Opel Manta

Opel Manta at a glance

The Manta is listed in our Opel catalogue. Opel's other long-running classic of the same era is described in our history of the Opel Kadett, and more cars of the period are collected in our classics section.

Development and production history

Opel presented the Manta in September 1970 at Timmendorfer Strand, as the coupé version of the new Ascona A. The name came from the Manta Ray, a 1961 General Motors concept car that also influenced the Chevrolet Corvette C3; Wikipedia DE credits designer George Gallion, inspired by Jacques Cousteau's film footage of manta rays. With its four round tail lights, the Manta A competed directly with the Ford Capri.

The second-generation Manta B followed in August 1975, after that year's factory holidays. Mechanically it was based on the redesigned Ascona B; visually it had a sloping "droop-snoot" nose. A three-door hatchback, the CC, joined the coupé in 1977. The 1982 facelift (often called the B2) introduced OHC four-cylinders from GM's Family II range, and from 1982 the car was built only in Antwerp, after Ascona B production had ended.

The Manta B stayed in production for 13 years. By 1988 its rear axle and CIH engines, whose designs went back to the 1960s, were outdated, even though the car had received a catalytic converter and a five-speed gearbox in its last years. The last Manta left the Antwerp line on 28 August 1988, and the Calibra, shown at the Frankfurt IAA in 1989, took its place.

Design and engineering

Both generations used Opel's conventional mid-size layout of the time: a front-mounted four-cylinder engine and rear-wheel drive. The Manta A shared its platform with the Ascona A and the Manta B with the Ascona B, so mechanical parts were common with the family saloons. Opel offered the cars in several trim levels. The Manta A was sold as the L, the Berlinetta and the sporty SR with wider wheels and black stripes. The last GT/Es of 1975 formed the black Black Magic edition with yellow-red stripes. The Manta B range included the GT/J, the CC Berlinetta and, from the mid-1980s, the top GSi Exclusiv.

Engine and drivetrain

The GT/E of the Manta A reached 188 km/h according to Opel. The fuel-injected 2.0 E with Bosch L-Jetronic powered the GT/E and later the GSi; in the US the Manta A was sold only with the 1.9-litre engine, detuned to 56 kW (75 hp) in 1973.

Opel Manta specifications

Variants and derivatives

The Manta 400 was presented at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1981 as the successor to the Ascona 400, the car in which Walter Röhrl won the 1982 drivers' world championship. Group B rules required at least 200 cars, and Opel built 245 by 1984. In Britain, Vauxhall sold the Manta B as the Cavalier Coupé and Sports Hatch, and a few of the 118 Vauxhall Centaur convertibles of 1978–1979 were built on Manta bodies.

In service: the Manta as a cult car

In the 1980s and 1990s the Manta B became a cult object in the German tuning scene. It also stood at the centre of a stereotype: the "Manta driver" with cowboy boots and Ruhr slang, mocked in jokes and in a song by Norbert & die Feiglinge. In 1991 two films, Manta, Manta and Manta – Der Film, portrayed the car and its owners, often ironically. A Manta B has competed in the Nürburgring 24 Hours since 1994; the 1981 car weighs about 930 kg and produces around 165 kW (225 PS). From March 2017 to January 2018 an original car was even shown at the Haus der Geschichte museum in Bonn.

Preservation and prices then and now

Period prices show how the Manta moved up-market. In 1972 a Manta A 1.2 cost DM 8,528 in Germany, and the GT/E about DM 12,500. In July 1976 the Manta B started at DM 11,560 (about €5,900 at the fixed DM rate). By 1986 the range ran from DM 20,725 for the GT 1.8 S to DM 24,550 for the GSi Exclusiv (about €10,600 to €12,600). Production figures help explain the collector interest in the rarer versions: only 245 Manta 400s, about 700 i200s and about 300 i240s were built. The comparison tool helps set a Manta against a Capri of the same era.

Photo gallery