How to turn an Opel GT into a budget Corvette race car

The Opel GT is a frequent flyer on “forgotten classics” and “affordable vintage autos” lists. In other words, it’s an old car that can be scored for cheap. 

That’s obviously good news for vintage enthusiasts on a budget. The news gets better when you consider that those lists are naturally focused on nice examples. Cars that are a little rough around the edges are cheaper still. And, as Team Tinyvette discovered, cars even worse than that are basically free–perfect for Lemons.

Team captain Mike Meier wasn’t sure what he was looking at when he found two Opel GT carcasses decomposing under a tree. “I thought they were Japanese cars,” he recalls. Struck by the curvaceous, mini-C3-Corvette-lookalike bodywork, Mike struck a deal–$500 for both cars–and set out to learn more. 

The small German (as it turns out) coupe is a fairly simple machine with a 1.9-liter, four-cylinder engine connected to a four-speed manual gearbox and a solid rear axle. Coil springs in the rear are paired with a (Corvette-familiar) transverse leaf spring up front. Front discs and rear drums provide more than adequate braking for the sub-2000-pound machine.

[The Porsche-Beating Opel GT]

The overall lack of complexity makes wrenching easy–something the team has greatly appreciated. Any older hardware facing the torture test of Lemons is bound to have some failures, and in more than a decade of campaigning the Opel, the team has cycled through numerous engines and transmissions. The team estimates it’s swapped out at least 20 engines. The current powerplant is still based on the stock Opel four-cylinder architecture but is a homespun 2.5-liter version assembled around a long-stroke diesel crank. 

With iconic (what else?) Corvette Racing livery, the Tinyvette is a familiar sight at West Coast Lemons races, and it’s racked up several class wins and other awards to go with all those blown-up engines. The car also sees regular street use, makes frequent car show appearances, and even completed a coast-to-coast Cannonball run. (In fact, it was a Cannonball-and-a-half, with the team running nonstop from California to New York and then back to California again.) 

A crowning motorsports achievement was making a top speed run during Bonneville Speed Week, where the car registered 117 mph before melting a piston and ejecting the dipstick through the hood. 

Some gearheads lament turning old cars into Lemons racers, but in the case of the Tinyvette, the journey from misidentified hulk rotting under a tree all the way to Bonneville is a pretty impressive trip. At the very least, it’s not bad for a “forgotten classic.”

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