1973 Opel Manta

1900 Coupe

4 - Cyl.

Automatic

OL77NC9815174

Gasoline

1973 Opel Manta 1900 Automatic Clean California title in my name. Currently registered and insured. Registration payed for until October 2012. The car is exempt from California smog tests. A bill of sale will be provided to the new owner along with the DMV pink slip (title). This Opel Manta is a GM product which was sold through Buick dealerships in the early 70s. The car had been in storage for a several years. When I got it from a dealer in Oregon last year the whitewall-tires were dry, cracked and unsafe to drive. I will include one photo of what car looked like on whitewall-tires, but the tires were disposed off and are not part of this auction! Stickers on the car showed that the car has been registered in Hawaii since the seventies and later found its way to Oregon. I bought this car last September with the attention to fully restore it. Started with new tires, re-did the brakes, continued with some work on the engine and did cosmetic repairs. My reason for selling this car now is the fact that I am soon moving from a house into an apartment here in Los Angeles Without a garage nearby and only street parking - I do not see a chance for the restoration I hoped for. Unfortunately I can not keep this car. Since I am now moving as early as the end of March I decided to give up this project and offer it here on Ebay without reserve. I hope it will find a new home with someone who will appreciate it and who will continue with the restoration. Opel Mantas are great fun to drive and are an affordable way of owning a classic. With a little bit of extra work this could be an inexpensive, but stylish daily driver. Since ebay only allows a certain number of photos to be uploaded I have created a Photobucket webpage with 177 photos and 4 videos of the Opel Manta to accompany this auction: Please email me to receive the link to the Photobucket page! Unfortunately Ebay does not let me post this link on this auction ad. Please do look at all the pictures and videos on the external Photobucket website, ask any questions you like and judge this car for yourself before you place your bid! Test drives and personal inspections are most welcome, just email me to make arrangements. I can be available any day during the week and on weekends. The car is located near Santa Monica Airport in Los Angeles, CA. This car is 39 years old, is in a drivable condition and is sold as is without any warranty! I will try to describe the 'good' and the 'bad' aspects of the car as precisely as possible and I recommend that you look at the photos which show these listed faults on Photobucket. A lot of the photos have individual comments to explain everything in detail. The car is stock apart from these few alterations: The factory Solex carburetors on these Opel Manta models were leaky, hard starting and difficult to adjust. It was a common fix to replace them with Weber carburetors - this Manta came with such a 2 barrel-Weber-carburetor, but this was old and leaked. Instead of rebuilding it, I put a new 32/36 Weber Caburetor on the engine. I kept the old one for spares and I will include it with the sale. The seats are original, but not the covers. The car has a radio, but it is to the original one and it is not connected to a speaker. The car comes with 9 wheels! The 4 it runs on now, are period-correct Opel Manta wheels, but were not sold on this particular model. The original wheels (plus the spare) were refurbished and are included in the sale, but without tires! Instead of a clock in the instrument panel, this Manta has an extra coolant temperate gauge, which is currently not functioning. Everything else seems to be absolutely stock. More detailed information on this Opel Manta: Exterior: Generally the car's exterior is in very good shape. There are small dings and scratches along the sides and on the trunk lid, but no major dents. The photos show how straight the car is. The 1973 model year was the last year of the thin, small chrome-bumpers for these US-models. Two of the US-specific rubber bumper pieces were missing and I decided to take all rubber parts off and closed the holes with carriage bolts to achieve the look of European bumpers. The front bumper has two dents which I believe can be pushed back without damaging the chrome. I have made two wooden formers to fix, but will not find the time before the auction ends. The wooden formers will come with the car. I saved the rubber parts that I took off the bumpers and will include them in the sale as well - please note that some are damaged. Some of the chrome trim around the front grill is missing. Paint: The car has been repainted once in its original color: Antique Bronze - the outside only! I assume this would have happened in the 80s. This external paint-job was not a very good one. There are a few small spots on the roof where the paint is coming off and larger areas where the clear lacquer is peeling off at the front of the car. I guess you can call it 'patina' - it did not bother me, but I just want to mention that the paint looks better on the photos than it actually is. The car has small scratches all around - I photographed the main ones. Almost every single fault can be seen on the Photobucket page. The inside of the engine bay shows the original color and is very clean. It is obvious that there has never been any impact damage. Interior: The seats really need to be redone. I assume the seats were recovered in the 80s and the padding is now simply too old. I photographed the seats from underneath to show that the frame is good and the springs are intact. The carpet in in great shape and the door panels are complete and in good condition. Some of the chrome on the door switches has been scratched off and there are a few little cracks in the door panels. The seat belts are too old and should be replaced. The dashboard definitely needs to be replaced as well. It has several cracks - the worst one being above the steering wheel. The roof-lining is in good condition and has only a small cut. The cover on the rear pillars (b-pillars) need to be re-trimmed. Glass and rubbers / seals: The front screen has a stone chip in the center with a crack of approx two inch width. All rubbers should be replaced - most have become hard and brittle. Engine: The engine runs strong. These chain-driven 4-cylinders are very robust and durable. I replaced spark plugs and wiring. The distributor works fine and the engine revs and idles well. There is a minor mechanical problem with the engine: There is a screaming sound from the bearing in the water pump at very high revs (which sits behind the fan). I located this problem by taking off the fan belt. Without the fan belt, the noise is gone completely. Depending on the tension of the fan belt the noise can be heard sooner or later at very high revs. To describe this problem