How long can a car survive with only the strictly necessary maintenance? That’s the question the German engineer Hanns-Lüdecke Rodewald asked himself when in 1977 he couldn’t sell his Opel Olympia Caravan, which he had bought the year before. Now, 46 years later, his car is still driving around in Berlin.
The Opel Olympia Caravan itself is somewhat older: the station wagon rolled off the production line in 1956. Twenty years later, Rodewald bought it from the first owner. The Opel was then still in a reasonably good condition and its light color, ‘graugrün’, was still clearly visible. Rodewald drove around in his car for a year and then wanted to get rid of it again. That turned out to be no mean feat: he had put the car up for sale for DM 500, converted about €250, but nobody wanted to take over the 21-year-old Opel from him for the asking price. Rodewald then decided to keep his Opel. The engineer, who specializes in cars, turned it into an experiment: how long does a car survive with only the strictly necessary maintenance?
By ‘strictly necessary’ Rodewald means that he only carried out the repairs that the Opel needed to pass the German TÜV inspection. “My philosophy is that I leave the car as it is,” the German engineer told Hagerty† “I won’t change it.” He makes the comparison with nature. “It’s like Yellowstone National Park. If there’s a fire there, they let it burn, because it’s nature. In this case, I say, what happens, it happens.”
Moss and rust
The result of this method is clearly visible in the appearance of the Olympia. Some barn finds, cars that sit in a shed for years look better. The Olympia’s original paint color is still visible in a few places, but most of the bodywork today consists of rust, dirt and moss. Rodewald says he hasn’t washed his car since 1977. He did, however, make a modification, because the Olympia got a roof rack. Over the years, Rodewald did not spare the car: he used it, among other things, for removals and towing trailers with heavy equipment.
The Opel was not spared. Photo: Hanns-Lüdecke Rodewald.
In all those years, the Opel passed the German TÜV inspection time and again. Rodewald changed the oil and filters regularly and always filled it with high-quality fuel. If something did break, Rodewald would repair it himself on the streets of Berlin. Over the years, he replaced the tires, brake pads, crankshaft, exhaust valve and clutch all by himself. When Rodewald bought the car in 1976, it had 89,000 kilometers on the odometer. The Opel has now driven more than 169,000 kilometers, which means that Rodewald covered an average of approximately 1,700 kilometers annually. In recent years, however, he drives much less with his Opel, especially because the car is fairly unsafe by contemporary standards.
Problems with the law
The Olympia has now become a tourist attraction in Berlin, parked on Schönleinstrasse. Rodewald says he is often told that people want to buy the car from him, quite a contrast to 1977. When Rodewald drives the Opel, however, he also gets a different kind of attention. For example, he is often pulled over by the police. Rodewald tried to register the Opel in Germany as a ‘historic vehicle’ (recognizable by an ‘H’ after the license plate), but he was unsuccessful. The German government did not see the rusty Opel as a ‘vehicle with a cultural value’. In the middle of 1990, the Opel was even taken off the road by the German police with a writ of execution. Rodewald would also have violated the ‘waste disposal law’. The reasoning behind this was that the Opel would have long been ripe for demolition and parked on the street side polluted the streetscape.
A meeting with the police. Photo: Hanns-Lüdecke Rodewald.
Rodewald also received no fewer than fourteen fines for violating the environmental zone in Berlin. After all, his car did not have a green badge that allowed him to enter the environmental zone. Rodewald challenged the fines and won. His argument was that he did not start the Opel in Berlin, but first put it on a trailer and took it outside the city. The judge agreed with him. The car has now been labeled as a ‘tourist attraction’ and Rodewald has a special permit that allows him to start the Olympia in the heart of Berlin.
Rodewald says he enjoys the sight of his car. “Patina is not a bad thing, I just like to look at it. Just like some other people might enjoy their garden,” the German told the German newspaper Tagesspiegel† According to him, there is no end date for the experiment. According to Rodewald, it mainly depends on to what extent the legislation still allows driving the Opel. For example, he now seems to be getting into trouble with his parking permit in Berlin, which means that the car can no longer be parked on the street. Stricter emission requirements in the city could also kill the Opel. “That would be a challenge, but not the end,” concludes Rodewald.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl