How rare is my Opel?

[Mike Trout]

I have had a few comments about my Opel about it being a harder to find car, I would like to know if this is true or not,
My Opel as some of you is..........rusted....and....rusted...but she is in the process of being restored to being completly origonal from the tires to the radio.
Well, my car is a 1969 Opel GT. 1.1 liter with both solex carbs. 4 speed transmission. It is kind of a silver color i dont know if it has a green tint to it or its that faded. It had all Red Interior. Factory spare tire still holds air in the back.
I recieved the car for free from a family member and have the title. The car has 187,??? miles on it. The frist motor rebuild was at 97k and im ready to do the second one. The motor has bad compression due to bad rings so this car is getting a complete nut and bolt restoration. But people have told me this car is kind of rare. What kind of power and gears did my car come with I would like to know the specs all the colors I need to but it back to factory and just all the numbers I can find such as production, power, gears, rareity and such
Thanks
Mike,

[Jonzo]

According to the book "Opel GT Project 1484" there were:

103,463 total Opel GT's manufactured between 1968-1973.

3,573 of the total production were made with the 1100 engine, only available in '68,'69, & '70.

70,564 of the total GT production were sold in the USA by Buick.

342 of the GT's sold by Buick were 1100's and were only sold in 1969.

Welcome to the rare Opel club!

-Jonzo

[opelnut10]

If you have a 1969 1.1 GT it is a rare car and worth restoring. Sounds like you have all the pieces there. It was not green with a red interior because they only put the red interior in white and silver cars, more than likely from your discription it is a silver car. That enging is the SR version of the 1.1 and produced the highest horsepower of any 1.1 stock. These cars are about 225 pounds lighted than the 1.9 cars and the gearing is either 3:89 or 4:22 (I think) anyway these cars drive very well because they are nimble and light and it gets about 30-32 MPG which don't hurt either. It will out perform a stock 72 or 73 1.9 GT and is a bunch more fun to drive. Good Luck and leave it like they made it.

[danielhansen200]

hello friends!
I am coming to you today from California, where I have just come accross an Opel GT, which has been sitting behind someone's house since at least 1986, at which time the car was flooded, and has been left sitting ever since. His neighbor indicates that there is no current title paperwork for this vehicle, but it may be possible to acquire this car for about $50(U.S.). Any serious inquiries, please send me any e-mail to danielhansen2001@yahoo.com, and I will find out as much information as possible for you. Please be patient as far as how quickly I can respond, as this car is located at a nieghbor to my daughter's friend's house, and I have no direct information available for the owner of this car....

[namba209]

Daniel, one of our members, Opel Wasp lives in the same city you do, he may be on the lookout for one. Hope you two can get together.

[spdkilz02]

him or betta carotene is also looking for one...

[namba209]

Yeah, Alan is in Bakersfield though, about 2-300 miles south. Either one would be a good candidate for the car though. But then again, it depends on the shape of the car too, whether either would want it. Just thought, T-6 Driver is moving out that way too, wonder if he's in the market?

[GTJIM]

Originally Posted by Jonzo 3,573 of the total production were made with the 1100 engine, only available in '68,'69, & '70. 342 of the GT's sold by Buick were 1100's and were only sold in 1969. Welcome to the rare Opel club! -Jonzo

Get hold of the March, 2006 ( issue 7) of hemming's "Sports & Exotic Car" magazine - http://www.hemmings.com/index.cfm/fu...backissues_hsx - there is a great feature article about Tom Adkins' "Mighty Mouse" .... a 1969 1.1 litre GT.

The question is: How many of the 342 are still left! Not many I'll bet.....

[Gary]

Mike - What is the VIN? Does it have a flat or recessed panel behind the license plate?

[scrapman]

I was wondering if anyone has any idea or estimate of how many Opel GT's may possibly still be remaining. I know data is probably limited in this but I have always wondered how many might be left out there.

Scrapman
Rick
71 GT, 73 Manta Luxus

[Jonzo]

Well I currently have four GT's in my garage (two '69's, one '71 and one '73)and I definitely totaled-out a '71 GT in 1981. So subtract at least one from the 103,463 production run.

By the way, my original goal was to have a GT from every year, but I don't really expect to ever get my hands on one of the 31 1968 GT's sold by Buick.
-Jonzo

[saxybiker]

That was our goal too, we are only lacking a 68....I guess they just didn't make enough of them.

Vickie

[GTJIM]

I estimate that as many as 20% - maybe 25% of the GTs still exist in various states of repair. So there could be as many as 25,000 still about.

With the number of people on this site there has to be 4,000 to 5,000 actually driving on the streets of the World!

[ConreroGT]

25% is probably a good guess. Opel's in the US in general are pretty rare. Just to put "rare" into perspective: Did you know that since Ferrari started building cars in 1947 they've only produced around 80,000 cars? What were the Manta's production numbers in the US?

