Opel Kadett C Coupe Goes for a Drive 

My favourite Opel was the series A Manta. Always been a sucker for machines with the right kind of lines.

The Kadett C is the love of my life. Aged 20 and working in the motor trade in Dumfries, I bought a gold two door example which I restored. GSW155N was much admired until six months later I wrapped it into a dry wall near Sanquhar. Paid the farmer cash to restore the dry wall. Seven years ago I returned to S/W Scotland and took a run up the same road which I had not been on for 32 years. Imagine the shock as I rounded the fateful corner to find the same gaping hole in the wall that my stupidity created.

Great video, Matt! Lovely Kadett. Opel did get the hatchback a la Chevette by the way, it was called the Kadett City. There was also a semi cabriolet called Kadett Aero 👍😃

Wonderful!!! The C-Kadett was available in all forms. The story of my youth, these good old Opels.

My mother had one almost exactly like this when I was born. It was a 1975 1200S, with a manual, and no headrests, I'm pretty sure. Exactly the same color and wheels, and hers also had no radio, but it had black pinstripes on the side. She got it new as a gift from two old unmarried aunts.

Completely GROOVY man! Datsun, Mazda and Toyota all made coupes like this. Completely gorgeous. Cars today = YUK!

My driving instructor in 1974 had this car's predecessor, a Kadett saloon which I remember as very utilitarian and dour but these were something else; so pretty. GM in those days had great styling departments around the world. Talking about specs, GM had always been incredibly mean in those days; only a few years before, bigger Vauxhalls came with bench front seats and 3 gears on the column spec and heaters were extra!

What an lovely car ! And a wonderful colour ! My grandpa drove a white kadett with a red vinyl interior. And when he past away my uncle drove it until the Opel gold took it out of service! My uncle kept driving Kadetts and later Astra’s until he sadly passed away much to young! Thanks Matt 👍🏻👍🏻🆙 like allways 🫶

It’s so nice to see an uncluttered engine compartment. One can easily work on their engine with no BS computers.

If I remember rightly the centre air vents did rotate to make aiming more precise. The real flyers were the 1.9L and 2.0L GT/E with fuel injected engines from the Manta. Great video of a smashing little car! Thanks.

Our Aussie version - the Holden Gemini - were all 1.6 litres and, like your Vauxhall / Opels, are now almost a species deceases. A mate’s mother had one in the ‘80s. It got rear-ended, flattening the boot to the back window. However, that mid-mounted fuel tank and coil sprung rear end meant was driveable, even though it got written off.

Opel also did the Kadett C as a hatchback which was called the Kadett City...I had,a Kadett City SR

I had a cream Opel Kadett estate 1978 and loved it …it had a very clever rear window wiper that had a pantograph type wiper fitted that cleared the rear window very well ,i toured all over Germany with the wife an 2 young children in it and it went fine until the rear exhaust box fell off during a tour of the Black Forest. Visited an Opel dealer in a small village and they fitted a new complete exhaust while I waited, the mechanic drove the car out of the garage once the exhaust was fitted I wondered where he was off to,when he returned he put the car back on the car lift and adjusted the exhaust to ensure it wasn’t knocking on the bodywork underneath then took it out again until he was happy with the fitting great service that you wouldn’t get today. Loved that car when I look at the photos I took of the car I get very nostalgic

Thanks for the upload. The Kadett C was my first car in 1980 and I managed to pick up a nice one in Holland last year, Same year and colour. The Opel Kadett had a different engine to the Vauxhall Chevette. Opel Engine was built in Germany and the Chevette was not. My understanding is the Opel engine had a 5 main bearing crank while the chevette had a 3 main bearing crank. I had my opel for four years in the 80's and drove the guts out of it and never had an issue. I'm delighted to have one back in my garage.

I had the coupe (P reg) with a 1.2S engine and auto gearbox. Sorry I sold it, lovely car to drive.

Hi. I had 2 saloons and 2 Coupe back in the day First car was GVY 231S, a 1977 car from York. In 1981 or 82? I paid £1550.. They were always a step up on the Vauxhall IMHO. Think most of mine were built in Spain but absolutely rock solidly built. The 1200 engine was amazing and the gearbox a world apart from the British version. So precise 🙂 Thank You for the memory. Andy

Definitely did a hatchback as it was my first car! Great memories of that motor- poking the gunge out the breather through the winter months...

