My son Will and I rented a U-Haul Ford Transit the other weekend to buy all the kitchen and batch cabinets at the IKEA in Portland and hit Mt. Hood for some skiing/snowboarding with so Ted. “My Kitchen” planner and a very long receipt are visible there on the handy dash tray of the Transit. And the other thing to be seen is this Opel GT, heading south on I5 too.
I feel almost ashamed in having never written up the Opel GT at CC. I found and shot one a couple of years ago, but it’s still hiding in my files. So until I do, we’ll have to consider this a preview of coming attractions.
It’s a bit of a stretch, but this might appropriately be called the first “Lutz-mobile”. Bob was at Opel at the time, and the story is thta he found drawings of what would become the GT, got very excited by them, and helped sneak the concept into the 1965 Paris Auto Show, where it was a hit. His bosses were not amused, but then this was just Bob’s typical MO. And the GT does rather perfectly epitomize the classic Lutz-mobile: visually extravagant above all, and typically with some shortcomings under the skin, especially practical/ergonomic ones. Think Pontiac Solstice.
The mini-Corvette became a production car in 1968, and was built for some five years, at the French firm Brissoneau & Lotz (no relation to Lutz).
The Transit was a pleasant drive. Jim Klein did a full review of one here, but I’ll just add that these are a real step forward from the old Econolines in every possible way. Handling is very good, for a vehicle this size, and performance is also pleasantly brisk.
I set the cruise control for 75, and got 16.4 mpg for the 250 mile round trip. Not bad, given the speed.
There’s the haul. And now it’s mostly assembled; Lego for grown ups.
Opel GT’s are full little cars , IIRC they came with a 1.7 Liter engine that was decidedly under powered .
I got to take a ride on one of these with a 2 Liter engine direct imported from Germany , it was fairly well hotted up and went like a bottle rocket , very enjoyable indeed .
A buddy used to buy these for pennies from Junk Yards and convert them into convertibles then export them to Germany where rust free California Opels are (apparently) highly valued .
THANX to the nice folks in the Opel GT Club for taking me along on a weekend outing ! .
-Nate
Nice to see one on the road. The first few that came over had the 1.1 pushrod motor, after that they used the 1.9 OHC. While not a powerhouse at 60 something horsepower, the 1.1 has its own special style that is really fun to drive.
This is one of those cars where you wish there had been a 2nd generation, but console yourself with the thought that few cars manage to get better in subsequent generations.
BTW, which engine did the van have?
You think U Haul would spring for the EcoBoost for their rental vans? 🙂
And certainly not a diesel!
I drive a new 2016 Ford van with the Power Stroke diesel at work, and they get good mileage for a large van. 21mpg in city , and up to 31 mpg at a steady 45 mph. Only thing I don’t like about them are the standard seats, which don’t have the height / tilt adjustment like the standard Sprinter van seats we have.
^ Yup.
I’ve always wanted one… although, not enough to hunt one down and pay the price of admission.
That price also includes rust (even in Houston) and the occasional carburetor fire….what a deal!
A buddy in high school had one. It was a tight squeeze for me even at 6’/150 lbs, (a looooong time ago!) but even as a passenger it was a lot of fun,
One of my Lieblingswerbungen……
Could somebody translate? I don’t get why they would advertise how cramped it is.
Based on what I remember from high school German 30 years ago, the gist of it is that you may be too big for the GT, but we also have a car for you.
“Opel GT- doesn’t fit?
Sure, we have a car that fits you too.”
The GT was an effective showroom attraction. ‘Lockvogel’ or bait bird.
I am equally guilty for not writing one of these up, as I have had some shots of a very nice one for quite awhile. These were appealing little cars.
Is that an optical illusion or is the driver’s side door dented?
It’s dented.
That mass of boxes required assembly?? It took me an afternoon to put together a TV stand once…never again! Ugh!
Yup. A whole kitchen pantry and 2 baths. They’re easy, once you’ve done one or two.
I did a whole bedroom full of ikea furniture last year, I don’t know if it’s my Swedish ancestry or the fact that I built Legos non stop as a child but putting together their stuff always came naturally to me.
I’ve done three kitchens myself with IKEA stuff and it IS easy. The best part is after a decade when/if you get tired of the door style you can just get new doors and end panels in a current style and very easily modify to get a brand new look. If you can change your oil, you can pretty much build an IKEA kitchen. And they update stuff too to make it easier to put together, it’s easier now than twelve years ago when I did my first one.
The bonus was the most recent one where if I had hauled it myself I would have been charged the local South Denver sales tax but if they delivered it seventy-five miles north (and loaded and unloaded it all inside the house) the sales tax at the delivery location was low enough to cover the freight, loading and then some. Of course Oregon has no sales tax so that’s not a game that can be played there…
That must be some pretty serious difference in sales tax rates and very reasonable delivery rates.
Of course the fact that OR has no sales tax means that some people in SW WA take a trip across the river if they are going to make any significant purchase. Vancouver’s 8.4% can add up pretty quickly.
Someone in my neighborhood has one that I see running around in the spring and summer months. It makes my Z3 look like a land yacht.
