The Kadett wagon, besides being a good place to do what my girlfriend and I did best, was a pretty practical car. It was well built, got great gas mileage and, having been very popular in the US for awhile, easy to get parts for. The 1.9 liter engine, while no rocket, moved the car at a reasonable pace.
This car is an amazing time capsule. Owned by a man with a long family history of Opel ownership, his dad bought his first Opel in 1968. He writes, "THAT was the beginning of a 40 year love affair with the pre 76 Opels. Since then over 52 of them, any and all models, were fair game to satisfy my families' love affair.(My Dad was North west Ohio's only certified Opel technician)". 52 Opels in 42 years. That's dedication.
The car has just over 62,000 miles on it. It is as close to original as you'll find, right down to the headlights. (The seller writes, "The T-3 headlite bulbs still do a fine job, I was going to change them to halogens but didn't have the heart." I love that.) The heater core is new, as is the slick NOS valve cover. The car has an electric fuel pump and a Weber carb, which is a mandatory conversion on any Opel. The body is original and in amazing condition for its age. Opels didn't rust as badly as other 1960s / 1970s cars but, like all cars from that time period, rustproofing was somewhat of an afterthought. It has a few dings and some small rust spots, but nothing very serious.
My Opel wound up getting t-boned in the parking lot of a Chinese restaurant on my girlfriend's birthday. We were eating dinner at the time, so we didn't see what happened, just the results. Apparently a woman, who had 2 or 3 more Scorpion Bowls than she should have, mistook the gas pedal for the brake pedal in her Lincoln and hit my car at about 40 MPH. It pretty much turned the Opel into the letter "U".I don't have any real desire to own an Opel station wagon again (fortunately I haven't had a girlfriend who lives with her parents in a very, very long time), but it's really cool to see a car like this in this condition.
Located in Columbus Grove, Ohio, click here to see the eBay listing.
