1973 Opel Manta

Rallye Coupe

4 - Cyl.

Manual

OL77NC9937839

Gasoline

1973 Opel Manta A Rallye 4-speed. Clear Georgia title and current registration. The original owner purchased this car at Lindsay Hopkins Opel in Marietta, Georgia on July 20th, 1973. He was a retired US Naval officer and wanted a sporty but comfortable car to commute from Marietta to his new assignment at the Lockheed aircraft plant in Atlanta. The car was used for this purpose, carefully maintained and fussed over, until his retirement from that position many years later. During that time, the owner drove the Manta to Road Atlanta a lot to attend SCCA events as a spectator. He was/is a true automotive enthusiast. (Interesting side note- The SCCA outlawed Opel Mantas from competition due to the Opel's aerodynamics being an unfair advantage over the competition). Upon the original owner's retirement, he retired the Manta as well. He drove it into his dry shed and there it sat for the next 10 years. He did come out with a fresh battery every few months to start it and hear it run but cherished it too much to use it in today's hectic traffic- Atlanta had changed a lot over the past 30 years. My wife and I participate in two major vintage car rallies in the Southeast each year with me driving and her navigating. We decided it would be more fun if we shared the driving and navigating duties and agreed that she would drive in the Spring event with me navigating and I would drive in the fall event with her navigating. The only issue we found was that our MGB did not have enough power for her on the mountain roads. She wanted something with more guts, a better view of the road, excellent handling......and German. I had owned a few Opels when I was in college, knew their ruggedness and capabilities, and decided a Manta Rallye would be perfect for the job. We searched everywhere but the only Mantas we could find were abused and neglected garden variety automatics and even those were scarce. Just when we were about to give up the search, a friend alerted us to a nice original Manta Rallye that he had heard about in an older gentleman's shed in Marietta. I met with the gentleman, was allowed to look at the car and knew right away this was our car, the rare gem we had been searching for. After some friendly haggling (he named his price and I paid it), I was allowed to purchase his beloved Opel. That was two years ago and we have loved this car ever since. I brought it home to my wife and she was thrilled. We set about bringing the Opel back to the world. We decided she would need a little more guts to compete with today's traffic and reliability was of the utmost importance. Following is an account of the work that performed on the Manta here at Speedwell and a complete description of the car's current condition: Engine- We removed the original engine and completely rebuilt it. The crankshaft was nearly perfect and required only polishing. It was re-installed with standard main and rod bearings. During the rebuild process all rotating parts were carefully balanced. We bored the engine to 2.0 liters and installed new flat top pistons from Opel GT Source. We used a larger valved Delta cylinder head from an earlier Opel GT, had it carefully checked and decked, then had all new hardened valve seats and new valves and guides installed. Whenever there were better than stock parts available, we used them. To help it breath, we installed a rare Sprint exhaust manifold (it was the stock exhaust manifold on the later fuel injected cars). A stock cam was used along with special double valve springs, new solid lifters and new cam bearings. The engine was reassembled very carefully with great attention paid to the nuances of the venerable Opel engine. I read in a 1975 Road and Track that the Opel 1.9 is ...."one of the top 10 most bulletproof engines ever made". After building this one, I am inclined to believe them. The engine was broken in with Joe Gibbs racing break-in oil and changed after 500 miles to Valvoline VR1 20W50 with ZDDP to protect the cam and lifters. Carburetion- Again, with an eye toward reliability and improved performance, we removed the original and unreliable Solex and installed a new beautiful single side draft Weber 45DCOE. We found the rare single DCOE intake at a source in Ireland (it was their last one and had been on the shelf for over 20 years). We have tuned the Weber for a combination of decent fuel economy without sacrificing improved power. It works GREAT! Gearbox- While the engine was out, we completely rebuilt the gearbox and installed all new seals, including the side seals for the shift mechanism (this can only be done properly with the gearbox disassembled). The gears were all beautiful and the end result is a smooth and precise shifting gearbox. We also resurfaced the flywheel (it was then balanced with the other rotating parts) and installed a new stock clutch disc, pressure plate and throw out bearing. Though we were improving the car's power a bit, we used a stock clutch set up to make it easier for my wife to drive it long distance. Cooling system- We installed a new water pump when we built the engine, the radiator was sent out to Sims Radiator in Lawrenceville where it was cleaned, pressure checked and flow checked. It passed with flying colors. The car has ALL new cooling hoses including all heater hoses. All new stainless German hose clamps were used. Fuel system- We installed a new fuel pump when we built the engine. All rubber fuel hoses were replaced from the engine to the fuel tank, including all evaporative loss hoses and the fuel filler neck hose. All new stainless German hose clamps were used. The cars original steel lines were checked and found to be perfect. The fuel tank was removed, sent to Sims, hot tanked and pressure tested it passed with flying colors. It was then was painted with POR15 and re-installed. Brakes- We installed rebuilt front calipers and new pads from Opel GT Source along with their new flexible hoses front and rear. We also installed a new brake master cylinder just for reliability. While the brakes were apart, we replaced the front wheel bearings, races and seals (again, for reliability). The rear wheel cylinders were very nice as well as the shoes so aside from flushing them with new DOT4 brake fluid, we left them undisturbed. The rear shoes were also perfect, likely