Of course we had the hatchback version of the Kadett here in Germany. It was called the "Kadett City". AND we later had had the Chevette, too as a stopgap until the Corsa/Nova came out.

The air vents rotate and on the steering wheel there are 3 horn buttons. I had blaupunkt radio cassette in mine. What a great little car that brought back so many happy memories.

My Dad had one after his Chevette and preferred it. We went miles and miles in it and for a small car, it didn't hang about!

One of my Security Colleagues had a Kadet C, so seeing this one is nice to see still on the road. My sister had a Chevette when they came out, moving on from the VW Beetle.

A little quirk of a lot of the GM cars of the 70's & 80's and maybe even 90's it caught a lot of people out back in the day, in order to turn on the interior light when the doors were closed you had to pull out the light switch!! A lot did not know and always opened the door when they needed light inside the car.... lovely car that Kadett coupe in a nice colour!

Matt, great to see one of those. I have not seen one since I was a primary school and the headmaster had a bright orange one that was always immaculate

That OHV engine although driving the front wheels soldiered on into the 90s, fitted in base model Astra mk1 and 2s.

Nice. Last time I saw one of those was the night I was being driven in one as the windscreen exploded. Somewhat disconcerting when you suddenly lose all forward vision. That was around 1985 when the car was owned by a friend who kept it for a few years until the rust finished it off.

My dad had a kadett city hatchback mou806r sadly scrapped back in 2000 and his dad had an automatic vauxhall chevette hatchback cant rember the chevette's reg though. Good to see some survive

Here in Australia, my late wife and I had the Holden Gemini SL/E 4-door sedan version, with the 1600 cc Izuzu motor and the 5-speed manual gearbox, bought new in 1978. A great little car, unfortunately written-off in a 1984 smash.

Simple and elegant car! Lovely details as well. Great review Matt, enjoyed it.

Makes me miss mum's Manta A that I drove for a few years.... beautiful Rostyle wheels.

I had a Kadett C and I adored it. A delightful car to drive. Sadly I was pressured into getting rid of it :(

Cracking video Matt but the Kadett C was also offered as the three door hatch like the Vauxhall Chevette but from early on in 1973. The Aero cabriolet Kadett was the rarest of the lot, with just over 1,000 built.

The C Kadett was a top seller overhere in the Netherlands. Just like its predecessor the Kadett B. You saw them at virtually every street corner until the early nineties. But the coupe was much rarer.

Thats a throwback it was in saloon fiorm one of the few cars available on the new motability scheme in the late 70s

Almost 100K now! I admire your variation in videos. I know it's a long process but I'm soo looking forward to your w123 being MOT'd and driving

I loved the European cars I saw in '77, when I visited Europe just b4 I turned 16. The flush headlights made them look cool, and my first car, a US '86 Sentra had flush headlights like those I saw in my eight European trips between '77-'17. Today's cars look remarkably similar compared to those in the 60's to the late 80's. Our US cars especially. I found European cars to have many variations in appearance until about the early 90's. I have been a car buff all my life, I even have a substantial diecast car collection which includes the Opal Kadett C coupe. They are an investment, lol, in case I ever take 'em to antiques roadshow in 20 years or so, when I am in my 80's. The best car museum in the US is in Montana, I prefer it over Harrah's museum, because of the way the cars are arranged, by decade starting from 1890 to the present. I've owned many cars though none were of European origin. My favorites were our Toyota Highlander, which I gave to my wife when her Hyundai Elantra was totaled, and my Toyota Camry, best car I ever owned. The Camry was an '06 I believe, and it rode like a limo and I could get around 32 mpg on highway trips. I quit driving a few years' back--I live on a major bus route in Phoenix which connects to Light Rail and even to our airport. But I still love cars, and car videos like this one.

We had a similar versions sold in the USA called the Isuzu I-Mark & the Buick Opel by Isuzu (both a rebadged 1st generation Isuzu Gemini). All on the GM T-platform. Eventually Isuzu would hire Giugaro to modernize the classical styling and turn it into the Isuzu Piazza (Called impulse in USA) with a Turbocharged DOHC 2.0L I4 and Lotus-tuned suspension with passive 4-wheel-steering.

