How old are you and tell us a story...

[kwilford]

OK, I am going to see if I can actually make this thread into an official poll. Vote, and then tell us a story...

[kwilford]

Ha, it worked! So, go ahead and vote if you have already told your story. If you haven't yet fessed up, lets hear from you...

[pvcar]

17 and lovin opels i have two gts one which is almost fully restored done all by me and several buddys. im never gettin ride of this baby.

[GTJIM]

54 this year but think I am 35 years younger!

Started with a 1948 Morris Ten - twin carbs and "hot" cam
moved on to a 1957 MkII Zephyr - fitted with 2.4 litre warmed up Jag motor and MkIII four-speed gbox.

Raced Midgets during this period with a Hudson Terraplane engine followed by a Willys Jeep motor the a 2.4 litre EIP vauxhall fitted with Zephyr pistons and tripple SU carbies.

Moved on to BSA ,Triumph and Norton bikes for several years and Built a 1938 Ford Standard Coupe with a '39 Merc engine and Lincon Zephyr gears followed by a '57 Chevy Bel Aire with a strong 283 and four-speed Saginaw box

Sold both those to buy a wrecking yard specialising in Studebakers and built a 1961 Stude Hawk with the 283 out of the '57 Chevy - the Hawk was destroyed by fire in an arson attack. Never brought to justice, the perp. eventually "brought a knife to a gun fight"

Had several Holdens as hacks and a 1955 Stude "Champion" black with red and yellow flames and later a nice 1951 "Bommer"

Sold up the yard to developers about six years ago and moved thirty-seven tonnes of Studebaker parts - to the scrap merchant as I had not heard of EBay at that time and the local Stude Club turned down my offer of the parts (many new!!!) and the site just had to be cleared. Shovelled parts into trailers with square-mouthed shovels

Bought myself a warehouse with a flat attached to have room for the projects I dragged with me from the yard. Several Rover P6 V8s - one with a Lexus V8 being fitted with a GM automatic.

Then I found the GT and "acted like a 19 year old with his gonards in a knot" as my Best Lady says! She runs a 1985 Isuzu Piazza after trading in the 1974 Morris 1300 she had for 20 years.

[MICAH1]

56 years old. Started with a Manta and a wife (had to let them both go) in the early 70's, upgraded back to the single life with the purchase of a new 73 GT that died in the late 80's but was brought back into the Opel family fold by my first born little girl (32 years old last week) when she purchased my second 73 GT last April for my retirement. Mega thanks to GARY (Mr OPEL GT.Com) and others on this site who have made my second GT coming a hell of a start to retirement and the most correct way to treat these classic cars right........

[Jim Branham]

41 - I too have some grey in my beard now. My Dad got his first 71 GT in '77 when I was still 15, I couldn't wait to drive it when I turned 16. I got my own when I was about 16 1/2. It was a 73, I "upgraded" to a 70 whithin the year. We had GTs untill around '87 when I sold his 71 which had become mine by then. Opelitus was dormant untill winter of '02 and by spring/summer/fall of '03 I was deep into them again. I was up to 7 Gts, 4 were parts cars. I have a lot of work to do on the 2 I currently have left. One is rust free/ no interior from Texas, and one has near perfect interior/rusted body from Pa. I think the Texas GT will be ready by spring/summer '04. I hope! Maybe I'll do the rusty Pa. one as a v-6 Auto for my wife. She has tolerated my illness very well so far and even says she likes the little GTs. She deserves one for herself as a reward.

[jimsky]

45, I think...

My first Opel was a 1972 GT when I was a kid in high school. Back then I bought and sold used cars to make money. The GT's water pump was leaking real bad, scared the owner so I picked it up for a great price. Did the water pump and made it look nice and "recalibrated the odometer" (not proud about that now). Drove it for about a year, sold it to fund another buy and sell deal. Really loved that car.

Two of my friends in the band I was in both had Mantas. Damn we had fun with our Opels doing the stupid stuff kids do with cars...popping the clutch, chirping tires, spinning donuts, neutral drops on the Manta with the automatic tranmission.

"Grenades"... how stupid! On the highway while cruising you key the ignition "OFF"; pump the gas pedal a few times to fill the exhaust system with unburnt gas. Keep coasting. Then key the ignition back "ON" and ka-BOOM! Damn we were morons back then.

The Manta's seats reclined all the way back with what seemed like 200 turns of the big knob...very "useful" for a high school kid.

Ah, the good old days. Maybe all this had something to do with me picking up my GT 2 years ago for what my wife calls my "mid-life crisis car". Yeah, Opels are part of who I am.

[jimsky]

My wife just informed me I'm 44...yeah, I don't know how old I am. See what happens when you get old.

