I can't believe they left out the 1970 Opel GT!!!! Incredible!!! One of the best looking cars in the world!!!

I am a German engineer, who did work in international construction. in 2017 I was in Massachusetts, President No. 45 had just been inaugurated and there were a few guys with MAGA stickers on their cars (no red caps due to mandatory hardhats on site) and one of them picked up a line Trump had said quite often at the time, which was that Germany is a terrible country because we take American money by selling them our Mercedes and BMWs but do not return anything by buying Chevrolets and Lincolns and whatever. I kindly asked him, what defines that a car is American and what makes a car German. He explained: „GM, Chrysler and Ford are American car companies, Mercedes and BMW and Audi are German.“ - „Oh, so it is basically the headquarter that defines if a car is American or German. In that case I can really give you good news. My first car, which I bought in 1998, was an Opel Astra, and Opel was a GM company at the time. I later bought a Ford Focus, which also of course is a US company.“ He did not accept this, explained: „Nonono.. These cars are not US cars, because they are not built in the USA, they are built in Germany.“ - „True. So it is NOT the headquarter, but only where they are built?“ - „Yes!“ - „Good news again! Most of the Mercedes and BMWs I see in the USA are SUVs, right? And every SUV, even those driving on German roads, are not built in Germany. Every Merc SUV comes from Tuscaloosa, Alabama and every BMW SUV in the entire world was built in Spartanburg, South Carolina. So at this moment, in Germany, in my garage, stands my Spartanburg built BMW X3 US car.“ He still was not happy. And to this day, I do not understand, what in the eyes of this man makes a car American or German. A car built by a German company in the USA is not American enough. A car built by an American company in Germany is not American enough, too. We buy a lot of cars built in America here in Germany. And we build a lot of cars for American companies here in Germany, too. I doubt that many of the German cars in the USA are actually German built.

Opels but right-hand-drives in UK are badged Vauxhall. Same cars.

They kind of made fun in Germany of Opel Manta drivers. They even made a movie Manta Manta. One of the jokes, "What's the last thing that goes through his head when a Manta driver crashes into a wall.... his rear wing"

I missed the Omega Lotus which was a sub 6s Omega build by Lotus. I was mindblown as a small kid.

If memory serves, the Opel Speedster was built on the same platform as the Lotus Elise.

the Opel GT (1968 - 1973) is missing. that car was a beauty

The Calibra deserves the most attention, it is the all time best Opel car with very futuristic design for its time, amazing aerodynamics.

The original opel GT was probably the one car opel is known for in the US, it was their best seller there

Opel, GM, Vauxhall and Holden had a partnership for decades. Many cars shared parts and even entire models were just rebadged. All four brands started off on their own but a four-way marriage of convenience was formed to get around import taxes. Fun fact: The Corvette C3 was based on a concept called the Mako Shark II, which the Opel team also took inspiration from for the 1968 Opel GT. This is why the Corvette was called a Stingray, to keep with the aquatic theme. Big Car on YT does deep-dives on car brands and specific models. Perfect to learn more about brands and models. Great content but maybe not the best to react to as it is a talking head format. Do watch it if you want to learn more about Opel, he did a video on it.

Here in Brazil they were ALL branded Chevrolet. Astra, Omega, Kadett, Corsa...

The Opel Manta is a legend. Even a german comedy movie franchise was made: "Manta, Manta". Please go down that rabbit hole, you will be surprised. The tuning scene went mental with that car.

You can't imagine how many emotions these cars trigger in me as someone who grew up in Germany, near the Opel car factory. It's like looking at old family photos ❤️

The Kadett C from the 70es was a world car, you had it mostly as Chevy Chevette and Pontiac 1000. However, the US models were 5 door hatchbacks, a shape we did not have from Opel, although we had many: 2 and 4 door sedan, wagon, 3 door hatchback, coupe and targa roof. My uncle had a Manta B in the 80es, he lived in southern Germany and I visited him a lot in the summer holidays. Many memories of trips into the Alps for hiking are connected to this Manta. 80es Kadett were sold as Pontiac LeMans. My first car was a Kadett E Also the 80es Ascona was rebranded a lot in the US, it was the J-car - i.e. Chevy Cavalier, Pontiac Sunbird, Buick Skyhawk, Cadillac Cimmaron. Opel Rekord E and both generations Omega were sold as Holden Commodore, while the according Senators were sold as Holden Statesman. The 1st generation Mokka was sold as Buick Encore.

