The Kadett was Opel’s way of cutting into sales of the VW Beetle back home in Germany, and in a few export markets as well. The Post-War Kadett range was introduced in 1960, and this is the second series, or “B” Model made between 1965 and 1973.
At the time, it was criticized for its rather slab-sided and utilitarian design. But that didn’t seem to detract the buyers, as the Kadett offered a lot more car for the money than the VW. You got a 1100cc water-cooled four cylinder engine with 45hp even in the lowest spec model, a lot more room on the inside, and a huge boot at the back. Plus - you had the choice of no less than eight different body styles.
The body style you see here is the “Kiemen Coupe” - the”gill coupe”, named after the gill-like air intake behind the rear side windows. For some reason, Opel initially offered different side window treatment for the higher spec “LS” Coupes. This went on until 1971, when only the upper spec window treatment remained.
This brings us to the “Rallye” model. The “Rallye Kadett” was offered only with the coupé body, which it combined with the twin carburettor “SR” version of the 1.1-litre engine (60hp) or the high-compression 1.9-litre engine (90hp). The Rallye Kadett came with twin halogen driving lights - it also came with matte black panels on the bonnet/hood (“to reduce reflection”) and black stripes along the side. Customers worried by the flamboyant look of all the black paint could order a Rallye Kadett without it, but very few Rallye Kadett buyers opted for the “understated” paintwork option.
The Kadett B was sold in the United States through a large number of selected Buick dealers until Autumn 1972, branded simply as the Opel in the 1970 and 71 model years. The mainstay of the US Kadett at this time was the coupe-bodied car: the four-door sedan was offered only sporadically, for the 1966/67 and 1971/72 model years. Roughly 430,000 Opel Kadett Bs were imported to the U.S.
The model you see here is a 1/43 by Gama. That brand was always a poorer cousin to the likes of Schuco - the quality was not quite there, and you can see it on this model too. The black stripe on the passenger side isn’t quite straight, the paint job is simple, the interior extremely simple. In the end though, Gama survived quite a bit longer than Schuco - until 1994. And they even bought the old Schuco tools and hired their tool-makers, so their later models are far better and more accurate than this one.
I hope you enjoyed this trip into the world of vintage Opels. And if not, too bad - there’s a lot more of these coming up. ;-)