My 1970 Opel GT

[Guest Enginerd]

So a little background.  In the 70s my parents bought a 1968 Opel Kadett, which they really liked.  My mom’s dad was always a Buick man, but he liked their Opel so well that he got himself a new Manta.  I never knew either of these cars, since they were sold before I was born.  However, my dad’s dad, a Cadillac aficionado, decided that he liked the Opels too, but he opted for the sexier Opel GT, which is still around.  My brother and I always loved the GT, but my grandpa wouldn’t part with anything and, sadly, since his passing it is still sitting in a barn, not run since 1980 or so.

 

That cool, metallic blue Opel GT was enough for the Opel bug to bite my brother and me.  While I got my mom’s ’68 Buick Skylark in high school, my brother wanted an Opel GT as his first car.  He spent hours on the internet searching for a good candidate and finally found one that was only about 50-miles away.  It had been a guy’s weekend project and was in pretty decent running shape.  He had refurbished the interior and had the engine in good running order, having done the Webber Carb replacement.  He had also stripped the car ready for paint, but had reattached most of the critical parts (bumpers, lights, etc.) when he decided that finishing the body work wasn’t worth it and he was going to sell it.  I’m not really sure what my dad spent on it, but my brother drove an orange 1970 Opel GT throughout high school.

 

When he went to college he turned the GT over to my parents and talked them into helping him buy a newer car to make the long drives to Las Vegas (I think he may have also wanted the A/C).  My dad kept the car parked in his garage, but it hardly ever got run.  Having always liked the Opel GT, I offered to buy it from him and am now in possession of what I hope it is a decent car for minor restoration.

I think the main items are body work.  The interior is in pretty good shape and just needs a little cleanup.  The plastic grip on the emergency break is broken and has a few pieces missing.  There are manual switches to turn the headlights on mounted under the dash; I’d kind of like to get them back to turning on with the level actuator, but we’ll see if I follow through on that since the current set-up works alright.  There’s also an aftermarket stereo installed that I’m considering replacing with an original radio, though it’s way down on my list.

 

I was able to get it started and drive it a short distance without any apparent major issues.  The previous owner did quite a bit of work to it before selling.  The exhaust seems loose and needs to be looked at, the Webber looks like it is running rich and might get replaced with a second carb that my dad has already rebuilt, and all the mechanicals should get a good once over after sitting for so long.

 

The paint is all original and I am tempted to keep it, but there are a few major issues that need to be addressed.  There is a little rust at the top of all the wheel arches and the rear quarter panels are rusted badly behind the rear wheels (the previous owner actual cut one out already in preparation for a patch).  There’s also a ding on the rear end that needs to be straightened up and the paint is showing its age with a lot of pits, dings, and thin spots.  I’ve never done body work before, but am tempted to give it a try since replacement panels seem to be available.  I haven’t had it up on a ramp yet, but hopefully the underside doesn’t hold any nasty surprises (Colorado is usually pretty kind to cars where rust is concerned).  I’m still debating whether to go back to the original orange, which I don’t particularly like, or do a color change to either metallic blue or dark green.

 

I hope to keep a running log of my progress here…we’ll see how that goes.  Here's a quick picture as it is now:

 

[Guest my3buicks]

Great looking little GT. I looked at the pic before I read your write up - my first thought was - I love the orange lol

[Guest Enginerd]

I have to admit that the orange has grown on me, but I think it would look really good in a dark metallic green with gold rally stripes.  I'll have plenty of time to debate the final color though.

[JohnD1956]

It is a great looking car!  I like the Dark green w/ gold stripes plan.  How wide would those stripes be? I seem to recall one stripe across the horizontal planes ( hood, roof, trunk) and then thin stripes low on the sides between the wheels?

[Guest Enginerd]

I'm not sure on the exact strip size and I'm still debating rally or racing stripes.  My plan is to get it painted and then get vinyl decal stripes to apply to the car; that way I can change my mind.  I was thinking of just the stripes on the horizontal surfaces, but hadn't really considered the sides.  Ideally, I would like to avoid the bump on the passenger side of the hood (not sure how well a vinyl decal would stretch over that irregularity), so my initial plan to align two wide rally stripes up with the air scoops in the front is probably out.  Maybe a 4-6" wide line on the center line of the car with a 1/2" line on either side.

 

Well before I get to that though, I'm going to have to address the fact that it seems like my fuel tank is leaking.  I topped it off the other day and am now getting a steady leak out the back dripping onto my exhaust, which isn't really ideal.  I'm betting that the fill neck is shot and needs to be replaced, which, if I'm not mistaken, means I'm going to have to figure out how to drop the fuel tank.  Fun...or is that phun?

[Guest Enginerd]

Got the gas tank problem solved; not only was the fill hose past it, so were the two vent lines.  The vent lines also seemed to be missing hose clamps.  In any case, all have been replaced and I also got the rebuilt carb swapped in and it is running much better.  I have decided not to make my foray into body work since I have too many other projects going on right now.  Instead I have hired a family friend that builds hot rods and welds to tackle it; he should do a much better job and be far more timely than I would be.  I also have the nephew of the gentleman that painted my Skylark lined up to give it a new coat of paint once the body work is done.  Should be done by next month, just in time to move it to the Pacific Northwest.  Now I have to get serious on picking the final color.

[Guest Enginerd]

Well, as usual, paying someone else to do it makes things go much more quickly.  They both said the car was exceptionally solid with only the minor rust I had noted at the top of the wheel arches and the rear quarters.  It was inprimer within a week.

 

 

And less than a week later, she was a beautiful blue...er, I mean green.  After waffling on the color choice for a while, I thought I had finally decided on a good looking blue, but then I asked my wife (I didn't expect her to care) and she told me that I actually wanted a nice dark green.

 

  

 

 

The paint turned out really well and I've got to say that the green looks great (I'm glad my wife changed my mind for me).  With as good as it looks now I was thinking that it didn't need any stripe.  Unfortunately, the one really noticeable blemish is just in front of the hood where a moth landed on the wet paint; it might buff out, but it's also right on the line where a racing stripe would go.  So now I just have to track down a vinyl gold racing stripe.  I also have to work on the right headlight that isn't locking into position since he reassembled it, but that will have to wait until I get the cars in Seattle.  It got done just in time to be loaded up with my other two cars to head off to the shipper for transport.

 

[Larry Schramm]

Nice looking green.