[calvin]

Bob Lutz is a deadbeat dad!

As an American Opel owner I am tired of being the unwanted stepchild. Let’s get a trial attorney of our own and sue bob Lutz and GM for being a deadbeat dad. US Opel owners are owed for years of back unpaid child support. We should all be recompensed. I think a free posi traction rear end or improved transmission installed free of charge would go a long way towards making things right.

 

[Old Hippie]

RIGHT ON! POWER TO THE OPELERS! SET OUR OPELS FREE!!
Opps, I don't mean that, like that, you know.....I want to keep them........ahhh, what he said!

 

[madhatterpdc]

I think that you are on to something. But I fear that the statute of limitations has expired.

In all seriousness, GM owes Opel owners in the US *something*. I don't know what, but there is a long-standing history of a lack of factory support and parts availability that the retailer, GM, is accountable for maintaining. That being said, we are now dealing with cars in the 30 year old range, try finding tail lights for your '73 Impala. Of course, you could actually find parts when that car was new, where Opels were always the bastard child.

 

[bear]

Basically the rules for car parts is, at the end of the production runs, parts must be made in sufficient quantity to maintain a 10 year stockpile. So whatever the bean counters think is sufficient, that's what they make. And the dealer parts stores will maintain them until they are gone or 10 years has gone.

 

[kwilford]

I am not certain about the "rules" (if there really are any!), but back when I first bought my GT, in about 1976, the GM dealer that I dealt with soon after simply said "no more Opel parts". So I brazenly (and confidently, in my most lawyer-like voice, learned from my big brother who IS a Crown Prosecutor and who I bought the car from) said "...but the law says you have to keep safety items such as light lenses and brake parts available for ten years" (or some fictional period that I thought sounded reasonable). And the Parts Manager quickly agreed, and assured me that they would get whatever parts I needed. Now, this was weird, because the showroom had JUST had the '75 Manta's on it the previous year. And now had some bizarre POS called an "Opel Isuzu", whatever THAT was. But clearly, the GM Dealers had had enough of the GM Head Office experiment called "Opel", and wanted no more of it. But I thought I had won the battle...

In spite of the PM's confident claim that they would continue to service my needs, their ability to source parts became more and more problematic. First, it was a problem to cross reference the Opel part numbers to the "new" GM part numbers. Then, parts had to be shipped from the States, and I would have to wait 6 weeks, and pay the shipping. Then, certain parts were simply "back ordered". Which meant they weren't on the Continent. And never would be again, at least from a GM dealer. So for many years, I gave up on the idea that I would ever again be able to drive my beloved GT. Thank GOD for the Internet, and for OGTS.

I usually make fun of our litigious American cousins. But this time, lets SUE the GM bastards!

 

[GTJIM (R.I.P.)]

Spare a thought for Oldsmobile owners - GM has just "killed" that division!

At least Opel is still alive and well in Germany.

 

[tekenaar]

GM . . . Bob Lutz

Well said about GM, but I don't think you can lay this on Lutz's doorstep . . .