With its powerful resemblance to another well-known GM product, the third-generation Corvette, the Opel GT quickly earned the nickname “Mini-Vette.” Here’s a brief look at a memorable car.
The short, sweet saga of the Opel GT begins with a one-off styling exercise created by the Opel division of General Motors in the company’s Ruesselsheim, Germany design center. Pulling rave reviews at the 1965 Paris and Frankfurt auto shows, the GT quickly earned the green light for production and joined the Opel lineup for the 1968 model year, and then officially went on sale in the USA in ’69.
In those days, Opels were marketed in the United States through GM’s Buick dealer network, a common practice among the American automakers then known as the captive import system. Buick advertised the Opel line under the tagline “the Mini-Brute,” but since the GT bore such a striking resemblance to a Chevrolet product, the 1968 Corvette, the tiny coupe soon attracted the tag “Mini-Vette.”
Lurking under the GT’s swoopy bodywork was the standard Opel Kadett B chassis, a quirky setup with a three-link, torque-tube rear suspension and a transverse leaf spring to operate the independent front suspension. The engine was located nearly a foot aft to improve weight distribution, and there was a choice of two powerplants: a rather weak 1.1-liter four and the familiar 1.9 liter Opel high-cam four with 102 hp. With a curb weight of just less than 2,000 lbs, performance was more than respectable.
Due to the relatively low production volume anticipated, bodies were subcontracted to Brissonneau and Lotz, a French rail car maker that had diversified into autos in the 1950s. To improve rigidity, there was no trunk lid opening in the rear deck, and the hidden headlamp system relied on an elaborate cable-and-lever mechanism.
The GT’s cockpit was classic ’60s sports car practice, with round instrument dials, a faux-wood steering wheel, and yards of black vinyl, the only color offered. Mainly to attract American buyers, an automatic transmission was available along with the standard four-speed manual box. Air conditioning was also offered, housed in a bulky, bulging plastic enclosure (not shown) that swelled from the center console.
With a base price well over $3,000 in the USA, the Opel GT wasn’t exactly cheap. For the same money, buyers could opt for a loaded Mustang or Camaro. In Europe, a de-contented GT/L version was offered with painted bumpers and fewer features. It seems that America was always the target market for the GT. Around 103,000 units were produced over the six model-year run, with nearly 70 percent of them shipped to the States.
Model year 1973 would be the final season for the Opel GT. New bumper and safety standards were coming to America for 1974, regulations the existing design couldn’t possibly meet. The platform would have to be completely re-engineered, a cost that couldn’t be justified given the modest sales volume. Currency exchange rates between the U.S. and Germany were also turning against the enterprise, and GM stopped importing Opels to America altogether in 1975.
The Opel GT story then went relatively quiet until 2007 when the Opel division reintroduced the name on a badge-engineered variant of the Pontiac Solstice/Saturn Sky, designed in the United States and produced at GM’s Wilmington, Delaware plant (below). Of course, today Opel is no longer a part of GM. In August of 2017, the automaker sold its European operation to the PSA Group of France, producer of the venerable Peugeot and Citroen brands.
Just saw one of these in the Food Lion parking lot. I remember them and always like the styling. The contrast to modern cars was striking… the Opel was small, and even though driver class still looked great. Alas, a auto stick. I’d buy one today if available!
I had several Opels, all good cars. The GT had several problems. The headlights in the cold, no trunk opening ( huge downfall) it sorely needed a 5 speed, and of course, the price. Couple that to Buick dealers that didn’t want much to do with them once they went out the door, wasn’t the best. Cool cars, but my daughters Saturn SC1 was very similar to the Opel GT, I thought, with all the upgrades.
The Opel GT is a great design but I would like to know who the designer is. American sources say Clare Mackichen and Germans say Erhard Schnell. Typical chauvinism. I would like to know the truth.
The best engine the 1900 four. In Oz we got that gunker as a bottom line engine in Toranas. Horrid heavy Euro gunker, noisy, thirsty, leaked oil and nowhere as a competitor to the Cortina 4. 2 litre which was its main opposition. I doubt you will ever see one now, most were scrapped or converted into 6 cylinder by the 80s.
Personally this car is pretty boring in looks as well as ugly in the powerplant.
GMH built and or sold some bloody terrible cars, especially in 4 cylinder, and still are. Torana 4 1100 1200 1600 1760 1900 and then the very average Starfire 4, a Holden 6 with 2 cyl lopped off. Not great but a LOT better than the horrid Opel.
On my way home from work at the Chevrolet Engineering Center in Warren, MI one afternoon sometime in the early ’70’s as I was driving eastbound on !2 Mile Rd. a bit east of Van Dyke, traffic suddenly stopped because of a just happened rear end collision. i managed to pull off 12 mile onto a side street and walked up to the accident scene. It seems a full size Pontiac made a panic stop and the driver of the tailgating Opel GT wound up putting the slope nose of his GT under the left rear tire of the Pontiac, raising the Pontiac’s rear end skyward. The action stopped when the Pontiac’s tire came to rest against the windshield of the Opel. As I walked up to the scene, the Pontiac driver was just trying to climb down to the road. He said he couldn’t figure out what hit him because all he could see when he looked in his rearview mirror was sky! Neither driver was hurt and both cars were drivable after the Pontiac got all four wheels back on the ground. I even managed to get a photograph of this, to me, humorous incident. Not sure if the GT driver felt the same.
we always call the GT The poor mans vette I worked at a Buick dealership in 1975 loved that car always wanted one