better - I have taken videos with and without the fan belt. Ask for the Photobucket link to see it yourself. On the video you can hear the engine run and the bearing scream at very high revs. The valve cover was powder coated and the gasket replaced. On the end of the engine facing the firewall oil is being pushed out. The valve cover has to be resealed to avoid oil spillage. I will not find the time to fix these two problems and have to the sell the car as is.Please keep this in mind when you are placing your bid. The air-box was also powder-coated and the air-filter replaced. Carburetion: The car came with a Weber carburetor which leaked and instead of rebuilding it, I decided to replace it with a new 32/36 Weber carburetor. Cooling system: I flushed the cooling system and refilled with new anti-freeze. I replace one hose and several clips. The system is tight. Brakes: I replaced the disc brake rotors and pads at the front and checked the rear drum brakes. The pads are fine and I only powder coated the outside of the drums for better looks. The entire break system was carefully flushed out and all new fluid was used to refill the system. Part of the break line on the front / driver side was replaced. Suspension: Monroe shocks and the springs are old, but fully functioning. The shocks don't 'bounce'. Transmission: The 3-gear automatic transmission shifts well. A swap to a manual gearbox is easily possible on these cars. Wheels and tires: The car runs on original Opel Manta steel wheels which I got off a Manta Luxus (2 wheel center caps are missing) and new tires (purchased last October). For these rims I bought tires with factory dimensions while I refurbished the steel wheels that came with the car. My intention was to get the same whitewall-tires the car came with when new. You can see the refurbished wheels with all the chrome-caps and -rings. All of the 9 wheels are included in the sale, but only 4 rims come with tires. Electrical: All exterior lights work. Not all gauges and switches are illuminated as they should be. Some of the switches around the instrument panel are missing and have been replace with blank covers. The windscreen-wipers are not working. The motor runs but the arms are not connected. The heater motor runs, blows warm air, but is noisy. The original horn is there, but without function. The car has a cassette radio but the dashboard speaker does not seem to be connected or working. The fuel gauge is not working. The coolant temperature gauge is not working. Rust: There is some rust on the car. The only major area is the battery tray which must have rusted through a long time ago. It was fixed with fibre-glass-laminate. The repair is strong but not a proper fix. There is a tennis-ball-size hole in the front wheel-arch on the driver side underneath this tray. It is not structural but visible from the outside above the wheel. Besides there is a small rust spot hidden by the front bumper on the driver side. These two listed rust problems are clearly visible on Photobucket. Otherwise the car is very solid. Locks: The car comes with two ignition keys. The driver door can be locked, but it is so hard to reopen it that the key is in danger of bending. The lock on the passenger side does not seem to be working with a key. Both doors can be locked with the little slider mechanism on the door. The trunk has a lock that catches when being closed but I noticed that it can be opened with any random key that fits. In general: The car is sold as is without any warranty. If you have any questions please contact me before you bid. There is no reserve - the highest bidder will own it. Please note that this vehicle is too old to have a US-carfax-report. Full payment required within 7 days of auction close. PayPal deposit of $500 due within 48 hours of auction close. I reserve the right to end the auction at any time thus canceling all bids and ending auction. Shipping: Local pick-up would be preferred. The car is ready to be driven. The car is sold as is where is and will have to be picked up or shipped at buyers expense. If you are an overseas buyer, please contact me before the end of the auction. I am happy to assist with getting a quote for the shipment to your country. As long as you pay for the shipping I will help to get the Manta on the way. Exporting the Manta is easily possible since I have the title and all paperwork at hand. I can store the car until the end of March, but would prefer the car to be pick-up within 7 days of auction close. If you require a longer storage time at my location, I am willing to help find a solution for safe storage at your expense. Thank you for looking and taking in all this information. Good luck with your bid!!! On Mar-12-12 at 20:54:32 PDT, seller added the following information:Please take note of this milage update: A potential buyer has test-driven the Manta for approx. 11 miles and now the odometer reads: 83183. I personally will not drive the car anymore, but I offer it to anyone who comes to see the car! The milage may therefore go up more before the auction ends! Will keep updating the odometer reading!On Mar-12-12 at 23:19:06 PDT, seller added the following information:Due to several requests to show the underbody of the Manta, I have taken additional photos of the the bottom of the fenders (wings), the rockers and the rear of the car as well as further pics inside the engine compartment especially behind the front bumper. Please note that there is some light surface rust at the bottom of each of the rear fenders (wings). On the driver side a more than on the passenger side. Please look at the photos on my Photobucket page to judge for yourself. The rust in these areas is light, has lifted the paint a little bit, but did not go through at all! If you have not seen my Photobucket page, please copy and paste this link into your browser and have a look at all the pics and videos before you place your bid! http://s1060.photobucket.com/albums/t460/GuerxGarage/1973%20Opel%20Manta/On Mar-12-12 at 23:20:46 PDT, seller added the following information:Due to several requests to show the underbody of the Manta, I have taken additional photos of the the bottom of the fenders (wings), the rockers and the rear of the car as well as further pics inside the engine compartment especially behind the front bumper. Please note that there is some light surface rust at the bottom of each of the rear fenders (wings). On the driver side a more than on the passenger side. Please look at the photos on my Photobucket page to judge for yourself. The rust in these areas is light, has lifted the paint a little bit, but did not go through at all! If you have not seen my Photobucket page, please copy and paste this link into your browser and have a look at all the pics and videos before you place your bid! http://s1060.photobucket.com/albums/t460/GuerxGarage/1973%20Opel%20Manta/