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History Alley: A Video Tour Of Opel Convertibles

Being a whopping 150 years old, Opel is endowed with an especially rich and vast heritage. Part of that legacy is the organization’s convertibles — which were, more often than not, customized by outside tuning shops and coach builders rather than designed, engineered, and manufactured internally by Opel. And the video just below shows twelve of the automaker’s convertible offerings spanning 80 years (1933 through 2013), including the:

  • Moonlight Roadster
  • Olympia
  • Admiral
  • Kadett C Aero
  • Kadett E
  • Astra F
  • Speedster
  • Astra G
  • Tigra
  • GT
  • Astra H
  • Cascada

As one would expect, the gorgeous Cascada is the latest, the greatest, and the most technologically-advanced drop-top produced by the GM-owned German-based brand — so it’s very much apropos that it gets the lion’s share of attention in the video:

The GM Authority Take

The latest and greatest is, well, great — but yours truly is also fascinated by history, especially if it is has anything to do with automotive transportation. And seeing Opel’s convertible vehicle offerings through nearly a century is a delight.

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Comments

  1. Nice, can we have a history of Vauxhall convertables please 🙂

    Reply
    1. Wouldn’t they be about the same?

      Reply
  2. No Vauxhall have done many more and some of the Opel ones (even modern haven’t always translated to Vauxhall’s) a couple of convertable Vauxhall’s that spring to mind are 1911 Prince Henry & Cavalier MK 1 & 2 convertables. Vauxhall started making cars in 1903 but has a history before that also.

    Reply
  3. Neat video Alex. I still think Buick needs that Cascada in it’s line up.

    Reply
    1. Paul — agreed!

      Reply
  4. Paul and Alex, I also agree. The Cascada would be a great Buick!

    Reply
  5. When was the speedster made, I remember seeing it in European Magazines and thinking how sweetit was.

    Reply
    1. 2000-2005. It was a slightly different Lotus Elise.

      Reply
  6. The VX220 & Speedster was built at Hethel, Norfolk alongside its Lotus equivalent & other Lotus cars.

    Reply
  7. The MK2 Corsa around 1996 had a convertable model for around 12 months as I remember (a green model debuted at the Birmingham NEC).

    Reply
  8. Convertables that never made it on sale are Calibra convertable & Monaro convertable

    Reply
  9. the speedster deserves to come back

    Reply
  10. I missed the Opel Ascona C Cabrio

    Reply
  11. Where is the Opel Ascona C Cabriolet?

    Reply

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