Volume 28, Issue 3 May/June 2008 Your other car doesn’t need to know. Inside this Issue Racing Engines Understanding Relays Canadian Rallye Kadett New GT Racing Book SEMA News ECO Speedster Manta A & Manta B retrospective Nostalgia Day Car Show Flyer ‘08 GT Tuner & Targa News Welcome to the Opel Motorsport Club THE OPEL M OTORSPORT CLUB IS CELEBRATING ITS 28TH YEAR OF DEDICATION TO THE PRESERVATION AND APPRECIATION OF ALL GERMAN OPELS , WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON MODELS IMPORTED INTO THE UNITED STATES. WE ARE HEADQUARTERED IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA, AND HAVE CHAPTERS ACROSS THE COUNTRY, IN EUROPE, AS WELL AS MEMBERS IN CANADA AND MEXICO. MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS INCLUDE SUBSCRIPTION TO OUR NEWSLET- TER, THE BLITZ, LISTINGS FOR PARTS AND SERVICE SUPPLIERS, BLITZ INDEX & TECH TIP INDEX (1985-DATE), FREE CLASSIFIED ADS (3 PER YEAR), CLUB ITEMS, MEMBER ROSTER, OWNER SUPPORT AND ACTIVITIES , INCLUDING MEETINGS AND OUR ANNUAL PICNIC & CAR SHOW The Club Regional Chapters The Blitz TO APPLY FOR MEMBERSHIP European Chapter (Netherlands) SEND EVENT INFORMATI ON, TECH CONTACT: Contact Louis van Steen: (011 31) 297 340 TIPS, PARTS INFORMATION, LETTERS , OMC TREASURER, c/o Dick Counsil 536 (please take note of the time zone CHAPTER ACTIVITY ANNOUNCEMENTS, 3824 Franklin Street before calling), fast69gt (at) yahoo.com ADVERTISEMENTS AND ALL OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST TO: La Crescenta, CA 91214-1607 Florida Chapter (Coral Gables, FL) Opel BLITZ Editor Contact John Malone: 305-443-8513 P.O Box 4004 MEMBERSHIP DUES: Michigan Chapter Sonora, CA 95370-4004 USA Regular: $45 Annually via Checks and Contact John Brooks: 616-233-9050 ext 12 Deadline: (At Discretion of OMC Editor) Money Orders (US funds only, made payable to Opel Motorsport Club) or $47 Johncinquo (at) hotmail.com. Submissions will be accepted either typewritten, annually via PayPal. Mid Atlantic Opel Club (Richmond, VA) on Microsoft Word, Publisher or Works compatible disk or e-mailed to the Editor. Online: $20 annually or $21 via PayPal Contact Charles Goin: 804-379-9737 cgoin (at) mindspring.com [email protected] New England Opel Club (Swansea, MA) Drawings or Photos accepted and encouraged. Send PayPal funds to: Contributions to the Blitz will be published on a Contact Gary Farias: 508-679-2740 [email protected] space-available basis. Gary (at) opelgt.com Include your name and address information. The Blitz is the official publication of the Opel North American Opel GT Chapter MEETINGS: Motorsport Club (OMC). Published bi-monthly. (Chicago, IL) The OMC meetings are as announced, at Circulation is limited to club members and Contact Jim Toler: 630-964-9797 varying locations. Please consult the OMC prospective club members. All submissions be- come the property of the OMC and will not be Blitz calendar or OMC website to find out Northern California Chapter (Sonora, returned. Articles, photographs, drawings, who is hosting the next meeting or event. CA) Contact Gil Wesson: 209-928-1110 technical tips, and other materials appearing in Opelgts (at) opelgtsource.com the Blitz may not be reproduced without the ex- Ohio Chapter (Columbus, OH) pressed, written permission of the OMC. Views expressed are not necessarily those of the Contact Larry Shal: 614-861-1565 officers or members of the OMC. Online Opel Sites Pacific Northwest Chapter (Shelton, WA) Contact Paul Kaman: 360-426-9267 ADVERTISING IN THE BLITZ CLASSIFIEDS OMC is on the Internet. The site features Rocky Mountain Opels (Security, CO) (CARS & PARTS FOR SALE OR WANTED): Club News, Event Coverage, Tech Tips, Contact Branston DiBrell Jr 719-391-9421 Up to 50 words, plus name & phone, and a OMC & Opel History, features and much single photo: dibrellb (at) rmi.net more. 1 Month $6.00 3 Months $15.00 San Diego Opel Motorsport Club 6 Months $23.00 12 Months $39.00 Visit us at: www.opelclub.com Contact TBA when available. (3 Free Ads per year for members) Other Good Opel Sites: BUSINESS ADS : (SUBJECT TO CHANGE) www.opelgt.com Texas Opel Club (Leonard, TX) Contact Rodney Killingsworth, 903-587- Half Page $35 for 1 month, Website of the NEOC Full Page (Temporarily Unavailable) Includes a Tech help Bulletin Board 9640 Tyrodk (at) fanninelectric.com Insert $120 for 1 month, [email protected] Carolina Opel Club Business Card $60 for 1year Subscribe to this useful e-mail posting site Contact Roy Bell: 704-782-1866 Color Back Cover (Temporarily Unavailable) E-mail: CarolinaOpelClub (at) aol.com Send Ad Copy and payment (payable to Opel http://clubs.hemmings.com/ Motorsport Club) to Blitz Editor. We chose to use (at) in place of @ for spam frameset.cfm?club=oana CHANGE OF ADDRESS:: The OANA Website To minimize delays, please provide the OMC 2008 OPEL MOTORSPORT CLUB Treasurer with address changes at least one OFFICERS & STAFF