[jimsky]

45, I think...

My first Opel was a 1972 GT when I was a kid in high school. Back then I bought and sold used cars to make money. The GT's water pump was leaking real bad, scared the owner so I picked it up for a great price. Did the water pump and made it look nice and "recalibrated the odometer" (not proud about that now). Drove it for about a year, sold it to fund another buy and sell deal. Really loved that car.

Two of my friends in the band I was in both had Mantas. Damn we had fun with our Opels doing the stupid stuff kids do with cars...popping the clutch, chirping tires, spinning donuts, neutral drops on the Manta with the automatic tranmission.

"Grenades"... how stupid! On the highway while cruising you key the ignition "OFF"; pump the gas pedal a few times to fill the exhaust system with unburnt gas. Keep coasting. Then key the ignition back "ON" and ka-BOOM! Damn we were morons back then.

The Manta's seats reclined all the way back with what seemed like 200 turns of the big knob...very "useful" for a high school kid.

Ah, the good old days. Maybe all this had something to do with me picking up my GT 2 years ago for what my wife calls my "mid-life crisis car". Yeah, Opels are part of who I am.