What – another classic meeting? Especially in early summer, automotive nostalgics are lured to trips and meetings, how should another offer meet with interest? Or? Irene and Holger Fuchs weren’t so sure. But the central thinkers and leaders of the “Ascona Team Kaiserslautern”, founded in 2022, couldn’t get the idea out of their heads to set up their own meeting for their personal Opel Classic pearl: the Ascona.
For the couple, its B version in particular represents the zeitgeist of the seventies and eighties like no other. Around 1980 it was even the best-selling Opel of all time. That should be reason enough. A lot of approval and encouraging words also came from the networks in which the Fuchs family is active. And anyway, trying is about studying.
Get on board: The seat covers with the Opel logo were available for the Ascona, Manta and Kadett.
“Sport” lettering and Irmscher spoiler: These are the details that make the hearts of Ascona fans beat faster.
“This one year of preparation was really worth it.”
– Organizer Holger Fuchs –
The Fuchs’sche Ascona is also a reminiscence of the Lautrer Opel history. The 81 kW/110 hp unit comes from the so-called “Family II” – the engine series that was manufactured in 1980 and 1981 in the Palatinate.
On Corpus Christi day the time had come. The result: A total of 202 classic automobiles were presented in the parking lot at the Kaiserslautern plant. The raffle, for which tickets were sold on the sidelines of the event, documents just how successfully the debut was accepted: 1,000 went away and not a slouch was among them. There were fuel vouchers, vouchers for oil changes and vehicle accessories to be won. A complete set of rims donated by the “Pfalzräder” company was auctioned off. The total proceeds of 800 euros will be donated to the outpatient children’s and young people’s hospice service ” Rückenwind ” in Kaiserslautern.
What a first
“This one year of preparation was really worth it,” says Holger Fuchs, who works as a column leader in shipping at the Kaiserslautern plant. The core team of the Ascona team consists of just seven people, so the work had to be carefully distributed over the few shoulders. Publicizing the event was comparatively easy. “We did print a few flyers, but the greatest reach is achieved on social networks,” says Fuchs. “You just have to post something and then it’s shared, shared, shared.” And the response was huge.
Shiny paintwork, plenty of sunshine: 202 classic cars gathered in the car park at the Lauter factory. The flash models were clearly in the majority.
The trickiest part of the preparations, finding a large area that was easy to drive to, turned out to be quite easy. Because his employer Opel provided Holger Fuchs with the parking space in front of the Lauter plant as well as electricity, water and waste disposal – free of charge. “Anja Buhles from Internal Communications organized everything for us – a heartfelt thank you for that.” And the thanks come not only from the organizers, but also from the exhibitors.
Public premiere of a power pack
Daniela Gehrke, for example, drove up with her daughter Chiara in a turquoise Opel Ascona, built in 1981. The model not only looks good, but is also a real powerhouse with its 2.4 liter 190 hp unit. She bought the beautiful 2020 model just before Corona took the world in a stranglehold. “For the maiden voyage, I rolled the 650 kilometers from Bremen to the Palatinate, which the 42-year-old Opel coped with absolutely flawlessly.” Now she was finally able to present it to a large audience.
Justifiably proud: Daniela Gehrke and her Ascona powerhouse.
The turquoise of the paintwork is continued in the interior in the fittings.
Stylish: spoked wheels in silver and gold.
Mom and her two darlings: daughter Chiara is also enthusiastic about her mother’s Power Ascona.
“The Ascona is absolutely reliable – after all, it’s 42 years old.”
– Ascona owner Daniela Gehrke –
However, there was not only Ascona to see. The team deliberately invited to a “brand-open” meeting – “whereby it was clear to us that it would be Opel-heavy, given the way we are networked,” says Fuchs. The vehicles should only be more than 25 years old, “otherwise they wouldn’t be youngtimers at all.” Since the Ascona rolled off the assembly line by 1988, the models naturally met this requirement. The friendly Opel Club Kraichtal, the Opel Club Ludwigsburg and the Kadett C Club Kaiserslautern were also there.
Captain felt young enough
Most of the models were even allowed to call themselves vintage cars because they are already over 30 years old. Even an Opel captain, built in 1951, rolled across the Opel car park in the late morning, he just felt young enough for this parade. Another rarity was an Olympia Rekord P1 from the late 1950s. It fitted in that there were a few special models called “Ascona” in Switzerland at the time. Among the few foreign brands, a Studebaker, built in 1946, brought Hollywood glamor to the West Palatinate.
Didn’t feel foreign at all: Alexander Puff came to the open-brand meeting with his Kadett C.
As popular as ever with sporty classic fans: the suspender belts from Schroth.
“I never got rid of the Opel brand.”
– Kadett C owner Alexander Puff –
Black and yellow is also under the bonnet.
Exhibitors and visitors were in high spirits.
Of course, the birth child of the year couldn’t be left out either: the C-Kadett is celebrating its 50th birthday this year. Alexander Puff presented the model in its most prominent version: as a black and yellow two-liter coupe. Of course, he was also present at the big Kadett C meeting a few weeks ago, when 340 exhibitors celebrated the milestone birthday of the 70s icon in Kaiserslautern.
It was a point of honor for Alexander Puff to drop by again for the premiere dedicated to the Ascona, after all he is also part of the core of the Ascona team, even if his passion is for the Kadett: “I never got away from the brand, not even when I used to work for other automobile company was working.” With such fellow campaigners, not much could have gone wrong at this successful premiere.
June 2023
Text: Eric Scherer, photos: Alex Heimann