[airbob01]

48- I have a 71 GT that has just become road worthy. I also have a 73 parts car, and lots of parts and rust free sheet metal from another 73 parts car (now gone to Opel heaven but its donor parts will live on). Bob

[azopelnut]

I am 52
I have owned an Opel since 1973 and currently have 5
2 GT's (one with a rotary engine, 2 asconas(75 sportwagon and a 4 door sedan) and a Manta

[kyles1970gt]

I'm just a young blood, 20, I got my wife pregnant when i just got out of high school, so i thought my car days were over, i remember seeing a car and driver on the telletube about the "poor mans corvette" and i have allways loved the stingrays, expecially the 68. I thought that the opel was perfect. corvette looks smaller size and cheaper to start on. I had never seen an opel in person, it seems like in western washington we don't have them too much, but when i started with my company, a man that worked for us had this maroon rust color car, i thought when i saw it from a distance, that is an opel... Well, sure enough it was. so for 2 years, i told him i would buy it from him, and everyday he would say he wouldn't sell it. well, i got married, and about 2 weeks after, he told me he had a propisition. since money was tight, and i had just got married, his wife said to sell me the opel, well he said he would sell it for 800, which i thought was pretty good, but being the jack ass i am i said 300, well he said how about 450, and i said 350 is my highest. and he sold it to me, it runs all origingal, with only like 40 g on the odometer. so when i paid him, he had decided to sell it to me for 300, just to be nice.. so yea, that is how it all started. sorry about the length..

[baronbors]

58 next month- two daughters 31 and 29, who learned how to drive a staight stick in my Chevy Monza station wagon and a 6 year old boy, who will learn in a 71 GT

[tekenaar]

Am sixty one but, at times, still feel like sixteen
More acurately put, am probably somewhere between
Born in Germany, schooled in Holland to grade six
Hungarian and Dutch parents are my ancestry's mix.

My father died near Wilna in WW Two
Never got to see my brother, his son number two
My mother remarried, sometime in my twelfth year
To an emigré Dutchman, that's how we got here.

Started hotrodding cars when I was fourteen
'tWas my hobby then, is now, and always has been
Chevys and Pontiacs were my early forté
Until my first Opel, which have since then held sway.

My first Opel owned is a "last year" GT
Which I've owned ever since, pretty lucky for me
'tWas soon changed to flat tops, Isky cam and such
Then converted to FI, ignition triggered by Perlux.

A '74 blue Manta became my first son's first ride
A moon-roofed, "Luxus" model with A/C inside
Sadly, this was only one year to last
Before hit by a teenager, just driving too fast.

Some more years passed, my sons were now men grown
And then my wife decided, she wanted to be on her own
Thirty years of marriage, I thought it was for "life"
In the end we just parted, my new status: "sans wife".

A few years passed when I saw a Times Herald ad
For two GTs that this man from Plano had
Went out to look and see what I could see
I wanted one but, on a price we could not agree.

Some more months had passed when he called suddenly
He then asked if I was still interested and wanted to see
If he could perhaps sell them BOTH to me
And so, a price was reached to which we both agree.

My stable grew to three GTs, a '73, a '70 and a '72
And I really did not need another project to do
But then an idea began to slowly grow
For a "one of a kind" GT that would also REALLY GO!

Worked on that project, time permitting made it slow
When another in our group e-mailed to let me know
There's a running GT for sale in Houston . . . CHEAP
With really nice wheels on it and definitely, one to keep!

Flew down, bought the car and drove it back
Fixed all the gremlins, for which I seem to have a knack
In time it's also converted to SSD, Getrag and more
And then my GT stable numbered four.

A few more years pass and I bought my SC Bitter
Always garaged, as good as a pitcher's "no-hitter"
Dark blue metallic, almond leather inside
I restore the wood console and show it with pride.

My stable of Opels was now up to five
Until July, 2003 when "Land's Sakes Alive!"
What to my wondering eyes did appear
But a Fireglo Ascona of the '75 year!

"Most original '75 Ascona A in the world!", rang through my head
If I didn't get THIS one, thought I'd rather be dead
I bought from the dealer, just 1K miles on the clock
Transported it here and am still somewhat in shock!

My stable of Opels was now up to six
But this deal was too good, NOT to add to the mix
When a '69 Kadett then on eBay appeared
A trip across country, by me was not feared.

Flew up to Seattle and then to Plano drove back
Certainly proved that reliability, Opels don't lack
Just some hand tools and maps was all that I took
And a final count of seven, for now ends my book.

[namba209]

Otto, not only a master mech, but a master of prose.

Ron

[Gary]

Originally posted by namba209 Otto, not only a master mech, but a master of prose. Ron

Yeah, Otto is the Poet Laureate of the Opel world.

[ConreroGT]

I'm 34. First GT was a 69 when I was 19. I had it until 2000 when it was "traded" for a 72.

I fell in love with the GT in high school and had to have one. Many times I thought of selling it or trading it for something else...but come to the thought of it leaving my life... *sniff*

~kyle

[George]

I'm going to be 57 next month and still have the 72 opel gt that I bought in 71.It is striped down to bear metal with almost all body work done and ready to be painted.

