From 1966 into the early 1970s, General Motors sold Opel Kadetts through their network of Buick dealers and the little cars actually sold really well. Brought in as a VW fighter for people wanting a small “European” feeling car, the Kadett performed well and actually spent a couple of years right behind the VW on the sales charts. While never a threat to outsell the VW, it helped GM keep a presence in that part of the market which they had largely ignored (and would continue to screw up for decades). The compact little cars were pretty quickly adopted and modified by drag racers for use in various classes, especially the gas ones. There were a bunch of Opel Kadett gassers running around in the late 1960s and early 1970s and this was one of them. Once called the “King Kadett” the seller does not have any real competition information about the machine but we do have some swell photos to show you of it.
Judging by the headers that are shown in one photo, this Opel was small block Chevy powered during its competitive years and it was a pretty spartan build as you may well expect. Weight was always a concern and extra “stuff” that did not need to be part of the car was removed. The interior has all the charm of a Turkish prison with the neat vertical orientation of the steering shaft has you looking at an interesting driving position for sure.
There is no engine in the car so the “under hood” shots reveal some neat things. First the front suspension with the tube axle and the leaf springs are exposed and then second you can see the high tech “blow shield” built into the transmission tunnel. Ok, that shield is a pretty thin piece of steel that was there to stop pieces of blown up clutch from cutting the driver to ribbons. Hey, at least these guys tried. Lots of people did nothing and suffered for it.
We love it for the fact that the tow bar is still on it and the fact that there is nothing cooler than seeing a car on a beam axle with its nose high as it has been for 40 or more years!
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Always like these cars, my parents had an Opel wagon back in the early 70’s during the gas crisis.
Make a Jr Thompson replics!