did I, a foreign car lover as well, not know this existed!?
Another great vid Steve and about an oft forgotten and under appreciated marque to boot! As a 17 year old in the early '70s I was stymied by high insurance rates from buying my dream Z-28 Camaro but I was able to buy the next best GM thing (at least visually) and that was a brand new '73 Opel Manta Rallye. Mine looked great in Chrome Yellow with the black stripes and hood and proved to be a fun and very decent runner. I enjoyed it for many years before selling it on and have been so bummed I was never able to find a decent one to restore in my later years.
I have a 2018 Buick TourX wagon which is an Opel. They discontinued importing them in 2019. It’s a truly wonderful car. Surprisingly competent in every area.
Yet another imported vehicle I’ve never seen before. Thanks Steve!
Excellent video. I remember sitting in an Opel Manta during a display at the Fairfield Mall in Chicopee, Mass. in the early 1970s.Checking out the four speed shifter and thinking I really wanted that car. The Opel GT aka mini Vette was also intriguing. A co worker had one for her daily driver in the 1980s and we still see one or two in Denver area car shows today
Saw one of these in a junk yard in Conroe, Tx. once, thought it was so cool looking, like a mini Nomad.
Why are you pepole picking at Steve's hair ? Grow up !!
Don King hair😂🤣
He must make a lot of the videos well in advance because the video from four days ago, his hair is jet black now it’s going gray 🤔
I wonder how many people watching this wish they had hair😀
The hair is a result of being 58 and Hat Head. I used to care about "looking young-ish" because TV Decision Maker Knuckleheads don't like gray hair. But I'm done with TV (except of course next week's Barrett-Jackson) so I'm letting it all go gray. The black tips are all that remains of a hair dye job from a few months ago. I figure this isn't a fashion show so no problem. Thanks for watching and writing. -Steve Magnante
Looks way more natural than the 'shoe polish' black imo.
Kind of cool cars. Friend of mine older brother had a couple Opel manta . And can’t forget Opel gt. They called that gt the poor man’s corvette
Wats up with the bed head styling ?
Look forward to seeing you every day. Love the info.
Thanks for the memories. I had an Opel Manta and GT in high school. Loved them but way too much rust for my limited skill set.
Really cool Steve, I worked at a GM dealership fresh out of high school, it was a Cadillac, Pontiac, Buick, GMC, Opal dealership!
Great video showcasing the once mighty Opel marque we had here in the states. These were great cars and a great value compared to VW at the time. In the mid 80's I had a 2dr 1960 Opel Rekord sedan with 24,000 original miles on it! Still had the German Firestone wide white tires from the factory. Mine had a 1.5 4 cylinder and it stripped the fiber cam gear and even then it was near impossible to find parts for that car. Luckily Bill Daily Opel Parts in MA came to the rescue with a NOS cam gear and a soiled shop manual to repair it. These were small but comfortable roomy cars and rode well for such an economy brand. The wagon was pronounced Car-A-Van because it doubled as a car or a van to haul stuff with its roomy cargo area. Hence the upper case A in the badge to denote pronunciation. Even my little 69 Kadett Car-A-Van had 12 cu ft of cargo area and the Opel wagons were famous for the hatch lifting far up out of the way to ease in loading or unloading without hitting your head. 70 years of Buick has lots of Opel pics and history on the brand. Opels today bring big money because ones this old are scarce as hens teeth to find in any sort of good condition. Im still trying to find another 1.1 Kadett wagon to redeem myself for letting mine go in 2006 after 26 years of ownership only to be junked by its new owner that lost interest. Theres lots of Rekord owners out there that could use super rare parts off that car for sure! One thing about the clock in the cluster, that was the handle sticking out the bottom to set it, and also wind it up!
I had a 74 Opel Manta for a couple years as a winter beater in the early ninties. Only thing I did to it was swap out the single barrel Solex carb for a two barrel Webber. It was a fun little car.
Steve, I bet your the type that showers once a week ! Whats up with that same shirt you wear on every episode ! If your that freakin poor the Salvation Army thrift store has any kind of shirt ever made for 99 cents a piece. And finally if you don't at least make an attempt the comb that mop you call hair, I'm never watching another one of your videos. Note: It's no wonder you were sacked from Motor Trend TV !
I owned a pair of these over 20 years ago. One was a parts car, the other one would run, but I never had the time to get it on the road. Sold it locally and the new owner got it going. I saw it once, then it disappeared back into his storage buildings. Might have to check in with him to see if he still has it. These are very stylish small cars. Looks like a 56 GM wagon, shrunk down 20%.
