1972 Opel Kadett wagon

I bought this car a while back based on a tip from 128racecar on this forum.

The ad read something like this:

The last 1972 Opel Kadett on EARTH! 1972 Opel Kadett 1.1 Liter engine / 32 MPG 4 speed manual transmission New tires Speedometer in Kilometers per hour Produced by GM, made in Germany, sold in Italy, brought back to America by me Great daily driver for over 5 years Runs great, passes inspection and is insurable

I called the seller immediately, as I've always thought these were cool and they're pretty tough to find, especially in decent condition. He said it was sold, a guy had left a deposit and was waiting for the bank to open to get the rest of the cash. Several hours later I was thinking about the one that got away and decided to call the guy just to be sure the deal went through. I got lucky, he said it was still available and a few other guys were interested. Fast forward an hour later and it was mine. Mine, I say!!!

I have thought the Kadett would be a fun car to have for a long time, so now I get my shot! Enough background, on to the car.

This is how it looked when I parked it in the garage:

The car started life in Italy. The guy who I bought it from was a soldier and had spent a fair bit of time there, grew attached to the car, and brought it back. The body is in great shape generally, the paint is especially impressive. There is a little bit of rot in the front of the floorpan, probably due to the rubber floor mat and some sort of leak, but in general the thing is in fantastic shape. I brought it home and put together a list of "to do" items to bring it up to stock-ish condition.

Some stuff that I want to address:

• Front headlights were Hella 500s, want to get stock type
• Return headlight switch and controls to stock to replace broken OEM and aftermarket stuff
• Driver's window regulator is completely missing
• Add rear seatbelts
• Figure out how to repair/replace sunvisors, which have broken pivots
• Clean up engine bay ditch aftermarket wiring
• Clean up surface rust from battery tray and install battery hold down
• Fix floor pans
• Several interior panels are damaged or missing, return to stockish
• A MPH speedo would be nice to have, but not mission critical

First things first, had to make sure the dog approved. Our favorite part about our 122S wagon is the spartan interior is perfect for taking the dog for road trips. The Kadett is a fair bit smaller than the already small 122S, and my dog is pretty big, so I wasn't sure how he'd take to it. Turns out, Kinzig approves:

I had to rework the aftermarket retractable seat belt brackets, but thankfully figured it out so the rear seat can tilt forward without hitting the mechanism for the front seat belts. I really like how well the front and rear seats mate up, it seems a little more tight than our 122.

The interior is pretty spartan, which I like...black vinyl abounds and it's all in generally good shape.

Cool OG Italian owner's manual!

An idea of how the engine bay started out:

I was so excited with the condition of the body when I bought it and the fact that it ran and drove, that I hadn't noticed the leaky, noisy water pump. I found one on rockauto.com (surprisingly!) and decided to get a new thermostat and radiator cap while I was at it. This was also a great opportunity to clean up the coolant hoses in the engine bay.

Here's the pile of aftermarket wiring I removed from old stereo and lighting stuff...felt good ditching that stuff!

After a night in the shop with a pile of parts from Rock Auto, some parts I had laying around, and a little patience, things are already shaping up.

Of course, there's still a long way to go in there, but it's very positive progress and I've got some hope that it can look stockish again soon.

Speaking of stockish, I've fooled around with a few different sets of wheels I had laying around. The bottlecaps were the best fit and look of what I had around, but I'm still thinking about leaving the stock 12" stuff on there to keep it original. For now.

Bottlecaps and originals...

I just got license plates this week, and I'm hoping to have some headlight parts pretty soon to make it daily driveable. I've already topped off all the fluids, adjusted the brakes, and done a pretty thorough inspection and I think it's just about there. "oldopelguy" has been really helpful as I try to learn about the Opel stuff and seems to have a great parts stash, I should get a care package from him soon and I'll finally be able to get some spectacles back on this thing.

To be continued...

Bryce

Very jealous, I want one someday.

I like the stock wheels, personally. Great work, the car is beautiful!

Point of interest. 1.1L were also used in the early GT's. 1969 GT, the 1.1 was base engine with 1.9 option. 1970 GT, the other way around. 1.9 base with 1.1L optional. Didn't have 1.1 option after that. What I almost got sidetracked on, the GT 1.1 had dual carbs. Will fit your 1.1, hint.

That's a small engine.

lines are kinda reminiscent of a Nova wagon

cool

that's pretty darn cool.

That is really cool!

Awesome car, and what a great dog. S/he looks like a lab, is that the case?

