The Search

I have been looking for a fun car for a while now. Something I could customize, something different, something unique, something older. I’ve had hotrods and muscle cars before, but I am looking for some type of old sports car this time. Something I could host rallys and drives with thru Motor House and do autocross or track days with. Ideally I’d like a vintage 911, but the budget right now doesn’t fit that dream.

So what to get?

I’ve been around vintage racing and old car meets for years and have always liked the old Alphas, 914 Porsches, Chevy Vega, Corvair and Monza, Skyline, Mazda, Datsun Z & 510’s and the 2002 BMW’s of the 70’s. Which in various conditions could fit my current budget. So the look started.

What Car?

The first car I stumbled on was a Ford Capri. Not a Mercury Capri as I remembered them being named. But a Ford Capri. I later learned that the Mercury Capris were a bit later and looked more like a mustang.

This Capri was an old race car that raced in the NJ/ Philly area back in the day. I talked with the current owner for a while and got a lot of details on it and its history. All of which can be seen in the video below.

I thought this could be the perfect fit. Small, nimble, had some cool styling to it, with a lumpy cam in the 4 cylinder and it was already a race car that could easily be streetable. But after going thru it, the seller wanted to keep it the way it is and I would like to put my stamp on something. But if he keeps it I’d like to do a story on it as he gets it back out there.  On to the next one.

Well, the next one turned into a bunch.

I looked at a ton of 914’s. I love how low they sit and how well they handle. Also love the design of them. But they were either out of my budget for a decent one or rusted to the point I knew I wouldn’t have time to fix a rusted basket case.  So onward, but still on the list.

Next I looked into the 2002 BMW’s. I think I looked at 4 of them? The first one was being sold by a Guy for his Dad. It was decent, but had the usual soft floor by the feet, rotted quarters and the seats were pretty busted. But cool as heck.

The other 2002’s weren’t much better. One left me stranded on the test drive and the others just had too much rust for the time I have available. But also very cool cars.  I haven’t found a decent 2002 without a bunch of rust. Well, within my budget that is.

I expanded my search and started to research old vintage race cars from back in the day. The Trans Am series, showroom stock classes from the SCCA racing, Rally and the current vintage classes. I discover that they called some of these cars Super Coupes. Small and nimble, which were a departure from the heavier muscle car era.

I found a few cars that I hadn’t heard much of in my youth that I thought were interesting. The Toyota Celica and Opels were different but I wasnt crazy on their look. Until I saw the fist gen Celica and the Opel Manta. The first gen Celicas are gorgeous, but turns out they are very expensive. I knew the Opel GT’s but I didnt think Id fit in one and Ive seen plenty of them around here. But the Manta, they were different. They could be a good candidate. I don’t remember seeing them growing up, but figured Id put them on the list.

I joined a few Opel groups and started peeping in on what people are doing with them. Outside of a couple bad ass Manta drag cars and a few custom ones, people seem to want to keep them stock. Although they had a great heritage of sports car racing with tales of them keeping up with the corvettes in their classes.

One day I was on one of the groups asking questions about what engine and suspension combinations people were using or had seen installed on these cars.  And if anyone had seen any for sale. A few hours went by and I got a message saying  “I have one that I might be selling, would you want to take a look at it?” Turns out the Guy lives 15 mins from me. So we set up a time and I was off to look at my first Manta A!

The first thing I noticed when I came around the corner was how clean this car was and how small it looked. I know the Opel GT’s are small and this thing was pretty close to that size.

But, the styling on this was really different. Really cool. Kind of similar to the Celica and Capris I had looked into and loved. I absolutely love the front end and grill on it. The round taillights are really cool too, maybe a bit like a Ferrari tail light setup. The body shape is beautiful as well. A bit of a pointy shark nose up front, with great hips and bit of a swoop at the trunk, almost fastback like.

The owner had loved Opels since an early age, which started with an Opel emblem his Father gave him. With that love came a ton of knowledge about them. He already had a GT in his garage and was debating on letting this one go.

He had done a few changes to the stock look. Newer seats, different wheels and the main one being losing the clunky square bumpers. Replacing them with these custom near bars and adding the rally lights. Leaning into the Manta’s rally history.

Surprisingly for a NJ car there was no rust that I could find. The only thing was a small patch under the battery tray. Which seems to be pretty common across various car manufactures of the day. The old unsealed lead acid batteries puked acid around them and took out things in the path.

It started right up, idled a bit rough, but was very drivable right out of the gate. This was the only car so far that drove this well. It tracked straight, had a bit of pep, but the brakes were scary bad. It had a good pedal but zero stopping power.

Did I just find my car? I told him Id get back to him because I had heard that parts were only supplied by a few small places and nobody made custom anything for them. Unlike Z’s, 2002’s and 914’s that have a robust aftermarket parts supply. So I kept looking, but I could not find anything that had as little rust as this Manta A.

A few months went by and the Guy reached out to see if I was still interested. He was thinking of listing it if I wasnt interested. But the car was calling to me. Its sporty, they have a great racing heritage, I didnt have to do a ton of body repair and there aren’t many around. So it would make for a unique car for Motor House. And it fit into my budget, so I pulled the trigger. The 1975 Opel Manta A was now mine!

