(first posted 12/20/2015) Opel’s “senior” cars (Kapitän, Admiral, Diplomat) are a very compelling subject. from an American perspective, as they look rather like intermediate-sized GM cars, a category didn’t exist at GM in the US market until 1964. The big Opels were always quite popular, both in Germany and the rest of Europe, for offering a lot of car for the money compared to a Mercedes. And this generation Kapitän P2 (MY 1960-1964), shot by Curtis Perry in Colonia de Sacramento, Uruguay, was the most popular six cylinder car sold in Europe in 1960, and as such, represents the peak market share for the “German Buick”.
This generation Kapitän sports Carl Renner’s “flying wing” rear window design, as first used on the 1959 GM cars, and then the 1960 Corvair.
Speaking of, it’s easy to see why the Corvair, which came out at the same time as this Kapitän, made such an impact on the Europeans. It was so clean, low, smooth, and…just about the same size too. Even its 2.3 L six was similar sized to the Kapitän’s also new ohv 2.6 L inline six.
But then the Kapitän P2 wasn’t really new; it was heavily based on the P1, which rather oddly, was built for only one year (MY 1959). That’s a highly unusual thing to do, as Opels did not do annual model changes like in the US, and usually built the same car for 3-4 years or more. But then the P1 was somewhat poorly received, for its panorama windshield that impacted front seat egress, and the very heavy Buick-like C Pillar.
The P2 got a whole new roof, although the dog-leg windshield was too expensive to toss out after just one year. Here’s one posed in front of the famous Vienna Riesenrad, built in 1897, and the world’s largest Ferris wheel from 1920 until 1985. How well I remember my first ride in it.
I’m not sure of the location of this shot, but these two are from the Opel calendars that were a staple of Opel marketing for several decades.
One of these times we’ll have to do a complete history of the Kapitän, the car that competed successfully against the Mercedes until it…no longer did. Folks wanted the real thing, and were willing to spend more for it. And American style just went out of fashion, in Europe. The Europeans had long played second fiddle in the larger classes of cars to the Americans, but from the mid 60s on, that would no longer be the case.
The last Kaptitan (B) arrived in 1969, but was gone by 1970. The Admiral and Diplomat soldiered (officered?) on until 1977, the end of the road for the “senior” Opels. BMW and Audi were now muscling into the luxury sedan market, and Opel threw in the towel. The ascendancy of the German premium brands affected the top offerings in a number of countries, both in Europe, North America, and elsewhere.
That 1959 P1 had to be the most “American” looking car built in Europe! If I didn’t read this post, and just saw the photo, I’d think it was an obvious GM “compact” prototype!
Check out a Vauxhall Cresta PA, Ford Zodiac Mk2, Ford Consul Capri for American look a likes.
I like the feature car a lot, I’ve always been a fan of the large British & european 6 cylinder cars. I remember seeing a Kapitan in the mid 60s, driven from Germany by an RAF family.
Don’t forget Rootes Audac series designed by one Raymond Loewy and effectively shrunk Studebakers.
I think it is a good sign of maturity that when the New Class BMW sedans and the New Generation MB appeared in the late sixties these Americanized German cars faded. If British Leyland had been better run and funded, you may have seen the same thing with Vauxhall and English Fords America in smaller scale offerings. You see it today with Korean cars taking on their own style and the Japan knockoffs made there fade.
It is weird to think that German cars would have aped American designs at all.
There’s also the Vauxhall Cresta, perhaps the most famous of all americanized designs from Europe.
The fifties was a wild time for a non-American kid to be growing up, Ingvar! I remember how wild they looked here in Australia. We never got the ultra-American styling here that Vauxhall and Opel had. While Vauxhall sold that, Holden sold this, several generations behind! And when the wraparound screen came here, they reskinned this basic body, keeping the same proportions.
And yet, you look at the small Opels and German Fords, Borgwards, DKWs of that era. Even Mercedes had fins – small, true, but there. The look must have been popular to a certain extent. I guess that with this Kapitän, Opel hit the limit of acceptability.