Whenever I think of Opel, I think of the Opel GT; those mini-corvette sporty cars. I remember seeing lots of them in the 70s. The thing is, I’ve never seen one in running condition. Not ever. Not even back then. I’m 56. They were always that car sitting on blocks in your uncles neighborhood, or kept off to the side, or half torn apart in your friends dad’s garage. You still see them around. I saw a pair on CL not long ago. I was thinking seriously about the modern one when it came out, the Pontiac Solstice. But in the back of my mind, all I could think of was all those defective GTs.
I had an Opel GT back in the mid 80s. I absolutely loved that car. It was very reliable and a joy to drive. The mechanically actuated headlights were really cool. All my friends loved that car. It also nabbed me several one night stands!! Lol. I was just out of high school when I got it. It was a friends car. He had decided to upgrade to a 74 vette so I got the GT for $600. I ended up upgrading myself to a 77 280 Z. A far superior car in every respect.
Steve, Thank you for the history & background info on this once great GM division. Hope to see a GT in your video.
Wow the intro picture looks full size till Steve walks to it and it shrunk, that's a cool car,and a metric dash, great video 👍
Glad you like it
@@SteveMagnante Did that car body look to be to far gone for restoring, or salvage under it? Does he have any Henry J cars there going with the small car theme, great video, thanks for responding
Thanks for covering them "weird" ferren jobs!
I remember seeing several European GM, Ford, and Chrysler products growing up. Once Datsun and Toyota came ashore, most people started buying them.
Your literature collection is very impressive Steve . You could make a video about it, and your models as well.
WHAT’S WITH THE BED HEAD STEVE???…LOL love the channel!
What an incredible automotive history lesson !!
I never knew that 😳 thanks Steve
Ironic , how they're owned by Stalantis ( Peugeot )
My Aunt owned an Opel Gt
My other aunt owned the 2 dr wagon
Both during the 1970s
Hello Steve
Love the Opels here in Ireland, have a ‘69 Opel rekord coupe and a ‘72 Manta coupe. Great cars:)
Good work as usual.
Owned a 1973 Manta which I autocrossed along with a Opel GT ! Both were fun to drive and handled very well.
We're all pulling for you Steve. Hope to see you soon
During the late-90’s or early-00’s, Chrysler was traveling the car show circuit with a concept car that I think they referred to as the “Super Eight” that eventually morphed into the 300/Magnum/Charger platform when these vehicles were released a few years down the road. One of the styling cues on the concept was a wraparound front windshield that was very reminiscent of the curved front glass found on so many 50’s era American vehicles.
I remember when the production cars were introduced I was SO BUMMED OUT that the wraparound windshield wasn’t one of the design elements that made its way onto the production vehicles…….☹
Good info and a good laugh!
Hi Steve, nice video! The engine temperature gauge the you noted is not metric "Celsius" it's "Fahrenheit". Your looking at the temperature gauge backwards. The high temperature readings are on the left side, and the low temperature are on the right side. This was popular with old foreign cars, even with old foreign oil pressure gauges, tank gauges (fuel gauges), mile counters (speedometers) and and rev counters (tachometers). Many foreign country(s) recognize high to low the opposite that way that we do. Please reply. Dave...
I love these videos since I am a car weirdo as well. I am surprised you did not notice that the 212 is the boiling point of water in Fahrenheit not metric. If it was metric it would say 100 degrees. I think you do a good job with these and they are very entertaining. Thank You Neale in Canada ( a metric country)
Yes! I noticed the 212 degree reading on the dash as well. Definitely not metric.
Thanks again Steve
Very cool! A other piece of automotive history I didn't know about. I love this channel!!
Glad you enjoy it!
Love your dog! Keep bringing him to your videos!!
Cool content, i love it. What track is on you videos end?
Hey Steve, you still doing Barrett Jackson shows? Can't get enough of these videos. Keep them coming sir. Thanks
That car is rare indeed. Would be cool to see something like that at a car show
I noted that the pictures of the Kadette in the brochure had the lines of the 68-72 Malibu. I don’t remember ever seeing the Kadette. The GT was more common in terms of Opels in the area where I grew up, with rare Manta once in a while. The GTs were considered “cool” in high school even though they weren’t power houses. I honestly don’t remember even wondering about their reliability - was too busy being wrapped up in the Ford v Chevy and “Donald has fake K-Mart mags on his Ranchero” ….
Kmart mags 🤣👍
My neighbor had a Kadette wagon. It was the definition of a rattle trap.
Ultimate fake mags were the mag wheel covers from JC Whitney
Thanks Guys! What a cool find. It does look like a smaller Nomad from the side. I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen one on the road. (Hope that big hole in the roof above the driver happened in the yard!)
Keep up the good work Steve and camera man your videos are awesome 👍. Smiles 😃 from Canada 🇨🇦
A few of my neighbors had Open Kadettes. There were Opel GT's as well.
