Opel Kadett C Coupe Goes for a Drive
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- Опубликовано: 4 июл 2024
- The Opel Kadett C was a big step up from the Kadett B, and where the Vauxhall and Opel small cars began to merge, and was a huge seller, but the rarest model of the C was the Coupe, only 10% of cars were this pretty model.
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The Kadett C is the love of my life. Aged 20 and working in the motor trade in Dumfries, I bought a gold two door example which I restored. GSW155N was much admired until six months later I wrapped it into a dry wall near Sanquhar. Paid the farmer cash to restore the dry wall. Seven years ago I returned to S/W Scotland and took a run up the same road which I had not been on for 32 years. Imagine the shock as I rounded the fateful corner to find the same gaping hole in the wall that my stupidity created.
Wonderful!!! The C-Kadett was available in all forms. The story of my youth, these good old Opels.
My favourite Opel was the series A Manta. Always been a sucker for machines with the right kind of lines.
Mine too, great looking cars
Great video, Matt! Lovely Kadett. Opel did get the hatchback a la Chevette by the way, it was called the Kadett City. There was also a semi cabriolet called Kadett Aero 👍😃
Best me to it Frank :) The Kadett City body panels were actually built by Vauxhall, so that's why they have such a resemblance with the Chevrette.
What an lovely car ! And a wonderful colour ! My grandpa drove a white kadett with a red vinyl interior. And when he past away my uncle drove it until the Opel gold took it out of service! My uncle kept driving Kadetts and later Astra’s until he sadly passed away much to young! Thanks Matt 👍🏻👍🏻🆙 like allways 🫶
My mother had one almost exactly like this when I was born. It was a 1975 1200S, with a manual, and no headrests, I'm pretty sure. Exactly the same color and wheels, and hers also had no radio, but it had black pinstripes on the side. She got it new as a gift from two old unmarried aunts.
The S models had a double pin stripe in black and Rostyle wheels. The engine was the 1.2 litre which was peppy compared to the 1256cc Chevette.
Opel also did the Kadett C as a hatchback which was called the Kadett City...I had,a Kadett City SR
I suppose they didn't sell the Kadett City in the UK due to the competition with the Vauxhall Chevette. After all, the Kadett City was developed from the Chevette hatchback. So, apparently, in the UK they left the hatchback for the Chevette and the coupé for the Kadett.
@jehib8533 I actual fact the Kadett City was sold in Britain by the opel dealership but only in very small numbers.
The City bodyshells were built at the Vauxhall plant in Ellesmere port minus the front wings and bonnet and was shipped to the Bochum plant in Germany to receive the engines and transmissions and finished off there.
If I remember rightly the centre air vents did rotate to make aiming more precise. The real flyers were the 1.9L and 2.0L GT/E with fuel injected engines from the Manta. Great video of a smashing little car! Thanks.
I had the coupe (P reg) with a 1.2S engine and auto gearbox. Sorry I sold it, lovely car to drive.
I had a cream Opel Kadett estate 1978 and loved it …it had a very clever rear window wiper that had a pantograph type wiper fitted that cleared the rear window very well ,i toured all over Germany with the wife an 2 young children in it and it went fine until the rear exhaust box fell off during a tour of the Black Forest. Visited an Opel dealer in a small village and they fitted a new complete exhaust while I waited, the mechanic drove the car out of the garage once the exhaust was fitted I wondered where he was off to,when he returned he put the car back on the car lift and adjusted the exhaust to ensure it wasn’t knocking on the bodywork underneath then took it out again until he was happy with the fitting great service that you wouldn’t get today. Loved that car when I look at the photos I took of the car I get very nostalgic
A little quirk of a lot of the GM cars of the 70's & 80's and maybe even 90's it caught a lot of people out back in the day, in order to turn on the interior light when the doors were closed you had to pull out the light switch!! A lot did not know and always opened the door when they needed light inside the car.... lovely car that Kadett coupe in a nice colour!
It’s so nice to see an uncluttered engine compartment. One can easily work on their engine with no BS computers.
