Gary Lewis Posted January 8, 2020 Author Share Posted January 8, 2020 Cool story! But 200 kph/125 mph isn't all that over there.... You're right, I wasn't doing the math. Like I said, I heard the story a long time ago. I'm confident in the overall story (at least as I heard it...) but I'm thinking I'm not remembering the speed he said correctly. I really doubt I just missed the units (200 mph would be unbelievably fast for even a Mercedes prior to the mid 80s (and after really)). Or maybe I am remembering (mostly) correctly and Arnold said the speedo went up to 200 kph and they were well over that. Anyway, I gotta believe that with the shape of an Opel Kadet they were probably generating significant lift, and it couldn't have been fun at all! The Kadet was LIGHT, and I have a story about one, so that speed in one would have been nerve wracking. The MX5, as it was known there, was also light but much lower and it didn't seem to be suffering from the speed. Or, that's so it seemed from my not-too-close vantage point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swampedout Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 The Kadet was LIGHT, and I have a story about one, so that speed in one would have been nerve wracking. The MX5, as it was known there, was also light but much lower and it didn't seem to be suffering from the speed. Or, that's so it seemed from my not-too-close vantage point. A 2L engine is small! But try the 1.6 in my suzuki! Maxes out around 60 mph but its a lot of fun getting it there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny G Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 A 2L engine is small! But try the 1.6 in my suzuki! Maxes out around 60 mph but its a lot of fun getting it there had a 1.6l vw diesel lol, that thing did well for its size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
85lebaront2 Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 Cool story! But 200 kph/125 mph isn't all that over there.... You're right, I wasn't doing the math. Like I said, I heard the story a long time ago. I'm confident in the overall story (at least as I heard it...) but I'm thinking I'm not remembering the speed he said correctly. I really doubt I just missed the units (200 mph would be unbelievably fast for even a Mercedes prior to the mid 80s (and after really)). Or maybe I am remembering (mostly) correctly and Arnold said the speedo went up to 200 kph and they were well over that. Anyway, I gotta believe that with the shape of an Opel Kadet they were probably generating significant lift, and it couldn't have been fun at all! Guy I used to ride to NNS with had an Opel Kadet wagon with the 1.1L base engine (54 HP) one day we left to go home and it was rather windy, he got out onto I-64 headed East and when he shifted to 4th the car just wouldn't accelerate. He let off, speed dropped like a rock, h e put it back in 3rd wound it up as far as it would go and went back to 4th, same thing, maxed out at 52 mph. Years later I had one of the Opel Rallye models in my shop, 1.1L with dual Solex downdraft 1 barrels, 67 screaming hp. It had a horrible cold stumble, the heat passage in the intake had plugged with carbon, so a call to the Buick dealer got a set of intake gaskets and a lot of soaking, drilling and some heat got it working again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angelo Voltura Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 Guy I used to ride to NNS with had an Opel Kadet wagon with the 1.1L base engine (54 HP) one day we left to go home and it was rather windy, he got out onto I-64 headed East and when he shifted to 4th the car just wouldn't accelerate. He let off, speed dropped like a rock, h e put it back in 3rd wound it up as far as it would go and went back to 4th, same thing, maxed out at 52 mph. Years later I had one of the Opel Rallye models in my shop, 1.1L with dual Solex downdraft 1 barrels, 67 screaming hp. It had a horrible cold stumble, the heat passage in the intake had plugged with carbon, so a call to the Buick dealer got a set of intake gaskets and a lot of soaking, drilling and some heat got it working again. It blows my mind how some cars have less power than my ATV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted January 9, 2020 Author Share Posted January 9, 2020 Guy I used to ride to NNS with had an Opel Kadet wagon with the 1.1L base engine (54 HP) one day we left to go home and it was rather windy, he got out onto I-64 headed East and when he shifted to 4th the car just wouldn't accelerate. He let off, speed dropped like a rock, h e put it back in 3rd wound it up as far as it would go and went back to 4th, same thing, maxed out at 52 mph. Years later I had one of the Opel Rallye models