attended to under the previous owner's watchful eye (two new rear wheel cylinders and new brake shoes come with the car just in case). Suspension- We replaced all four shocks with gas charged modern units. We replaced the steering rack boots along with the outer tie rod ends. All ball joints and rubber bushing were in excellent shape, likely attended to by the previous owner. Wheels and tires- We installed period correct vintage ATS classic 13" alloys (very rare) and 205/60HR 13 Sumitomo "H" rated radials. The wheels are straight and have no curb rash and the tires are still in excellent condition. The original wheels are also included in the sale. Heater- We removed the heater assembly and rebuilt it with a new heater core. Again, careful attention was paid to reassembling as the factory did with proper sealing and positioning of all parts. The heater works GREAT. Electrical- All the switches, gauges and ancillary components work perfectly. There are no electrical issues and the entire wiring harness is original and unmolested. The wipers work great and the original horns blow loud and clear (the horns are one of this car's more fun characteristics- it offers a loud German MEEP MEEP that only be found in a car like this). Even the period AM/FM Pioneer cassette player works. Interior- The seats really need to be redone, it is time. The carpet in in great shape and the door panels also present very nicely. The dash is unblemished save one small crack (see pictures) and the gauges all look GREAT and work perfectly, even the original VDO clock in the Rallye instrument cluster. Paint- At some point in the past, the previous owner explained to me, the car was involved in a parking lot scrape that scratched the passenger door. The paint shop repaired the door and blended the rear fender. The repair paint has not stood the test of time very well and the car really needs to be repainted. As per the original owner (and I believe him as he is a REALLY great guy) the scratch was only into the paint. That said, the whole car passes the magnet test with flying colors and the passenger door is indeed the original. The car has never been in any other kind of accident and is amazingly straight and dent free, save a few minor dings. Rust- VERY LITTLE. Even the battery tray is solid save one small hole. When we had the engine out, we cleaned and treated the battery tray and painted it with POR15. There is no bodywork under the paint and it is very solid. The other areas are VERY minor (see pictures). Driving impression- There is no way I can describe how fun this car is to drive. It starts right up, revs freely, goes through all gears smoothly and handles like it is on rails. The suspension is firm without being stiff and steering response is instant with a wonderful feel for the road. There is no understeer or oversteer, it is very balanced. There are no leaks and the engine idles very smoothly. We have owned this car for two years and have had a good bit of fun with it. In her first rally with the car, my wife nearly placed 3rd but at the end I discovered I had missed a clue and blew it! We still had a lot of fun and this little Opel has found a place in our hearts. The only reason we are selling her is to move our attentions and resources to a large and time sensitive project, so we reluctantly offer her to you here on EBay. For the purpose of this auction I checked the compression on the engine and offer the following report:Cylinder 1-180, Cylinder 2-180, Cylinder 3-180, Cylinder 4-180Oil pressure at idle warmed up 45lbs, at speed it is 70lbs. Please look at all the pictures, ask any questions you like and judge this car for yourself. We have a clear Georgia title and the car is currently registered. These documents along with receipts for the work we have done and a bill of sale will be provided to the new owner(s). We also have copies of the original Bill of sale from the Dealership when new along with a copy of the original window sticker. * Ebay only allows 24 pictures but I will be uploading a great many more to a photo bucket account and will paste the link to this auction so please check back. We take our reputation with the Ebay community very seriously, please check our feedback rating and buyer comments. Test drives and personal inspections are most welcome, just email me to make arrangements. I apologize for the length of my essay but I hope to be as descriptive as possible and think the car's history is interesting. Thanks for looking! If you are an overseas buyer, we are very experienced in shipping cars to Europe and you will find us most communicative. We have all the necessary paperwork and you will find us most communicative. We can offer shipping via insured trailer for an additional $500.USD to the following US ports: Charleston, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; Brunswick, Georgia.On Jan-08-12 at 05:56:36 PST, seller added the following information: Here is a link to some of the engine rebuild pictures:http://www.opelgt.com/forums/members/26167-speedwell-album401-engine-rebuild.html On Jan-08-12 at 07:33:22 PST, seller added the following information: Here is a link to a photo-bucket file with pictures of some of the work we have performed on our Opel:http://s807.photobucket.com/albums/yy356/Speedwell1/ On Jan-08-12 at 07:55:45 PST, seller added the following information: Here is a link to a brief history of Opel Mantas:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opel_Manta On Jan-10-12 at 04:48:31 PST, seller added the following information: You will notice that the distributor looks new- Actually, we sent it to the wizard Jeff Schlemmer at http://www.advanceddistributors.com/ for a complete rebuild and recurve when we rebuilt the engine. For any of you who have never used Jeff, the distributor, with it's potentially stuck counterweights, sprung advance springs and worn bushings, is likely the most neglected part of any vintage car's tuning. What a difference this makes! No car gets an engine rebuild at Speedwell without this service being performed. Also, the paperwork in the last picture is all the original paperwork that came in this car's dealer packet when the original owner bought the car new along with the original hand written logs for everything the original owner ever had done to the car (very interesting reading), he really loved this car.