The flying wing roof style turned up briefly in 62 on the EJ Holdens gone by late 63 when the facelifted EH hit the market, Those large Vauxhalls were very popular in New Zealand and the survivors are sought after always a giant leap above the Holden in terms of comfort and performance they sold for more money and were the mid step between Holden and Chevrolet in the local assembly stakes.
There is. a steady supply of used panels and trim parts from Oz to the UK for the Vauxhall PA series.UK cars rusted out well before thier drive trains wore out .
Neue Klasse styling had US influence as well
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-history-how-the-1960-corvair-started-a-global-design-revolution/
I think its fair to say the styling of the Opel and Ford products were influenced by US styling into the 1970s, even if they did occasionally provide an improvement upon their parentage.
I’m no fin fan, but its not hard to see how US styling and its allusion to the brave new world influenced so many after the war.
Interesting about the restyling after one year. You’d think GM would have learnt back then that styling that works in the US isn’t necessarily as well-received elsewhere.
I’m thinking of late fifties Vauxhalls – they may be somewhat iconic now, but the Victor had a new hood, front fenders, rear doors and a new roof after only a year or so. The PA Velox/Cresta was tidied up at the front and rear and got a single-piece rear screen to replace the ’57 Buick-style three piece job. In Australia they were a car for ‘Flash Harry’, as people said at the time.
“It is weird to think that German cars would have aped American designs at all.”
I don’t think it’s weird at all, but perhaps it’s one of those “you had to be there” moments. Though I was born in the 70’s, I can still relate to the feeling of Americana that was in Europe at the time. By the 70’s, it had faded away, but could still be felt. In advertising, architecture, the visions of the prosperous future, the American way of life was supposed to save us all. Outside Europe itself, the Europeans only looked to America for inspiration, there was no other way to look. At least the Japanese could look both to Europe and to the USA for inspiration, as shown in their quite schizophrenic design language.
Also, the case for Opel, most European countries didn’t make any cars at all in the Kapitän price/size class. At least of not cars that weren’t luxury items in itself. France and Italy had punitive taxes almost banning cars larger than two litres, there simply weren’t a domestic market for those kind of cars. And if you really needed a large car, you bought American. Mercedes was a premium car, but I wouldn’t say that the Opel Kapitän was. It was a near luxury near premium contender, a large car with a large engine coming from a more plebian brand. I wouldn’t say that the Kapitän could be said to be Opels Buick or Oldsmobile, it was more like a Chevrolet Impala, the top offer for the aspiring working class.
In Sweden, the only cars made was the Saab 92 and the Volvo 544 and the 122. Volvo didn’t even offer a 6-cylinder car until the 164 in 1969. In England, the 3-litre six cylinder market was exclusively an upper middle class affair. And that entire market imploded when the demographic shifted away to the smaller but more premium Triumphs and Rovers. Same in Germany with the Neue Classe-BMW:s. So, if you wanted a large car with bench seats that could seat six people in comfort, to the tune of a large six-cylinder engine, and without being robbed in the process, the Opel Kapitän was more or less the only choice. I have no problem seeing it all over Europe in that fashion.
The picture is a still from Jacques Tatis film “Mon Oncle” that shows that kind of glamourous future visions I was talking about. It was made in 1958, and it shows quite prominently a 1956 Chevrolet, as an example of what the bourgousies was aspiring for, put in contrast to the almost medieval past that had been before. Europe was still poverty struck and war torn after WWII, and didn’t really regain itself until the 1960’s. And up until that happened, many people looked to the United States for their dreams and aspirarions.
Touche
Is that the film were Mom Uncle lights a cig with the cars lighter and then throws it out the window like a match?.
Nicely put, and I agree with you mostly, except for this line: I wouldn’t say that the Kapitän could be said to be Opels Buick or Oldsmobile, it was more like a Chevrolet Impala, the top offer for the aspiring working class.
That might have been somewhat true by the mid-later 60s, but not so in the 50s or at the time this Kapitan was built. I can’t conceive of a genuine “working class” German at the time buying one of these.