[spdkilz02]

so in other words u r saying that there may only be 80-90 1969 1.1 GT's left...that i would say is a rare car then...definately keep it stock...

[Mike Trout]

Hey everyone The rear panel behind the lisence plate is recessed I dont know if thats good or bad, It is a silver color its just faded really bad, the vin is, on the title the prefix says 5 and then identification number is,93179 8959 so there ya go tell me what you know and thanks for the input!
Mike,

[lezliewk]

my first gt was a 69,silver with red inside, 1.1 ltr. 65 ci/67hp 4 speed and I bought it new,traded it for a 1970 GT with 1.9. The 1.1 would get 40 mpg if you took it easy but who ever took it easy at that time in life, Good luck on restoring it

[GTJIM]

Originally Posted by Mike Trout Hey everyone The rear panel behind the lisence plate is recessed I dont know if thats good or bad, It is a silver color its just faded really bad, the vin is, on the title the prefix says 5 and then identification number is,93179 8959 so there ya go tell me what you know and thanks for the input! Mike,

Mike, The 1969 model year started with chassis number XX153 5504 and the 1970 year at XX189 2645 for the 1.1 GTs so yours is between these numbers and closer to the end of 1969 build date. With the recessed rear panel that looks about right as the change to that took place before mid 1969. Yours would have been built maybe around June/July 1969.

[soybean]

I'm looking at the title to the 69 that I have, and it has a VIN nos of 941714386. It has the flip up ashtray, solid rear side windows, 2 sets of seatbelts in the rear, high/low beam button on the turn signal stalk and the correct headlight indicator on the dash. I can't remember for sure, but I believe the dash cluster is the push in, not screw in type. It doesn't have the 1.1 engine, there is the 1.9 in it. I bought it from the original owner, with a terrible case of floorboard rot. It has been tarped since I got it 2 years ago. I think I have another instrument cluster that is a push in as well. Jarrell

[Gary]

Originally Posted by GTJIM .... Yours would have been built maybe around June/July 1969.

There is a date stamped into the body where the panhard bar attaches.

@Mike - What is the number that is stamped on the drivers side radiator support? It's near the master cylinder, on the piece that angles toward the front.

[Mike Trout]

Is there any possible way we can find out how many were produced in my color package,
Gary I will go look on the car saturday and see what kind of numbers I can come up with
Thanks, Mike

[Jonzo]

I've never seen statistics on the production of Opel GTs broken down by exterior colors. It'd be great if someone could find that information. I do know that the Silver exterior with red interior was only offered in 1969 (probably '68 too) on the US spec cars. 1971 US spec Opel GTs could also be silver, but only with a black interior as was my first GT back in 1980!
The rest of the world had more latitude as far as color combos and they could still specify the silver exterior with red interior after 1969. (again according to the book "Opel GT Projekt 1484").
Did you look at your GT's ID plate to verify the original color combo? What does it say next to the words Color/Farbe? The color code on the ID plate should clear up any confusion.
-Jonzo

[asdasc]

I was just looking at what info I had on colors and have never really thought about it before, but I am suprised that in all the years of the GT they never offered black as an option. Hard to believe! Come to think of it, even in restorations, I haven't seen many folks paint them black. For those of you who have seen it, does it look good?

[neuropel]

Oddly enough, I've owned two black GTs. My first one is pictured here:
http://www.jdwheels.com/images/Opel%20GT%20Snyper.jpg

I think black is a great color on a GT. Long ago someone told me that Opel vowed NOT to make black cars because they were forced to make black cars for the the Nazi party during WWII. I always assumed that was urban legend...anyone else ever hear something along those lines? There are certainly black Opels in later years, but it is a color oddly missing from the days or our imported Opels. Anyone know the scoop?

Todd K.

[GoinManta]

Originally Posted by ConreroGT 25% is probably a good guess. Opel's in the US in general are pretty rare. Just to put "rare" into perspective: Did you know that since Ferrari started building cars in 1947 they've only produced around 80,000 cars? What were the Manta's production numbers in the US?

Produced From: 1970 - 1975

Total Number Produced: 498,553

Don't have the breakdown US vs Europe, etc.. Did at one time though.

Just as the GT has its 68' the Manta does have a 70', a member here has one in a barn in GA.. one day.. it may just go missing if I find out where that barn is

Rare ones are the European special editions.

D.O.T. Turbo (U.K.) - 18 made

T/E 2800 - Under 100 (Holland?)

Black Magic - 75' GT/E Black with special seats, trim and paint (Germany?)

Swinger - 75' GT/E White with special trim.. (Germany ?)

Luxus - 400 (U.K. version, the US Luxus (Same name different car was fairly common)

Blue Max - All Blue w/ Sunroof and Vynil top (US - Only US special edition) - 300

I think I may have written this all up somewhere here.

Charles