Thought you might like this Buick related story

From Hemmings daily post

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2014/07/01/remember-when-buick-dealers-sold-a-german-car-that-looked-like-a-corvette/?refer=news

While not everyone here is a BCA member....you can chime in anyway,

Question.....should the BCA recognize the Opel? Be it with a division, at shows, etc.....

ABSOLUTELY, all literature, manuals, adds, etc stated Buick's Opel. They were sold alongside Buick's, advertised alongside Buicks, some of the later Opels actually had Buick nameplates on them. Most of the manuals even had both the Opel & Buick logo's on them

I agree

Barney, and others,

I think in the Opel forum section back when it started and found that many of the Opel owners have their own organization and a separate forum, and did not seem all that interested in the BCA. I am in favor of trying to get them in the fold.

John

Opel owners and enthusiasts are "Cousins - not Step-Children"

I think most of the Opel owners feel more comfortable hanging out with Corvette groups.

Bernie

John, I agree, it will/ would be a long process to win them over after they have been shunned by the club for decades. But hey, if you get a few new members a year from them it would certainly help slow down the membership bleed.

I think we should welcome Opel owners to the Buick fold, if they are willing to join. I saw a Corvette club act fairly cold to an Opel GT owner at a show last year. Opels were sold at Buick dealers for many years. I took my drivers ed behind-the-wheel training in a '75 Opel. If we allowed Opels, we would have to figure out what to do with the Opels by Isuzu, which is another issue.

I wouldn't kick an Opel Manta out of my garage. It's pretty low on my wish list, but I like 'em.

I think they should be welcomed with open arms into a division by themselves.. maybe 2 divisions. One for GT's & another for the sedans.

I saw a Kadet [mini vett?] yesterday. Neat little car.

Ben

I think they should be welcomed with open arms into a division by themselves.. maybe 2 divisions. One for GT's & another for the sedans.

You have to be a member of the national to be a member of a division

I believe I have already mentioned this, the last time the Opel came up. The BCA Board of Directors addressed this issue at their BOD meeting in November 1997 in Rochester, NY. I don't have the meeting minutes handy, they may be in an old computer, and the BCA Office should have the files but contrary to my thoughts, it was decided not to pursue the Opel cars as part of the BCA. I don't remember the reasoning.

Always wanted a GT, have driven 2 and worked on one, GT might still be around.

So they made a mistake 17 years ago, think of the new membership numbers we may have lost, time to right a wrong.

There's somethin familiar looking here, just can't quite figure out what it is.....

Barney, and others,

I think in the Opel forum section back when it started and found that many of the Opel owners have their own organization and a separate forum, and did not seem all that interested in the BCA. I am in favor of trying to get them in the fold.

John

I am for Opel being made a Division but "they" have to do it. We opened the door for them by creating the Opel Forum, however there has not been that much activity. If anyone knows any Opel owners, especially on the west coast, perhaps remind/invite them of/to the National and suggest they pose a question re forming a division during the General membership meeting.

Lamar,

Thanks for the photo resources. I forgot about the mini-sweep spear.

John

Barney, and others,

I think in the Opel forum section back when it started and found that many of the Opel owners have their own organization and a separate forum, and did not seem all that interested in the BCA. I am in favor of trying to get them in the fold.

John

I agree.

Bring them on in. Get em to stick like flies on sticky paper so they hang around. The more, the merrier. Dandy Dave!

I think a better way to go rather than try to talk one of the Opel groups into forming a region ( and for the record, no other model requires a division to belong to the B C A, that would sill be non-inclusionary) but a better approach would be to just open membership up the same as with any other model. Start getting a few here and there and let it grow and let the Opel people then draw others in. If you get a few at the nationals put them in the year class were they belong, the same place they would have been when new in the showroom, right alongside all the other Buick products.

What Keith said.

My great Aunt had a 58 Rekord that got handed down to my brother about 62 when she got a ChevyII. I remember going to Murphy Buick in Oakland in 59 for some reason and seeing new Buicks and Opels on the showroom floor and on the lot.

This writer thinks that all of the above mentioned comments are good for getting fellow enthusiasts to welcome Opel owners into the fold. However, there is something that nobody has mentioned or even thought about I'll bet. If an Opel owner signs up to bring his car to a Buick Club of America National Meet, will he get to park with the rest of the Buicks on the show field? This writer is placing his money on the answer of NO! Just something to think about.

Terry Wiegand

South Hutchinson, Kansas Doo Dah

I said above that they could be parked in class year with the Buick models that they would have shared the showrooms with when they sold new. If numbers would eventually warrant separate classes that is nothing more than icing on the cake.

After all, even today, Buick and Opel are joined at the hip.

So, was anything done by national BCA to create an Opel class at shows,

or to contact any Opel owners or Opel club? Was it discussed at the

national level? The decisions and thoughts of 17 years ago don't have

to be conclusive for 2015 and beyond. There is always room for

good new ideas, and this appears to be one.

Conversation is a start, but action accomplishes much more!

I've been a BCA member since 2009.  I've been active in the Chicagoland chapter since joining.  I have a 1940 Super and a 62 LeSabre 2 dr HT.  In 2013 I bought a solid 1970 Opel GT.  I noticed I get snubbed by a lot of BCA members when I show up with it.  I usually don't take it to BCA events.  Last year I went to the RT66 Mother Road Festival in Springfield IL.  It was a get together for Midwest Opelers.  We didn't even take our Opel and were welcomed with open arms.  Afterwards I joined Opel Motorsports Club.  The Opelers welcomed every Opel, no matter the bodystyle.  I did take my GT to a BCA Regional.  They didn't kick me out but could sense the downward glances.  I love driving my big Buicks and my little GT.  The GT I can drive all weekend for just a few bucks. 

This is a two way street.  I was just at a show and tried to talk with a GT owner who snubbed me.  But that won't stop me from trying to talk to other Opel owners when I see them.