The Kapitan was an alternative to a Mercedes, as it had been since the late 30s. It was a bit cheaper, depending on which model Mercedes we’re talking about, but realistically Kapitan buyers were pretty high up on the food chain at the time. Successful business owners/executives/managers; established older doctors/lawyers/professors/engineers/other diploma professionals and higher government functionaries. But definitely not “working class”.
In the 50s, that would have been a VW or other small car, and in the 60s a Kadett or possibly a Rekord. A new Kapitan? Not likely, at all. it would have been financially impossible, and looked all wrong. Germany was very class-structured.
Although trying to assign analogues to GM brands is difficult, I would say that the Kapitan was analogous to a big Buick of the times, in terms of its buyers. Very much so, actually. By the 70s, things were changing very rapidly and Opel’s image with it. Which explains the demise of the KAD cars.
Out of curiosity, what kind of price spread was there between these Kapitäns and the contemporary Rekord?
I don’t know excactly, but i Norway the Kapitan was almost double the price of a Rekord (Car sales was rationalized after WW2 to 1960). The Rekord had engines from 40 to 55 hp, I4 1,4-1,7(57-60). The Kapitan was an I6 2,5 with 80 hp (58-59) and 2,6 90 hp in 1960.
I don’t have that info available, but I’m guessing it was a pretty big jump in Germany too. Rekords were very common; Kapitans; not very much at all.
Even the Rekord was not too common in Norway. After everyone could buy a car in 1960, the Kadett A (62) was pretty common. Other popular cars was VW Beetle (Boble in Norwegian), some small english cars and for the upper class the Volvo Amazon. In the 70s and 80s The Rekord was pretty common though.
Of course, it’s much hyperbole. But lets say there’s a certain class aspect attached to the buying of certain cars. In England, the aspiring working class would never ever ever buy a 3-litre Wolseley or Riley or Humber, they would buy a 3-litre Austin or Ford or Vauxhall. The “Flash Harry” buyer that Old Pete was talking about. Perhaps a Jaguar, but never a Daimler or Armstrong-Siddley. And my point was only that the Kapitän was in many markets the only affordable choice, and therefore it had the market more or less to itself. I have no problem seeing it as the most common six-cylinder car in Europe at the time, simply because the competition didn’t have anything in that price and range.
And where did the Rover fit into all this? It seems to be around the same size and did offer a six-cylinder engine, and I know it was seen as a classy, conservative vehicle.
The simultaneous existence of the P4 and P5 from ’58 to ’63 also confuses me, not sure if they were aimed at the same buyer or not…
The P5 was a little larger and added an automatic and eventually a V8 of course. The P4, while a mature person’s car, had gotten much more horsepower out of Rover 2.6 and had those great grey and black two tones on the later versions.
The P6 was aimed at the younger market, with it’s 2.0 ohc dual carb engine.
Strange P5 fact, there was a manual only 2.4 version of the regular 3.0 six sold only in Austria in 1962. My source for this is James Taylor’s Classic Rovers 1945-86.
Rover was definitely upmarket. Possibly north of Humber and Wolseley, yet not up there with Daimler or Armstrong-Siddeley. Dad looked at buying a Humber back in the fifties, I still have the brochure; a Rover was out of his league.
Yeah, I forgot Rover in that list. There’s always something…
The 3-litre executive car was a concept of its own in England at the time, and they all competed over the same demograpic, the upper middle management. People in the civil service, for example. The Rover P5 was also the quintessential government transport, also favoured by several royal households, the English and Danish royals rode in Rovers.
But yes, the 3-litre Rover P5 would certainly be there up against the other ones in the field, and that field was also divided according to price and class. The Austin, Ford, and Vauxhall 3-litres would be the cheapest offerings, with the Riley, Wolseley, and Rover above it.
It sounds as though the Kapitan (and Admiral and Diplomat) were more prestigious in Germany than the Cresta was in the UK, where the Cresta was a car for large family, and not in anyway “premium”. After all, we had Rover and Triumph for that.
