Laurie Schwartz knows Corvettes. She’s owned three. But her first love was an Opel GT, which she had as a teenager and now has once again.
“It’s called the ‘Poor Man’s Corvette,’ and I was poor,” says Laurie of her first Opel GT. “I could not afford …
I once had the upright version of that car, the Opel Rallye (note the very Euro spelling ). It was fun, sort of. I became a master at dropping the front sub-frame with engine and suspension attached so I could work on it. Had to do the crank (spun a main bearing), rear end (shelled some gear teeth) and other misc items. It did end up with large, sticky Goodyears on it, aftermarket intake with Holley 2 bbl, headers, sway bars, etc. I remember it being quite good fun doing donuts in snow covered parking lots. Really don't think I'd care to own another one, however.
A side note. I'm 6'4". I was surprised how much space I had in the car. Pretty awesome.
Had a GT and Manta, for the time they were great cars. But 100 hp out of a 1.9 OHC motor was good for then but sad now. But a SS racer shared some info on the solex, it had removable venturies. So a few minutes with them on a lathe and I had much better air flow. A pass with a drill bit on the mains gave more fuel so maybe I had 110 HP. And the panhard rear end was fun in AX. Turn one way and decent, turn the other and the rod jacked up the inside rear wheel. A lot according to corner crews. What was and still is superior is the 4 speed getrag box. You could up and downshift all day without the clutch and it was smooth as silk.
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