Michael A. Terrell wrote:

Joerg wrote:

Never heard of a Kadett (original spelling) built in France. Anyhow,
those unibody cars rust, especially when sitting in someone yard for
years. Then at some point, unlike frame bodies, there is really nothing
that maintains integrity. That's why they have regular mandatory
inspections in Europe where they would have caught it years before you
stepped into that car and prevented your scenario.



Maybe the left hand drive export models were the only ones built
there? This happened in the mid '70s, and the car was about ten years
old.

The thing showed bo signs of rust, but it was poorly made. I had
just made a down payment, and paid all the fees to purchase my first
home, and needed ANYTHING that ran to get to work, 45 miles away. Not
only did the car say it was French built, but the various repair parts
were either French or Belgian. What caused the problem was some asshole
in a Roadrunner whipped over into my lane about five inches from my
front bumper at 55 MPH, and then hit his brakes. I managed to keep from
hitting him, but the vacuum created by the airflow ripped the screws
holding the hood latch, and safety latch to the body ripped out of the
sheet metal. Then, it was a quick string of events that destroyed the
car.


Vacuum?

Anyhow, Germany _is_ a lefthand drive country. Kadetts were built in
Bochum, Germany. I knew some guys there. AFAIR the other place in Europe
was somewhere in England where they were called Vauxhall instead of
Opel. Maybe there were more places but I've never heard of a French
Opel. The French didn't like German cars much and from a marketing
perspective it wouldn't have made much sense. In fact, I once repaired a
transmission on a Kadett. All the stuff in there that I touched was
German made and the spare for the broken gear came from Bochum.

--
Regards, Joerg

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