Also, there was no competitor from Ford, above the Taunus family, until the Granada in 1972.
in 1978, the Opel Senator (basically a slightly stretched Opel Rekord) came to the UK as the Vauxhall Royale as the top of the new Vauxhall range, and pretty much sank without trace, until it was re-branded as the Senator in 1983, after the Cavalier had been so successful and the Carlton (a Rekord clone) had also succeeded.
The Ford (UK) had the Zodiac/Zephyr, where the cheaper Zephyr could be had with either a four or six cylinder engine, and was more an equivalent to the Rekord/Commodore range. Size-wise perhaps there weren’t such a big difference, but there will always be a need for differentiation. In both cases, there needed to be an intermediate step between the family saloon and the luxury car. Both the Kapitän and the Zephyr was a step above the Rekord and Consul, respectively, while the real luxury offering was the Admiral/Diplomat and the Zodiac, respectively. And the German Ford had six cylinder offerings in their V6 Taunus range, the Taunus 26M, which could be compared to at least the Zephyr if not the Zodiac range.
in the UK, where the Cresta was a car for large family, and not in anyway “premium”
And any large family could afford a Cresta? A working-class large family, in the late 1950s? Hmmm.
I don’t think that the average British worker could buy a Cresta in the late 50s. The UK had also very high taxes (90% for the highest incomes) in the post-war years, and even if the unembployment rate was low, the average british working class had fairly low income.
During the 50s Morris Minor was one of the best selling cars in Britain. Hardly in Cresta’s class. In general the average british car was a small car with a small engine.
Vauxhall had the Wyvern and Victor 4 cylinder cheaper alternatives to go up against the 4 cylinder Consul and Zephyr six from Ford, still not really working class though.
Not premium when compared to a Jaguar, Rover, Humber etc. A large Vauxhall or Austin were obviously still relatively expensive but the cheaper cars in their (size) class.
As a modern analogy, is the Chevrolet Suburban a ‘premium’ car?
Carl Borgward’s last car was a P2 Kapit’n too!
His eldest son was an Opel dealer.
I think part of the downfall was that the segment grew too large for Europe and most of the professional classes wanted the new compact executives like the BMW and Triumph 2500s, Rovers, etc. Wolseleys and the like were seen as too old fashioned and thirsty.
Of course, the truly upwardly mobile might even stretch to the new Mercedes /8.
Ford downsized the 26M and Zodiac slightly with the ’72 Granada and Opel created the Senator from the Commodore in ’78.
Ingvar, thanks for this insightful commentary. I have always thought that the styling simply came down to USA ownership of Opel, Vauxhall, and the Euro Fords,. You have done a great job of explaining that things were much more complex.
I think you misunderstood his comment. It did come down to US ownership of Opel, Vauxhall and Euro-Ford; and their styling was clearly a reflection of that. There was a lot of interchange in the design departments, with the Europeans coming to Detroit for a while, and vice-versa.
The point is this: American style at that time was still seen by many as advanced, modern and desirable, although hardly by all Europeans. In fact, the mid-late 50s Opels, Vauxhalls and Fords were heavily criticized by many Europeans for being to florid and over-done. But enough Europeans still bought into it, until things started changing in the 70s,and 80s, when European design increasingly became dominant and preferred. GM and Ford then had no choice but to adopt the new design directions.
Of course, there was also a certain kind of European chauvunism, few makers would openly say they were influenced by the Americans, due to the not invented here-problem. Or rather, being inspired was one thing, blatant copying was another. Like how extremely controversial adding fins actually was. From that perspective, it was actually a good thing for Opel/Vauxhall and Ford Europe to keep being open minded about transatlantic styling, they bridged the gap between us substantially.
Except for them, I think only the Rootes company was openly Americanized in their styling. Singer and their Studebaker-inspired styling comes to mind.
Considering what Singer’s previous entry in this class looked like, I don’t think anybody would have minded some cribbing from the Americans…..
