Just started viewing the little Opel GT as a potential fun car. Anyone know anything about these little things? Is there an aftermarket for them at all? Suspension, chassis, and brakes mainly. Trying to think of an engine swap that would work for it...
Are there any of those things left? The only one I've seen in years is one that goes to the local dragstrip and runs 10's.
They dissolve if you look at them wrong.
BUY one, rebuild / restore it, post lots of pictures, let us live vicariously through you, please please please....
We've got a couple here at FM that belong to the boss. One has a very clean body, the other is a goner. He's going to use the wreck to figure out how to stuff a Miata drivetrain in there (answer, not very easily at all) and then implement on the good car.
My suggestion of laying the Miata drivetrain on the floor and then dropping the shell onto it HARD to determine clearancing requirements has not been taken seriously.
I LOVE the feeling of the mechanical headlight flipper mechanism in GT's. Sort of a satisfying thump/flop thing.
I occasionally see some advertised out here (Northern NV/NorCal) with a half decent body. These things can rust like there's no tomorrow.
I guess performance wise you'll be doing a lot of work yourself (a bit like my Celica with its small aftermarket) and have to figure out stuff on the go.
Oh, and if you get can one, it's probably easiest to drop a Opel/Vauxhall/GM Ecotec four-banger in there.
There's 3 on Ebay right now. Anywhere from $1500 - $14,000. LOL I'm thinking EcoTec Turbo drivetrain from Sky RedLine or Solstice GXP. Dunno, thinking out loud, will prolly never happen. LOL
My cousin has one in mid-restore. Really neat little car, all steel IIRC, pretty solid stuff. I am hoping he tires of it and makes a donation.
Geez Keith, you just put a damper on one of my favourite dream projects, a Miata powered Opel GT.Get your boss to lop the roof off the wreck and see if he can weld in onto a Miata to create a coupe.
I know that they don't have trunk lids, are striking to look at in person, and I read somewhere that they were good cars, but got steamrolled by the popularity of the 240Z in the same market/time frame.
Oh, I can also tell you that, rare as they are here, they are no more common in Germany either. I don't think I ever saw one on the street in 3-ish years of living there.
Got one in a salvage yard out here where I live. I really don't see these anymore.
DeadSkunk wrote: Geez Keith, you just put a damper on one of my favourite dream projects, a Miata powered Opel GT.Get your boss to lop the roof off the wreck and see if he can weld in onto a Miata to create a coupe.
Funny you should say that, the wreck actually has no roof. A tree fell on it so it was convertibilized via Sawzall.
As with other 70's cars (such as, oh, an MGB GT to pick a random example), it's quite a bit narrower than a modern car like a Miata. Although I am now thinking about a Miata with an MG GT roofline. Hmm.
Well I was thinking the Opel GT, or a TVR Griffith. The Griffith was built with the SBF for a while, so it's quite possible. I was thinking more along the lines of swapping in a full Z06 rolling chassis under the body and shortening the torque tube the required 21". LOL
Again, pipe dream that will prolly never happen.
I've seen 2 or 3 in person, cool little cars. They are definitely a "what is it" car.
Too bad to hear they are rust buckets though. I guess the germans have been working on environmentally friendly biodegradable cars far longer than than all this hybrid nonsense.
I see very few and the rare good one is $$$$$.
They seem to skip being offered for sale and just get scrapped here. They arent that uncommon though. I have never seen one on the road, but probably 20 in the junkyard.
Raze wrote: BUY one, rebuild / restore it, post lots of pictures, let us live vicariously through you, please please please....
Yes, they are gorgeous.
Neat litlle cars.
I put many miles on one that cycled through a circle of high-school-era friends. Not real fast, the engine was very loud and it didn't handle nearly as well as my Sprite. In a pich, the storage area behind the seats would accommodate a third person.
Car and Driver devoted an article (or two) in the 70's where they attempted to make the car handle. There's something about the front suspension design and it's related geometry that pretty much foiled their efforts.
Sounds like a challenging project that begs for a newer, narrow engine and some fabricated coil-overs.
Keith wrote:
Although I am now thinking about a Miata with an MG GT roofline. Hmm.
There, I fixed your minor omission and figured how I might save a LOT of time on a project!
NOHOME wrote:Keith wrote:Although I am now thinking about a LSx Miata with an MG GT roofline. Hmm.
There, I fixed your minor omission and figured how I might save a LOT of time on a project!
Just came in from measuring Opels and Miatas. The top of the windshield on the GT is way, way too narrow to mate up. But the rear section might be made to work, especially with how it flares into a horizontal surface at the sides. So there is promise.
Tonight, the MG gets measured. This may end badly.
ShadowSix wrote: Oh, I can also tell you that, rare as they are here, they are no more common in Germany either. I don't think I ever saw one on the street in 3-ish years of living there.
They're pretty rare in Germany but you see them occasionally.
Usually the ones you still find (with a few exceptions) are re-imported from the Southwest...
Keith wrote: Just came in from measuring Opels and Miatas. The top of the windshield on the GT is way, way too narrow to mate up. But the rear section might be made to work, especially with how it flares into a horizontal surface at the sides. So there is promise. Tonight, the MG gets measured. This may end badly.
So you just need two roof sections, and weld them up the middle to make a wider one. Post pictures when you're done. The rest of us are interested !!
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