Our Aussie version - the Holden Gemini - were all 1.6 litres and, like your Vauxhall / Opels, are now almost a species deceases. A mate’s mother had one in the ‘80s. It got rear-ended, flattening the boot to the back window. However, that mid-mounted fuel tank and coil sprung rear end meant was driveable, even though it got written off.
Completely GROOVY man! Datsun, Mazda and Toyota all made coupes like this. Completely gorgeous. Cars today = YUK!
Matt, great to see one of those. I have not seen one since I was a primary school and the headmaster had a bright orange one that was always immaculate
The air vents rotate and on the steering wheel there are 3 horn buttons. I had blaupunkt radio cassette in mine. What a great little car that brought back so many happy memories.
My driving instructor in 1974 had this car's predecessor, a Kadett saloon which I remember as very utilitarian and dour but these were something else; so pretty. GM in those days had great styling departments around the world. Talking about specs, GM had always been incredibly mean in those days; only a few years before, bigger Vauxhalls came with bench front seats and 3 gears on the column spec and heaters were extra!
Definitely did a hatchback as it was my first car! Great memories of that motor- poking the gunge out the breather through the winter months...
My Dad had one after his Chevette and preferred it. We went miles and miles in it and for a small car, it didn't hang about!
Of course we had the hatchback version of the Kadett here in Germany. It was called the "Kadett City". AND we later had had the Chevette, too as a stopgap until the Corsa/Nova came out.
That OHV engine although driving the front wheels soldiered on into the 90s, fitted in base model Astra mk1 and 2s.
My first car was a Mk1 1200 Astra. It was a willing engine if no ball of fire. It never gave any trouble though.
One of my Security Colleagues had a Kadet C, so seeing this one is nice to see still on the road. My sister had a Chevette when they came out, moving on from the VW Beetle.
I had a friend in my last year of school who restored a kadet unsurprising he became a welder by trade...still had the kadett in the early 1990s and he had restored it a further 2 times in the previous 12 years....they loved to rust.
Cracking video Matt but the Kadett C was also offered as the three door hatch like the Vauxhall Chevette but from early on in 1973.
The Aero cabriolet Kadett was the rarest of the lot, with just over 1,000 built.
Makes me miss mum's Manta A that I drove for a few years.... beautiful Rostyle wheels.
Thats a throwback it was in saloon fiorm one of the few cars available on the new motability scheme in the late 70s
Here in Brazil GM sold a pickup/ute version in the 1980s, it was called Chevrolet Chevy 500. The most common version was the 2 door saloon (Chevette) and the estate version (Marajó), and the rarest versions were the hatchback and the 4 door saloon. The coupe was never sold here.
Opel did make a hatchback version as my parents had a 1979 one in a lovely orange/yellow colour.Believe is was SR spec and had the same wheels as the one in the video but all black cloth seats. It was the first car I got to drive after I passed my test and the first one I was pulled for speeding in (my dad was not amused!!!).
Nice. Last time I saw one of those was the night I was being driven in one as the windscreen exploded. Somewhat disconcerting when you suddenly lose all forward vision. That was around 1985 when the car was owned by a friend who kept it for a few years until the rust finished it off.
The C Kadett was a top seller overhere in the Netherlands. Just like its predecessor the Kadett B.
You saw them at virtually every street corner until the early nineties. But the coupe was much rarer.
My sister owned a 1.6S and that one outruned my Ascona 2.0S.
Love it, i had one exactly the same (maybe it was a darker metallic blue) in the early 90's and apart from a small hole in each rear quarter above the wheels and a dodgy fourth gear it was in excellent condition, would be worth plenty these days, especially to the rally boys.
We had a similar versions sold in the USA called the Isuzu I-Mark & the Buick Opel by Isuzu (both a rebadged 1st generation Isuzu Gemini). All on the GM T-platform. Eventually Isuzu would hire Giugaro to modernize the classical styling and turn it into the Isuzu Piazza (Called impulse in USA) with a Turbocharged DOHC 2.0L I4 and Lotus-tuned suspension with passive 4-wheel-steering.
Always liked these fastback versions of the Opel Kadett. It's a shame you don't really get small coupes like these anymore, and i always preferred the looks of this to the Vauxhall Chevette.
