What ever happened to the Opel Kadette “vette” of the 1960&70s?It didn’t have the hp or appetite of an actual Corvette,but it looked like fun
There was an Opel GT sports car (based on the Kadett) which looked like a shrunken Corvette. The car was driven by Maxwell Smart from the Get Smart TV spy comedy, played by Don Adams.
It was briefly sold in North America through GM dealers. It was not cheap (built in Germany), and there appeared little appetite for a small expensive sports car.
The Opel Kadette did not really look like a Vette. It was a little German import that was sold by Buick dealers. It looked like any number of boxy little cars from Japan. The little Opel GT did look sportier and was sold until 1973 or so. A friend of mine (a doctor) loves the Opel GT and Volkswagen’s Karmann Gia as well. He has collected a few of them over the years. I’m too tall for either one of them.
Yeah, not at all like a Vette.
The Opel GT was much smaller and a had a 4 banger
I suppose the flip up headlamps made people compare it to the Vette.
The Opel GT was based on the Kadett and looked like a 70s Vette shrunk down. Here’s more info
http://i1-18sca.ipower.com/0Opel_GT.htm
The new one is similar to the discontinued Solstice/Sky.
Of course the Opel GT was smaller then the Corvette…but IMHO , there are similarities. That I completely agree with @Docnick . If you check on the Opel forum with those who really follow the car, some feel that the Corvette era design may have emulated form the Opel and not the other way around. Either way, I always thought the Opel was a poor man’s Vette. But of course, every American sports car is a Vette wannabe.
I always thought it looked a bit like a "Vette that got washed in hot water and dried on the HOT setting…certainly more so than the C7 looks like the C3. What is it with these kid designers and their “body creases” and “accents”? C3 was a gorgeous car. C7 looks like an exercise in oragami.
I just can’t bring myself to find ANY kind of beauty in vehicles made between 1970 and 1995.
Now, if someone offered me a 65~67 427 Corvette or 67 Shelby gt500, I’d be all over it
'62 to '67 was the C2 'Vette, and I agree that they were absolutely gorgeous.
'63 was the C3, a radiacl styling change and IMHO another gorgeous 'Vette.
The late '60s Shelbys were gorgeous too.
I would argue that the 1970 Camaro SS was a mean looking car as well. The mandated 5mph plastic bumpers (1973) ruined the good looks of many of the cars.
Corvettes are like all our past girl friends…none were bad, but some were better then others.
Camaros were like the best looking gal on the block, with a bad personality, once you get to know them.
Mustang was like the prom queen, valedictorian, all rolled into one and the one you should have married but she didn’t want anything to do with you. She was “too” good for you.
The Opel GT was like the cute little sister of the girl you dated and you knew you would get in trouble if you asked her out, especially if her dad’s name was Bruno.
Perhaps it’s the era I’m from, but I simply am not impressed by the new C7 'Vette.
What ever happened to curves being beautiful? What’s with all the creases in the metal?
The C6 added enough creases to remind me of the C2. The C7 is waaaaay overdone.
My oldest son bought his wife an Opel GT back in the 70s. About all I know about it is that it was yellow. Later he bought a '68 Shelby 500 KR . After he threw a rod in the 428, he put a Daytona 427 rated at 600 + HP in it. He somehow messed it up so that it wouldn’t idle slow enough to drive, and after it set around for about a year, he sold it. He also owned a '68 Baracuda 340 for a while until he wrecked it. I wish I had one of those cars now.
Just this morning I read an opinion in Motor Trend by Angus MacSomebody (sorry, I can;t remember the last name), a MT staff writer, and he said “I showed it (the C7) to some designer friends” and apparently they didn’t like all the lines and creases either.