69 Opel Aero GT Article

[Ooooner]

The following was copied from "Old Cars Weekly" magazine, dated April 19, 2007. Thought you may find it interesting! The writers name is Mitch Frumkin.


Concept cars have been favorite features at annual automobile shows in the United States for more than half a century. Yet, it wasn't until the early 1970s that European and Asian manufacturers began to regularly exhibit their own experimental machines in the United States.
One example was General Motors' Opel Aero GT (Gran Turismo). It appeared in the Buick exhibit during the February 1970 Chicago Auto Show.
Painted metallic blue, the Aero GT prototype was derived from the popular two-passenger, German-built Opel GT that went on sale stateside in the spring of 1969 at more than 2,100 Buick dealerships. Standing a mere 47.4 inches tall, the Aero GT styling exercise had a strong resemblance to the street GT, but came attired with body enhancements not available on the stock model. Most notable were the removable roof panel and functional vent louvers housed in the wide B-pillars that replaced the stock side windows. A final custom touch to the roof was the electrically retractable back glass, much like the 1957 Mercury Breezeway rear window.
Under the front chin of the Aero GT was a hand-built lower spoiler that ran across the entire width of the car from wheel lip to wheel lip. The car's dual side rearview mirrors were moved further forward on the front fenders.
Word is that two Aero GT examples were built, with the second body painted orange, and that legendary GM designer Larry Shinoda was responsible for styling the aerodynamic Opel GT body. That explains why the Opel GT, which was sold in the United States through 1973, looked so much like a 7/8-scale version of the 1968 Chevrolet Corvette, another of Shinoda's major creations.
Both the Opel GT and Aero GT had a soda-bottle shape with a bulge over each wheel and notchback roof with pillars flowing down the rear panel, resembling the 68' Sting Ray. Also imitating the Corvette were the pop-up headlights, but unlike the 'Vette, the Opel units rotated via a slight push on a manually operated lever housed next to the center console. Around back, the show car had four round taillights, two orange and two red, accented by an upswept tail spoiler.
As with the production "Light-your-fire" Opel GT, the prototype Aero GT used a steel unibody. Power came from a front-mounted 102-hp, 1.9-liter four-cylinder engine linked to a four-on-the-floor manual gearbox with short-throw gearshift.
The wheels were specially made of cast aluminum and were vented for extra brake cooling. Going inside, the cockpit had carpeting, full bucket seats, head restraints and shoulder and seat belts. The instrument panel held an ammeter, fuel gauge, odometer, tachometer and electric clock grouped in front of the driver.
Akin to the Opel GT, the concept was not a hatchback and had no accessible trunk, but behind the seats was a parcel shelf that hid a spare tire and jack. Although never mentioned, the black targa roof panel nested in the front hood compartment.
Unfortunately, Opel management deemed that the production of the Aero GT targa model would be unprofitable, due to the high cost of modifying the coupe body to handle the structural loss of the integral roof section. Today, interesting, Opel now offers an open-top GT in Europe that is a look-a-like cousin to the hot new Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky roadsters, with all three brands built on GM's Kappa platform.

[Anonymous D]

At the time, Larry Shinoda worked for Ford
(involved with the Boss Mustangs).

And where exactly, would a targa roof fit
under the hood?

[Ooooner]

I thought the same thing about the roof fitting under the hood. Where in the world would it have fit? As for Larry Shinoda working for GM or Ford, I have no idea. I just copied the article word for word from "Old Cars Weekly" magazine....

[opelgtworld]

Originally Posted by Anonymous D And where exactly, would a targa roof fit under the hood?

The roof panel nested behind the luggage space.

[Vandekrol]

Does anybody know where the two Aero GT examples might be....

[opelnut_1]

Originally Posted by Vandekrol Does anybody know where the two Aero GT examples might be....

Both Aero's are in the historic collection of Opel. The orange one participated in the history tour this year. (Russelsheim Germany)


What a great site to see it along with 67 other gts touring the places that were part of the development of the Gt. Nurimberg race track, Hockenheim track. and even the test track for GM.

[lezliewk]

The areo is in the photo gallery as I write this

[DennisGardiner]

Originally Posted by Vandekrol Does anybody know where the two Aero GT examples might be....

Both of the aero concept cars are currently back in Opels possession in Russelsheim, Germany. Originally one was blue and the second one orange.
The orange one was in private hands for many, many years, but was recently returned to Opel and Opel has restored it with the original orange color.

[BMWonly]

Originally Posted by DennisGardiner Both of the aero concept cars are currently back in Opels possession in Russelsheim, Germany. Originally one was blue and the second one orange. The orange one was in private hands for many, many years, but was recently returned to Opel and Opel has restored it with the original orange color.

Thank god Opel brought the white one back to original orange. I think Opel should not have allowed the color change in the first place. I have an older German article about the former Opel engineer who bought the car, and painted it white because his wife didn't like orange !!!

Also interesting what kind of problems with the car they reported, like a leaking targa roof and some other mechanical issues. Originally built as a show car only, the guy's wife used it as a daily driver ...