Calling car #3

(Picture is two old friends, both of which left after my freshman year of high school.)

So, in this Blog I've given some details of the first and second car I owned, and as I just today stumbled across a couple grainy old disk camera pics of car #3, we'll share a few stories from that particular time in my youth:

Car # 2, the Datsun 610, had been involved it an accident and was a total loss. Luckily no one was hurt, but as I was still not even 15 yet the parents pretty thoroughly took away all driving prevailed for a while. Being the industrious student I was, though, I made it so hard for them to get me to and from various functions that they finally capitulated and let me get another car. Dad did, however, try a different track with this one, buying it himself so he could then sell it out from under me at any time he saw fit, just in case. I was fine with that, and car #3 was another Opel, which was good too.

unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, Dad had outsmarted me with his choice of autos. The old man had at one time run a fairly successfully import auto repair business, and he chose for me perhaps the best kid-car ever, a 1970 Opel Kadet sedan, homely as a car could be and powered by the tiniest of 1.1l, 52hp motors. Seriously folks, I can carry the motor under one arm, there's one in my shop right now I had to lift onto a shelf just last week. Top speed on this car was a mind numbing 73mph, with 4 miles and a hill to get it there. Now around town was another matter, with the tiny tires and 4.11 or so rear gears this car was a hoot around town, it just wasn't a great highway cruiser. I loved the car after getting past it's homeliness, and have owned another dozen or so of them since, maybe more.

That's not to say the car was all peaches and cream. Quite the contrary, I didn't know anything about Opels back then and there are a few quirks to them you really need to know:
-Quirk one: There is a handle under the dash to the right of the steering column. Push it towards the firewall to divert air through the heater core, bull it back to maximize air flow from the outside through the two center vents on the dash. If you don't know this you may try to drive the whole winter with no heater or defroster.
-Quirk two: Opels had aluminum taillight sockets. This doesn't seem to matter much, except that 30 year-old aluminum oxidizes and renders your lights inoperative. You can fix this by pulling the battery negative wire and inserting a battery terminal brush in every bulb socket on the car. 99% of the time the lights will all work after that. Add a little petroleum jelly or if you have it dielectric grease to make it last anther decade.
-Quirk three: Those pop-out side windows are held in by tabs glued on to the front edges, and the glue breaks loose if you don't have material conditions perfect when you glue them on. Find the front edge trim from a 66-67 Kadett, it actually has a channel to clamp the front of the glass and keep it from falling out at speed.

Drove the wheels off that particular car, until an unfortunate parking incident with someone who did a poor job of parking behind me and me not being able to see exactly where they were through the frosted-over glass. Then that Opel too left my life, never to be heard from again. Shame too, I'd buy it back in a minute, it was an excellent runner with a host of (unknown to me then) rare speed parts on that little motor.