Interesting… In Israel these (and the big Vauxhalls) were rarer than Chevrolets and Plymouths, for the simple fact they were not that much cheaper than the American cars – it made sense to go the extra mile and buy one of the above which back then were held in high esteem. The same applied to the Ford Zodiacs and the Taunus V6s – why buy an English made Ford with a slightly dated styling when a Fairlane (and certainly, a Falcon) wasn’t that much more expensive.
Regarding ‘Mon Oncle’, it’s very interesting to note the absence of the Citroën DS, in a film that throws a very critical view of modernity and its fetishes in general right there where the DS was created; what we get to see is a preponderance of American cars that was not in any way proportional to actual numbers of these on French roads at that time or in any other time, for that matter.
Is that the film were Mom Uncle lights a cig with the cars lighter and then throws it out the window like a match?.
The featured car had such impossible 3-color combination (green body, purple fins and trunk lid, pink roof), obviously chosen to present the lack of taste of the nouveau riche, so at the end of the film, a painter with the can of red paint approached the car, offered to enhance the look of the car with some red paint 🙂
So after you rode the Ferris Wheel in Vienna, would you then get in your Kapitan and drive to Switzerland to pick up your cuckoo clock? (I couldn’t help it!)
Oh yeah! beautiful and practical cars. I wish Opel was still a contender.
As already commented …it’s well worth taking a look at the big British Vauxhalls also – which sold in Britain (where the Kapitan/Admiral etc. were not available) – and also in many export markets around the world….. (1970 Vauxhall Cresta in photo, a design first seen in 1965)…. They also paralleled US design trends closely – but took a different approach to the Germans. After 1972 there was no “big Vauxhall” anymore although in 1978 the Vauxhall Royale arrived which was a rebadged Opel Senator – so the Germans had “won the battle” in that sense : ) All future big Vauxhalls, indeed all Vauxhalls, were versions of Opel designs.
My favourite car I owned. Stylish, comfortable and ultra reliable.
Anyone else look at that car and see a ’65 Buick Special?
They’re often mistaken for American cars in the UK. It was large (by UK standards, roughly the same size as a compact US car) There’s a definite GM look to them
The best looking post-war big Vauxhall. Shame we never got it here, but Holden was about to swamp its market niche anyway.
Holdens still lacked flow thru ventilation the Cresta had and unless you bought the 5 litre V8 the Holden couldnt keep up on the highway.
I know that Opel sold cars here in the USA at Buick dealers throughout the 60s and 70s. What I’ve never understood was why only the Kadett was sold in the USA and not other cars, like the Kapitan, the Admiral, or the Diplomat. If they had to change the name to meet American tastes, that’s ok. But I would think that’d be all they’d need to change. Had the K.A.D. Opels been offered I would think it’d give Opel buyers more options. And besides that, I find these Opels more attractive than the Kadett that was offered.
The USA Opel line was a side operation for Buick, although I believe some years Opel was number 2 in import sales in USA on the strength of the Kadett. I don’t think Buick was interested in investing in the marketing and mechanical support necessary to sell cars that would cost as much or more than Electras or Rivieras.
Opel at Buick dealerships, and Vauxhall at Pontiac dealership were really a half-hearted attempt at combating the VW Beetle in America. The Vauxhall connection died just as soon as the cars turned out to be complete rustbuckets. With Opel, there was enough American acceptance to make a decent run of it (second in sales to the Beetle until the Japanese moved in?), but Buick dealers wouldn’t have been much interested in a six cylinder Opel, not when they could shove you into a Skylark or Special or even a LeSabre.
Opels were for the cheap SOB’s in America – until they got too expensive due to currency fluctuations.
You forgot the Opel GT “the mini vette”. They were popular for a while. A friend of mine owned one and they were a fun car to drive.
I really like these cars (the P2 especially), for some strange undefined reason that is somehow summarized in those publicity photos.
50-60’s European car brands owned by American companies can better be described as “American styling cliches” rather than “American styling” because they never seemed to have a unified design. They always seemed to be more like taking last years body or platform, and tack on the latest American styling gimmick – not unlike the 56-58 Studebakers. The general body shape never seemed to be appropriate for the fenders, grilles, etc.