month in advance. CLUB OFFICER’S E-MAIL ADDRESS PRESIDENT -ELECT: PAUL H. VP/S ECRETARY: Matt N. ON THE COVER: ACTIVITIES: TBA TREASURER: Dick Counsil 818-248-5504 Cover: Then & Now [email protected] BLITZ EDITOR: “Guest” Opel Ads from the 1950 WEBMASTER: Rich and the GT Ad 2007 OMC Club News All OMC members benefit, when submissions to the Blitz are received, and we want to acknowledge a couple articles that were sent (which are printed here in this issue). We encourage members to continue this trend, as it frees up our hard-working guest editors (to be able to spend more time on larger featured topics). The officers elected for 2008 have been busy, although results of their behind-the-scenes efforts have yet to be seen. (To clarify Officer duties, the OMC By-Laws are reprinted in this issue). One item for discussion, is how to distribute the OMC Roster, with the intent of balancing the goals of easy member-to-member access, while protecting the privacy of members’ contact information (which unfortunately was targeted for unauthorized use by rival commercial interests in the past). Another item that’s still in discussion, is the 2008 OMC Picnic. We have received a volunteer for Activities Coordinator, however, actual details of a Picnic have not yet been finalized. Any formal announcement, will probably be post-deadline for this issue. 2008 OMC Picnic details may be distributed in an OMC “Email Newsletter,” So if you haven’t already done so, OMC please submit your current email address to OMC (c/o: [email protected]) Opel Treasurer’s Report Events February - March 2008 Calendar Treasurer’s Report February/March 08 June Beginning Balance February 1, 2008 $6,726.42 All GM Car Show Income Where: Woodley Park, CA Member Dues Date: June 8th. February 1st. - February 29th. $405.00 see Jan./Feb. Blitz pg. 30 for details March 1st. - March 31st. $745.00 Regular 1 New & 27 Renewals July Online 6 New & 1 Renewals Opels of Washington Show Blitz Advertising, Sales $32.00 Where: Kelley’s Café 16302 Pacific Avenue Income Subtotal $1182.00 Spanaway, WA Expenses Date: July 19th. 11am-4pm. Info: John (253) 581-5372 Blitz publication w/ postage Jan-Feb. $964.11 Member/Other expenses $95.00 July– August OMC’s 28th. Annual Picnic Expense Subtotal $1,059.11 Where: California Closing Balance March 31, 2008 $6,894.31 Details?: TBA April 2008 September Outstanding Expenses (Estimate) Balance 2008 OMC Opel Nationals Charlotte Autofair Blitz Publication $400.00 $6,494.31 Treasurer’s Expenses $6,494.31 Where: Charlotte, NC Editor’s Expenses $6,494.31 Dates: Sept. 5th. - 7th. see Jan./Feb. Blitz pg. 7 for details Member Dues - Say 10 @ $45 ($450.00) $6,944.31 Deposits September Nostalgia Day Car Show 02-28-08 $452.00 03-14-08 $360.00 Where: Livermore, CA 04-06-08 $415.00 Date: Sept. 28th. see pg. 8 & 9 in this Blitz for details Total Deposits February-April 08 $1227.00 and registration form. The sporty Manta coupe, was a true BMW competitor Last month Tom Esterkin mailed me a photocopy of an article from Automobile magazines ‘Ignition’ column, written by Jamie Kitman and entitled, ‘Domestic carmakers took their eye off the ball. It’s time to get back in the game.’ In his two page article Kitman makes some scathing but valid points about Detroit’s “big three” automakers and the decisions they’re making and have made in the past. I do not personally agree with everything Mr. Kitman states, however he does make some very nice comments on the Opel Manta. The following are excerpts from the March 2008 Automobile magazine article by Jamie Kitman from pages 30 & 31. “Today, much of America’s best new-car stuff is German GM. Saturn’s Astra and Vue are rebadged Opels. Along with the Aura, which is built on GM’s global Epsilon platform, they’ve vaulted Saturn, once the exclusive province of consumers who didn’t know cars, into the thick of informed choice. Ditto the Epsilon-based Chevy Malibu, which has the automotive press straining for adequate superlatives.” “Many will say the American industry went wrong in the ‘90s, but the seeds of its destruction were sown fourty years ago when it chose to shunt overseas products, even when they surpassed homegrown offerings. Whether it was due to self- delusion, internal polictics, or that supposed impossibility — underestimating the American public’s intelligence—we may never know. But two examples illustrate the corrosive force of engineering chauvinism.” “GM sold Opels from Germany at Buick dealerships here in the 1960s and ’70s. Although the chintzy Kadett fairly blew, the nifty 1900 line that followed, included the sporty Manta coupe, was a true BMW competitor at about 75% of the price. It found an appreciative audience, but in 1976, GM chose to turn off the German Opel spigot, substituting Japan’s surprisingly vile Isuzu Gemini for a brief run as “Opel by Isuzu” and doing serious injury to all three brands’ reputations.