Stuart Johnston | The Manta – Opel’s forgotten coupe

Opel Manta [Image: News24, Stuart Johnston]

What is often forgotten when looking back on a car like the Manta was just how good some General Motors products were. News24 Motoring contributor Stuart Johnston unpacks one of the best cars from the brand.

When it was launched in early 1971, Opel’s Manta coupe received one of the most effusive road test reports in South Africa’s esteemed motoring journal, Car magazine, that has ever been published: “We have no hesitation in rating the Opel Manta as the greatest GM car we have ever driven, and one of the finest cars available to South African motorists.”

That glowing tribute from Car came on the back of some rather strange corporate decisions that General Motors (GM) had made in the few years leading up to the Manta’s debut.