The next few months will show whether the new Opel Astra will succeed in shaking the throne of the VW Golf as king of the compacts. In any case, the Astra carries the genes of a people’s car, as it embodies the modern successor to the legendary Opel Kadett. In 1972, this sales champion contributed to Opel overtaking VW in the German registration ranking for the first time, just in time for the tenth anniversary of the model series. Halt, historians will object, the Kadett has been around since 1936. True, but the production facilities for this bestseller had to start up after the war to be delivered to the Soviet Union, and Opel began a new way of counting with the new Kadett “A” design launched in 1962 and geared towards the VW Beetle, also from a new plant in Bochum.
This volume model, which is 3.92 meters long and 1.47 meters wide, redefined the small car segment 60 years ago – that’s what the compact cars were called back then – and made all rear-engine designs from VW, Renault, Fiat, NSU or Simca suddenly look old.
The efficient and spacious front-engined Kadett A pushed the assembly lines at the Bochum plant to capacity, and even in the American home of General Motors, the parent company of Opel at the time, the Kadett family of sedans, coupés and station wagons, contoured with clear trapezoidal lines, achieved respectable success.
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A solid foundation on which the following Kadett generations built and thus outclassed the Beetle for a short time. Suddenly Bochum was the Wolfsburg of the Ruhr area and a new center of the small car world.
Bochum and the Kadett are long history, and the new Astra comes from Rüsselsheim. But even today, some people call their newly acquired compact Opel “Kadett” instead of Astra – that’s how firmly the brand with the lightning bolt was able to anchor the model name Kadett in everyday language.
Promoted confidently
The Opels Kadett A was marketed as young and modern.
Also popular as a coupe
In September 1963, the Kadett Coupé premiered at the IAA in Frankfurt.
A success story that was cleverly created in 1962 with the Kadett (A) – the word actually means a naval officer candidate. “Young man from a good family” with the most modern car factory in the world as his “birthplace”: the Opel advertisement captured the zeitgeist perfectly, the Kadett was called a “friend”, “with whom you are on familiar terms and with you through thick and go thin”.
The car as a new member of the family, this association struck a chord with people who, despite the economic miracle, had saved up for a compact vehicle for years. Even the workers who assembled the entry-level model for Opel’s German range on the assembly line initially mostly rode their bicycles to the factory gate.
Proud savings kings were only too happy to follow the page-long request in the Opel operating manual to “make the loving care of your Kadett a real hobby and the car a business card.” Friend” proudly displayed to the neighbors like a child.
Especially, of course, when the Kadett is shampooed and rinsed with expensive but trendy white wall tyres, fine “L” trim, as an elegant coupé or even as a chrome-decorated station wagon with three rows of seats and a wheelbase of just 2.33 meters for the baby boomer generation , dried and polished. Every care detail was explained in minute detail in the Kadett handbook.
In fact, it was the variety of models with which the small Opels set standards in the compact segment, after all there was also the “Caravan Combi” delivery van. Not only that, the Kadett A Caravan was also one of the first compact station wagons and, together with the larger Rekord Caravan, was so successful that in the mid-1960s every second station wagon sold in Germany was an Opel. This despite competition from the Ford Taunus tournament and VW Variant. All harbingers of a new era, which then produced a veritable flood of 14 body variants for the Kadett “B”.
Space for the whole family
Despite a wheelbase of just 2.33 meters, the Kadett Caravan could be ordered with three rows of seats.
race car
At the Monte Carlo Rally, an Opel Kadett secured third place in the GT class in 1963.
The world was changing in 1962 and Opel reflected this. The year the Beatles were rejected by record producer Decca because guitar groups were going out of fashion, when Sam Walton opened the nationwide Wal-Mart supermarket chain in the US, discounters Aldi had split Germany into north and south, and GM decided to build a small Selling Opel (Kadett) in the future via Buick dealers in the land of road cruisers and setting up Kadett license productions on all continents, that year marked the beginning of a new era for the German GM branch.
“Fanfare in the direction of Wolfsburg!” was the fattest headline about the Kadett A, which even overshadowed the Taunus 12 M, which was also launched in 1962. After all, the Opel employees had managed a coup that not even Elon Musk could repeat today with the Tesla factory in Brandenburg.
On directives from the GM headquarters in Detroit, Opel secretly developed a designated Beetle killer from 1957 for which a new plant was built from the ground up and put into operation in just over 20 months from 1960. This little Opel was supposed to be “young and full of energy”, as advertised at the market launch. And at the same time honor the then impeccable reputation of high reliability of all Opel models. “Opel Kadett – in short, OK” was the self-confident motto of an advertising campaign for the market launch.
After all, Opel had covered more than 1.5 million test kilometers with 30 prototypes on proving grounds near Rüsselsheim and Milford (Michigan, USA), but also in the Arctic Circle.
economic miracle car
The Kadett quickly rises to the Volks-Wagen. According to Opel, every tenth newly registered car in Germany in 1964 was a Kadett.