South Africa had 2 very special Opel`s, only released in that market...The Kadett 200 GSi "Super Boss" and the Kadett/Astra 200TS...both really fast cars for their day! Both cars were developed for the South African Touring Car series, The GSi "Superboss" was a giant killer, developed with one purpose, to take on and beat the E30 BMW 325i and it did just that, repeatedly! (BMW South Africa then later released it`s own homologation special to fight back, the 325is, then it was on, some of the best racing i`ve ever seen!) Quite and interesting story if you look into it...

Little bit about Opel. Opel uses alphabet to categorize their cars generations (Corsa A-F, Astra F-L, Vectra A and B, Insignia A and B,...) Opel's under GM rule were probably most badge engineered cars in the world From 1929 til 2017 Opel was owned by General Motors Opel was bought by PSA Group (Citroen, Peugeot, GM and Chrysler Europe) in 2017 From 2021 Opel is owned by Stellantis. Stellantis was created by merging FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) and PSA Group 5:40 1st gen Holden Commodore is based on Opel Record an Senator A at 6:17 6:12 they only share the name, nothing else 6:25 in UK it was called Vauxhall Nova 6:28 famous Lotus Carlton ((also called Vauxhall Lotus Carlton, Lotus Omega and Opel Lotus Omega) was based on Omega A 6:38 Holden Commodore VN is related to Senator B 7:35 Vectra A in UK was called Vauxhall Cavalier and Holden Vectra in AUS 7:53 Frontera was badge engineered Isuzu MU 8:57 Corsa B was called as Opel/Vauxhall Corsa in Europe/UK and as Holden Barina in Oceania. Fun fact about Barina. Every single Barina generation was rebadged from different car manufacturer. 1st and 2nd gen are Suzuki Cultus (1st and 2nd gen), 3rd gen is Corsa B, 4the gen is Corsa C, 5th and 6th gen are Chevrolet Aveo 9:10 Combo B and C used Corsa B and C's front ends. Combo A was called Kadett Combo and used Kadett E's front end 9:16 Omega is sucessor to Senator 9:56 Astra G was sold as Astra Classic after Astra H was introduced as cheaper model. Astra F also had Classic version when G was introduced 10:27 Catera is indeed rebadged and slightly different styled Omega B. Catera were also assembled in Germany in Opel plant Omega B is also rebadged as Commodore VT 11:38 Speedster was a rebadged Lotus Elise Series 1. It was even produced at Lotus plant in Hethel, Norfolk, UK. It used Opel Ecotec engines. In UK it was called Vauxhall VX220 11:39 12:37 Saturn Sky was rebadged Opel GT 12:06 Vivaro A and B were rebadged 2nd and 3rd gen Renault Trafic. 14:21 Vivaro C is rebadged Citroen Jumpy (happened after PSA bought Opel) 12:13 Saturn Astra is indeed rebadged Astra H Coupe 12:28 OPC was performance division of Opel (1997-2022). Before 1997 performance Opel used GSi name. Insignia B (2017 onwards) again used GSi 13:21 fun fact about Insignia B. In Europe it was sold as both a saloon and liftback/fastback. You could only know the difference when you opened the trunk, because they looked the same from the back 15:38 Insignia B was also sold as Holden Commodore ZB in Australia. One think I wish Insignia B had was V6 engine from Regal. In Europe we only had turbo I4's 18:04 1st gen of Mokka was sold as 1st gen Chevrolet Trax in US There's a lot of cars the video you watched missed. Zafira A, B and C which were compact MPV, and D which is called Zafira Life is Citroen Jumpy Astra J GTC Agila was rebadged Suzuki Wagon R and Suzuki Splash Adam and Karl (named after company's founder and his eldest son)