I bought a brand new vauxhall chevett estate in regatta blue in 1980 absolutely loved it ,well was my first new one 😊.
I had a Kadett C and I adored it. A delightful car to drive. Sadly I was pressured into getting rid of it :(
My dad had a kadett city hatchback mou806r sadly scrapped back in 2000 and his dad had an automatic vauxhall chevette hatchback cant rember the chevette's reg though. Good to see some survive
Here in Australia, my late wife and I had the Holden Gemini SL/E 4-door sedan version, with the 1600 cc Izuzu motor and the 5-speed manual gearbox, bought new in 1978. A great little car, unfortunately written-off in a 1984 smash.
Another top video Matt. I do remember the Opel/Vauxhall badge engineering back in the day but I have to confess I do not remember seeing one of these cars but the style is right on point for the time. For that era I think my favourite UK GM model was the Firenza later model with the droop snoot style front. Many thanks for sharing.
General Motors certainly should have offered this car in the N. American market. Instead, they developed the absolute disaster called "The Vega" or, Pontiac Astra , whose cast aluminum engines almost burned more engine oil than Petrol. My Dad rented a Vega when they were offered here in 1973 and managed to burn 2 quarts of oil in just over 500 miles with it. He was so impressed he wrote a letter of complaint to G.M. Thanks for the review Matt.
I think they did, as the Isuzu/Buick Opel Gemini
Imagine an auto kadett c and in a coupe that must be a rare option. A buddy of my big brother had a 2 door sedan 1.2 with a 4 speed i can remember with foot to the floor for a long time it reached 125km/h sure wasn't a race car but the perfect cruiser. A dream car of mine with a set of wide ATS Classics and slammed to the ground
Always loved these. Probably only survived because it is an auto. The Chevette type Kadetts used to often be found as an auto as it was rare back then to find a small engined auto. Not sure if the coupe was ever available RHD with larger engines like they were in Europe. Very successful competition car both race and rally with the factory using them for both in their familiar white and yellow two tone paint. Still used today. A sporty coupe with a 1.6 engine would have sold well in the UK I think. Not much else similar on the market.
Fuel Tanks- The BMC Farina cars both A55 (etc) and A99/A100 also had fuel tanks over the rear axle and predate the cars you talk about.
If I remember - the Kadett had more engines than the Chevette, which just made do with the 1256 Viva and 2279 lump.
Simple and elegant car! Lovely details as well. Great review Matt, enjoyed it.
My college room-mate had one in 78 when I lived in Hackney. I think it was his Mum's and he dreaded her asking for it back. A neat car and, me with my Austin 1300 envied it despite them being a similar colour and performance...the 1300 the boring Harvest, and the Coupe a pale caramel with a bit of dark brown vinyl somewhere around the roof.
I would love one of these again but have to realise its mainly Mistress Nostalgia. Im kicking myself for giving away a golden yellow 1.2s saloon to a work colleague for next to nothing but I was moving on to Astra SRs and stuff. The reality is I couldn't have kept two cars going.
Its the high prices that keep me away and it would be a sunday driver as I wouldnt give up the performance and mod cons of my current car
Mid 70s Aotearoa/NZ, my mum had a very smart bronze metallic Izuzu coupé - same body, rather more elegant and posh interior, and a 1700cc engine (I think?). Fun wee thing to throw around.
The GTE variation was quite successful as a rally car in the 1970s , The DOT ( dealer Opel Team ) was run by Tony Fall, a British rally driver at the time. Don’t know if RHD versions of the GTE were imported into the UK though, usually in black/ gold paint scheme.
The 1.2l coupe must be the rarest of them all! Especially today when almost all of the C Coupes have been swapped to a 2l CIH or even the 4V DOHC engine.
Oh! 1.2l Automatic, must be the rarest!
My sister had a '78 T Reg coupe exactly like that hers was in a bright Kermit the frog green. Can't remember what became of it but she ran it for many years into the mid 90s
A guy i used to know had one of these kadetts and he put a 2 litre ford pinto engine in it and it was a beast.
