Not built by Opel itself
Opel supplied the Ascona C, the predecessor of the Vectra, itself only as a two- and four-door sedan and five-door liftback. Yet we are dealing here with an Ascona Cabriolet. Because Opel never built this variant itself, it is a very rare car. You just have to love the wrong elements from the 80s.
In the meantime, a nice list of Opels passed in review in this section, but for the Ascona it is the first time. We immediately have a pretty special performance. Opel did not build the Ascona Cabriolet itself, but had it done by two parties in Germany: Hammond & Thiede and Keinath. It is not entirely clear which of the two parties screwed this Ascona Cabriolet together. This is probably a copy of Hammond & Thiede, because Keinath’s Asconas often looked just a bit more extreme. They were also much more expensive – and therefore rarer – due to the extensive customization options the company offered.
What makes it difficult with this copy is that it is anything but standard. The body kit seems to come from Irmscher and gives the car a nice appearance. The bright red interior completes that atmosphere. Even the bottom and door panels are covered in that color, right down to the sun visors. The color red on the exterior is also back in the form of a red stripe that separates the light gray top and dark gray bottom of the body. So the composition has been thought through.
Incidentally, there is no really wrong tuning. Even the radio in the interior still looks original and everything seems to be in a neat condition. We cannot judge the condition of the fabric shade on the photos, but according to the seller it is still in order. Under the hood of this Ascona is a 115 hp strong 1.8 four-cylinder. It is not known how smooth the convertible with that power is, but a standard Ascona 1.8 accelerates with that block to 100 km / h in 10.8 seconds. According to the RDW, the empty weight is 1,050 kilos, while a regular Ascona is 1025 kilos. That difference of 25 kilos seems a bit on the small side to us.
The Ascona Cabriolet was never officially delivered in the Netherlands, but this copy came to the Netherlands four years after its year of construction. It is not known in whose hands he spent the first eight years of its existence, but it has been in the hands of the same owner since 1994. He clearly took good care of his car and, judging by the low mileage of 60,619 kilometers, only drove it sporadically. The asking price of €7,950 does not make this Ascona convertible a bargain, but for the Opel enthusiasts among us it is a unique opportunity to acquire a rare classic of the brand.
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl