![]() Something had to be done, which for Opel meant giving the pen to George Gallion, an American designer, and asking him to draw a larger coupé with the Kadett as basis. This worked since not only the family but also their luggage was for some reason far smaller than today, and Ford had brought the slick and very successful Capri coupé in 1966 which Opel couldn’t compete with as their only coupé at the time, the Kadett, was too small to fit the bill. Family coupés were very popular at this time not only in Germany, considered a sportier way to drive around your family, typically consisting of your wife, two children and their luggage, than a more traditional sedan or station wagon. The German auto scene was competitive in the booming 60’s with Opel in the running notably against Ford, as both brands shared the focus on building reasonably-priced cars for the German middle class. The message was clear: driving a Manta was far cooler than driving any other Opel! Unless you’re a die hard Opel fan, that’s however where all similarities with any of the above animal cars end…Īs cool as it gets – if you’re an Opel fan Very much in line wth the times, Opel thus opted to name its new coupé Manta, and all Mantas had a badge with the shadow of a manta fish on the left front wing. You may ask yourself why on earth an auto-maker would name a car after a fish, but remember that animals in general were popular in the 60’s, as shown notably by the Ford Mustang, and fish more particularly so, with both the Corvette Stingray and the Plymouth Barracuda. Starting with the name, a Manta (or manta ray as it’s also known) is the largest ray fish in the world. Enough said – this week we’ll have a closer look at the Manta but even more, at the cult and culture that has developed around it every since, and lives on to this day! I have a distinct feeling that this is the only time Opel will be featured on this blog, but the legendary Opel Manta shows that even brands that don’t get it right very often sometimes do, at least in creating a true legend. Actually you may still be scratching your head, since the car we’ll talk about this week is an Opel, GM’s European brand not known for exciting cars in any way and not very well known outside of Europe (although the Manta was actually one very few Opel models that were sold in the US). ![]() If I then tell you it’s a piece of German modern culture, and yet forgotten in the rest of the world, you would be scratching your head if you hadn’t seen the picture in the banner. But if I tell you it’s a car that every single German born somewhere between 19 will have a story or memory of, or rather, several stories and memories, that already narrows the selection quite a bit. Fans of bad movies and undiscerning rev-heads will be glad to have spent 87 minutes of their time with Bertie and his loser friends.The car we’ll look at today comes from Germany, which is obviously not very remarkable. I am fully aware that "Manta, Manta" is utter crap but that has never stopped me from enjoying it. In addition to the chance of watching a young and clueless Til, the movie also offers some great car chases and some of the worst fashion ever captured on film. It's amazing to see how far Til has come since this trash - well, with the exception of "Driven", which is really "Manta, Manta" with better cars but without the charm. Bertie's drunken trip to the anti-Manta radio station is a fantastic low in modern German cinema. He displays some of his future potential and definitely looks like a movie star, but his performance here is dreadful to the point of being hilarious. This film is the reason why I became a Til Schweiger fan. The plot becomes even more ludicrous when Bertie's friend Gerd falls in love with a radio reporter on an anti-Manta crusade. Uschi, in turn, is asked to take part in a wet t-shirt competition by a Ferrari driving stranger who mistakes her for a prostitute as she waits for the bus. He plays Bertie, a Manta driving idiot who challenges a Mercedes driving yuppie to a race, much to the annoyance of his peroxide blonde girlfriend, Uschi. "Manta, Manta" represents the cinematic debut of Til Schweiger, after his run on "Lindenstrasse". Even the ridiculous soundtrack is a guilty pleasure. And yet, I simply can't get enough of this addictively stupid, piece of crap. What kind of derelict comes up with the idea of making a film about Manta obsessed German villagers and actually allows the hero to drive around in a pink, blue and yellow car? "Manta, Manta" is so cringe-worthy that it will give you wrinkles. ![]() "Manta, Manta" is lame and embarrassing in so many ways.
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