Are you allowed to put a Ford in a GM, isnt there a law about that
Sapphire Blue.
I have a 1978 Opel Manta B in the same colour.
North America had a ridiculous amount of T-Cars, and they remained in production here until 1987. In addition to the Opel Kadett itself (which sold very poorly here), they were sold here as the Chevrolet Chevette, the Pontiac T-1000 (or the Acadian in Canada), the Isuzu I-Mark, and curiously, the "Buick Opel (by Isuzu)". Isuzu even sold a variant called the Impulse, which looked NOTHING like any of the others as it was styled by Italdesign.
My father in law had three Opel Kadett back to back, and swore by them on there performance, and then bought a Lada when funds was tight, no comparison....
It's just a Kadett C. I had about 20 of these. More than 10 CQP's among them. They were easy and cheap to get in the 90's. Only the recent years they are starting get really expensive. The Chevette was a hatchback because it was based on the Opel Kadett C City. In effect it only was nothing but an Opel Kadett C City that got dropsnooth front.
But again I can understand the most unusual carcountry in Europe has difficulties in understanding/knowing cars that are just houshold-items over on the bigger side of the pond.
T series in Australia was the Isuzu Gemini later to be the Holden Gemini which was available with a terrible diesel 😮
I have a 2 door saloon s reg. Has the early c1 front rather than the c2 on this.
The air vents do turn and I'm sure the uk didn't get a light up choke on any model. I've got one on mine and was a special order from Germany back in the late 80s/early 90s and was for a lhd cars which has a longer cable for the carb setup. Uk only got the 1.2 and 1.2s in the coupe and only had 4 speed. Early kadett c's didn't have vents that aimed towards the door windows. Sr models had the same cluster in the centre which the chevette hs/hsr had but takes up space where the tray is behind the gearstick. Coupes are fairly desirable now. Also features a spring/shock setup on the rear unlike ford's horse and cart rival which had leaf springs.
I bought one in 1991, it was a 1978 car and it was a fairly cheap car I think maybe 300 quid. It had a fair bit of rust along the bottom of doors which I thought I could repair, after trying to get back to good metal there was next to nothing left of the lower doors. I can’t even remember what I did with it, I bought a really nice MG Metro and literally lost interest in the Opel. My most vivid memory is of stopping for fuel in it once after I’d owned it a few weeks and suddenly the ignition key would not turn in the lock, I was literally stuck at a fuel pump. I had to break off the steering lock and start it with a screwdriver until I got a replacement from a breaker.
I had a 74 manta in 86 I’m sure I saw more of these about than mantas think I only saw 2 others besides mine
A weird situation here with Vauxhalls on sale in NI with Mph and Kph Speedos and Opels on sale in Éire with Kph only speedos. Importing from either direction meant a speedo change. Although Vauxhalls had the combined speedo the odometer was in miles. Thankfully doesn't apply to cars old enough to be tax exempt.
Very pretty car indeed, that coupe shape looks really good 🙂 Would need an engine swap though, and a manual box. 50-odd bhp & auto just won't do.
Just chuck on a Holden badge and it will be perfect.
Or Isuzu.
Lovely little car, so much nicer than the Chevette.
Back when cars had character, Chevette 2300 was a beast.
Lovely car i have one the same as this 1.2s auto , with 50,000 miles from new im getting ready to sell but i know i will probably regret it , im Suffolk uk
Lovely car , great review and drive, Best wishes.
Lovely example .. good review as always … Somerset VRO registered , maybe supplied by saltford motor services Keynsham
Yes it was
In Germany, they were called "Manta light" at the end of their life cycle.
It was their death sentence - they were bought used by the usual suspects who wanted a Manta but only had used Kadett money, tried to get Manta performance out of them and did very little maintenance.
Used to have a Kadett C City back in the days. The center air vents can be rotated to point the air in the other direction. At least they could., I don't know if I would trust 50 year old plastic to take that well!
My dad had a B coupé for a short while and I drove a C saloon in Australia (Isuzu Gemini, with a bigger lump IIRC). No frills but did the job. What more do you want?