The Opel Manta comes home

Driving this thing home made it clear that this was going to be a fun car. It has been awhile since Ive zipped around in a spirited, good handling car. Well besides my Camera Car, which is a good work fun. It’s just not the kind of car you can go take a drive in or beat it up on a track somewhere. But the Manta sure seems to have promise to be that car.

One of the first thing I noticed driving it is how many people give me the thumbs up or ask me what it is. It seems I am not the only one who hasn’t seen one before.

One of the other things I noticed is how much work it needs. Like I mentioned the brakes are scary bad. Like, planning your braking ahead of time bad. I also noticed that it might need upper control arm bushings when I panic stopped at my local Wawa store when someone pulled out in front of me. I felt a bang and noticed things moving around in the front end.

It also has decided that the starter only works sometimes. So I’ve learned to jump it with a screw driver. Plus there is a wicked parasitic draw somewhere draining the battery. So when I park it for the night, I have to pull the negative terminal off.

There is also a massive amount of exhaust and gas fumes getting into the cabin. I am guessing it is coming from the holes left behind from the previous owner swapping the old cumbersome bumpers off and replacing them with the nerf bars.

Its a great start for a project car, but there are a lot of things Id like to improve on it.

Updating the Manta to today’s standard.

So where do I take the look and performance of this car?

While it needs a few things to make it safe and reliable. Do I replace them with stock parts and have fun with it for awhile or do I just replace them with parts that bring it into this century.

Ideally I’d like to turn it into a restomod-ish kind of  design with a modern engine and manual trans setup. With the styling cues of today’s performance cars and race cars, but not lose the design esthetics of what makes this car good looking from the factory.

And then there are the purists who want me to keep it stock. Or maybe make it a tribute car to its racing heritage. Id like to do a mashup of all that. Something along the lines of the reference below.

The Look

I love low and wide cars. So I know it has to have some type of fender flares on it and a bit of aero. And it has to have a better stance.

The Manta A race cars of the day had flares on them for the wider tires, but I’m not crazy about the standard flares avail for them. I think they’re cool, but Id like to get or make something that fits with the lines of the body better. Possibly go with the current style of flares out there, but maybe not do the screw on type. Make some out of metal possibly?

The reference below shows a variety of looks from just beyond stock, to vintage race car FX, to the current style of flares.

I love the chin front spoiler thats available for them. But maybe I take it to the next level a bit, but not to the time attack level.

And a rear spoiler would be cool too. No idea whats out there for them yet.

Id love to lose the aftermarket sunroof too. Im tall and the rubber on it is not ideal for headroom. Plus they tend to leak. So that will eventually have a metal piece welded in. But to do that correctly Id need to have that painted.
Speaking of paint, do I keep the orange color? Do I keep the patinaed paint and not worry about keeping it pristine? Or wrap it with a Motor House livery? Or eventually have it painted. The factory green paint is pretty cool. I think the patina stays for a bit so I can enjoy it, versus always having a project car in the garage.

Performance

To what level do I take the performance of this car?

Do I keep it stock or to its racing specs of yesteryear? Keep this 4 cylinder and eke out everything I can get out of it? From what Ive been told you can get quite a bit of power out of one of these.

I do know that I want it to have a manual trans in it. Currently is an automatic 3 speed. Yes I said 3 speed. These engines apparently make their 75 HP at higher rpm. So the 3 speed helps with that. But man, it needs more gears. 5 to 6 would be ideal.

Engine wise, do I drop an LS in it, as they have a very large engine bay. Apparently an LS fits quite well without any mods to the firewall and the like. The only negative I’ve heard is the weight of the LS will change the handling characteristics of the car. So I would have to figure out the changes to the suspension from a car that has decent 50/50 weight distribution as it is.

Or what if I stayed in the 4 cylinder world and went with something modern with a reliable fuel injection and readily available performance mods?

The Opels were made in Germany, but sold here in the US under GM’s Buick line. So do I put a current 4 cylinder GM motor in it or go with something German? Anyone at GM reading this? I hear you all have a performance 4 cylinder out there.

Suspension. I have been told many times that the Opels had a great handling suspension in them. They held their own on the track with very little mods.
The only problem I see with that is Id like it to have a better stance and adjustable coil over shock type of set up. Something I can tweak for the track and street.

But from my understanding they don’t make a coil over shock for this car. Or at least I am currently unaware of anything other than stock shocks. What I have been told to do is cut a coil off to lower it. But that changes the spring rate and may not be the best option for ride and handling.

Community Ideas

Im leaning towards what MST is doing with their new Escort models, Paul Lefevre with his carbon BMW 2002’s and Totem Automobili with their new /vintage Alpha. But on a really tiny budget.

So what to do? I have some ideas but have a lot of pieces not figured out in the build puzzle.

I’d love to hear any ideas on which way to go with the powertrain and suspension upgrades. I have to watch my budget on all this, but I am open to ideas and would love to hear what may work.

And Id like to see what people think I could do with the body and paint on it.

If you’ve gotten this far, thanks for reading all this. You can send your comments and ideas to me via this link. mailto:info@motorhousemedia.com

I cant wait to getting to work on my Opel Manta A Project. Thanks!