This temporary exhibition was inspired by the 120 anniversary of Opel car production, celebrated in 2019. The spectacle was inaugurated a few months after my visit in 2018, but my recent road trip allowed me to catch up with the exhibition before a new AVUS exhibition is inaugurated in these halls.
Opel’s entire history dates back well over 120 years, as the sewing machine manufacturing operations were launched by Adam Opel already in 1862.
The company quickly began diversifying into manufacturing bicycles in 1886 and produced its first automobile in 1899. After listing on the stock market in 1929, General Motors took a majority stake in Opel and then complete control in 1931.
That established American ownership of the German automaker for nearly 90 years, until the French PSA took over the company in 2017.
120 years of car production is an exceptionally long time, but Opel went through some really tough periods. Every change of ownership meant a shift in direction and repositioning of the brand, along with the evolution of GM’s stake in Europe.
Opel did produce a few spectacular cars during these long years, which never managed to lift the brand up from its reputation of sturdy but bland makes.
Opel’s classic models do not get the same limelight at classic car shows as many historical brands and the Opel factory hardly ever participates at those events.
To mark the occasion of the 120th anniversary, PS.SPEICHER showcased a dozen rare classics in a separate hall by the main entrance (see their website). The newly furbished site and the ample decoration provided a true replacement for a public access factory museum, that the brand was missing.
The exhibition was inaugurated quite some time ago and is closing very soon (16. August 2021). The exhibition hall will then host the next special exhibition dedicated to the AVUS race track.
The special exhibition is titled “Opel – from cadets and captains” and accumulated cars from different decades to provide a representative cross-section of the company’s history, from bicycles and pre-war motorcycles to trucks.
The exhibition opens with the oldest exhibit of the selection, an Opel 10/25 from 1912. The model was positioned to the top end of Opel’s pre-war line-up (World War I, that is…).
Next up is a red 1935 Opel 1,2 Litre, the quintessence of the roaring twenties that could not deny its American roots.
The red and the blue Olympia models represent a bold new era of Art Deco Design. The Olympia marks the pre-war golden age of Opel, with the first mass-produced car with an all-steel unibody chassis.
The car becomes an instant success, and with affordable and technically advanced mid-range vehicles, Opel is thus further expanding its position as the market leader. The 500,000th Opel rolled off the production line in Rüsselsheim as early as 1936, and the millionth car followed only four years later.
The Olympia was named after the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, but its fate was tied to the history of the Third Reich, giving way to war production.
Following the devastation of the war and the reconstruction of the Rüsselsheim factory site, the first post-war Opel left the factory within a year.
As the Kadett production facilities were expropriated to the Soviet Union as a reparation payment and the captain was not yet available, the Opel Olympia celebrated a comeback. The model enjoyed success until the ’50s (the exhibited blue one from 1952 is such a post-war edition).
Opposite the Olympias, there is an Admiral Cabriolet from 1939 with a pinnacle of Art Deco design. With this model, Opel aimed at the customers of luxury cars from Mercedes-Benz, Maybach and Horch.
Against the noblesse, Opel aimed to undercut the prices of established luxury brands by relying on a modular system. They used the engine and other mechanical components from existing models, from small ones to the Blitz lorry, similarly to the platform strategy used by multi brand conglomerates of today.
Those who wanted their Admiral particularly exclusive, could order a two-door convertible, in this case, tailor-made by the German coachbuilder Hebmüller. The showcased car is such coachbuilt car, one of the two specimen that survived.
Alongside, there is an Opel Admiral 2800 L, a remnant of the KAD series. This car had already the size of a real estate, but the high-end Diplomat model had long(er even) wheelbase high-end version with a V8.
The green Kapitän still follows the Streamline Moderne styling, albeit with less decoration than the early Art Deco Olympia.
This model provided the backbone of the brand’s model range during the late ‘40s and ‘50s. The car seems to be in mint condition, and the vignette of the PS Speicher suggests that the vehicle can be revisited in the depo following the closing down of the Opel Exhibition.
There are a few other models in the room whose details I will skip. Otherwise, this article will last forever, and jump to the hip and modern cars from the ’60s and ’70s.
The GT 1900 is such a cool car, one of the very few Opel models that already reached cult status with dedicated clubs active at major car shows.
The GT was a fun car, small and thus lightweight, with a commercial campaign that turned its primary weakness into a rather lovely gag.
However, the posters noted that General Motors observed the GT’s export success with concerns, and to avoid cannibalization within the group, the GT was removed already in 1973.
The exhibition sported a few exciting models from the ’70s, like steel blue 1974 Manta Coupé and the red 1972 Kadett Coupé, leading to the big one at the end of the hall, the Blitz lorry from 1949.
The name Blitz stands for the brand’s logo, and this truck illustrates well the history of Opel. The company’s commercial vehicle manufacturing took up after the GM takeover, and from 1935, Opel manufactured the Blitz in its brand new Brandenburg plant.
Their trucks provided the very backbone of the Third Reich’s economy until the very end. Even following the bombing of the site in 1944, the Blitz continued to roll off the assembly line at the Daimler-Benz plant in Mannheim.
In the ashes of the destruction, the new edition of the Blitz came at the right moment in 1952. In the young Federal Republic, commercial vehicles were urgently needed in the post-war and reconstruction years. The second generation of the Blitz showed a strong influence from General Motors.
