CarBrandLogos archive · Opel · 1970

OpelManta

A coupe launched to fight the Capri that ended up a national punchline.

Photo: Charles01 · CC BY-SA 4.0

The story

A defining chapter in Opel history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Opel Manta, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

Ford had the European coupe market to itself with the Capri until Opel answered in 1970. The Manta used the floorpan and mechanicals of the Ascona saloon under a low, clean two-door body, which meant it was cheap to build, cheap to run and cheap to fix, and it sold accordingly across Europe and, through Buick dealers, in the United States.

1975 Opel Manta B Heck · Kroelleboelle · CC BY-SA 3.0

Design and engineering

The second-generation car of 1975 stayed in production until 1988, an unusually long run, and it gave Opel a genuine motorsport career. The Manta 400 was homologated for Group B rallying, and in an era of four-wheel-drive turbocharged machinery it earned respect for what a rear-wheel-drive naturally aspirated car could still do in the right hands.

Manta A Black Magic · KarleHorn at de.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0

In production

Its strangest legacy is cultural. By the late 1980s the cheap, ageing Manta had become the emblem of a particular kind of German driver, complete with a whole genre of jokes and two successful comedy films built around the stereotype. That association hurt the car's reputation for years, and only recently have well-kept examples been taken seriously again.

Manta A GTE · KarleHorn at de.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0