1973 Opel Manta Luxus Blue Max from North America - Comments

I am the original reviewer, and in both my Manta Blue Max and my sister's Manta Coupe, the engines where clearly stamped "Made in Belgium".

In 1983 I purchased a 1973 Opel Manta, the one with the sunroof, automatic etc, great wheels and all for $100.00 from my English teacher. It was running on two cylinders, maybe three. I used it as my shop project for the year. Rebuilt the the whole thing, engine, harness etc. I abused it for a year and a half until it finally died. I wish I still had one and would like to find one. My next car was a real lemon, a 197? Audi Fox. The thing would never start in the winter.

Wow... some deja vu here.

I had a 1971 Opel Manta (although it was marketed as an Opel 1900 at the time).

It was like having a tempestuous affair... I loved and hated her at the same time.

I loved the precise handling. I loved the turbine-line whine of her engine. I loved the look of her (well, the front and back, anyway. I loved her Teutonically exclusivity. And when she ran, she ran beautifully.

But she seldom ran well. Although she never left me stranded, I went through two flywheels and two starters, three Solex 2BBL carburetors, three head gaskets, and one radiator and water pump... all in about 80,000 miles. She would go out of tune almost as often as the the oil needed to be changed. Whoever decided to put the battery on the other side of the firewall and above the fusebox should have been summarily executed. Come to think of it, the body was pretty doggone fragile, too.

But even with all of those flaws, I still loved her. And would have happily thrown my surfboard into a deep blue 4 speed Ascona Station wagon (my dream car at the time) and ridden off into the sunset, if I had the cash to swing it.

Ahhh... young, foolish love.

Oh, and that reminds me ... I loved the reclining seats, too.

The previous comments could easily be applied to any make... some experiences are great... some really bad, but all of them are about VERY inexpensive mass produced cars from Europe that I feel we were lucky to have had access to after the gas crunch. Those of us old enough to remember what was available then with 4 cylinders was very little. The Capri, the or funky looking (at the time) Japanese cars which some of us would never consider. 240z's, BMW's, and that weird looking SAAB 2 seater were all too expensive. The Vega was OK looking, but that engine was just looking for a place to die.. cosworths aside.

From 1975 to 83 I owned a 70 GT for two years a 74 Manta Luxus for four over my high school and college years and a 71 GT for 2 years. I'm pretty sure I never replaced anything, but a few water pumps and batteries. My older brother had a 72 Manta then a 69 Kadett, my roommate in collage and a girlfriend each bought 71 Manta's. Not an axle, trans or engine failure in the bunch. The girfriends 71 even had the dealer installed A/C....a truely bad idea.

I am buying 2 Opel Manta's both Luxus. One sounds like the Blue Max I have heard people posting about here due to it being blue and with the sunroof. They are in good condition with very little rust. The other Manta Luxus is a hardtop. Both are 1973 and I am getting them for 40.00 each. The guy told me that they did run when he first got them and they just sat in his backyard for about 10 years. The hardtop one needs a new tranny and the Blue Max need a new radiator and some roller thing that goes near the tranny I think. I want to restore both of them and wanted to know if there are any good websites to get parts for these?

My first car was a 1974 Opel Manta Rally, I was 17 at the time, 1977.

I loved my car. I changed out the carb., put headers and a free flow exhaust system on, replaced the sway bars and put Bilstein shocks all around. I upgraded the stereo, installed a front air dam and installed a 3 piece moulded in spoiler, and added custom alloy wheels that widened the stance two inches. The car was custom painted yellow and black, nicknamed "bumble bee".

The car never gave me any huge issues, I drove it for 5 years then sold to a friend who drove it another 3 who inturn sold it to another friend who got many more years of use. I believe it finally died doing over 115 miles an hour down a mountain in Colorado.

I was approached one time in 79' by a guy who offered me $3500 on the spot for the car.

Great memories.

They work and they stop, but they will (probably) never leave you on the road if you understand mechanics!!! unlike some other cars (lets say Fiat for example), but they can give you headache.

Chassis is so hard it survives most crashes.

I even fell of a 5m cliff with one of mine after they took her out. It started on first turn and drove like nothing happened. They give love back.

I got my first Opel -a 1970 1.1 Opel GT in 1973. What a car. To turn on the headlights you had to pull a lever which manually flipped over the front oval headlight panels and turned on the lights (no electric windows or gadgets back then, everything was manual) The 1.1 liter motor was the smaller and more unique size found in the GT's and I clearly remember getting 45 miles per gallon on the highway. I would rev the heck out of the twin carburetors and it almost sounded like a 2 stroker. Only problems I had was when we tried to rebuild those carbs and couldn't get them synchronized to work together, front brakes and a flat tire.

I had to sell the car when I needed money to go back to college. Around 1977 I got a pretty blue 1974 Manta automatic. I had it about a year when the flywheel broke. I'm not a mechanic but as a 23 yr old I still was able to jack it up in the driveway and yank the tranny out. They were so easy to work on, I remember using only 2 different sized wrenches (I think 10mm & 12mm) and a couple screwdrivers to work on it to fix the flywheel. I got it back together and had a couple extra bolts that I forgot to put back on the flywheel and so had to pull tranny again. I drove the car a couple years then moved all my belongings in the Opel from Ohio to Florida in late 1982. Later sold it a friend in Fla and he drove it another year before letting a junk yard have it. Opels were cheap dependable transportation and those cars bring back fond memories.

I purchased one of the last remaining Opel GTs in the Midwest at Bauer Buick in Harvey, IL at the end of the 1973 model run. Yellow with a 4 speed, rear defogger and Delco AM radio along with skinny Goodyear whitewalls. It had great lines, a comfortable interior with full gauges and a slightly underpowered 1.9 engine that had been impacted greatly by pollution restrictions. Reliable until about 60k miles when the hideaway rotating headlamp buckets eventually rubbed thru the wiring harness causing a small under-hood fire (while at the dealership getting a tuneup) resulting in a large expense to correct. Engine was somewhat had to start when warm, even though a fix had been put in place by the local Buick/Opel dealer. Foot-pump activated "one-cycle" wiper sweep was a great idea.