I'm back after 22 years

[Dale jr's opels]

In 1983 to 1986 I bought about 18 opel's mostly GT's but there was manta and Kadetts also, I thought I could save the GT world,alot of people thought I was man to take your Opel work to in the Twin cities area MN, then there comes a wife, next a pretty baby girl, that makes 3 and that is a crowd for a Opel GT, goodbye my last Opel GT, hello 4 door Opel manta, this car didn't last.
Then just last week I won 2 Opel Gt's on Ebay $1,000 went to Kansas, got them both home 2 trips, they will need some metal work, I'm rebuilding one of the engines this week, I plan on taking lots of pictures of a total restoration, that Dale jr. and I are planing doing togather.
Then, another 1972 Opel GT shows up on Ebay a few days later with a buy now for $800.00 that is a runner so I bought that one also.
glad to be back!
Dale"Flying Eagle"Chilton
chiltoncue.com

[kwilford]

Dale, welcome to OGT.com. Your post didn't have much in common with Chris' thread on his GT coming back from the paint shop, so I split it off and moved it here to the Introductions Forum. If you have any questions on posting etiquette or where to add or start posts, please don't hesitate to ask any of the Moderators, or have a read at
http://www.opelgt.com/forums/general...ease-read.html
Another useful site for posting suggestions is at
Hi newbie, you want to post on a forum? this is what you need to know!

HTH and again welcome to OGT.com

[vikesman101]

Welcome back Dale

I am one of the few Minnesota Opelers around, most of the cars up here rotted away years ago. Should you need anything just let me know, I have a small stock pile of parts and I know a few other Minnesota Opelers. Good to have another friend up here.

Tom

[franbev]

Twenty years ago Gene was one of the local Opel experts in Minneapolis. He also worked on Ferraris and Rolls Royces. He has since retired due to health reasons but he still has his Opel Kadett Rally. I recently bought his blue 1900 that sat in his shop for years. It needs lots of work and I'll need lots of advice from this forum.

[wattiefan]

Welcome both of you!

[baronbors]

Back in the early 80's, I had a 71 GT in Blaine Minn ( suburb of Minneapolis ) It was black, dual downdrafts, konis, side pipes and flames coming out of the headlights and up over the roof. God- I loved that car. Then came wife and kid and the GT had to go. Maybe you ended up with it?

[Gordy]

I found another former Opel expert! Back in the early 70's when I didn't know a spark plug from a lug nut, I used to take my 1967 Kadett 1.1 Rallye to a mechanic who did a little side work in his drive way. He was the Opel mechanic at the local Buick/Opel dealer.
Couple weeks ago I had driven my Manta to work (which involves making stops at several car dealerships) and a mechanic at a Honda store saw my Opel and asked if I knew a guy named "Kiwi" who used to work on those things, and that Kiwi is now a service manager at a local Nissan store. I said it had been over 30 years but I had known him way back when.
I went over to the Nissan store and sure enough Kiwi was there, remembered me and my Opels, and was all over the car. Wanted to know where the heck I found parts for it these days (I said it's easier now with the internet than it was back in the 80's when you had to page thru the phone book and call import or "Foriegn Car" part stores asking for Opel parts!). Said he had worked on Opels for years but had never owned one himself (we would love to change that!). I took my GT down a couple weeks later and again he was amazed that there were any still around. I told him we will go to lunch real soon and he can drive the GT when we go. Maybe he will get bitten by the bug! He would be a great asset to our site and an additional source of years of professional experience working on our beloved cars! First thing he had said was how often he had had to literally "file down" the warped bases of so many Solex carbs to get them flat again so they wouldn't have vacuumn leaks, and checked to make sure I had a heat shield under my Weber carb!