Best wishes for a productive/fun - Son/Father Manta project - it appears that you and you son have a bit of work ahead of you. So What's is the plan - full restoration or enough for a daily driver. I must confess that I have not seen a Manta, in person, well I am really not sure but I don't believe that I have seen one since the early 80's. I grew up in a small town in NC and while I did see two GT's, in that little town, before I purchased mine, seeing those other two led to my love of an Opel GT, I don't recall knowing anyone driving a Manta. however one of my best friends had an Opel station wagon and years later traded that in for a Toyota Subra. We were both driving Opel's beginning in July of 1972, just after graduation from High School. Anyway - yes life does get in the way and most likely will get in the way regarding your son's Manta restoration as well. So sometimes you just have to put a tarp over, or park it in the garage, and just walk away for a while. My longest departure was about 15 years after I had it mostly restored - divorce, job loss, Children in college, and the list is different for everyone but the list of reasons goes go on and on. Bottom line, like me, just never give into the temptation to sell it - just keep plugging away. In 1977 when I really needed a new car and the GT was so worn out that it was not dependable and was virtually worthless, and with the help of my Mother and her down payment, I got my new 1970 Opel GT, well two years old, and paid her back in 9 months and was able to hold on to the Opel too- The Opel really was not worth enough to sell or trade in and it gave me a lot of satisfaction to know that no matter the fact that I had to crawl into that 1977 Honda Civic every day for the next 7 years without AC, with out FM radio, with out any of the modern conveniences of the time and the fact that I considered he Honda Civic a worthless cracker box - I still had the Opel as totally worn out and undrivable as it was. Moral of the story is never give up and be willing to take as long as it takes - sometimes it turnes out to be well worth the weight. My Grandfather always would stop to look at a that model T because that was his car as a very young adult and he always said," I wish I had never sold that car - so for me not selling the Opel seemed like the right thing to do and I am so glad that I did not sell it. Anyway, again, good luck to you and your son with both of your projects. I look forward to following your progress. Lots of pictures please. Best Regards, Carl
Beginning Project 1994:- 2000
NOW
