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

[Sporqster]

26 - My GT is 7 years older than me.

[dcm013]

53. Bought a 69 GT in 71. My first new car was a 74 Manta rallye - white with red interior - sharp, traded in the GT. Owned it until 82. Also bought a 73 GT in 76. All long gone. Now own a 71 GT and 74 Manta.
Don

[namba209 (R.I.P.)]

I guess I'm close to being the senior citizen of this list, 63 last month, but with the mentality of a teen-ager. Had a 71 GT for 3 years after I retired from the USAF, it was #5 in a 10 car on the I-5. While I was recuperating, my Significant Other found the 72 GT I'm putting the V-6/T-5 in. The insurance money from the 71 paid for the 72.

Ron

[Gary]

55 - One of the Opel greybeards here. Bought my '69 show car/one time soloII GT back in '77. Now have Opels from 4 decades. '51 Olympia w/41,000 miles, the '69 GT, '72 Manta Rallye, '73 GT w/original paint, '73 GT, '84 Senator CD and a bunch of parts from several stripped GT's. Still searching for a Sportwagon though.

Keith - Polls can only be started in the first post in a thread.

[Old Hippie]

I turned (what a phrase!) 50 last June and bought my 2nd GT and blamed it on a mid-life crises! Still have my 1st one but it's down to bare metal and emptied out for future mods. The bod's getting shakey but the mind is just a kid!

[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 (R.I.P.)]

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.