Opel Olympia

Opel Olympia
Overview
Production	1935–1937 81,661 produced
Body and chassis
Body style	2-door saloon 2-door cabriolet
Powertrain
Engine	1.3 L side valve I4
Transmission	3- or 4-speed manual
Dimensions
Wheelbase	2.37 m (93.3 in)
Length	3.93 m (154.7 in)
Width	1.43 m (56.3 in)

At 2500 Reichsmark it offered a true four-seater with 1.3-litre, four-cylinder, side-valve, 24 PS (18 kW) engine capable of 100 km/h (62 mph). Drive was to the rear wheels through a three-speed gearbox but a four-speed unit became available in 1937. The car had independent front suspension with a live axle at the rear and semi-elliptic leaf springs. This car was also assembled in Tanjung Priok, near Jakarta, in the then-Netherlands East Indies. Assembly there began in 1938 and the car was marketed as the "Opel 1.3".[5]

The car was made available in two versions, as a two-door saloon and as a two-door soft-top convertible:

• LZ 2-door 5-window saloon, costing 2500 Reichsmark
• CL 2-door 5-window cabriolet

Opel Olympia (1937), four-door saloon (rear view)

Opel Olympia OL38
Overview
Production	1937–1940 1947–1949
Body and chassis
Body style	2-door saloon 4-door saloon 2-door cabriolet
Powertrain
Engine	1.5 L OHV I4
Dimensions
Wheelbase	2.43 m (95.7 in)
Length	4.02 m (158.3 in)
Width	1.50 m (59.1 in)

A new engine was introduced in 1937 with a capacity of 1488 cc and overhead valves. It produced 37 PS (27 kW) and the top speed of the car was 112 km/h (70 mph). This engine was to remain in production until 1960 with only minor changes and its architecture was also used for the 2.5-liter "six" installed in the Opel Super 6 and Kapitäns.[6] The car's body received a facelift.

It was available in the same versions as its predecessor with the addition of the 6-light LV:

• LZ 2-door 4-light saloon, 2675 Reichsmark
• LV 4-door 6-light saloon, 2950 Reichsmark
• CL 2-door 4-light cabriolet, 2750 Reichsmark

Due to World War II, production came to a halt in late 1940. During the war, the Opel plant in Rüsselsheim was severely damaged by allied bomb attacks.

Opel Olympia (1937), four-door saloon (front view)

After reconstruction, production of the Olympia was announced in November 1947 and restarted the following month. Opel had been building the six-cylinder Blitz truck since July 1946; it would have made sense to restart production of the Kapitän before the Olympia since it used the same engine as the Blitz. However, occupation regulations prohibited civilian sales of passenger cars of over 1.5 liters' displacement at the time.[7] Externally, the OL 38 was unchanged to the pre-war car, but the fragile and complex Dubonnet front suspension was replaced by a more conventional control arm and coil spring one.[7] Only the two-door sedan was produced after the war. Until the end of 1949, 25,952 of these were made.

Opel Olympia 1950
Overview
Production	1950–1953
Body and chassis
Body style	2-door saloon 2-door cabrio coach 2-door estate
Powertrain
Engine	1.5 L OHV I4
Transmission	3-speed manual column shift

In January 1950 the Olympia got a modernized body, but the car was still based on the pre-war Olympia. One change was the seemingly retrograde change to a column-shifted three-sped manual from the floor-mounted four-speed used before.[8] The following bodies were offered:

• 2-door saloon, 6400 Deutsche Mark
• 2-door cabrio-coach, 6600 Deutsche Mark
• 2-door kombi (estate), 7350 Deutsche Mark

The kombi was built by Karosserie Miesen.[8] In February 1951, the Olympia was upgraded with more modern 15- rather than 16-inch wheels and a trunk compartment which enclosed the spare tyre.[8] In just over three years of production (until March 1953), about 160,000 cars were made.

Opel Olympia Berline (saloon/sedan) 1952

In March 1953, the 18-year-old design of the Olympia was finally replaced by a completely new car, the Opel Olympia Rekord, with a modern pontoon body. In 1957 this dropped the "Olympia" part of the name, and was sold simply as the Opel Rekord until 1986.

Opel Olympia A
Opel Olympia A 2-door sedan (1968)
Overview
Manufacturer	Opel (General Motors)
Production	1967–1970
Assembly	West Germany: Bochum
Body and chassis
Class	Small family car (C)
Body style	2/4-door fastback saloon 2-door coupé
Related	Opel Kadett B
Powertrain
Engine	petrol: 1078 cc OHV I4 1492 cc CIH I4 (export) 1698 cc CIH I4 1897 cc CIH I4
Transmission	4-speed manual
Dimensions
Wheelbase	2,416 mm (95.1 in)
Length	4,182 mm (164.6 in)
Width	1,573 mm (61.9 in) 1,614 mm (63.5 in) (4-door)
Height	1,400 to 1,405 mm (55.1 to 55.3 in)
Curb weight	from 770 kg (1,700 lb)
Chronology
Successor	Opel Ascona A

In August 1967 Opel revived the Olympia name with the new Olympia A. The name had last been used, until 1959, for a reduced specification version of the Opel Rekord, but now it was applied to a luxury derivative of the Opel Kadett B, readily distinguishable from the outside by its redesigned front end, together with the word "Olympia" appearing on the body sides behind the front wheels.[9] Olympias were also often equipped with a black vinyl roof to help set them apart from their lesser brethren.

Giving the Olympia its own name may have distanced it from the Kadett in the Opel showrooms and enabled the manufacturer to charge a premium price, but in other respects the new Olympia did not convincingly fill the gap in the range that had opened up between small family cars and big family cars, the Rekords having grown ever larger with each new generation.[10]

Opel Olympia (A) four-door fastback sedan

The Olympia was available in saloon/sedan and coupé-bodied versions. The saloon/sedan, available with 2 or 4 doors, shared the fast-back "Limousine" body of the "Kadett LS", while the Olympia coupé used the same body as the "Kadett coupé F". The Olympia was fitted with the "1100 SR" twin carburettor 60 PS (44 kW) engine, and could also be ordered with any one of the three high-compression Camshaft in Head (CIH) engines also fitted in the Kadett and providing 75 PS (55 kW), 90 PS (66 kW) or, in those export markets where the 1.5-litre version was available, 65 PS (48 kW).[4] At this time, Opel also provided SAE power figures which were 67 hp for the 1.1 and 76, 84, and 102 hp for the 1.5, 1.7, and 1.9-litre versions.[11]

The Olympia A was withdrawn in August 1970, by when 80,637 had been produced.[12] The Olympia's demise cleared the way for the Opel Ascona, produced from August 1970 and introduced to the market in November 1970. The Ascona filled the gap between the smaller Kadett and the larger Rekord more obviously and, in terms of the sales figures, more persuasively than the Kadett-based Olympia, defining in the German auto-market a new mid-weight family car class where it would be joined by the Ford Taunus TC and, a couple of years later, by the Audi 80 and the Volkswagen Passat.[13]

The Olympia design did live on in a manner, as the front design was used on United States-bound Kadetts from the 1968 model year until replaced by the next generation, and on South African Opel Kadetts beginning with the 1971 model year.

Body styles were:

• 2-door fastback saloon
• 4-door fastback saloon
• 2-door coupé

• Olympia pictures and specification
• Olympia OL38 pictures and specification