Cars and coffee outside Wiesbaden

[Keshav]

Yearly Local classic cars gathering right in the middle of town with private homes surrounding the park…. Coupe fraction organized by Dieter Toegel, well know CSL specialist/ restorer and owns a CSL Schnitzer original race car too…..
Türkis CSL is for sale……

 

[Dick Steinkamp]

I see a couple of E3s in the background. Any pictures of those? Are there more E9s at an event like this or more E3s?

 

[Keshav]

I see a couple of E3s in the background. Any pictures of those? Are there more E9s at an event like this or more E3s?

This is (yearly) a small/ local event on the outskirts of Wiesbaden, without much publicity as takes place often in summer all over the country. In this case, a very reputable E9/ CSL restorer. cum enthusiast lives in this town and invites owners, more or less personally. So it’s hard to say who’ll show up or not.
The larger meetings organized by the BMW E9 owners group is like the one a few weeks ago……

 

[Christoph]

I see a couple of E3s in the background.

You only see one. The other, a 3.3 Li, had already left when @Keshav took the pictures. They had some way back to north Germany. The only event I know with more E3 than E9 is the now dead Opel-Villen meeting in Rüsselsheim just across the river Main. You can actually see the vast Opel plant from the Hochheim wineyards. Hochheim: that's where Keshav and me were. Actually, in Rüsselsheim usually were more saloons and/or estates than coupés of any model you can imagine.

Back to Hochheim. Find another meeting with 3 3.0 CSL in the front row and about a dozen heavy E9s nearby. Could have been even more but the weather forecast was only slightly promising. The south of Germany is drowning at the moment as you surely know. Opel Classic sent some cars, too, as they did last year.

I missed a lot of rare and interesting cars. They were gone before I had the chance to leave the BMW lawn. People wanted to talk which is nice. Would have been nicer even if some had known when to come to an end.

Three 3.0 CSL. Near the yellow car is where the 3.3 Li stood. People don't turn their backs on the coupés, they watch the prize winners' presentation. Johannes Hübner, the German top classic car presenter, did the talking so everybody is excused.

Opel Kadett B, 2.7 million built 65-73, saloons, coupés, estates, two or four doors. For those who wanted a car, not a Volkswagen. Very few have survived.

Opel Rekord D, 1.1 million built 72-77. Signature car of the German middle class. The design is often said to be "as timelessly elegant as a BMW".

Fiat 130, Italian upper class 69-76. This car: 3.2 litre V6, 5 speed manual.

Italian dream car (mine). Alfa Romeo Giulia Super, 62-78 (all versions). This car: 1.6 litre, 98 hp, 5 speed, excellent aerodynamics. Sibling to the E3.

British rarity. Ford Consul Capri, 62-64. Hardly unknown in Germany.

American beauty, I mean it. Buick Riviera, 65-70(?). Seldom seen here. Just compare the size to the two Volkswagen Golf 83-91 models in the background.

Good Keshav took pictures of many of the BMWs. So I could show some others.

 

[Keshav]

@Christoph
A few more of the Opels (called Vauxhauls in the UK and Holden in AUS)

 

[Oldbmwcoupes]

Great pictures! thanks for sharing. We had an Opel Kadett when I grew up in Holland. It was a solid and reliable car and I have fond memories traveling in it. Although not as fond as the memories of our e12 520i through the alps.

 

[Christoph]

@Oldbmwcoupes : my grandfather had a Kadett B, too. He treated it very good and used it for moving as well as long-distance touring. Near indestructible. But this section is called "E9 Photos", we act most unruly here.

Anyway, great pictures, @Keshav . I like best the beaten Rekord P1 panel van and the two large works Kapitän/Admiral/Diplomat (KAD) series. The white Admiral A is one of less than 500 with the 283 small block. Beautiful car although GM gifted Opel with a design that immediately turned Opel from largest German manufacturer of large saloons (until 63) to smallest one (64-77). After 77, there were no more large Opel. The dark blue Diplomat B with the 327 is a real rarity. Less than 50 were elongated by 15 cm (6"). Done completely by hand, just like the early long E3 only to better result. I was allowed to take a seat, immensely spacious. Lots of the ordinary KAD A & B were used up pulling trailers, not few died in German crime movies, always driven by the bad guys.

The two GT, small Corvettes, sold very well in the USA. Great swivelling headlights. Underneath the GT is almost identical to the ochre Kadett B pictured above.

 

[Dick Steinkamp]

The two GT, small Corvettes, sold very well in the USA

Known here as a "Poorvette"

 

[vince]

Great shots and cars! Those CSLs are beautiful but the Taiga e3 is what really caught my eye. The Riviera is a 65, the best looking out of the first generation, the first generation Rivs are arguably the best looking American cars of the 60s, a decade where automotive design was at its peak - nothing like before or after. Just my opinion.

 

[Christoph]

the Taiga e3 is what really caught my eye.

Thank you for your kind words. I will tell her when I go to the garage. Honestly, she is what my British club friend Tony calls a twenty-feeter.
Agree on the Riv. May I also mention the 66 Pontiac GTO and its most dramatic rear design.