Wow never saw or heard of those thanks Steve
Looking as though a little more snow is on top of the roof (head )more than normal, hopefully there is still smoke in the chimney
Hey Steve, I've always watched for the info on the cars, but now I'm also watching to see how your hairdo is evolving! 😂😂
U learn something from every video! Thanks Steve.
Love the cars with wrap around windows.
ANY VINTAGE TWO DOOR WAGON IS SUPER COOL 😎😎😎!
That one is very comparable in size to the Rambler.
AWESOME EPISODE
Interesting video never seen one of those early opals like that. The dkw was part of Auto Union the four rings were Dkw Audi Horsh and Wanderer
The water temp is not Celcius, it is just backwards, it sweeps from right to left. Very weird.
Not sCience 😉
In the early 1970's a guy in my area had a V8 powered Opel Kadette with a flip top body street car. He drove it quite a lot on the street. There was that along with a blown 392 Hemi Henry J street car too. Those were just 2 of the many wild street cars back in the 1970's.
I assisted with stuffing a chevy small block into a late 60s Kadette back around 1972. The guy actually drove it around town for the better part of a year. We also used the chevy rear and trans with huge tires on the back.
@@rupe53 👍
Yup, Opel was part of GM for years. No, it is not a captive import. A captive import is sold under a US brand name but supplied by a foreign supplier. A Ford Courier is a captive import, as was a Chevrolet LUV, or the Dodge Colt. This is a full imported vehicle sold under a foreign name owned by a US company, not a US brand. Opels were sold under the Buick name through the 1979 model year.
Sekurit is part of Saint-Gobain, a French company. I have vinyl siding on my workshop garage that is from Saint-Gobain as they are a multi-industrial company. Yes, that side glass is not laminated side glass, it is just safety glass. Notice the "AS2" rating on the side glass. That is meant to shatter in small pieces rather than splinter in large shards as older glass often would, leaving rough jagged edges in a crash. A windshield is rated "AS1" which is laminated safety glass. Most windshields are marked with "LAMINATED" or like some GM windshields "LAMINATED SAFETY FLO-LITE" (which is tinted laminated glass). Laminated glass, as you described is glass sandwiched between two layers of laminate or plastic to retain the glass upon impact and keep it together. You can actually roll up a laminated windshield and throw it in a trash can. I've done it. LOL.
No, Chrysler was the first to offer a wrap around windshield in 1934. PPG invented Herculite in 1938 which strengthened glass.
Thanks G P , very informative info . When I was a pre - teen late fifties , early sixties , us kids that hung around the junk yards would search for the smashed side windows on cars and collect it in flour bags thinking it was diamonds . What a great feeling we got to be rich millionaires for awhile ! We didn't have the junk kids have today but used our imaginations for endless hours of play .
@@daynadiggle8169I guess you were trying to do what Meat Loaf warned in the 1977 song "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad", in that you were looking for that ruby in a pile of rocks. LOL.
I believe the term you're looking for is "gray market import" in the US. Only reason I know that is from all the importers in my hometown, one of the largest arrays of different import guys in the US outside of California. Captive imports were something else entirely, and the trucks like Courier and BRAT and LUV had a clever way around the Chicken Tax. They were truly fascinating times back then 🤣
@@Drmcclung No, that's not correct. A "gray market" import is one that isn't legally allowed to be (or "shouldn't" be) imported here (to the US). A captive import is a foreign made vehicle sold under an American name. For instance, the Ford Courier was sold in Ford (not Mazda) dealerships, but was made by Mazda for Ford. That's a captive import. This Opel is a straight import. It was sold in the US and made by a marque that isn't headquartered in the US.
I've worked on "gray market" cars, for instance an "M" powered 1985 BMW 635CSI. The vehicle's controls were all in German, it had European lights, and nothing matched a US spec BMW at the time. Parts had to come from a parts store that was able to get those parts. Most times, they had to be shipped over from Europe.
@@googleusergp That's what I said.. captives were to avoid chicken tax and they were largely any make just rebadged for sales reasons by the importer and sometimes sold as their original make like Honda and Toyota and Nissan, gray market was stuff that was never made available here for reasons. Nothing more than that. Gray market were still subject to DOT safety approval if you had any hope of ever titling and insuring it. Euro spec cars were a HUGE deal at the time and there were all kinds of tricks to get them in and legalized. Pre-1973 it wasn't a big deal to bring anything in so anything prior to that it was a smorgasbord of stuff.. whatever you were willing to import and pay for
My Opa {grandpa} was loyal to Opel in the 1960s & 1970s when I was growing up in Munich Germany & he always got a new one about every 4-5 years until he died in 1979 ✌💖☮
I've never seen one of these. I like it a lot. I'm sure they're hard to find.
Certainly are over here, anyway. Never seen one in 50 years of shows.
The Ghostbusters look is starting to grow on me.