In reply to Nashco:

Holy crap that thing is in awesome condition. Way to score a cool old wagon. I've never seen one before like it. Is the engine related to the one in the Opel GT?

I'll be watching this one, love it!

Can you talk about that truck in the background without giving me a chubby?

The dog is mostly lab, but he's way too big to be only lab. As a pound pup, who knows.

I'm aware of the two barrel carb setup, but I really don't have any desire to add power to this thing at this point, to be honest. I've got quick cars, they don't all have to be quick.

Bryce

914Driver wrote: Can you talk about that truck in the background without giving me a chubby?

Probably not. I could tell you more, but I'm afraid of the consequences. It's not mine, it's my shopmate's

Bryce

Awesome car, cool dog, great price: what's not to like. I'll be keeping an eye on this thread!

My 2cents on wheels? I like the stockers.

As I mentioned in another thread, I spent some time with a field-find 71 Kadett. It was a 1.1L 4spd car and had the dual carb setup as well. Supposedly, 70 was the last year for it, so I guess it was an early year build. When I got it there was a spray paint lid taped over one carb, so it was running on 1 bbl. It was a 2 door sedan with a concave rear window that was really cool, but not in nearly that good a shape. I never got it running and gave it to a guy in Griffin GA that was an Opel nut and had a whole fleet. I've always thought the wagon was the only version I'd want more, even more than the "Rallye" edition coupe.

At the time, the cost of replacement parts kept me from getting it running, but the body was solid and it would have been an easy project if I was better bankrolled. I miss it on a regular basis.

If I had been hanging out at GRM at the time, I'm pretty sure I would have kept it and figured out how to put a Miata subframe under it. I still daydream about it.

I like the first pictured set of wheels, and I really think just painting the air cleaner with a fresh coat of black would make the engine bay look nicer. I wonder what the reasoning for the 35 miles of heater hose was?

andrave wrote: I like the first pictured set of wheels, and I really think just painting the air cleaner with a fresh coat of black would make the engine bay look nicer. I wonder what the reasoning for the 35 miles of heater hose was?

Your guess is as good as mine. I think maybe they didn't want to bend the control cable or something???

My shop neighbor has a blasting cabinet that I'm hoping to borrow to clean up the air filter housing. The rust is a little more scaly than I want to deal with using my typical methods and this is a perfect application for a blasting cabinet. I agree though, it'll make the engine bay look MUCH better once I get some satin black on it.

Bryce

If the original headlights are supposed to be H4's, I'll trade you the OG 1973 ones from the Javelin for your new-fangled units.

No, the originals are some crazy European setup that I can't find replacement parts for. I'm waiting for some 7" buckets to arrive, which I can then toss some Hella H4s into that I've got around. Funny coincidence, I just bought a pair of Hella 500s for another project car of mine (Vanagon) before I got this Opel...could have saved myself some coin if my timing were a bit better.

Bryce

I finally got some parts and some time to get the Opel a little closer to complete. oldopelguy came through big time for me on some (US 7") headlight buckets and a trim ring. I had to modify

I finally got some parts and some time to get the Opel a little closer to complete. oldopelguy came through big time for me on some (US 7") headlight buckets and a trim ring. I had to modify one of the old trim rings to complete the job and in the end it looks pretty good. Took a while, but I'm glad to have the facial reconstruction complete.

I also put in the driver side window regulator in so both sides are now fully functioning, just need to get a winder handle so I'm not sharing one for both doors! The cooling system FINALLY seems to have all the bugs worked out...that's been quite a saga since each thing I fix has exposed another problem. The radiator was repaired yesterday, it didn't leak until I had put on the new radiator cap on and got pressure in the system.

Hopefully I can be done tinkering and make a regular driver out of the car by the end of the weekend.

Bryce

That is a very nice little wagon. I likes wagons

I once owned a '67 Kadette wagon with the 1.1 engine. Mine was sort of a light yellow, otherwise it looked about the same as yours. It may have been the rustiest one ever (if I opened the driver's door it would fall right off the car, so I had to get in and out from the passenger side) but it always started in the coldest weather and got me through a Minnesota winter.

One time all the splines stripped out of the front U-joint where it slipped onto the transmission tailshaft - I never figured out how that could have happened from the brute horsepower of that 1100cc engine , but amazingly I was able to find a good driveshaft at the junkyard.

Dang it! I was looking at all the build threads yesterday and left this one open. When I woke up this morning I thought this was a for sale ad. I was checking my bank account when I realized what I did Awesome looking wagon!