When I was a kid, the earliest car I remember was dad's '71 Roadrunner, bought new in '71. Depending on the month, I would have been 4 years old. I still remember the magenta color and white interior (he loved to recall me throwing up in it once, even when I became an adult). I remember him painting the headers blaze orange on mom's clothes line in the backyard.
But when the gas crisis hit in '74, he sold it. I asked him why he was selling it and he said he couldn't afford to fill the tank anymore. My honest question as a 7 year old: Can't you just fill it half way?
He did not take his 7 year old's advice, and instead bought a new 1974 Opel Manta Rallye. It started it's life white with a black hood and pinstripe on the sides. It didn't last long that way, for one overnight rally he got a little over zealous and rolled it. Mom says he came home late and said he "had a little trouble with the car". After seeing the car in the driveway (he drove it home, POR?) she could only ask WHAT DID YOU DO TO THE CAR multiple times.
It was at that point that mom insisted we had to have a family car. Which gave him permission to buy a 1977 (78? 79?) Datsun 710 and the chance to go full rally. I still remember him gutting the interior, using a propane torch to remove insulation stuck to the metal flooring. Full cage. Two seats with harnesses. At least two giant rally computers on the dash. And those monster Cibie lights on the front (bumpers replaced by street sign poles).
And of course the backup light. I remember going down to my elementary school's playground where he aimed all the lights at the fence, then said let's go for a test drive. Mt Airy Forest park was nearby and a twisty two lane road ran through the center, without street lights. Middle of the night, he hit the lights (had also replaced low/high beams with Cibie bulbs) and night turned into day.
I went on a few local daytime TSD rallies with him, still remember setting the CAST numbers in one computer. Mom got annoyed because the few times we would go for a "family drive" it ended up being old rally routes... He was also a member of a local club "Miami Valley Sports Car Club". There is a group with that name now but has nothing to do with the old club.
Someone in his group also had "rally gold" Opel that looked very similar and I remember them parking them nose to nose at a car show at the Cincinnati Zoo. He also put it in the Cavalcade of Customs once or twice, they stuck him in the dune buggy class. He wasn't happy about that.
After graduation in 85 I basically cut him out for personal reasons, and didn't see him again until '97 when he saw his name on an online forum post (being my name of course). That didn't work out, same issues. For years I searched online for photos of the car, those last two were found in a Pro Rally Archive group on Facebook. The others were just recently acquired from my stepmom, she was cleaning for a move after he passed last year. She gave me a bunch of albums that had those, plus a few old cameras he had.
Just thought I'd share some stuff about the car that made me know the SCCA existed before I could even drive.
