[Excelsior]

1970 Opel GT - Purchased around 1991, drove till about 1994 when it suddenly stopped starting. I had no money and could not go through everything needed. A releative used it FOR a storage shed for a few years without my knowledge. Plus someone broke my antenna and dented the front fender a little. It now sits under a cover in the back yard waiting for my love. And LOTS of it!

1974 Opel Manta Luxus - Purchased late last fall. Do lots of minor work to it here and there. Buff the crappy paintjob that the previous owner gave it and it shined up really nice. Brought it to my father's campsight and he proceed to drop a heavy steel tube on the CORNER of the hood of the car. Right on the EDGE! Now I have a very nice looking crappy paint job on a carr that had no dents or body work done on it at all with a ¼" bend in the edge along with the bending of both the top and the side! And it is quite visible from the driver's view.

The paint was not planned for a few years and the rubber was going to be done at that time. Now if this is fixed, nothing will match or look as good as the crappy paint that was on it anyway. If I replace the whole fender, there is no way in hell that I am going to even attempt to put it on the car until the WHOLE car is stripped and ready for the complete paint job.

UGGG!!!! Anyone have a steel building they can sell me? It needs a BIG LOCK on it!


It was VERY difficult to write this without using #$^%#$^ all over the place.

 

[opelbits]

I know your pain. It seems that everytime I get a nice, straight car, something has to happen to it. First, nice, straight GT was sideswiped by someone going the wrong way up my one way street three weeks after I got it on the road. 70 Mustang fastback suddenly developed a shallow dent in the rear quarter within a month or so. 69 GT (some rust, but the body was dead straight and all the front sheetmetal was still untouched) was tapped in the rear while parked in front of my house three months or so after I got it on the road. It was later sideswiped while parked at work one month after putting the euro 2.0 in it. 87 RX7 (one owner/82k miles, always garaged) had it's passenger side door torn up around the handle by some one trying to break in, two nights in a row, six weeks after I bought it. $900 in damage (got a check from the ins. co. but I waited until I found a matching color door for $35.

Only two cars have escaped, my 73 Mustang, which was nice until the day I wrecked it, and a 74 Manta (that already had a dented front fender which I never fixed) I drove for seven years and 70k without any notable events except the one that killed it.
Almost forgot about the 74 VW fastback. Dark green with a red hood, the result of an accident that occured when my sister owned it. We called it the 'stuffed olive' because of how it looked, although, the damage was from being 'stuffed' into a pickup. Never fixed, no further incidents.

 

[BQS4]

Along with y'all, I feel you pain. I have driven several GTs over the years, my favorite was my 73. Loaned it to my sister while she was looking for a car and some (censored) clipped the cornercutting a corner too sharp, they said they didn't see the car, yea right. My current GT (69) has a 4 ft white fiberglass CB antenna, ressurrected from my ratch-it jawin' days, attached to the back bumper via a stainless steel (food grade) plate. It's there to let the current "SUV-crazed" know that a car is parked in this space. Yes, it's true, I have come out of the store several times and have almost witnessed my GT getting plowed by an SUV owner whipping into what they think is an empty space, only to find my GT parked there. It may sound funny, but, it's true!
BEWARE!!!

 

[Stressed]

Try this pain -- Loaned mine to my sister. She spun out going around a corner, hit an embankment going backwards, Launched 45 feet through the air (Nice Flat trajectory), and landed dead middle of a six foot deep (full) irrigation ditch. The car was facing directly into the flow. It would have been cool to see the headlights shining up through the murk if it wasn’t so sad.

 

[N61WP]

No wonder you are
STRESSED!!!!!

 

[garrymc]

Only two cars have escaped, my 73 Mustang, which was nice until the day I wrecked it, and a 74 Manta (that already had a dented front fender which I never fixed) I drove for seven years and 70k without any notable events except the one that killed it.

They did not exactly escape..LOL..(sorry)
What killed the Manta?

Garry

 

[greensmurf20]

my opel only has one dent, thanks to my wonderfull cousin steve. long story short, we were unloading it and it ended up backed into the rear of a part car, and the rear bumpers didnt hit first, the tailpiece where it joins the quarter now has a decent dent in it.....just glad i'm not havin the luck you guys have with bodies!!! LOL

 

[opelbits]

They did not exactly escape..LOL..(sorry)
What killed the Manta?

Garry

Sitting at a stoplight (on my way to look at the 69 GT) I was rear ended in the rain. I was in the far left lane and the far right lane was completely clear, but the guy that hit me just had to stand on his brakes.......and hit me on the right rear corner out beyond the bumper mount. The bumper just popped right off and the sheetmetal formed a straight line from the middle of my license plate to the back of the rt. rear tire. A little twist to the back corner of the trunk lid (but still straight on top) and no damage to the gas tank, just the filler neck.

On a brigth note, I received a check for $1500 for a rusty, oxydized paint, 225,000 mile Manta.

Bought the GT for $400 and put the Manta's running gear in it.

I figure they escaped because they did have anything really happen to make the cars worse until the very climactic end. It really irritates me that everytime I buy something that I could consider 'nice', something happens to spoil that within a few months. If it was my doing, as in the case of the Mustang, I can accept it, but everything else was with the car parked, and me nowhere around.

 

[Ken Kaminski]

I had to respond with my tale of GT woes. I found an absolutly perfect 1973 GT from the original owner. It was out of New Orleans & like brand new. Interior, dash, body, etc. It also ran GREAT. I decided to upgrade with the Weber, new shocks, new clutch & tires. About a week after the upgrades it snowed about 1/4 inch (rare in Ga.) This clown was coming at me sideways & clipped the driver side door, & quarter panel. Hard enuf to open up a gap between the door & roof about 1". That is on the passenger side!!!!!! Adios GT.
I found another 1 owner. This is a 1971 with cracked dash panel. The rest of the car is real good. The engine is in the process of finishing the re-build. Brakes are next & then the paint. It WILL be finished.........soon???
Ken