My first car...revisited (73' Opel GT)

[Kochiro]

My very first car was a 1973 Opel GT. I was thirteen and I paid $450 for it and my father and I started doing a "facelift" restoration. We basically did enough to make it driveable and look nice. It wasn't perfect by a long shot, but we didn't put a lot of money into it either. Back then parts were not easy to come by for this car and some things were just not possible to get at all. We completed it around the time I got my license and I drove it occasionally as a nice weekend type of car.

Fast forward 22 years (man I feel old writing that) and I am now going to start again with a bare metal "restoration" but not an original restoration. Now there are many many more parts available and at reasonable prices.

I currently live in Sweden but the car is at my mothers house in the US. In a few weeks I am going to be visiting her and will be trying to get the car going enough to have it shipped to me in Sweden via RORO (Roll-On-Roll-Off).

Here are a few pics from back in 2004/5-ish.















As the car currently stands it needs a lot of work. It hasn't been running since the pictures above were taken. There is an electrical gremlin somewhere that is most likely a grounding issue, the brakes are all seized I'm sure, the entire fuel system will have to be flushed of course and who knows what else I will run into. Luckily the car doesn't have to be inspected, it just has to be able to be driven on to and off of the ship.

Here's a rough photoshop of where I'm headed with it that I use to keep myself inspired. It's basically just a drop and larger wheels however I have much much more planned for her.

[244Brick]

Yes, i hope this is a Blueprint for the final look. This is SEX

[Yogi_Bear]

oh I hoped it turns out like the photoshop

[244Brick]

oh I hoped it turns out like the photoshop

i see what you did there

[way2fastx3]

Agree with this 100%. If it comes out as the photoshop or close to it that would be so nice. Simple and Clean.

[Kochiro]

A quick mobile phone pic from the car at my mother's house from a few weeks ago.

To those wondering if it will come out even close to the photoshop...as I said, it is literally just a drop and wheels and background. I took the third picture in the first post and cut out the background and wheels. Then I put it over the top of another car that had the background and wheels and sized everything appropriately. There have been no other modifications to the car, no touching up of the paint or any other photoshop trickery.

So if you like the "blueprint", I'm sure you will like it when it is done as the photoshop is currently showing the 20+ year old paint job which is absolutely horrible. The painter was drunk when he painted it and shut off the lights in his shop when he was done spraying it, so instead of being attracted to the lights the bugs all landed on the wet paint so there are bugs in it and all sorts of drips and such in the paint.

It will be a long time until it looks like the photoshop though. During July I will be getting it ready to ship and hopefully by the end of August I will have it here in Sweden.

More updates and especially pictures will come when I get to the US in just under two weeks.

[OttoMcintyre]

oh I hoped it turns out like the photoshop

[Kochiro]

Here's an example of what I meant with the parts availability. Twenty years ago when I was doing the first restoration the only key I had for the car started getting weak and would bend when you unlocked the doors. I went to every local locksmith and none of them had the key shape in stock and it wasn't even in the books that they can order keys from. So quite often the car was just left unlocked for fear of breaking the key off in the lock and being stranded somewhere.

A few days ago I found out that Opel GT Source has been bringing more and more reproduction parts to the market for those things that used to be impossible to find. This includes new key blanks for the two possible shapes on Opels sold in the US. I just had four new key blanks arrive in the mail for a total cost of $10. I figure with 4, I have a few to spare in case the locksmith screws up the first couple tries.

I will also be able to get a completely new stainless steel bumper set for around $1200. Seems kinda expensive until you consider how many parts are included. On this car a full bumper set includes the main front bumper, two bumperettes, the two rear bumpers and bumperettes as well as all new mounting hardware, spacers and gaskets. This will save me having to get my existing bumper pieces straightened and re-chromed later on.

I'll be in the US with the car at the end of next week so the effort to get her running and driveable will start and many pictures will follow. Getting really excited to work on her again.

[coockiemonster]

HOLY FUCK i got no words for how awesome that shop looks!!! im sub'd

[Majend]

yay another GT!!!

pm me if you ever have questions about your build i have one going on with my 73.

i'm interested to see how you get around the problems associated with lowering a GT that much like there being no room in the front wheel wells to turn, flat floor with nowhere to put the exhaust and the subframe mods that need to be done.

