German Import: 1974 Opel Manta A
In the 1960s and 1970s. if you strolled into your neighborhood Buick dealership, you’d likely find one of several imported Opel’s sitting alongside an Electra 225 or Riviera. Opel was owned by General Motors and since Buick didn’t have any small cars of its own to sell, the “suits” thought the Opel would be a good fit. One of the coolest Opel imports was the Manta A sport coupe, which was available from 1970 to 1975. This 1974 edition has recently been restored and may be better now than the day it was built. Located with a dealer in Costa Mesa, California, this interesting “Buick” is available here on Barn Finds Classifieds for $22,500.
The Manta A in the U.S. was intended to compete with the likes of the Ford Mustang and the Mercury Capri (which itself was an import). The underpinnings of the sporty car were shared with the family-oriented Ascona A, but the sheet metal was all it’s own. When GM decided to let Buick off the hook for the responsibility for selling U.S.-market Opel’s, the Manta and the Ascona were the only models left. The nifty GT, which looked like a mini-Corvette, had a run from 1968 through 1973, but couldn’t meet changing safety standards going forward.
This ’74 Manta A has been treated to new French Blue paint with a matte black hood, fresh upholstery, and a rebuild and tweaking of its 1.9-liter inline-4 engine. It wears snappier GT/E trim compared to other Manta’s. The car has been lowered from stock specifications to enhance its appearance (and perhaps make it handle better). It also sports new tires on cool-looking custom mesh wheels. The auto was probably ready for a restoration anyway as it has seen nearly 125,000.
The items on the list of mechanical work done to this import continue to grow. The Weber carburetor is an upgrade and has been rebuilt. The gas tank was replaced, and the car may only need a compressor for its air conditioning to work again. We suspect this Opel is both agile and fast for its size and the seller has provided a video to help market his/her wares. For more details about this vehicle, check out a link for it here on eBay, too.
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Comments
Cool looking car. Price seems ambitious to me but I’m cheap. Lol.
Oy vey a German car too !
Have not seen one of these in a while. IIRC back in the day, these you bought because you could not afford a BMW 2002. Agree on that price, man that’s a lot of money.
I thought that this car looked familiar.
https://dailyturismo.com/what-is-it-1974-opel-manta-gte/
I really wanted to buy a used one of these as my first car. They were still too new and too expensive though. They were pretty popular and commonplace in the 70s but they all disappeared. This one is the nicest I have seen in forever.
In a heart beat I would buy this. Shame the interior wasn’t cleaned before it was photographed. Parked on a construction site with the windows rolled down? Fast and nimble cars.
Nice build owner.Good choice of wheels.
I had a Manta B for a while; never really got on with it. My default car then was a Mini of some sort, so maybe I found it a bit ponderous. They’re nice enough cars, though.
Always thought these had nice styling. Next door neighbor when I was growing up had a very well kept one late into the 80s. Not sure what ever became of it.
I’m not a fan of this one being lowered. I’m pretty much a completely stock fan anymore.
Glwts
Crushed velour seat recovers – really? Also, I personally could have done without the chrome bumper black repaint. Otherwise a good German car.
They look so much better without bumpers
Imho.
Hey they do have some great styling. Not the worst car built, asking price seems a bit steep but not too many of these around anymore it your looking to own one.
Love the styling on these,& almost bought one new in ’73.
Then later a kid I worked with offered me his Manta Rallye in
Yellow,for $75.I passed again.
Then there was the time a co-worker had his brother’s
nearly new Rallye,which four of us piled into,& went down
Berta Road,just out of Eureka,CA.
Berta Road has an old wooden covered bridge,& shortly
after you cross it,the road there’s a sharp left hand corner,with
a barbed-wire,wooden post fence along it.
As Simon,the driver went flying over the bridge,I kept telling
him “You need to slow down”,a few times,talking louder (& faster)
as the turn got closer.He didn’t & next thing we knew,we were off
the road,with barbed wire over the top of the car.Luckily,the post
he hit was rotten,& broke off,not damaging the car.
I always wondered how he explained the scratches on the top
to his brother?
One of my first cars, bought for $100. Orange Manta Rallye. Needed a clutch and while I had it on dad’s lift, I noticed the drivers floor was almost through right where the jack pads were welded to the frame. I patched the floor and re-welded the pads. There were several of these in my neighborhood (we had a Buick dealer) and I made it a point to check when I would see one parked. All were rusted in the same spot. Must have held PA road salt pretty well in the jack pads.
Nimble, skinny tires, manual – you don’t need a ton of horsepower to have fun. Wild that this one has AC, I’ve never seen that.
I think we can all agree, this HAS to be the nicest Manta in existence today. Before we sing the praises of the Opel, let’s remember, small car choices, before the Asians, were slim pickins in the 70s. The only hope of foreign cars was to pair them with good ol’ American cars, and it worked. Don’t get me wrong, Opel was a good car, had several, but like the Capri, dealer help was not the best. Disgruntled workers claim they stole sales away from the American cars, not realizing, denial, really, it was the tip of the iceberg.
Never ceases to amaze me, no matter what the car, or how seemingly insignificant they may have been, SOMEONE kept one, and now feels justified asking 5 figures. I can see the 1st part, the 2nd part simply blows me away.