Hello from Sweden. My father worked for GM, and especially the Opel brand, for 25 years here in Scandinavia. I was just a kid when my dad and his boss went to Hungary for a business trip in the mid 1970s. They decided to go by car with a brand new _Opel Commodore Coupe_ (B model), six cylinder and around 160 HP (which was huge for an Opel in the 70s). You can imagine the peoples reaction in a strict communist nation who had only access to Trabant, Wartburg, Lada, Dacia (before Renault bought it) etc... Opel cars (the more regular ones) were hardly seen as a "fun", "cool" or "exciting" car to have, but they were scary reliable and great German engineering. And in my opinion they had some really good looking cars too, the Opel GT and a few others were in fact cool. We used to take road trips to Italy, Hungary, Austria, Spain, France every summer in the late 70s and 80s... not once did we have any problem whatsoever with our Opel Commodore, Rekord, Ascona or Vectra. Fun times... My father passed away 4 years ago at the age of 83. I have so many great memories of our road trips all over Europe. Miss you so much dad...

Opel Speedster or Vauxhall VX220, based on the Lotus Elise but with a Vauxhall/Opel engine. That chassis was also slightly stretched to form the basis of the original Tesla Roadster.

Finally! I am still driving my Opel Astra from 1999, and I absolutely love this car - everyone in my family always had an Opel.

I love how videos like this highlight specific cultural differences. The chuckle and the "weird-looking" comment when you saw the Opel Combo surprised me. Small businesses here in the UK and most of Europe run on small vans that look almost identical to the Combo. It is impossible to leave the house any day of the week without seeing something that looks like that, so when somebody thinks it's "weird" I find that an interesting peek into another culture.

To note: PSA is now part of Stellantis, so Opel/Vauxhall is now under the same marquee as Chrysler, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, FIAT, Maseratti, Jeep, Ram, Abarth and the previous PSA brands (Citroen, Peugeot and DS Automobiles)

Opel won a WRC Drivers title with the Opel Ascona 400 with Walter Rohrl at the wheel. I still have my 1977 Opel Kadett C saloon. Very underrated, reliable cars. You need to watch Jimmy McRae or Russell Brookes drive the Vauxhall Chevette HSR, the Opel Ascona 400 and the Opel Manta 400. Legends of UK and European rally.

I'm from Germany and drive an 'Opel Astra G' from the early 2000's. It still runs like its new!

Opel technology was used extensively in Australian Holden especialy in the Commodore range

A lot of the 80s cars are all a mix of Vauxhall , Holden and opel 👍🏻

Opel is now part of Peugeot which is now called Stellantis. It also has other brands Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroën, Dodge, DS, Fiat, Jeep, Lancia, Maserati, Opel, Vauxhall, Ram.

My grandpa was working for the local steet maintainance and drove an Opel Blitz while on shift. He always praised that thing.

Oh my goodness! You said “anyway” instead of “anyways”. You are single-handedly raising the entire continent of North America in my estimation every time you open your mouth and say something sensible.

Vectra was SO popular in Scandinavian!! My parents had Vectra A,B, B facelift and C 😂😊

My first car was an Opel Manta, bought new from a Buick dealership. Likely the best car I ever owned.

The Opel Omega first gen was sold in the U.K. as the Vauxhall Carlton. They did a co-lab with Lotus to make a Vauxhall Lotus Carlton. 950 were made between 1990-92. The standard 3.0 24v was enlarged to 3.6 with two turbo chargers making 377bhp. These things go for anything from £50,000 to £120,000. The Opel/Vauxhall Mokka first gen is the Buick Encore. After GM sold Opel/Vauxhall was sold to PSA, Buick did their own thing, while PSA/Stellantis did theirs.

The Cadillac Catera was actually built in Germany,in the Rüsselsheim Plant,right in Line with the european Omegas. I think if you would check the VIN on the Cars,you can see if it´s built in Germany. German VINs start usually with WO,signaling it´s built by Opel in Germany

There is a great deal of Opel DNA in the Holden Commodore, Berlina, Calais, Statesman and derivatives. The Commodore was built on the same platform as the Opel Senator, but with a larger engine and very modified suspension. The panels are even similar. Obviously the Commodores were stylised in a very Australian way, but underneath the skin and in the interiors they are very similar vehicles.