Cool Steve in bernardson auto wrecking in Bernardson Massachusetts lol. When i was a wee lad my mom had a 68 opel kadettt wagon which she had serviced at the buick dealer until 76 when my parentss bought the 76 cutlass supreme wagon.. many vacation trips in both of the wagons... good times bro
I mean... "has to be a Nomad, right?"... There were other 50's two-door GM station wagons that were not Nomad than just Opel, even though once you own a two-door Chevy wagon, you really weed out the real car guys, so many people will still call it a Nomad.
That looks like an early morning after a night of cheap liqueur to me. I resemble those comments.
Thanks again Steve!!
My neighbor neighbors had an Opel car like the one in the brochure marketed by Buick. It was white with a black stripe low on the sides with Opel on the doors. My memory of the car at the time was it was a rust bucket. I do not recall ever riding in it. The neighbors both worked for Republic Airlines.
Hi Steve, great video on this Opel wagon. What a great find! You have to love any and all 2dr wagons like you said hot rodders love them. The Opel Gt and Kadett are the ones I remember the most. As mentioned, GM owned them, and a lot of Americans were driving Opels and never knew. Some Buicks, Saturns, and the Cadillac Catera were rebadged Opels. I would love to find one of those Opel Kadett Rallye, especially in white. A friend of mine had an Opel Gt and if I remember correctly it had the directional headlights. I never saw them but remember him talking about the pop up headlights. My only thoughts at the time when I saw it as with many other European cars, will a 289 or SBC fit? Have a blessed day everyone. Namaste 🙏🏼
Hi Chris, the crazy thing about those Opel GT headlights was how you had to CRANK EACH SIDE around to the "up" position! Peek inside one some time and you'll see a crank on each end of the dash! Thanks again for watching and writing. -Steve Magnante
@@SteveMagnante From what I remember, Steve, in the Opel GT it had in big arm to pull and they both flipped at once.
The temperature gauge is not metric. It looks to indicate in Fahrenheit.
Awesome, I have never seen one. Would to have one with a 4.3 and a 5 speed.
I saw a lot of them here in Sweden when i was a child!
Hello Sweden! I spent a few weeks near Gothenberg (I'm killing the spelling but you know what I mean) as a kid in 1981 visiting the family of a U.S. neighbor. It was sunny and nice that summer. Apparently my arrival coincided with a break in something like 75 days of rain. Saw lots of Saabs and Volvos. I drive a Volvo V70 wagon today! In fact that car brings me to Bernardston Auto Wrecking every shoot day. It has a 5-cylinder and runs great with 224,000 miles on it. Still going strong. Thanks for watching and writing. -Steve Magnante
@@SteveMagnante also, thanks to you for all fun and educational videos...we all love cars i guess no matter where we live :)
I remember my brother-in-law working on my ex-wife's Opal Kadet, telling us about the weird auto transmission. Being belt driven scratching our heads trying to picture it.
Would be cool to see some of these cars restored. (This one is too far gone)
Wow, that's a rare bird.
Awesome find!
Nice find, Steve!
The temp is in Farenheit that is the significance of the 212. And there is an F. on the top of the display. Interesting car love the hubcaps for some reason.
DKW was also part of Auto Union. You can see the four rings on the back of the brochure as he turns the brochure over while pitching it into the car. Also NSU was Auto Union.
Audi now
Until the mid-late ´70s the windshields were “ Sekurit“, except Mercedes. The Opel Kadett Rally was my dadˋs first car…..
Thank you Steve
The Peta folks would be having a fit if someone tried that with an elephant nowadays, anyone remember Cal Worthington and his dog spot ? Awe the good ole days where have they gone 😭 Thanks Steve and crew 🐕👁️
Go see Cal!
Cal Worthington died in 2013 at 92 years. The Sacramento Bee had a really good article about him. He had a really interesting life. WW2 pilot etc.
@@88SC "I'll stand on my head till my ears are turning red "😂👍
I always say It's a good day when I learn something new. Today is a very good day. I had no idea this vehicle even existed.
Glad you enjoyed it
One of these or one of those sweet Kadett Rallyes with a hot small-block Chevy or LS or something and a 4-, 5-, or 6-speed stick and like a narrowed 4.10s 9" would be SO cool...
I had never seen one of these....even in pictures. I think that style wagon would make a sweet little rod or even a stock restoration. Oh the possibilities.
Hey Steve, are you going to be at Barrett-Jackson next week?
I will be there! Thanks for watching and writing. -Steve Magnante
A 69 Opel two door wagon was one of my first cars
Forgot your high school science class? The temperature gauge is in US standard gauge, topped out at 212 degrees, boiling point of water, “metric” or more precisely, Celsius, would top at 100. 😂👍🇨🇦
By the way….did you drive to the junkyard in a convertible?? 😜