OPEL MANTA B

General Motors’ Capri rival may not have been driven by Bodie and Doyle, but it’s an attractive, well-made, great handling car with motor sport history, an active club and good spares support

The Opel Manta and its badge-engineered cousin, the Vauxhall Cavalier Coupé, was sold in Britain from 1975 until 1988 and was partially styled in the UK – the British, more coupé-like hatchback body beat the German almost Scimitar-like proposal to production, for instance – but was never made here. All were built in Opel’s Antwerp factory, in Belgium, whichever badge they wore.

Well over half a million of both body shapes were produced, but the survival rate is poor. There are probably less than 2000 left in the UK, and, while this is partly due to competition use (the fabulous Manta 400 was a rallying legend), they also rusted even more than the four-door Ascona/Cavalier on which they were based, because the frameless doors leaked water into the cabins.

With such a long production life they were made in many variations and used two engine families, the CIH (or Cam-in-Head) and the Family II single-overheadcam 1.8-litre. The change to ‘B2 specification’ in 1982 was the biggest, both mechanically and visually thanks to the plastic front spoiler and sideskirts.

’There are a lot of modified Mantas out there, with the looks of a 400’

A good Manta is still a reliable and practical machine; the CIH engines are robust and the bodyshell structure is strong and easy to work on if not too badly corroded. There are a lot of seriously modified Mantas out there, with the looks of a Manta 400 and engine transplants using later 2.2- or 2.4-litre CIH units, GM Red-Top, Rover V8s, Omega V6 and occasionally the 3.0-litre straight-six CIH Monza unit, which makes them dangerously nose-heavy.