Enjoyable footage. Closed road, I suppose.
https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=autotest+opel+gt&ei=UTF-8&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-004
I remember the Opel GT used torque tube with solid axle and leaf spring for front suspension. Unusual for the its era.
The GT was heavily based on the Kadett, and used its suspension. The transverse leaf spring for the IFS wasn’t that unusual; Fiat used it for decades, and others perhaps too. It’s not really any different than what the Corvette uses. The advantage came in packaging, as it simplified the front suspension unit in terms of its mounting to the body.
I suppose it would be similar to Viva’s? Looked like candidate for coil overs.
That front leaf spring was very clever because it wasn’t clamped in the middle.That meant it was stiffer in roll than in normal loading, so it acted as an anti-roll bar as well.
For a model not sold in large numbers, the Opel GT seems to be still quite widespread 40+ years later. I spot one at least once a year, which is more often than I spot some more popular cars like Triumph Spitfires and MG Midgets. Although I cannot remember ever seeing one actually on the road and moving, and they usually look like they have been parked for a long time. Maybe the styling is so distinctive that the few survivors are almost never overlooked, making them seem more common than they really are.
A young man nearby recently started his own business as a contractor. He bought a brand new Transit like the one in the article, his van has a raised roof though. And with a sliding door instead of the barn doors on the right side. Interesting, as you never see side cargo doors like that here.
Something like this below is quite common. At first sight it looks like a box truck with 3 axles, but it is a Ford Transit tractor unit and a type of semi-trailer, thus increasing the payload capacity to 3,000 kg (6,600 lbs).
Sliders are pretty popular in the US, it does allow you full access in tight areas and of course is quicker to open and close than doing both barn doors.
That Transit is an interesting piece. Here in the US Ford is continuing to soldier on the the cutaway versions of the E-series due to their higher GVW ratings. The top of which has about a 4,000 lb higher Max GVW rating than the highest rated Transit cutaway or cab and chassis.
The thing that we got with the Transit coming over that we never had before is the cab & chassis version. Econolines were and are only offered as cutaways so totally open at the back. Great for a Motorhome, not really that great for a truck with a box. Some put a crawl through door which isn’t that useful and I’d rather not have it. They did spend the money to tool up a little super cab extension for U-haul, complete with a narrow and tall window. Seems like they could have tooled up for a back to make it a closed cab out of the factory.
“Cutaway” is something I learned on CC, I had never heard of it before. The Ford Transit and all its competitors have always been available as both a van and as a chassis/cab. With a variety of wheelbases, raised roofs, single or double cab, single or dual rear wheels, etc.etc.
With a factory chassis/cab you can basically get any body (motorhomes included) you want. Most common -of course- is the chassis/cab + cargo bed with drop sides, like the Transit below.
I have always been fond of the Opel GT. First one I ever saw was on base when in the air force and there’s someone who works at our local Walmart who drives an orange one like in the photo. I have looked it over on a few occasions, and it’s rather beat.
IKEA stuff is pretty good, and a big step above the other contact paper-coated, formed-sawdust, assemble-it-yourself furniture from other manufacturers. The trouble with all that type of furniture is that particle board is very heavy.
Good catch and I too rented a U-Haul recently, but mine was a GMC Savanna Cube Van with excessive road/wind noise.
That Opel GT looks nice and wonder how it got a door dent. Are those Oregon plates it has?
I’ve been surprised that U-haul seemed to almost overnight replace all the E-Series and GM vans with Transits. Almost all of them I see are Transits. It does make me wonder if Ford isn’t buying market share which encouraged U-haul to turn their fleet so quickly.
One thing I have noticed is that the price of used E-Series has gone up recently. So while it appears that many users have happily adopted the Transit others seem to be grabbing up the trusted old stand by. Presumably they are playing the waiting game to see if the Transit can match the proven long term durability and up-time of the E-Series.
I did see my first Transit School bus just the other week and saw another yesterday but it could have been the same one since I saw it in the same general area.
I have thought about renting a Transit to see what it is like. My van has finally reached the end of it’s economic service life. I hate to see it go but the new tires, brakes, radiator and windshield that it needs now or real soon just adds up to too much considering the condition of the rest of the van. Of course I’m certainly not in the market for a Transit though since a year with a lot of miles is like 4,000 and most years it is less than that. So there is no way I could justify a new van or even one a couple of years old. However I use it enough that I can’t imagine not having one around.
I’d heard the Gt body’s were built in France ( body made by French contractor Brissonneau & Lotz.) and shipped to Germany for completion. They rotted quicker than the A-body Manta & 1900 (Ascona) coupe, sedan & wagon (Voyager).
My ’75 Ascona here is a survivor, as I shipped it from Ca. to Ct. in 2002(?) It is no where near stock, but I won’t get into those details.
I forgot to ad photo. I have “the” Opel GT aluminum finned valve cover on a euro 2.0L block.
Very nice car. I had one of these that was a purple color. 1974 model.
Sorry for the double post. The site went down. When I hit “refresh”, 2 posts appeared with no way to delete anything???
I don’t think we even have a hinged side-door Transit option in the UK.. Every transit here has been a slider since the Mk3 of the mid 1980s.