Hello from Germany

[GS2.8]

Just signed in here from Germany to be able to also get some info on the US versions of 50s-70s Opels.

I live not too far from Ruesselsheim, Germany and own a couple of Opels. As I used to do body work at a dealership the often needed fight against rust is not all so bad, but I usually prefer original unrestored cars in good condition.

The cars are all in good to very good condition, except for the 71 Commodore GS2.8 2dr. sedan I bought last year and am about to get it running after it was parked 8 years ago. Practically a one owner car (the second owner only drove it home and regretted the buy after a closer look at the body condition leaving it in his garage). There were only 323 2dr. sedans built, mostly for competition and the only one I saw offered for a long time, so I took it. Actual resto will start next year, technically it's alright (at least according to the seller), I'll find out next week when I replaced the fuel pump.

All the best Klaus

[baz]

hi and welcome klaus dont forget to post some photos so we can see as you go along with your project

[wklopf]

Hello Klaus. Since you are not too far from Russelsheim, have you ever attended the old Opel parts exchanges held there in March and September? If so, is there much interesting stuff there. I have a 62 Rekord Coupe on the way across the ocean right now and parts for Opels of this age appear to be quite scarce in the US. Best regards. Bill

[GS2.8]

The Ruesselsheim swap meets are a great source for parts and addresses. You have the Opel parts offerings of a large swap meet without searching for the Opel vendors. I've been there every time for the last 3 years. Only disadvantage: they know what they have, so no steal deals for rare parts.

I own a PII 2dr. sedan, originally built in Switzerland from CKD parts. Car was laplata-silver (one of the 3 base colors for the coupe), but was repainted in a silver shade that is a bit greener than the original at least 30 years ago. Otherwise rust free and unrestored with about 50k mls.

[wklopf]

I always thought that CKD cars were sent to far away places like South Africa. My second Opel was a 1961 Rekord two-door sedan which I bought in 1961 with about 3000 miles on it. I paid $1850 for it. List was $2050 with $200 off for the miles. It was Hawaii blau (blue, if you don't read German). The coupe which I have coming is a silver color with a green roof. I think that this is a stock color. I got a brochure for this car on German ebay. It shows a white car with a dark blue roof, the silver and green, and a deep red or burgundy with black roof. The brochure is in Dutch, but no matter. I speak a bit of Dutch as I do a bit of German. It is enough that I feel comfortable buying on ebay.de. Bill

[GS2.8]

The color should be laplata silver, the same my car came in. You could order it solid or two tone with a blue (more common) or the green roof. Only other colors were cherry red (with black top opt.), and white (with black top or also green I think opt.) Hope you got a good example.

Swiss production had it's reason for tax reasons, after 1975 production ended after the laws had been changed and production was no more worthwhile. There were still some spare parts produced I think and stored and some special editions for the Swiss market created by GM Suisse. The amazing thing was that they at one point produced Chevys,Opels,Vauxhalls etc. on one assembly line.

[Gary]

My 1951 Olympia was assembled in Switzerland.

[okieopel]

Welcome aboard Klaus. Please post some pictures of your cars.

[GS2.8]

Just happened to have shot a few pics of the GS2.8 2dr sedan today after I got it running after being parked for 8 years to the day by the previous owner. The clutch is completely run down, going to change that on Monday.

[Gary]

Looks good, Klaus.

[tekenaar]

Nice Commodore GS, Klaus, glad you found our site. I just converted a '69 Kadett LS to Rekord "sprint" specs . . .



. . . and used a modified GS air cleaner for the dual DFO carbs because I couldn't find an original . . . cheap enough, anyway.



. . . had to cut down the choke housing of each carb, fabricate an adapter plate and "offset" rear mounting bolt for the GS air cleaner to fit the DFO manifold . . . possibly the only one in use in a US Opel.

[GS2.8]

Already admired your conversion. Good choice to use the GS filter of the Commodore B model with the exchangeable paper filter, the one piece dual snorkel that was used on the A model and the Rekord C Sprint only looks better.

I never owned a Sprint, but it's said the carbs wore out pretty quickly, you have an overhauled setup (parts seem to be rare and expensive)? I really like the 1.9Liter Kadetts, and may try to add one to my collection in the future. Either the Rallye or (even better)what would have been considered a sleeper at least in Germany a Caravan or 2dr. sedan. These (non Rallye 1.9)were for a very limited time available in Germany, but chances are low to find one with the non-suspecting Euro front.

My GS was converted to the Steinmetz 3-carb setup with a competition engine from Annessi (motor builder in Vienna, Austria, export model) when new, rated at about 200hp, but never raced. Unfortunately nothing of these parts is left (the engine lasted for about 10 years and 100k km). There was a 3 Liter engine with the GS carbs installed afterwards. Still has the rare LSD though, the stronger GS/E-GS2.8 tranny/all dual exhaust and the old Remotec aluminum rims (not in the pic).

[tekenaar]

Originally Posted by GS2.8 Already admired your conversion. Good choice to use the GS filter of the Commodore B model with the exchangeable paper filter, the one piece dual snorkel that was used on the A model and the Rekord C Sprint only looks better. I never owned a Sprint, but it's said the carbs wore out pretty soon, you have an overhauled setup (parts seem to be rare and expensive)? I really like the 1.9Liter Kadetts, and may try to add one to my collection in the future. Either the Rallye or (even better)what would have been considered a sleeper at least in Germany a Caravan or 2dr. sedan. These (non Rallye 1.9)were for a very limited time available in Germany, but chances are low to find one with the non-suspecting Euro front. My GS was converted to the Steinmetz 3-carb setup with a competition engine from Annessi (motor builder in Vienna, Austria, export model) when new, rated at about 200hp, but never raced. Unfortunately nothing of these parts is left (the engine lasted for about 10 years and 100k km). There was a 3 Liter engine with the GS carbs installed afterwards. Still has the rare LSD though, the stronger GS/E-GS2.8 tranny/all dual exhaust and the old Remotec aluminum rims (not in the pic).

. . . K&N had no listings for any Opel dual carb filter elements, of course, but I knew that Mercedes had used a dual Zenith carb intake on their DOHC-6 engines during the late '60s - early '70s and very similar to the early Commodore GS 2.5/2.8 CIH-6 intake. This is what I used to determine which filter element to use in my Commodore "B" GS air filter housing . . ..

Once I received the GS air filter from Germany (German eBay item), I actually ended up selecting the filter element from the K&N catalog, an E-9178, by shape [oval] and dimensions, L 17.437" (443mm) x W 9.875" (250mm) x H 2.125" (54mm), in case you were curious.

[jbracefan1977]

Originally Posted by tekenaar . . . K&N had no listings for any Opel dual carb filter elements, of course, but I knew that Mercedes had used a dual Zenith carb intake on their DOHC-6 engines during the late '60s - early '70s and very similar to the early Commodore GS 2.5/2.8 CIH-6 intake. This is what I used to determine which filter element to use in my Commodore "B" GS air filter housing . . .. Once I received the GS air filter from Germany (German eBay item), I actually ended up selecting the filter element from the K&N catalog, an E-9178, by shape [oval] and dimensions, L 17.437" (443mm) x W 9.875" (250mm) x H 2.125" (54mm), in case you were curious.

I have the same K&N also and love it, I could not find a good deal on ebay so I found a discount coupon here: K&N E-9178, or you can try one of the vendors on the forum here, you can usually find a good deal that way as well. This was very easy to install and I love it.