A True 1968 Opel GT??

[Motor Mouth]

Motor Mouth your mission should you accept is to find your copy of Projekt 1484 before bedtime (2300hrs in the UK) and not wake the whole of the household.......Do this not for your country but for the good of the Opel Community!

[Jonzo]

According to my copy of Projekt 1484:
"According to official data of OPELS the GT refreshes first series with 12 September 1968 the Fliebband in Bochum and carries the chassis number 1587440."
(translation courtesy of Babelfish)
-Jonzo

[opelnut10]

Originally Posted by Motor Mouth ......maybe we have the prototypes! Don't forget if your doing a GT/J you'll also need to change your window rubbers, loose the heater element on the rear screen (if your GT has the option), loose the chrome blitz on the front and fill in your back panel so it has no chrome text, change your driving light pods, change your wing mirror, change your gas cap, change your oil / voltmeter gauge, loose the clock for an OPEL blitz blanking plate, change your carpet for rubber mats, loose the chrome trims to your wheels and order in the GT/J stripe to finish off the look.....just a little bit more work for you during the winter months

I am not building a 100 point concours GT/J I have the window gaskets and a non-heated rear window and fixed quarter windows. The turn signal housings are powder coated and the Blitz on the nose as well. The rear lettering will be chrome only because the car will be silver (original color) with a wide black stripe. As far as the gar cap I feel like some other people do, It looks like you would use it to wind it up, I'm going with flush mount aircraft style gas filler and changing out the back-up light light to one from a late model Mini so it will actually be of some use. Anyway as soon as you raise the hood the game is over anyway

[Motor Mouth]

Originally Posted by Jonzo According to my copy of Projekt 1484: "According to official data of OPELS the GT refreshes first series with 12 September 1968 the Fliebband in Bochum and carries the chassis number 1587440." (translation courtesy of Babelfish) -Jonzo

Jonzo...thank goodness you found yours, I've turned the house upside down, woken the kids, the wifes giving me ear-ache and I still haven't found it.

If you could look in your copy again there are sections listed for each of the production year, if you have a look at 1969 it should list the VIN number for the first cars it regards as '69 cars.

Of all the GT books out there this is a close as we're going to get tonight with finding an answer as the only reason I say this is having meet the two authors some years ago I had the chance to talk to them and found that Opel literally gave them open access to the data regarding the original project...'Experimental GT' and then everything from it......needless to say I also asked them to sign my copy of Projekt 1484

[tekenaar]

I added a link to the GM manual VIN page in GTJim's post #4 earlier in this thread days ago. Just click on the underlined text . . . sorry, I thought it was clear, but in reading subsequent posts, evidently it wasn't . . .

[tomcat]

Thanks for all the input. I was already fairly sure this one of mine is an early 69 as the difference in it versus my other 69 are listed above. I hope someone might have an idea of when some of these changes started to take place. Mid-69?? I did send an e-mail to the opel factory link rainerhopfengart@de.opel.com and may get a clearer history on mine. I haven't looked at the engine yet as someone mentioned a 1.5L head, of course I wouldn't know the difference yet anyway. I am sure some of you are convinced about the whole story and I would love to see a thorough documentation of all this put together for all to see.

[tekenaar]

Originally Posted by tomcat Thanks for all the input. I was already fairly sure this one of mine is an early 69 as the difference in it versus my other 69 are listed above. I hope someone might have an idea of when some of these changes started to take place. Mid-69?? I did send an e-mail to the opel factory link rainerhopfengart@de.opel.com and may get a clearer history on mine. I haven't looked at the engine yet as someone mentioned a 1.5L head, of course I wouldn't know the difference yet anyway. I am sure some of you are convinced about the whole story and I would love to see a thorough documentation of all this put together for all to see.

To the best of my knowledge, there were definitely NO 1.5 GTs produced ever . . . not from the factory anyway.

[tomcat]

I thought someone mentioned a 1.5 head on the 1.9L engine. maybe i was wrong. anyway thanks for everything and maybe i will learn something here. I agree with a number of you'll about it seems the year must be off by one in this list of numbers.

[Anonymous D]

To indicate a more complete context, the
10/2006 OMC Blitz figures, were sourced
from an early Opel manual (circa 1971).