Absolutely okay
“Opel Kadett – in short, OK” was the motto of an advertising campaign for the market launch.
The Kadett A was also able to unleash adrenalin-packed emotions – suddenly in demand even among fathers. The 1.0-liter four-cylinder engine with 29 kW/40 hp or later optionally 35 kW/48 hp accelerated the Kadett, which weighed just 670 kilograms, to almost sporty driving performance at the time, which was hardly inferior to that of the big Rekord and which could be compared with dynamic engines such as Renault Dauphine Gordini or Glas 1004 could measure.
The combination of the Kadett power plant with a likewise new, fully synchronized four-speed transmission with sporty stick shifting was perfect for this. At the Monte Carlo Rally, an Opel Kadett A secured third place in the GT class, and at the Tour d’Europe long-distance rally, Opel Kadett reliably drove at the front from 1963 to 1967. All building blocks that polished the image of the cheapest Opel.
With great fanfare and a ceremony in Bochum, Opel celebrated the production of the 500,000th Kadett A in January 1965. Half a million competitors for the Beetle, which was already preparing for its ten million anniversary at the time: VW boss Heinrich Nordhoff probably elicited this just a smile.
But the Kadett’s heyday was yet to come, as already mentioned, because in the fall of 1965 the next generation was already driving into the limelight. The only tragedy is that the Kadett A, with which it all began in 1962, was sidelined so quickly. Used up and scrapped like most mass vehicles, there are hardly any survivors on their 60th birthday.
timeline
1936: With the first Kadett, Opel presents a groundbreaking modern small car. There are two- and four-door sedans and a two-door convertible sedan as body versions
1940: War-related production stop for the Kadett
1946: The production facilities for the Kadett are dismantled and delivered to the USSR as reparations. The Kadett was revived a year later with the Soviet model Moskvitch 400
1957: Opel chief designer Karl Stief receives the order to develop a compact Opel, which is planned as a competitor to the Volkswagen Beetle
1960: On May 20, Opel announces the construction of a new plant for the Kadett on a former colliery site in Bochum. Construction work begins in September
1962: After less than two years of construction at the Opel site in Bochum, production of the Kadett A starts. This is an early example of lightweight construction, with a curb weight of just 670 kilograms. The press launch will take place on August 20th. In the course of its product cycle, the Kadett A is available in the body styles of a two-door sedan, a three-door station wagon “Caravan”, a coupé and a delivery van “Caravan Combi”. Licensed productions for the Kadett A are set up in Belgium, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ireland, Portugal, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa, Uruguay and Venezuela
1963: After just nine months, the 100,000th Kadett rolls off the assembly line and the plant reports full capacity with daily production of almost 1,000 units (960 units were originally planned as a maximum). At the Monte Carlo Rally, an Opel Kadett secures third place in the GT class. From 1963 to 1967, the Opel Kadett took first place in the Tour d’Europe long-distance rally. In March, the Kadett L with more luxurious appointments and the Kadett Caravan made their debut at the Geneva Motor Show. The premiere of the Kadett Coupé follows at the IAA in Frankfurt in September. An 8 hp more powerful engine will initially be offered exclusively in the coupe. There is a third row of seats for the Kadett Caravan, this so-called children’s bench is mounted against the direction of travel. In October, the coachbuilder Welsch & Sohn, Mayen, presented a Kadett Cabriolet, of which a total of around 12 units were produced
1964: According to Opel, every tenth newly registered car in Germany is a Kadett. The Kadett L will be upgraded in February with the front design of the Kadett Coupé. A Spider based on a Kadett makes its debut as a study at Italsuisse Frua at the Geneva Motor Show. From February 1964 to September 1965, the Kadett A was exported to the USA and sold there by over 500 Buick dealers. The Formula 3 car Merkel “Panther 3” uses a Kadett engine. In that year, Opel was able to deliver 274,370 Kadett
1965: On January 12, the 500,000th Kadett A rolls off the assembly line in Bochum. From January, the Kadett Caravan and Saloon will also be available with a 48 hp engine. A second Italsuisse Frua Spider prototype, commissioned by Opel, is presented at the Geneva Motor Show. Carrozzeria Vignale is also presenting a Spider study in Geneva, which will later be converted into a coupe and make its debut at the Turin Motor Show in November. Class victories in the Tulip Rally in Holland and the International DMV Eifel Rally. Introduction of the Kadett B in September, which becomes the first Kadett to become a production millionaire
1972: Opel overtakes Volkswagen in German registration statistics thanks to the successful Kadett B
1991: In August, the first generation of the Opel Astra is presented as the successor to the Kadett E
2022: Opel celebrates the market launch of a new Astra generation, fitting perfectly to the 60th anniversary of the predecessor Kadett A
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