Learned to drive in one with a 4 speed. Bought one back in 1985 for $50. Needed tires and PA state inspection. Great little car for my first one to drive while beginning college. Great in the snow and I was passing people on the snow covered highway when everyone was single file and he hammer lane was untouched with about 5 or 6 inches of snow on it. Great on gas and four speed fun. My family went though a bunch of Opels back in the early ’80’s. Mom had a nice Manta Lexus in the garage until the building accidentally caught fire and burnt completely. Mom wanted to sell the car to me for $300. Just didn’t have a garage space for it. Sad day for that car.
Had one of these back in the day, love the styling. The sail panel in picture 9 tells me a lot. Price is VERY optimistic.
I can see myself driving a car like this. A Buick Riviera was a nice car, as was the Buick Electra 225. But those were behemoths compared to the Opel Manta and the Opel GT. Unless you’re traveling cross country, this would be more appropriate. I’ve always found the Manta the best looking car Opel offered, along with the “Baby Corvette” GT.
We didn’t own the Mantra, but we did have a 1970 yellow Opel station wagon. It was really easy on gas. Our biggest memory was our first daughter during her first year had trouble sleeping. We put down the back seat and placed her between pillows so she could lay on the backs of the seats. The noise of the Opel was the right “pitch” because after 5 minutes of driving, she was sound asleep… sure beat walking around the house for 30 minutes.
The Manta or a tricked out early 70’s Ascona…two objects of teenage lust from my German youth.
Not THE German Youth. Just me. A youth. In Germany… Hi, goodnight, everybody!
What a paradox!…..clearly they cannot afford a bottle of armor all, but if the car sells for that very optimistic price, they can buy lots of armor all…..
Life can be so unfair.
I had a station wagon one of these pretty good little car until you hit a bump
I too had a 73 Stationwagon I loved that Car it was rather zippy got Killer Millage and would roll right up to 100Mph Plus Haul all My Key Board and Guitar equipment to the Club..
Sadly a Huge Lincoln side swiped it bumper tore sheet metal all the way down the drivers side. I had to climb out the Passenger side till I was forced to buy another car. totally sucked
Always wanted to do a 215 aluminum V8 swap in one of these.
I had one of these in a different color back in 1975 and I loved it. I was fun to drive, and they all came with a matte black hood
Only the Rallye came with the Black hood,stripes,
and rear panel.I thought they did a great job on that.
Never remember seeing any Opels in the local Buick dealership in the 1970’s.
Or anywhere for that matter.
Did like my Opel Omega Cadillac Catera though in the late 1990’s.
I do remember those ! lol
Saw the rear end, and ugh, should have been a hatchback lol.
No drivers side mirror. Forgot to replace it after the paint job.
My neighbor has two Gt’s, beautiful little cars. My buddy had a Manta back in 82-85, bronze and black, that he got from his grandfather. We put a ton of miles on her, a really, really nice car. We were on a suburban four lane and a woman made a last second left turn onto a side street, cut across from the curb lane on her side to the curb lane on our side (where we were)and hit us head on. We walked away but the little Opel died that day. We still talk about her 37 years later.
Another friend had a Kadette two door sedan and a Kadette wagon, they were nice little cars too. Both were light green
this is as much a cheb as the merkur isa ford.
Altho I liked the GT, I distinctly remember one fella had multi-carbs
beside that distinctive valve cover on his manta.
There was one racing at the Road America Fall Festival last month.
It had Weber DCOEs and I sold him parts for them.
chelsful,
PLEASE stop “texting” – your posts are extremely painful
to read (& decipher).
– Thank You
You just have to learn to ignore his post – I do.
Over the course of their run in the US, there were three different trims of the Manta.
There was the base car that had a black vinyl interior and steel wheels with hub caps.
There was the Rallye that had a black vinyl interior, a tach, a blacked-out hood and black side stripes that ran up over the trunk along with a steel rallye style wheel with trim rings and fog lights. When equipped with the manual transmission it had a lower 3.67 rear axle. Automatic equipped Rallye’s had a 3.44 rear gear which was standard across all other Manta trims. The Rallye also had an ammeter, oil pressure gauge and electric clock in the lower center of the dash.
There was also the higher-trim Luxus model, which had cloth seats, cloth insert door panels and a larger wood-like shift knob like this car has. The Luxus also came with a four-spoke style steel wheel. While this car has the Rallye trim style side stripes it has a Luxus interior. Depending on the exterior color, the Luxus interior could be had in burgundy or blue and included a wood grain dash and door trim.
1970 to 1972 had basic chrome bumpers. In 1973 they added rubber rub strips to the bumper and in 1974 and 1975 they had the bigger squared-off 5 mph collision bumpers. Also in 1974 and 1975 Bosch electronic fuel injection replaced the carburetor!
Power front disc brakes were standard across the board on all trims.
There was the Rallye that had a black vinyl interior, a tach, a blacked-out hood and black side stripes that ran up over the trunk along with a steel rallye style wheel with trim rings and fog lights. When equipped with the manual transmission it had a lower 3.67 rear axle. =. The Rallye also had an ammeter, oil pressure gauge and electric clock in the lower center of the dash.
This was one I had Loved that car.
These are rare, and came out the same time as the Capri. A friend bought a new ’74 yellow and I bought a new ’73 Capri. Both were sporty 4 cylinders and fun to drive. You rarely see either one any more!😢