Rebranded was also some Models of the Kadett as a Pontiac LeMans, Pontiac T1000, Chevrolet Chevette, Isuzu Gemini and in Canada sold as the Passport Optima. The V8 Engine of the Diplomat B is a Chevrolet 327.

The Opel GT roadster was not only marketed as Saturn Sky and Pontiac Solstice, but also as Daewoo G2X. They have, to this day, the engine with the most HP per unit displacement in stock configuration (130 HP/liter or 2.1 HP/ cubic inch) GM was able to produce. Sadly, the viedo you watched didn't show the heritage that model was based on, the '68-'73 Opel GT, affectionally called Baby 'Vette. Along the Manta A and some Asconas, this was the only model sold in the US under the Opel brad back in the day. You still can find some in rural Arizona. (at the end of the video, I realized you got into that through the pictures.)

The Opel Kadett C was sold in Brazil by Chevrolet as the Chevette. The Opel Rekord C was sold in Brazil by Chevrolet as the Opala. The Opel Kadett E was sold in Brazil by Chevrolet as the Kadett. The Opel Corsa B and Corsa C were sold in Brazil by Chevrolet as Corsa (We didn't have the Corsa A). The Opel Omega A and B were sold in Brazil by Chevrolet as Omega. We Brazilians also had Opel Tigra, Astra F, G and H (the latter renamed here as Vectra), as well as the Vectra A and B and Calibra.

My First Car 1991 is a Opel Kadett E 16V 150 PS. Color in Red.

For a long time in Europe it was normal for many car manufacturers to have in their catalog an industrial vehicle known as a combi, which basically used to be the front half of their smaller vehicle with a box-shaped rear part. Citroën manufactured, for example, the 2CV AK400, a 2CV van. Ford had the Ford Courier, based on the Ford Fiesta. The Opel Combo that appears in the video was the same but based on an Opel Corsa. Due to my job I have driven many vans over the years, but my favorite will always be the Citroën C15, which was based on the Citroën Visa. With the arrival at the end of the 90s of the Citroën Berlingo and the Peugeot Partner, the trend changed and the combis disappeared. Edit: OPC means Opel Performance Center. The models with those letters are the most powerfuls ones of the line.

I'm a die hard Opel fan, I drive them for nearly 25 years now. They are probably not the most advanced or exciting but they are really well built well engineered honest cars and incredibly versatile. I have a 2009 Insignia 2.0t now which is basically a Regal Turbo. A lot of development of smaller GM cars took place in Germany. The J body's you got there as cavalier and pontiac sunfire were developed aside the Ascona and the Pontiac Lemans from the 80s is a Deawoo Nexia which on itself is an clone of the Opel Kadett E (5th gen). Also Holden commodore, statesman etc were built on the underpinnings of that '77 rekord and later the Omega. It is to easy to say it is a Rekord with a chevy v8 because Holden changed a lot but they are definitely related. One of the most beautiful cars is the Opel Commodore A coupe from 1967. That was Europe's equivalent of a pony car. The Brazilian department used them to make a Chevrolet Opala, with Chevrolet Iron Duke i6's. Very cool car.

Oh yes 😮! Opel Manta Classic ❤

My coolest and fastest car was a tuned red Opel Calbra 2.0 16V 4×4 Turbo from 1994 with more than 300 PS with 6 gear handshift, this car was a dream to drive! It was really fast, one time i look how fast and i drive 300 km/h on a german Autobahn. But the coolest Calibra was the Calibra 4×4 Race Car from the german touring car championship DTM from the 90ies, you should look a video with this race car! I loved the black CLIFF Calibra race car, this V6 engine sounds so great with more than 12000 rpm, i also love the white/yellow DTM Calibra in the Opel race colours.