[Kochiro]

yay another GT!!!

pm me if you ever have questions about your build i have one going on with my 73.

i'm interested to see how you get around the problems associated with lowering a GT that much like there being no room in the front wheel wells to turn, flat floor with nowhere to put the exhaust and the subframe mods that need to be done.

Thanks. I've been watching your build to see what you do with the front suspension setup.

The short answer is simply "whatever it takes".

I want it to "look" like a GT but it doesn't have to "be" original. I know that will likely make a lot of the Opel purists mad as there were only something like 7500 of this year imported to the US but in the end I believe that I will be keeping the spirit of the car alive by doing what I am doing. The car was originally designed and built to improve Opel's image. Prior to the GT, Opel had been seen as nothing more than just another cheap, low quality car company in the US. It could easily be likened to what the Genesis is doing for Hyundai, taking an average car company and attracting more attention by building a sportscar. However in typical GM (owner's of Opel since 1929) fashion they simply made a nice looking body and slapped it on top of the already existing Kadett chassis to save money. I feel that the car could have been so much more had it been given a proper build budget. So if I have to totally redesign everything under the skin to achieve my goals, I will. It will still retain the same outer look like in the photoshop and the interior will retain most of the original look in the same way.

Once the real build starts I will be totally redesigning the engine bay. I can't stand the sort of disjointed, half-hearted attempt look that it has stock. It feels like there are bits of sheetmetal just kinda stuck here and there instead of a unified design. So for starters all that will be replaced with a smoother looking solution. I think that will net me with at least a little more room for the wheels.

Regarding the flat floor...as you know the stock seats are kinda fat overall so by changing to a different seat I will gain some headroom. I'm hoping that a pair of Stätus Racing seats will fit. Then because of that added headroom and the fact that I'm 5'10" I can afford to lose a bit of that headroom by raising the floor up to make room for an exhaust if necessary.

With the suspension and subframe, it is going to get a total makeover to bring it up to a fully independent suspension and quite possibly on air as well. Part of that redesign will include making sure that I have the room that I need for the wheels.

As the car isn't at hand just now these are all just ideas that I have had over the past few years and I have no idea if the actual physical measurements will be the same as they are in my memories. Next week I will know more.

Most of the above are big to radical modifications but as I said at the start, this is going to be a long build. Right now I need to get the car over here to Sweden so I can work on it but I don't even have a place to store it yet, much less work on it. So that will be the first order of business once I get it ready for shipping.

[Majend]

any idea what motor you are going to use?

i am planning on using my 2.4l till it blows then i have been thinking about a few different motor swaps.

[Kochiro]

I've been thinking about that quite a bit too. For the most part I'm thinking of going with an F20C with individual throttle bodies from an early model JDM S2000. They are amazing engines and I think that one would suit the GT quite well. In addition the shape of the valve cover is similar so I don't think it would look too out of place with a custom plug wire cover to remove the Honda elements.

As to whether it would fit...who knows, will do some measurements next week. I've also been thinking that perhaps the radiator could be moved to the front of the radiator support as there is a ton of room up there and the added weight further forward would be a good thing. I had an uncle that took a GT to over 120mph back when they were "new" and apparently at those speeds the front end would lift off the ground and just start swaying back and forth.

[Majend]

i worry about two things with that motor. first because the intake would be on the driver's side you are going to have to work to get the throttle bodies to clean but if you are planning on redoing the engine bay to clean it up (i totally get where you are coming form on this, the stock bay looks like a mess) then this isn't really an issue. the second problem is something i see as more of an issue and that is engine height. the f20c is taller than the stock motor and i wonder if you would be able to get it to fit under the hood and be as low as you are planning without some sort of dry sump oiling system. I have been thinking about using a mazda 13b rotary since both the intake and exhaust are on the passenger's side and you could get it to fit under the stock hood without much effort. just a thought

[Kochiro]

Yeah, I don't have the full measurements of both the bay and the engine at the moment but I suspected something like that might be the case. I wouldn't mind going with a dry sump system. Also in a stock S2000 the engine is canted over to one side so that might make a difference as well.

Another thing I could do is use the Lenk Tuning hood. I'm not exactly sure how much taller it is but I bet it is roughly the same height as the highest point of the stock "bubble", 2-3 inches. It would also give more airflow for the intake horns. I'm not crazy about the hood from all angles though so I don't know.

I'm just not a rotary kinda guy, I appreciate them, just don't want one.

Here's a couple examples of the Lenk Tuning hood if you haven't seen it, with more pictures here: