There are countless movies about juvenile gangs – whether with James Dean, Marlon Brando or Matt Dillon. No one has ever filmed one about Heiko Lendle and the “Massemer”. Not yet. Because what a wonderful scene it would be: 30 “muscle cars”, all Opels, roar in front of the “Big Apple”, Wiesbaden’s legendary cult club of the eighties. And all of them have their rear jacked up. So high that every TÜV engineer would gasp at the sight. A level control, a pneumatic system on the rear axle, ensured this special tuning. It is actually intended for cars that are supposed to pull a caravan. “Whoever came up with the idea of installing something like this in our cars was a genius,” says Heiko Lendle with conviction.
Special feature: Jacked up rear axle
He, the man from Wiesbaden, was fully accepted by the boys from the Massenheim district of Hochheim. And in the 80s he was always right in the thick of things with his dark blue Opel Commodore GS/E. “It had 180 hp, which is still a lot today, but back then it was outrageous,” recalls the now 57-year-old. Because of the unique driving comfort that the jacked-up rear axle brought, everyone always wanted to sit in the back with him – “you only sat horizontally when I was chasing up the Bierstadter Höhe.” At the time, he was still a vocational student. He had bought his “Commo” with the first money he had earned playing records. And with T-shirts that he provided with Hessian wisdom, such as his father’s credo: “Never forget where you come from.”
“Outrageous 180 hp”: Heiko Lendle’s first Opel – a Commodore GS/E.
Because they know what they’re doing: With the Opel Admiral, Heiko Lendle (front right) and his boys cultivated the “American way of drive” on the streets of Hesse in the mid-1980s.
Expressive vehicle with style
Heiko Lendle later conquered fashion fairs with his “Vince Shirts”, his “Benziner Clubwear” was particularly in demand in the techno club scene. His shirts are now a Hessian cultural asset, just like their creator. Today, Heiko Lendle is also the managing director of an advertising agency, he sells the Äppelwoi brand “Holy Ebbler” and sells dispensing systems. You could call him “multi-entrepreneur” if that didn’t sound too lofty to his ears.
The man from Wiesbaden parted ways with his “Commi” when he began studying mechanical engineering. “I thought, I can’t come along with a sled like that.” But he soon saw himself taught better. “I was making good money off my tapes and my t-shirts, so why should I go to college? So I decided to continue doing my business.” And to get a new, expressive vehicle. But nothing ordinary, but one with style.
“Whoever came up with the idea of pneumatics – he was a genius.”
Take off: The pneumatic hydraulics on the rear axle ensure that the vehicle level is kept constant in different load conditions. Or for a big performance.
Lots of grill, lots of chrome: together with the Opel Kapitän and the Opel Diplomat, the Admiral formed the legendary Opel KAD trio, which launched an attack on the luxury class from 1964.
Heiko Lendle’s Opel Admiral
Year of construction: 1966Engine: 2.5 liter petrol engine (from a Commodore C)Power: 85 kw/115 hpMaximum speed: 165 km/hUnladen weight: 1,350 kilos Permitted total weight: 1,850 kilos
36 years ago, for example, Heiko Lendle bought an Opel Admiral A that was in dire need of restoration. Built in 1966, the vehicle was already 20 years old at the time, but wide and equipped with plenty of chrome trim. The Opel enthusiast rebuilt the stately car, fitted it with the 2.5 liter engine of a Commodore C and painted it mint green, the colors of his first company. And of course he also gave it level control again, so that the rear can go steeply at the push of a button. “When the police stopped me about it, I said I had just towed a caravan and forgot to put it down again,” he says. The officials didn’t really believe it, but they actually always let it go, remembers the man from Wiesbaden. Legendary times. Over the years, Heiko Lendle has started to slow down. Less party and less business, but more family. He remained loyal to the admiral – Lendle calls him “Addi” – even as a father of two daughters. And find out today. As a company car. Since 2020, the body has been adorned with the lettering of his current label “Bembel-Mafia”.
“Addi”, the reliable one
But he prefers to drive it privately, especially in the summer. “My best piece, next to my wife Susanne of course.” Incidentally, both are from the same year of manufacture, 1966 – so “an excellent vintage”. And neither of them have ever let him down, “although I’ve done a few crazy things.” In “Addi” he also married his Susanne in proper style. In all those years he had to put “no 2,000 euros” into the Opel, “Rüsselsheim quality work.” Recently, the gearbox was squeaking, nobody in the workshop really had a plan of what to do – “so I have the column shifter re-employed myself, after all, I’m a qualified machinist.”
“In all that time I haven’t put 2,000 euros in the car – Rüsselsheim quality work.”
Analog clarity: the dashboard with tape speedometer, round instruments and toggle switches.
Interior à la Lendle: the driver and front passenger sit on the bench seat of an Opel Kapitän.
By the way, he came across his “Commo” from the very early days again, about ten years after he sold it. “An acquaintance offered me a Commodore. When I looked at it, I noticed an inconspicuous bump that left no doubt: That was my old one.” His acquaintance wanted 200 marks for it, but Lendle waved it off. A mistake that still bothers him today: “I should have struck it, it was my dream car.” He recently met a companion in fate, Opel chief designer Niels Loeb: “He told me that years ago he designed this awesome Opel Speedster never bought one himself, and that he’s still extremely annoyed about it to this day – I could sympathize with him straight away.”
36 years of fun
Heiko Lendle won’t give up his “Addi” anymore. Even if – or precisely because – it is not as original as classic car purists would like it to be. Among other things, the entrepreneur has given him the solid bench seat of an Opel Kapitän. But it is “his” car: “No one can take my 36 years of fun away from me.” And above all not the many memories attached to it. Of the times with the “massemers”. How they moved through Wiesbaden. In boots. With a uniform haircut, shaved on the sides, mushroom on top and parting in the middle. In bomber jackets that they had previously cooked to fit tight enough to accentuate their then-immaculate figures, narrow at the bottom, wide at the top. And in the knowledge that “we can turn the world upside down.” It was and is an attitude to life that connects Heiko Lendle with his admiral. Or as the imprint on his T-shirt sums it up: “History can’t mer kaaafe.”
“I can’t kaaafe history.”
The brand itself: Heiko Lendle is an advertiser, T-shirt designer and winemaker. In Wiesbaden-Igstadt he runs the Lendle department store.
“Tradition paired with a bit of madness”: This is how he describes his business model – his rather unconventional company car underlines this philosophy.
July 2022
Text: Eric Scherer, photos: Alex Heimann