in my shop, 1.1L with dual Solex downdraft 1 barrels, 67 screaming hp. It had a horrible cold stumble, the heat passage in the intake had plugged with carbon, so a call to the Buick dealer got a set of intake gaskets and a lot of soaking, drilling and some heat got it working again. A buddy of mine had an Opel Kadet in the late 60's. One day he brought it over 'cause it ran horribly. Dad asked him what the last thing that was done to it and he said he and his brother had put points and plugs in it. Dad put a timing light on it and it was spot-on, but idling very poorly. Dad turned the timing up and it ran much better. So he checked TDC and the balancer was off several degrees. Then he asked when the aftermarket A/C had been added. Recently. Turned out that when the A/C came of with the engine wound up it was slowing the engine so much it was slipping the balancer. Later my buddy and I were sharing an apartment as we both were getting married in August of '69 and needed to conserve finances. One day he came to the apartment and got out of the Kadet w/o leaving it in gear or setting the park brake. It rolled forward gently and hit a corrugated trash can that was up against the building. I left a little crease in the trash can and bent the bumper on the Kadet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzFace2 Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 That’s great! Edit: I had a 1973 Vega that the PO put a 215 aluminum block from a Buick in. When I was stationed in Southern California I kept up with a Vette one night, he motions me in a parking lot and asks what’s in it. I said it’s stock he laughs and says no it’s not and wants to see. It was a fun car. I had the Vega and the 215 / 200 hp (v4) but never got the 2 together I did up a little 302 with 351 heads for my uncles 67 Bronco we raced off road. Took it to 100 yard drags one weekend and a lot though I had a SBC in it for how well (beating everything) it ran. I had to pop the hood so they could see the SBF to believe me. It was great to run 14" paddle tires on the rear and little paddles up from, the fronts were hardly on the ground. Motor would run to 7500 RPM but you would shift between 7000 to 7200 RPM. I wished I knew he was getting rid of it as I would have bought it and dropped the motor in a car body and gone drag racing. Then to bring you back to earth you hop in an old VW 1300 bug with 36 HP or my 73 Fiat 850 sedan with it's 817cc and hardly36 HP on it. Them were the days! Dave ---- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rembrant Posted January 12, 2020 Share Posted January 12, 2020 had a 1.6l vw diesel lol, that thing did well for its size. I've had about a dozen VW's, and have been running the diesels for quite a while now. The old NA ones were slugs and you had to push them up the hills, but they'd get 50 MPG all day long, and sometimes more. The last real fuel miser I had was an 03 Golf TDI. The little bugger would hold 16 gallons of fuel and if I kept the speed at 65 mph or lower, it would get 800 miles to a tank. Man I loved that little car. My current VW Golf TDI just barely gets 40 MPG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fords4life Posted January 13, 2020 Share Posted January 13, 2020 had a 1.6l vw diesel lol, that thing did well for its size. I've had about a dozen VW's, and have been running the diesels for quite a while now. The old NA ones were slugs and you had to push them up the hills, but they'd get 50 MPG all day long, and sometimes more. The last real fuel miser I had was an 03 Golf TDI. The little bugger would hold 16 gallons of fuel and if I kept the speed at 65 mph or lower, it would get 800 miles to a tank. Man I loved that little car. My current VW Golf TDI just barely gets 40 MPG. Had Friday off so I took my son (3yr old), my Dad and my wife's Uncle to the Sportsmans Expo down in Denver. Parks and Wildlife has a free fishing pond for kids so Hunter got to catch his first fish. A nice little Rainbow trout. He was pretty excited and I sure had fun. He also had to try out all the ATVs, trucks, Jeeps, quads, etc. I think he's going to have wrenching in his blood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpin Posted January 13, 2020 Share Posted January 13, 2020 Had Friday off so I took my son (3yr old), my Dad and my wife's Uncle to the Sportsmans Expo down in Denver. Parks and Wildlife has a free fishing pond for kids so Hunter got to catch his first fish. A nice little Rainbow trout. He was pretty excited and I sure had fun. He also had to try out all the ATVs, trucks, Jeeps, quads, etc. I think he's going to have wrenching in his blood. That’s great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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