When lovers of driving culture on wheels meet at RETRO CLASSICS® in Stuttgart from 27 February to 2 March 2025, it will be to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Manta B from Opel. „Bochum, I come from you!“ – Opel Kadett B
Probably the most famous ray – the Opel Manta B
Its predecessor, the Manta A, introduced in 1970, already inspired the masses and awakened desires. The Corvette ‘Sting Ray’ presented by General Motors (GM) in 1962 was the namesake, and in general, the design studios of GM and Opel studied the anatomy and locomotion of marine animals in the 1960s in order to derive design features for new vehicle models. In August 1975, the Manta B made its debut. At that time, nobody could have guessed that it would remain in the Opel model programme for 13 years and thus become the longest-produced model in Opel’s model history. The Manta B was an elegant all-rounder that could comfortably take 5 people and their luggage on holiday, or (especially from the early 1980s) fight for victory on the world’s rally tracks, for example in 1984 (the ‘autumn’ of its career), when it achieved its greatest motorsport success: Winning the Paris-Dakar desert rally, where he took first place in the non-all-wheel-drive category and finished fourth overall behind three all-wheel-drive vehicles. Both during its ‘active’ time in the Opel model range and afterwards, the Manta B was a popular tuning object, from discreet to flashy, there was nothing that did not exist, from the convertible to the wide body in the ‘Testarossa look’ with gullwing doors, there were no limits to the individualisation of the all-rounder. The concept of tuning was and is inextricably linked with the Manta B. Together with its proud owners, Manta jokes and songs, it became a cult coupé: ‘Manta Manni’ with ‘mullet’ in mini-pli style, ‘mantalettes’ and obligatory hairdo, and in the evening there was a ‘Manta platter’ (currywurst with chips).
This was not to remain without consequences: in 1991, the Manta B entered the film stage, with first ‘Manta – the film’ and then ‘Manta Manta’ (starring Tina Ruland, Til Schweiger and Michael Kessler) being released in cinemas in quick succession, both of which thrilled the masses, because you couldn’t get any more zeitgeist than that!
Ascona B – the unequal brother with the rally genes
The Ascona B and Manta B debuted at the same time in 1975, and like their predecessors, which were also presented at the same time in 1970, they also shared almost 100% of the technology. That was almost the end of the similarities, as the Ascona B achieved the most motorsport successes, e.g. winning the 1979 European Rally Championship with the Kleint-Wanger team and the epoch-making victory in the form of the 1982 World Rally Drivers’ Championship, driven by none other than Walter Röhrl and Christian Geistdörfer in Ascona 400s, who impressively succeeded in triumphing over the Quattros with simple but extremely reliable material.
Tuning didn’t stop at the Ascona B, but it never reached the cult factor of the Manta B, so there could only be one top dog, which was the Ascona B off the track.
Celebrate with our jubilarians and see a cross-section of the life of the Manta B and Ascona B at the 24th RETRO CLASSICS® in Stuttgart, presented by the Alt-Opel-IG, the Irmscher company and collectors in Hall 7.
Further information: www.retro-classics.de