Imagine an auto kadett c and in a coupe that must be a rare option. A buddy of my big brother had a 2 door sedan 1.2 with a 4 speed i can remember with foot to the floor for a long time it reached 125km/h sure wasn't a race car but the perfect cruiser. A dream car of mine with a set of wide ATS Classics and slammed to the ground

Here in Brazil GM sold a pickup/ute version in the 1980s, it was called Chevrolet Chevy 500. The most common version was the 2 door saloon (Chevette) and the estate version (Marajó), and the rarest versions were the hatchback and the 4 door saloon. The coupe was never sold here.

I had the saloon (or "limousine") version in the same trim, which I thought was one of the prettiest cars on the roads, and more purposeful looking than the equivalent Chevette. As an avid fan or rallying in the '70s/'80s I fondly imagined that it looked like a miniature Ascona 400 - a car that was doing rather well at the time. Despite its sporty looks the 1.2 Kadett did feel a bit sluggish, but it cornered beautifully and was a joy to drove

I also had a 1979 4 door Holden Gemini. Great car for its day especially with RTS on the TD model.

Sapphire Blue. I have a 1978 Opel Manta B in the same colour.

The GTE variation was quite successful as a rally car in the 1970s , The DOT ( dealer Opel Team ) was run by Tony Fall, a British rally driver at the time. Don’t know if RHD versions of the GTE were imported into the UK though, usually in black/ gold paint scheme.

The steering wheel looks like it has blanking plates where the radio and cruse controls would go today 😎

Fuel Tanks- The BMC Farina cars both A55 (etc) and A99/A100 also had fuel tanks over the rear axle and predate the cars you talk about.

Another top video Matt. I do remember the Opel/Vauxhall badge engineering back in the day but I have to confess I do not remember seeing one of these cars but the style is right on point for the time. For that era I think my favourite UK GM model was the Firenza later model with the droop snoot style front. Many thanks for sharing.

My college room-mate had one in 78 when I lived in Hackney. I think it was his Mum's and he dreaded her asking for it back. A neat car and, me with my Austin 1300 envied it despite them being a similar colour and performance...the 1300 the boring Harvest, and the Coupe a pale caramel with a bit of dark brown vinyl somewhere around the roof.

Love it, i had one exactly the same (maybe it was a darker metallic blue) in the early 90's and apart from a small hole in each rear quarter above the wheels and a dodgy fourth gear it was in excellent condition, would be worth plenty these days, especially to the rally boys.

I had a friend in my last year of school who restored a kadet unsurprising he became a welder by trade...still had the kadett in the early 1990s and he had restored it a further 2 times in the previous 12 years....they loved to rust.

My sister owned a 1.6S and that one outruned my Ascona 2.0S.

If I remember - the Kadett had more engines than the Chevette, which just made do with the 1256 Viva and 2279 lump.

I bought a brand new vauxhall chevett estate in regatta blue in 1980 absolutely loved it ,well was my first new one 😊.

Opel did make a hatchback version as my parents had a 1979 one in a lovely orange/yellow colour.Believe is was SR spec and had the same wheels as the one in the video but all black cloth seats. It was the first car I got to drive after I passed my test and the first one I was pulled for speeding in (my dad was not amused!!!).

Bmc Farina (OxBridge etc) had a behind-seats fuel tank with a neat filler flap in the corner of the deck panel. I think that might be the earliest such installation in mass production but I’m probably very wrong.