The Opel Ascona A-type was sold as a Buick 1900. Early 1990s Pontiac Grand LeMans was a rebadged Opel Astra, but it had a different grille.

Opel+GM and Brazil had a very particular case of success: the first car built entirely here was a adaptation from Opel Rekord B called Chevrolet Opala. Under the Opala, there was the Chevrolet Chevette(Opel Kadett). Then, in the '80, they introduced the Chevrolet Monza(Opel Ascona) between the two. During the '90s, they retired the Opala(after 1000000 units sold) and brought the Omega. During this decade, GM sold almost the entire Opel range here: Corsa(including a UTE version), Kadett, Vectra, Omega, Zafira, Meriva... The only US based vehicles sold here were the C/K series pick-ups, and (later) the Silverado and Blazer. After that, the "golden age"(from GM/Opel) ended and our dealerships were invaded by SUVs and global cars... A great shame. My family had both the Rekord(Opala) and the Vectra B. My father always wanted a Monza(Ascona), then he looked for an Omega... But choose an E39 528, from BMW...lol

5:18 My uncle has this exact model, with bucket seats and a roll cage. I remember that he used to drive me around with it as a kid, was crazy fun. The Opel Kadett GTE also saw some rally action and can be driven in the Dirt Rally games.

Manta, Manta! A german movie from the late 80s. You should definatly watch that some time, a real cool throwback into time with loads of cool cars and german car culture of the time. An ode to the opel manta! Watch it lol 😂!

4:54 The Diplomat Coupé has a Chevrolet V8. However the standard Chevrolet V8 kept self-destructing during high speed tests on the Autobahn so that coupé ended up with a race-prepped Corvette engine (all forged internals) that was down-carbed. Only 374 or so were mad

Opel Combo from 93 was one of the most common "delivery" cars... usually for grocery stores sometimes also used by construction workers. It's basically mini pick up truck with closed bed

Opel Kadett B Caravan … Never let me down…😊

First gen Opel Corsa was sold in the UK as a "Vauxhall Nova", which was popular with car tuners who read "Max Power" magazine. Biggest factory engine you could get in them was a 1.6-litre in the sport "Nova GTE", but a common modification was to take the 150bhp 2.0-litre 16-valve engine from the Astra GTE 16v / Cavalier GSi / Calibra 16v (GM C20XE "Red Top"), and squeeze it into the Nova. Next gen the Vauxhall Nova became the "Vauxhall Corsa" (bubble shaped thing), upon with the Vauxhall/Opel Tigra was based. Eventually there was a competing "Ford Puma" to rival the Tigra, based on the Ford Fiesta Mk4 and earlier Mazda MX-3.

The Opel Caliba Cliff DTM Touring Car is absolute legend. Loved those Calibras within the german touring car championship

9:31 Around 2013 my Dad got this Tigra in a very nice green yellow color from his mother because her friend owned the car and he passed away and sadly only i think 3 or 4 weeks after he had taken the Opel Tigra over the car got rear ended on a red traffic light :( My Dad had only little pain with this neck after the crash luckely but the Opel Tigra was completely junk.

If I were to describe Opel, they've always been well build family oriented cars. In general, they never have made a bad car, and stuff in them was well thought out and well put together.

II have driven Opels for several years in the 2000s, during my time working for the British army. Back then, they switched from buying cars - it was mainly Fords, like the Escort - to the system of leasing cars. They had the Corsa as a small runaround, the Astra Estate (which I mainly used), the Vectra as a staff car for senior officers, the Combo for maintainance workers, and the 9 seater bus/van thing Vivano or what it was called. The Astras (I always had them for 2 years, so they were basically always new cars) were 1.9ltr TDI Estate models, with 90 hp or so, good enough for about 210km/h on the Autobahn. And the thing sat on the road like a race car. But best of all: it was absolutly reliable. There was never a problem with the engine, the (manual) gearbox or the suspention, during the 6 years or so I drove them. Can't say the same about the Ford Focus, which was chosen after the Opel lease ended.

Opel, Chevrolet, Holden (Aus), Vaushall. Opel Ascona and Record were a popular cars, in the 80's.

