Opel GT: a 3/4 scale 1970 Corvette, complete with half of the engine, at least half of the weight gone, and a personality like a small dog…loud, feisty, quick, and cute. Unfortunately, it’s my experience that just about every Opel GT I see in the flesh is somewhere between “needs a new [fill in the blank] and it’ll run great” and “It’s not for sale, I’m gonna restore it someday”. Both of which mean bad project territory at best, and abandoned junk at worst. A rather inglorious end for such a neat little sports car, I think. Which is why this 1968 GT is like watching one of those sad-song Sarah McLachlan ASPCA videos…it’s hurting and it needs your help.
The story goes that at least thirty years ago, maybe more, this GT had a 289 Ford swapped into it and was a pretty decent runner, Then the owner upgraded, yanking the 289 out for a 302 from a Mustang II King Cobra. The 3o2 was installed…and that was the last of it. The Opel never turned a tire in anger again and the 302 swap, from what we can gather, was never finished. And apparently the car has sat in project car hell in a shop somewhere until recently, when the owner made the decision to part ways with the car once and for all. There is no beating around the bush: this Opel is going to need some work, starting with the probably locked 302, moving on to the badly repaired body panels and the hacked front clip, and then finally to a surprisingly nice interior that could use some carpeting and any kind of gauge cluster that eliminates the spaghetti wiring.
The fattest Opel GT barely tripped the scales at over a ton. The hard work of fitting a Ford small-block in the car is over with. Imagine a 347 in this little monster. It’d either be the most glorious thing you could ever complete, or you’d have an uncommanded bowel evacuation the second you breathed towards the throttle. Both of which sound like the kind of car that needs to exist in this world.
That car’s pretty rough but a stroked 302 would get it going in the right direction. And looking at the engine bay photo and how the exhaust runs, it’s a perfect candidate for a turbo. I’ve never really paid attention to these before but I don’t know if I’ve ever seen another car with the brake booster/master cylinder mounted like that!
Didn’t even notice the brake setup till you mentioned! Bizarre indeed! I’d buy for that price if I had the cash!
It’s sadly beyond my budget and capabilities but it HAS to be saved before some dingus junks the Ford motor and installs that which shall not be named…..
Good thinking !
Send the 302 to Geordie and put a nice LS in it.
I’d do her.
If you think the brake booster is weird, you should see the factory throttle linkage! Gotta love those German engineers.
I’d put an aluminum 5.3 LS motor.
Maybe a funky intake or just an LS1/LS6 intake.
Then I’d drive it until the wheels turned square.
The wife really wants an Opel, I was thinking a Turbo Ecotec.
Those are some old ass B/F Goodrich T/A Radials on the rear. It would be a badass fun death machine when completed.
Or how about a nice, simple little injected/turboed 4.6? Nothing wrong with LS engines if you like (gag, cough, spit) Chevy, but lets keep some of the original builder in there- use a Ford engine/trans/dif.