A car of my youth. 22 when this came out.. i never sat my bum in one but one of my mates had one . He thought it was the "Biz". Have you done a FSO prinz yet?😃
What a lovely little car! Quite a ripper for a 1.2 litre auto - it's actually rather surprising in its spriteliness!
Yep - we had them down here in New Zealand as the Holden Gemini and quite a few were in the 2-door coupe form. I've also seen some 2- and 4-door variants badged as an Isuzu Gemini. Very few exist of either here any longer also. At the same time as we had the Gemini, we also had the Vauxhall Chevette that you spoke of that used the same dash cluster as the Kadett in this video. Lovely little cars, although they had the same 1256cc engine found in the HB / HC Viva for their entire run. Mind you, this didn't stop people fitting an 1800 out of a Vauxhall Magnum or a 2.3 litre slant out of a CF Bedford van.
I quite liked the Kadett / Gemini coupe for its styling and would love to find one in good condition.....although I would prefer a pre-facelift Manta B GT/E 2-door saloon. I had the opportunity to buy one of these back in 1994 and have kicked myself many times for not following my heart on that one. (I bought a 1980 Mitsubishi Sapporo GSR instead and although I loved the Mitzi, the Manta was something I knew I'd enjoy for a lot longer time.)
Such a pretty little car, the Gemini coupe. Wish there were still many of them around as they were good to drive as well as to look at.
They call the Volkswagen Bug the World's car.
But if you see how many versions were build of the Kadett C ond that platform, I dare to say maybe this one who diserve the name Worlds Car just a bit more.
Hi Matt really enjoyed your video.There is alovely yellow kadett coupe in a neighbouring garage in Kilcoole Ireland in excellent condition..Love those rostyle wheels- more durable than alloys may be?
Those dash vents would have rotated at one time to direct airflow with the open/close flippers.
Something you could answer…was that 1.2 engine be related to the 1256 Engine….? 🤔
The dash binnacle is very mark 1 Escort
Brilliant review Matt of a lovely looking car.
I'm thinking the garage in question is Saltford Motors on the A4 out of Bath, the only Opel dealer in the area. As with all GM dealerships it became a sole Vauxhall dealership in the late 80s and remains so today, sort of. It also sells other Stellantis brands Fiat/Jeep/Peugeot/Citroën.
You are right😊
The Gemini in Oz did well in Rallies
It’s far prettier than the Chevette. I liked the Opel Monzas too.
Loved the styling of both the Kadett and Manta 👍
I had both in the 80’s loved them dearly. Opel were incredibly popular in S/W Scotland due to a good dealer Southern Garage. There is one Opel Manta left in this corner of Scotland and it has recently disappeared.
“Hydromatic …. it’s grease lightning!”
these look good wide arches top car ,i sold my 1977 toyota celica 2 ltr GT 4 years ago for £5,700 they are going for 20 grand now ,i feel sick .
These cars were common as in New Zealand in the1970 80s .
In Germany they have a real cult following similar to fast fords here😊
I can almost smell the interior of that car!
Why didn't they do a coupe chevette
Pretty little car. I remember them well...
Holden Gemini in Australia..1.6 litre Isuzu engine
Holden Gemini in Australia. They are the crappiest Air vents I have ever seen.
I had one as a 19 years old in the 80's bought for £200 quid throw away car very quickly after I had rolled my Renault 14 racing around the local lanes. Needless to say it got much abused but unlike the Renault handled like it was on rails so no catastrophes in the 2 years plus I owned it . Not big and not clever but they were times but sometimes wonder how we all got away with it .....
I wonder what sort of RPM its doing at 70mph with a 3 speed auto.
Is that the 1.2L engine that was used in the Mark 1 Vauxhall Astra (first front wheel drive version) ?
I think so, it stayed in production a long time
9:09 beep! beep!
Nice that Matt
There are more than 10 lol I know of a number of them cracking car better build quality than the chevette and the gte and rally e were beasts
lol Holden Gemini ... bulletproof Isuzu's
wasn't sold in the usa
Sure looks like a Chevy Vega to me!
Holden Gemini in Australia, but we never got the coupe
Yes we did