I Cannot believe that you did not recognize Oliver from the Top Gear Botswana special. One of the best episodes ever with Jeremy, Hammond and James. Richard Hammond even took the car (His name is Oliver) back to the UK with him. He still has videos on Drivetribe with the car.

My dad liked his Opels in the 70s and 80s. His blue Commodore 2.8 GS (Commodore B) with black vinyl roof was the first car I loved. (The 2nd one was the yellow 2CV they bought for my mom a few years after they got the Commodore.)

We have saying here in Finland that "Every car becomes an Opel eventually." This is because Opels are known to be quite unreliable and have many small or not so small problems.

Chevrolet cars sold in brazil between the early 70s until about 2010 were mostly rebadged Opels or based in Opel platforms. We had rebadged Corsa, Astra, Vectra, Zafira, kadett and others like the Chevette (based on the kadett C) opala (based on the rekord c, and related to the Holden Monaro), and a lot more. We even had pickups based on the Corsas B (Corsa Pickup) and C (Montana).

The Opel Omega wich was sold as Cadillac Catera among others has technique - wise a very good reputation in germany, really surprising to hear, that it wasnt like that in the US, especially we got the TÜV and have everything checked at least every two years...

Opel was the source of most "Holden" cars "manufactured" in Australia for many years before GM closed down the car making business in Australia a few years ago.

The Opel Speedster was also called the Vauxhall VX220 in the UK, they were built by Lotus, Its basically an Elise with a different body and engine.

I owned an Opel Astra F GSI 1.8 16V and an Opel Corsa C GSI 16V 1.8. I ❤ed them, great cars😊

The Calibra was fire. The name, the looks, the stance. It was a cool ass car back in the 90s.

The Aussie Holden Torana had its' roots in an Opel model as did the Holden Commodore.

Great post, here is a little information. The Chevrolet Monza is based on the Opel Manta. They also have the same platform. You once did a report on Group B racing and you were so excited about a long drift in a fast left-hand bend. This car was a Manta 400.

there is a whole famous german cinema movie serires called ´´Manta Manta´´ about the opel tuning cult & street racing in germany. german actor Till Schweiger is also in the main role,

Thr corsa was and still is one of the most popular cars in the UK. They are everywhere

The best video I've watched so far, topic wise! I usually say "born and raised in Opels". It is a brand very close to my heart. I've still got my grandpa's '80 Kadett and my own second car, '85 Rekord +some junk cars.

I was in Heidelberg back in the late '90s and saw a white Bedford Astra van there which was the last thing I expected to see in Germany as my boss at the time back in the UK had one (and also an F reg) - I thought I was being followed! The commercial division of Vauxhall was called Bedford in the UK due to one of the factories based in Bedfordshire (in Luton - part of the assembly line goes above the road and you can drive under it). Large vans and lorries with the front end of the cargo area that overhangs or sits directly above the cab are usually called 'Luton vans'. Now it's just Vauxhall across the board for all cars and commercial vehicles as the name Bedford was dropped a while back.

Really nice video dude ! Keep them coming. My father owned mostly opels back in the days. Omega 3000 station wagon etc. My mother had the first gen corsa in sporty trim. I always had a soft spot for them. And btw that first opel roadster from the early 2000 is a rebadged Lotus Elise ;)

Hi. I have been working for Opel in France between 1990 and 2018. Some clues : The Omega-Catera was one of our most reliable models ; the Opel Speedster has a Lotus platform ; the Opel GT is a rebadged Saturn, not the contrary ; the Opel Frontera is a rebadged Isuzu with Opel engines. And also, today, there is no more GM based Opel's. They are all now on Stellantis basis. The very last one was the Insignia.

Btw the movie "Manta Manta" with the greatest German actor Till Schweiger 😆 is legendary. If possible, definitely watch it, perhaps as a reaction?

The Opel Kadett 5:14 was sold in the US (with a slightly different front and rear) as a GMC Chevette and as a Chevrolet Chevette.