The biggest reason for that is because these styling “cliches” were designed for large, low and wide cars. Adopting them on shorter, taller and narrower bodies was intrinsically a compromise. But that’s how it was done back then. Opel styling was never really all that good, because of meddling from Detroit, which is waht it was. Opel was never allowed adequate resources and autonomy in terms of styling. But that changed when Chuck Jordan was sent to Opel, and he turned things around and Opel designs were even better than a lot of stuff coming out of the mothership at the times.
Those Rekord D’s were extraordinarily good-looking cars. Shows what happens when you start with a clean sheet and size the design appropriately, not to mention the work of a very talented pen.
+1.
I really wish Buick had decided to sell the Senator and Monza here. I think they still look fantastic over 30 years later.
Something I’ve never understood is while the Opel Kadett was sold in North America, why was neither the Kapitan, the Admiral, nor the Diplomat, sold in North America?
That would have cannibalized the Detroit Iron, I suppose.
I think the big Opels would be to expensive. I don’t know if the american buyers would pay almost the same for an Opel as for an Buick. Especially not when the Buick (LeSabre) was more powerfull, quieter, more comfortable, better equipment, bigger, and maybe of better quaily, althugh those old big KAD’s was pretty good quality compared to other smaller Opels.
There was talk (as we’ve mentioned here before) about using the Diplomat as the basis for the first-gen Seville, but of course it didn’t happen.
Offering the Rekord and Kadett here was primarily a way of placating dealers who had gotten panicky in ’57-58 about not having a small car to sell when that was all people were buying. Later, the bigger, pricier KAD cars with six-cylinder engines (or later the Diplomat 5,4) would have ended up seeming like rivals to the senior compact/A-body Special/Skylark, which wasn’t in Buick’s interests (or GM’s) even if some buyers might have preferred the Opel.
The Borgward P 100 could have been a real contender in that category/class if the brand had not been murdered under very questionable circumstances.
Borgward vs. Opel in big sedans – now that would have been interesting!
A very attractive car I’ve never seen before. I love this site finding out about new cars
The Diplomat was effectively replaced by the Senator, which ran in 2 generations and was not replaced. Same thing happened to Ford’s Granada and Scorpio, once very successful, but hammered by the premium brands – especially BMW and later, Audi.
Senators drove really well – swift (especially the 24v versions), with great ride and handling. Tgey were much loved as highway patrol cars by the British Police force.
Wow! Allow me to indulge in the CC effect. Though the car’s plates (and poctures) are from Colonia, Uruguay, I saw it in Montevideo last Wednesday parked in front of a local well known pizza restaurant, where I was having dinner with some friends. It was really expensive here in its day. It still looks as nice as in the pictures
I went to university in Ontario and I had a good friend there who had immigrated from India. When we graduated in 1973 he went home for his first visit in 6 years and l was lucky enough to be able to tag along. His family was quite well off and most of them lived in Delhi. At that time you could only buy cars made in India, so they all had Hindustan Ambassadors. As I understood it, the only way foreign cars were imported was if a diplomat imported a car, then when they left the Indian government would buy it and the auction it off. This made them very rare, expensive and desirable. Among my friend’s family they had 2 foreign cars. One uncle had an early 60s Ford Fairlane (with A/C) and his aunt’s husband had an Opel Kapitan like this one. It was the first one I remember ever seeing and I did not get a ride in it. A few years later on another trip I visited them in Bombay, where they had moved and they still had the Opel but it was not running well.
If you look at the Vauxpedia website (highly recommended), you will see that a Detroit-generated design very close to the Kapitan P1 was considered for the Cresta, but rejected in favour of the PA as it turned out to be. Opels of the 50s were more restrained in their styling than the Vauxhalls, which in the long term was probably to their benefit. The F-series Victor and the PA Cresta looked dated quite quickly. The FB and PB cars were less characterful but less vulgar too, as well as being more rustproof. I have always wondered if Opels got the same reputation for rust that Vauxhall got in the 50s, and which dogged them for many years afterwards.