OPEL WAS AHEAD OF THER TIME

[jimchitas]

Opel or vauxhall whenever you like were really ahead of their time even though opel is not really a "big" company with massive popularity in american countries but in europe was huge deal they produce some of the nicest cars we could get and they were affordable and pretty reliable a lot of people from my country greece they even use them for motosport especially rally they werent really the best tuning for high horsepower but its was cheap,
But the point of this thread its not that opel in 80s and 90s went crazy with those aerodynamic cars they hit so low drag coefficient numbers for their era and they produce cars with so low drag that some manufacters cant even reach now and a lot of that without using any fender skirts mod or something crazy , some examples

OPEL CALIBRA 8 VALVE VERSION CD=0.26 i still cant believe it the car was made at 1989
then we have opel omega with the first generation reaching cd= 0.28 in also early 90s this car was trying to compete with bmw and mercedes and it was actually a winner pretty luxurious, more affordable , easier to mantain and also rear wheel drive which made it to stand out from the other cars from opel they also try to compete with m models of bmw and a lot of sport cars so they absolety crash it with a car that was banned for the uk gonverment the 'lotus omega' they gave lotus their opel omega and lotus just made it crazy with a modifying the suspension and playing little bit with aeros to make downforce and twin turbocharge the opel 3.6l i6 the result was 377 hp a crazy number the car had crazy acceleration but even crazier top speed the downside criminals use it so the car production stop. it was a supercar beater little bit expensive but the car could outrun pretty much everything
Lastly was opel vecra b with drag coefficient of 0.27-0.28 it was pretty reliable and people still use and they should

really opel was ahead of their time what do you think ?

[jimchitas]

this link ruin my text ;( here is a photo from opel vecra b

[jimchitas]

opel omega a had 0.28
opel vectra b had 0.27
and lotus omega had 0.30
i cant edit the my first thread so sorry its so bad written because of a url

[aerohead]

GM had achieved Cd 0.089 in 1987 with Sunraycer, and Cd 0.137 in 1993 with EV1 at Ft. Stockton, Texas.
And R.G.S. White, at MIRA, had given the world Cd 0.245, in 1969.
I'm not knocking Cd 0.26, we're not that far below it today.

[jimchitas]

i agree but none of those only ev1 with some models come to production so there are the only cars that had so low cd from early 90s that came to production but there were not famous sadly

[freebeard]

Originally Posted by DDG

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Opel_Calibra
Opel Calibra - Wikipedia
When launched on 10 June 1989, the Calibra was the most aerodynamic production car in the world, with a drag coefficient (Cd) of 0.26. To reach the record Cd figure, the prototype Calibra had to be taken to the DNW wind tunnel in the Nederlands where models could be tested above a rolling road simulating real life airflow.

Not their first rodeo:


https://external-content.duckduckgo....c5f&ipo=images
Mercedes, Opel and Maybach. Not sure which one's which.

[jimchitas]

i seen them before but no one of them made in massive production only for rich families thats the sad part

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Not their first rodeo:


https://external-content.duckduckgo....c5f&ipo=images
Mercedes, Opel and Maybach. Not sure which one's which.

That was their downfall. Critics argued that they all looked alike, which was antithetical to the emerging 'Paris Dressmakers' ( Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. ) designed obsolescence and annual styling change, pioneered by DuPont-General Motors Corporation.
It explains all the US Naval submariner mutineers, mandating that the Pentagon hire new stylists for nuclear submarines, pilot protests, caused by look-alike commercial jetliners, and marine scout snipers complaining about the style of Barret's boat-tailed supersonic ammunition. Oh, the horror of it all!

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

I heard about some collectors bringing Calibras back from Brazil to Europe, yet here AFAIK only the 16-valve naturally-aspirated engine and FWD were brought by the local branch of GM.