18:23 my mum had a yellow Opel GT when she was young in the 70s as a small child I loved watching Knight Rider and she told me that she always had a car that was as fast :D

Great video! It was nice to see you discover the brand. completely without prejudices and accusations. In Germany there were a lot of jokes about the Opel Manta and its driver. I never owend one, but I think they were really stylish. So far I had only once an Opel - Astra CC (convertible with steel roof) 1.8l naturally aspirated engine once. It was the most reliable car I've ever had, although it lacked some power. I've only had to do the regular oil changes and that was all in 6 years. Had much more problems with the VW, Ford, Mazda and Dodge I have owned.

In the late '90s and early '00s I frequently stayed at a hotel next to the railway lines in the Rheinland. All day long you could see trains loaded with cars travelling both north and south. Those travelling north were carrying Vauxhalls for the UK built in Russelsheim (Opel factory near Frankfurt) and those travelling south were carrying Opels built at Ellesmere Port (Vauxhall factory near Liverpool). Strangely enough, my own Vauxhall Adam has all the labels within the engine compartment written in German although I believe the model was built in Spain.

As someone who's all-time favorite car is the Opel Calibra and Opel in general, i really appreciate this video...

Man, I just love the "G IWrocker" plate in the background

The Ascona B 400 and the Calibra V6 4x4 are worth a look when you're interested in motorsports. Walter Röhrl won the World Rally Championship in 1982 with the Ascona and Manuel Reuter won the DTM/ITC in 1996 with the Calibra. Those might be the two biggest successes in Opel's motorsport history.

The Opel Calibra, sold in Australia as the Holden Calibra, was one of my favourite Holdens of the 90's. Of course we received many Opel's in Australia as Holdens and then in 2012 Opel was sold in Australia as a stand alone brand for 12 months, featuring the Corsa, Astra and Insignia. The Opel Zafira MPV also made it to Australia, but just before GM axed Opel from Australia, so wasn't 'officially' sold in Australia, even though the left over stock was sold off by Holden dealers. The Opel Mokka was also due to go on sale in Australia around the same time, but those vehicles were redirected to New Zealand and sold as used cars in that market. Opel is currently sold in New Zealand and there are plans to reintroduce Opel to the Australian market, now that it's under the guidance of the Stellantis Group. I've previously owned a 2016 BK Holden Astra RS-V 1.6L Turbo manual hatch (Opel Astra K) which was one of the most underestimated small cars on the Australian market at the time!

Opel did the whole development for the GM Group, they also paid the development. The R & D is in Ruesselsheim, near Frankfurt. The former Chevy Trax is an Opel Mocca.

For sure my favourite brand. Very underrated

Opel was once the largest bicycle manufacturer in Germany "No other invention combines usefulness with pleasure as closely as the bicycle!" Adam Opel

It's funny, 'cause today I was commented ecactly this topic to and older video of you. Thx for making this to your topic

Hey there, this is my plucky local brand and it deserves some love and attention :) Thanks for spending some time on this, please have a look at German tuner culture from the 70s-00s, you'll find Opel there in any time period. Cheers, hope you're doing well.

The Opel Speedster was sold in the UK as a Vauxhall VX220, and they were based on the Lotus Elise chassis, though the VX220s could even outperform the Elise. Then there was the VX220 Turbo, which was, as you'd expect, a good bit more powerful, and faster - more like an Exige maybe. A lot were crashed by press guys who underestimated them. There was also a Lotus tuned Vauxhall Carlton (Opel Omega) in 1990-92 with 377hp that could do 187mph. The police didn't like them very much since they were so much faster than any of their cars. I remember someone had a late 80s Opel Manta GSi near me back in the late 90s. Was such a cool looking car. Calibras looked/look awesome too.

#05:08 yes!....Opel Ascona B...had four of them 😁 Love those cars.

The matching shirt & eye color just mesmerises me xD

In the UK, Opel are known (sold) under the Vauxhall brand (pronounced 'Vox-all').

