1966 Opel Kadett Model 32 fastback. My Dad bought it not running, but I got it running again.
I was seven years old.
That's not a typo- I did say SEVEN years old. In early 1975. Basically, I was very interested in cars- to the extent that I wanted to take apart any car I could get my hands on. Dad gave me this car, and told me I could tinker with it in any way I wanted- but in exchange, I was not to meddle around with any of the OTHER cars we had.
I wound up partially rebuilding the carburetor, cleaning the points, draining the old gas out, putting in some new gas and a replacement fuel filter- and it actually started up and drove. I got the engine running basically by myself- but Dad helped me rebuild the brakes, afterward.
We later determined that the engine burned too much oil- and we wound up swapping one into it, that was in better condition.
Here's one that looks quite a lot like it- same color, and I even did the blacked-out hood panels. Mine wound up with silver Rallye wheels from a later model Opel.

It had the standard 60hp 1.1 liter engine, with four-speed manual transmission.
I soon swapped it with my Dad, for a similar 1967 Kadett, which had a sunroof... and we wound up giving the 1966 to my cousin. Unfortunately, he was too much of a "dope head" to take care of it properly- and, in fact, he wound up abandoning it in a field not far from our house. We found it- we brought it home, and kept it for a number of years afterward. Eventually, it just got too rusty to be worth fixing again, and wound up going to scrap in the late 1980s.
Regards,
Gordon.
I was seven years old.
That's not a typo- I did say SEVEN years old. In early 1975. Basically, I was very interested in cars- to the extent that I wanted to take apart any car I could get my hands on. Dad gave me this car, and told me I could tinker with it in any way I wanted- but in exchange, I was not to meddle around with any of the OTHER cars we had.
I wound up partially rebuilding the carburetor, cleaning the points, draining the old gas out, putting in some new gas and a replacement fuel filter- and it actually started up and drove. I got the engine running basically by myself- but Dad helped me rebuild the brakes, afterward.
We later determined that the engine burned too much oil- and we wound up swapping one into it, that was in better condition.
Here's one that looks quite a lot like it- same color, and I even did the blacked-out hood panels. Mine wound up with silver Rallye wheels from a later model Opel.

It had the standard 60hp 1.1 liter engine, with four-speed manual transmission.
I soon swapped it with my Dad, for a similar 1967 Kadett, which had a sunroof... and we wound up giving the 1966 to my cousin. Unfortunately, he was too much of a "dope head" to take care of it properly- and, in fact, he wound up abandoning it in a field not far from our house. We found it- we brought it home, and kept it for a number of years afterward. Eventually, it just got too rusty to be worth fixing again, and wound up going to scrap in the late 1980s.
Regards,
Gordon.
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