What a lovely little car! Quite a ripper for a 1.2 litre auto - it's actually rather surprising in its spriteliness! Yep - we had them down here in New Zealand as the Holden Gemini and quite a few were in the 2-door coupe form. I've also seen some 2- and 4-door variants badged as an Isuzu Gemini. Very few exist of either here any longer also. At the same time as we had the Gemini, we also had the Vauxhall Chevette that you spoke of that used the same dash cluster as the Kadett in this video. Lovely little cars, although they had the same 1256cc engine found in the HB / HC Viva for their entire run. Mind you, this didn't stop people fitting an 1800 out of a Vauxhall Magnum or a 2.3 litre slant out of a CF Bedford van. I quite liked the Kadett / Gemini coupe for its styling and would love to find one in good condition.....although I would prefer a pre-facelift Manta B GT/E 2-door saloon. I had the opportunity to buy one of these back in 1994 and have kicked myself many times for not following my heart on that one. (I bought a 1980 Mitsubishi Sapporo GSR instead and although I loved the Mitzi, the Manta was something I knew I'd enjoy for a lot longer time.) Such a pretty little car, the Gemini coupe. Wish there were still many of them around as they were good to drive as well as to look at.

My father in law had three Opel Kadett back to back, and swore by them on there performance, and then bought a Lada when funds was tight, no comparison....

I bought one in 1991, it was a 1978 car and it was a fairly cheap car I think maybe 300 quid. It had a fair bit of rust along the bottom of doors which I thought I could repair, after trying to get back to good metal there was next to nothing left of the lower doors. I can’t even remember what I did with it, I bought a really nice MG Metro and literally lost interest in the Opel. My most vivid memory is of stopping for fuel in it once after I’d owned it a few weeks and suddenly the ignition key would not turn in the lock, I was literally stuck at a fuel pump. I had to break off the steering lock and start it with a screwdriver until I got a replacement from a breaker.

Always liked these fastback versions of the Opel Kadett. It's a shame you don't really get small coupes like these anymore, and i always preferred the looks of this to the Vauxhall Chevette.

I have a 2 door saloon s reg. Has the early c1 front rather than the c2 on this. The air vents do turn and I'm sure the uk didn't get a light up choke on any model. I've got one on mine and was a special order from Germany back in the late 80s/early 90s and was for a lhd cars which has a longer cable for the carb setup. Uk only got the 1.2 and 1.2s in the coupe and only had 4 speed. Early kadett c's didn't have vents that aimed towards the door windows. Sr models had the same cluster in the centre which the chevette hs/hsr had but takes up space where the tray is behind the gearstick. Coupes are fairly desirable now. Also features a spring/shock setup on the rear unlike ford's horse and cart rival which had leaf springs.

General Motors certainly should have offered this car in the N. American market. Instead, they developed the absolute disaster called "The Vega" or, Pontiac Astra , whose cast aluminum engines almost burned more engine oil than Petrol. My Dad rented a Vega when they were offered here in 1973 and managed to burn 2 quarts of oil in just over 500 miles with it. He was so impressed he wrote a letter of complaint to G.M. Thanks for the review Matt.

Always loved these. Probably only survived because it is an auto. The Chevette type Kadetts used to often be found as an auto as it was rare back then to find a small engined auto. Not sure if the coupe was ever available RHD with larger engines like they were in Europe. Very successful competition car both race and rally with the factory using them for both in their familiar white and yellow two tone paint. Still used today. A sporty coupe with a 1.6 engine would have sold well in the UK I think. Not much else similar on the market.

I had a 74 manta in 86 I’m sure I saw more of these about than mantas think I only saw 2 others besides mine

I would love one of these again but have to realise its mainly Mistress Nostalgia. Im kicking myself for giving away a golden yellow 1.2s saloon to a work colleague for next to nothing but I was moving on to Astra SRs and stuff. The reality is I couldn't have kept two cars going. Its the high prices that keep me away and it would be a sunday driver as I wouldnt give up the performance and mod cons of my current car

Very pretty car indeed, that coupe shape looks really good 🙂 Would need an engine swap though, and a manual box. 50-odd bhp & auto just won't do.

Mid 70s Aotearoa/NZ, my mum had a very smart bronze metallic Izuzu coupé - same body, rather more elegant and posh interior, and a 1700cc engine (I think?). Fun wee thing to throw around.

The 1.2l coupe must be the rarest of them all! Especially today when almost all of the C Coupes have been swapped to a 2l CIH or even the 4V DOHC engine.

Hi Matt really enjoyed your video.There is alovely yellow kadett coupe in a neighbouring garage in Kilcoole Ireland in excellent condition..Love those rostyle wheels- more durable than alloys may be?