In the early 70s SCCA started an entry level road race series. 4 cyl, no GT or sporty versions, no add ons, absolutely stock. The Opel Manta A absolutely dominated. At SIR if there were 4 Opels they came in 1-2-3-4 and then a pause for number 5. The Manta was one second per lap quicker. Doesn't sound like much on a 2 1/2 mile track but 20 laps later is 1/2 mile or more ahead of the pack. I wanted to race. Bought a Manta in Nov. Caged in Dec. Manta disqualified by SCCA in Jan. for unfair advantage. Ran my first stage rally in Feb. I wasn't slow. Most cars were modified mine was bone stock (still a student) so the best I could do was keep the fast guys honest. But I got some attention. It was a great car. I think it was winning at road racing because it was the first of the cars, in that class, to upgrade to new suspension. Most other cars had struts and leaf springs and the Opel used double wishbones in front and a torque tube rear suspension (think cheaper 4-link.) Around 90hp and 2300lbs. So slow in the 1/4 mile and yet it beat most 4 cyl cars. Yep, things got real slow after the first oil crisis. Note ... the slowest cars in the entry road race series were Vega, Super Beetle, Datsun 510. I can hear the 510 owners screaming from here. But I was there. They were slugs. No power and bad handling. The 1600 Pinto was better. Opels had a great rally car in the late 70s Ascona. This evolved to the Manta B 400 in the Group B era. A very good car. Developed a lot by Vauxall to become a serious competitor, even against the 4 wheel drive turbo cars. Excellent in the Irish pavement series and the British Forest Rally. When Group B reached ridiculous HP the Opel fell back. When Group A became the WRC class the Opel was dated and the Ford Sierra and the Lancia Delta were monsters in Group A.

The gallery you found ommitted the 1960s' GT, likely the only Opel that was sold in the US as Opel. It even appears in "The Omega Man" with Charlton Heston =)

We have old, 1st gen Opel Zafira A Comfort version from 1999/2000. That car's older than me, I'll be 18 this year. We have driven almost 300,000 km.

I used to own two Opel Omegas, one after annother, a 97 and 98 I think they were, the sedan 2 liter versions, They were pretty nice, specially the last one because the previous owner had tinted the windows, put a sports exhaust on it and a few other bits and pieces... But the best thing about them by a million miles was that they were REAR WHEEL DRIVE! So far the only two cars I've owned that have been RWD and I still miss them every single winter for obvious reasons 😅 Had some bad luck with them though, on the first one the CCU (computer) went and a new one would've been over a 1000 euros not including installation, and since I only payed 800 for the car I could not justify it. That's when I found the second one and thought "Perfect, i'll keep the old one and use it for parts for the new one" Well that one had a tiny little oil leak when I bought it, and before I could get around to fixing said leak, it must have gotten a lot worse cause suddenly it just ran out of oil, no oil light ever came on, it just suddenly died one morning on the way to work, and it turned out the engine was seized Sold both cars as a package at a bit of a loss, and a few days later the new owner had the newer one running again

The Tigra is a nice little coupe with a timeless and unique design (I had one, the 1.4 90HP Ecotec variant). It was also sold in LATAM markets as Chevrolet Tigra. The Calibra is an another timeless car, it almost made it to US market as a Saturn. The C20LET engine is a beast!

My first OPEL was a ALIGA, had 3 of them, now I have a CROSSLAND 2020 edition, driving OPEL for 23 years now.

The coolest car opel ever sold was "the poor man's Corvette", the Opel GT. There were endless jokes about the drivers right arm because of the lever-driven opening of the "sleeping" headlights

When I was a kid in the 70s, I loved the Opel GT. It had a reputation for underperforming, but it sure was beautiful!

I have been driving one of the Opel Tigras. For two people it was fine. The two seats in the rear were really just for urgent situations, no normal sized person would like to travel on them for longer time. The Tigra was a lot of fun to drive on country roads in hilly upper austria. Like many Opels it rusted to death and I had to retire it in 2014.

i am the proud owner of a 1979 Opel Monza 3.0 I6 with a 3 speed auto and its so much fun

In the 1974 movie Gone in Sixty Seconds, there was a scene involving a police chase going through a GM Dealership, where there was a sign that says "73 Buick & Opels Cleanup SS Savings".