[N61WP]

I'm also 42. This is my first Opel.....wanted a GT at 15 in the seventies....
James

[opelenvy]

I am the same age as my GT, 30. I fell in love with them when I saw one at about age 8. I came across one for sale when I was 17. I test drove the car and loved it. My dad asked where I thought I would find parts for it. Being my "pre-internet" days, he had a good point. So I passed on it.(and kick myself every day for doing it.) Years go by and I get a computer finally in '98. I start surfing the net and remember that old love, the Opel GT. After reading for several months about all the pro's and con's. I decided it was time to start hunting. I bought a '70 in Upstate NY and trailered it back to Maryland. Got out of the Air Force in '00 and trailered it down here to Austin, TX. The car was still not roadworthy, but I did have fun driving it around the neighborhood. I came across a real sweet deal on a '73 that I could not pass up.(actually my lovely wife, Angie, bought it for me for my birthday) But the '70 had to go. So I sold it to a guy in Houston. I have bought and sold a '72 for the spending money. The city was leaning on the guy to get rid of it. It had sat there for 20 years (tags from '83). For the most part he gave me the car. I sold it after about 2 months of tinkering with it.
So on two occasions I owned two GT's. One day I will have more.
Dang I wish I would have bought that one back when I was 17!!!

[72opelguy]

well im turning 18 in a month and i own 2 72 gts
my story is this lower your gt and you will fit under a refrigerated semi trailer but i wont go into detail
and you knwo what by the age #s it looks like its fathers that still own their opel with sons that do now or something i should be afraid of

[madhatterpdc]

I'm 25 and bought my first GT this summer from an ad posted on this site. While I have been around cars my whole life, the first GT that I had ever seen is also the one that I now own.

My dad worked at a Buick garage in the 70's and was considered the "Opel Guy" there (he had a metric wrench, and the patience to figure out something new). Fast forward 30 years, I have now graduated from college and have a couple of extra bucks in my pocket, so I start hunting for a hobby car of my own. I spend some downtime at work strolling through the internet, and come across OpelGT.com. I saw an ad for a car listed near me. I had never seen one in person, and thought that it wouldn't hurt to look. The pics looked good and the car was on my way home from work (sort of). I stopped, test drove, kicked the tires and bought the car, knowing it needed a good amount of work. In all of my excitement, I had forgotten that my dad was an Opel mechanic back in the day. When I told him about it, he laughed and walked away.... and returned with a box of spare parts and a box of various service manuals.

I have to say that I have driven a lot of different cars, big small slow fast or any combination thereof, and the GT offers the most solid and predictable ride of any car I have ever driven, despite its quirks (that some people would call flaws).

[saxybiker]

This is Vickie--O.K. I'm 47. Learned to drive stick in a Nash Rambler (3 on the tree) and took the driver's test in an Opel Sportwagon. First car I drove over 100 mph was my best friend's Opel GT. Hey it was new and they had no problem reaching that back then.

Got big time into wrenching and dragging muscle cars in the early 70's through the 80's. 64 1/2 mustang, 68 Roadrunner, and 68 AMX (what a cool car!--guess I was always a sucker for the odd ball cars)

Divorced the husband got out of the car scene.

Met & married Allen and he had an Opel. He found out I wrenched and the Opels have been following us home ever since. Now I own 3 Opel GT's, one of which I HAD to put a V8 in (old muscle car history you know).

Allen here and I am 48. My first standard shift car was a 68 Saab 96 (2-cycle, 3 cylinder, 4 on the tree--what a barn burner). When I was in high school one of my best friends had an Opel GT. It was fireglow orange with a black interior. I always wanted a car like that. I bought my first Opel GT in 1990 and it was a real piece of crap. In 1999, I finally got my orange Opel with the black interior--it is gorgeous---95% original, including original paint!

Since then Vickie found me a green (my favorite color) 73 GT with A/C and automatic with a perfect uncracked dash! God, I love my Opels, as well as my Opel manic wife!

Together we now have 7 Opels in various stages of decay or restoration. Wouldn't have it any other way.

Vickie & Allen Gage



Allen Vickie

[lezliewk]

I am 59 going on 39,try to stay young.
I have had 4 gt's in my life. Just starting to restore a 69, Fun car. I started with a new 69, then a new 70, Then a used 72 in about 85. now i have a 69 again.Hope to keep this one forever,the one with the most toys at the end wins, i am going to try to win

[opelgt73]

I'm 23
I only have one GT left these days, a 70' that I got in Alabama with no rust and A/C, it is in need of a complete restoration but it's a good starting point. It's in storage for now untill I am out of college and I have time to restore it.

I got started with GT's when i was 16, I have had 7 total and up to 6 at one time.

I'm sure I will be tooling around with them for a long time to come......

[cucumbershampoo]

i am 20 years old out here in tacoma washinton, bought my first gt (blue) about 4 months ago then two weeks later the oil pump failed and it has been in the garage since. i am slowly rebuilding another engine sould be going in about a month or so.