T series in Australia was the Isuzu Gemini later to be the Holden Gemini which was available with a terrible diesel 😮

A guy i used to know had one of these kadetts and he put a 2 litre ford pinto engine in it and it was a beast.

Lovely example .. good review as always … Somerset VRO registered , maybe supplied by saltford motor services Keynsham

My sister had a '78 T Reg coupe exactly like that hers was in a bright Kermit the frog green. Can't remember what became of it but she ran it for many years into the mid 90s

North America had a ridiculous amount of T-Cars, and they remained in production here until 1987. In addition to the Opel Kadett itself (which sold very poorly here), they were sold here as the Chevrolet Chevette, the Pontiac T-1000 (or the Acadian in Canada), the Isuzu I-Mark, and curiously, the "Buick Opel (by Isuzu)". Isuzu even sold a variant called the Impulse, which looked NOTHING like any of the others as it was styled by Italdesign.

Lovely car i have one the same as this 1.2s auto , with 50,000 miles from new im getting ready to sell but i know i will probably regret it , im Suffolk uk

A weird situation here with Vauxhalls on sale in NI with Mph and Kph Speedos and Opels on sale in Éire with Kph only speedos. Importing from either direction meant a speedo change. Although Vauxhalls had the combined speedo the odometer was in miles. Thankfully doesn't apply to cars old enough to be tax exempt.

My dad had a B coupé for a short while and I drove a C saloon in Australia (Isuzu Gemini, with a bigger lump IIRC). No frills but did the job. What more do you want?

Used to have a Kadett C City back in the days. The center air vents can be rotated to point the air in the other direction. At least they could., I don't know if I would trust 50 year old plastic to take that well!

I'm thinking the garage in question is Saltford Motors on the A4 out of Bath, the only Opel dealer in the area. As with all GM dealerships it became a sole Vauxhall dealership in the late 80s and remains so today, sort of. It also sells other Stellantis brands Fiat/Jeep/Peugeot/Citroën.

It's just a Kadett C. I had about 20 of these. More than 10 CQP's among them. They were easy and cheap to get in the 90's. Only the recent years they are starting get really expensive. The Chevette was a hatchback because it was based on the Opel Kadett C City. In effect it only was nothing but an Opel Kadett C City that got dropsnooth front. But again I can understand the most unusual carcountry in Europe has difficulties in understanding/knowing cars that are just houshold-items over on the bigger side of the pond.

In Germany, they were called "Manta light" at the end of their life cycle. It was their death sentence - they were bought used by the usual suspects who wanted a Manta but only had used Kadett money, tried to get Manta performance out of them and did very little maintenance.

A car of my youth. 22 when this came out.. i never sat my bum in one but one of my mates had one . He thought it was the "Biz". Have you done a FSO prinz yet?😃

Lovely car , great review and drive, Best wishes.

Just chuck on a Holden badge and it will be perfect.

Brilliant review Matt of a lovely looking car.

Those dash vents would have rotated at one time to direct airflow with the open/close flippers. Something you could answer…was that 1.2 engine be related to the 1256 Engine….? 🤔

Lovely little car, so much nicer than the Chevette.

They call the Volkswagen Bug the World's car. But if you see how many versions were build of the Kadett C ond that platform, I dare to say maybe this one who diserve the name Worlds Car just a bit more.

Back when cars had character, Chevette 2300 was a beast.

“Hydromatic …. it’s grease lightning!”

these look good wide arches top car ,i sold my 1977 toyota celica 2 ltr GT 4 years ago for £5,700 they are going for 20 grand now ,i feel sick .

I wonder what sort of RPM its doing at 70mph with a 3 speed auto. Is that the 1.2L engine that was used in the Mark 1 Vauxhall Astra (first front wheel drive version) ?

The dash binnacle is very mark 1 Escort

Loved the styling of both the Kadett and Manta 👍

In Germany they have a real cult following similar to fast fords here😊

The Gemini in Oz did well in Rallies

I can almost smell the interior of that car!

These cars were common as in New Zealand in the1970 80s .

Fantastic proportions.

Pretty little car. I remember them well...

Holden Gemini in Australia. They are the crappiest Air vents I have ever seen.

Nice that Matt

9:09 beep! beep!