They do appear to be one year off (possibly
due to the 1960's definition of registration
years starting each September).

[Anonymous D]

The reference, is the "H" series cylinder head
(used on 1968 and early 1969 1.9L GT's).
The "H" head is a 1.5 head (smaller combustion
chambers) with larger 1.9 sized valves.
They were reported as being very quick.

Also, true 1968 GT's were imported to the US,
both for press previews and for early Buick
dealer displays. The 1969's arrived on the
West US coast for sales deliveries on Spring 1969.

[hallgeir]

Most of us have probably seen this before, but it can`t hurt to take another look:
What Year Is It?

[Motor Mouth]

Originally Posted by tekenaar To the best of my knowledge, there were definitely NO 1.5 GTs produced ever . . . not from the factory anyway.

Definitely no 1.5 GT's produced, it was only ever 1.9 or 1.1. I suppose the only reference to something like the 1.5 would be in comparing a 3 bearing head (early) to a 4 bearing head.

[GTJIM]

1968 Opel GT:

Very Rare. The first group of GT's were hand-assembled, and only 31 were produced for 1968 US registration, with most transported to US Buick Dealers for press reviews and early display. With the 1.9 "H" cylinder head (featuring the smaller combustion chamber of the 1.5 cylinder hear combined with the larger 1.9 valves, creating 10% greater compression), these were reported as being screamingly fast. Many unique GT parts were installed in 1968's up until December, but since only a GT produced before August 1968 is considered a true '68, a check of the month and date codes on the back of the dash gauges (use a small mirror) is needed to confirm.

Quick Look Clues:

"Split" 2-Piece front bumper
Rear Taillight panel is flat, without the rectangular impression behind license plate.
Other Parts:

1.9 "H" Cylinder Head marking
Speedometer face without "W 897" or "w 1062" marking
Dash gauges have wider chrome ring face
Air filter lid on carburetor has red part numbers on top
Spare tire hold down bracket has squared wing nut
Spare tire wood shelf has access hole for gas tank sender
Heater valve is located under dash in front of passenger side seat
Sun Visors are slightly larger and differently shaped

[GTJIM]

The VIN numbers in the posts above just do not stack up:

Opel Parts Book: 1969 Model Year starts - VIN # 153504

Projekt 1484:Ist series Sept, 1968 starts - VIN # 1587440

Oldest Known GT In German List - VIN # 1558200

[hallgeir]

Yes, that is confusing. I`ve read a lot of information, and it`s very often that different sources says different things. Makes it hard to know which to trust. So far I`ve trusted the info in the Opel and GT parts book, but who knows. Probably the best thing would be to get it from Opel directly.

[hallgeir]

Originally Posted by tomcat Thanks for all the input. I was already fairly sure this one of mine is an early 69 as the difference in it versus my other 69 are listed above. I hope someone might have an idea of when some of these changes started to take place. Mid-69?? I did send an e-mail to the opel factory link rainerhopfengart@de.opel.com and may get a clearer history on mine. I haven't looked at the engine yet as someone mentioned a 1.5L head, of course I wouldn't know the difference yet anyway. I am sure some of you are convinced about the whole story and I would love to see a thorough documentation of all this put together for all to see.

Let us know what they said, OK?

[hallgeir]

This site from one of our members has a lot of information too:
Opel GT World , if you can read german, if not, Babelfish.

Some tecnical info from the same site. Among other things, the model changes are listed with starting VIN #:
Opel GT World

[GTJIM]

Originally Posted by GTJIM Projekt 1484:Ist series Sept, 1968 starts - VIN # 1587440

Some explanation of this VIN can be interpreted from the Opel GT World site .
It seems to me this is the point at which the first production changes were implemented and that there were a considerable number of GTs produced before this date. Initially the hand built pre-production and Dealer demonstrators, assembled in France and the first production line ones from Bochum. So I feel that this VIN can be discounted as the "First" GT.

It appears to be the first 'shakedown' of the Model 79 (Euro spec GTs) made for the German market - US versions were Model 77.
There ... more confussion as the early GTs were Model 93 & 94 !!

[2 Fast 4 U]

I just entered "Projekt 1484" into google and came up with 372 finds, maybe worth trying?