New from Austria

[Rockabilly]

Hi! My name is Elmar "EL", I´m 28 years old and I´m from Austria. I live about 20 miles south of Vienna.
I´ve always been a little gearhead and very interested in american cars.
Last year I bought a ´79 Malibu 4 door.
It was running and driving well, but the overall condition is not so good.
The interior is all messed up. The carpet and the headliner are missing, the split bench was replaced with bucket seats from a Citroen XM, also the rear bench. The floor pans are already welded, but not really good and the fenders are really rusty inside. I also have to replace all the weather-stripes and sweap seals.
You see, there´s a lot of work.
I hope that I will get the car ready till Juli this year, which is a little difficult because of the bad supply of spare parts over here.

So...here are a few photos of my project.

Also i own a Jeep Grand Cherokee which is used as a DD and for summer-days i restored a 1981 Opel Manta GT/E. I don´t know if you know this car in the US, but over here it is a legend.

DD:

And this is the Opel Manta:

Of course I will update you all if you´re interested.

 

[Longroof79]

Welcome to the forum, Elmar.
It's always good to see what our brothers(and sisters) across the pond are working on. Your 4-dr Malibu looks like a cool project. It even has European taillight lenses.
How difficult is it to find parts over there?

I like your Opel Manta. That's a cool car...I like it! In this country it would have been a Buick Skyhawk or Chevy Monza. The Opel Manta that I remember had a completely different body style. In fact, the last Opel I've seen was many years ago. My friend had an Opel GT and a lady I knew years back had an Opel Kadette station wagon.

What engine powers the Opel Manta?

Good to have you on board! Good luck with your Malibu project.

 

[Lennox11]

Servus, und ein herzliches willkommen aus Deutschland, bin auch erst seit ein paar Tagen dabei. Hab mir nen 81er Pontiac Grand Lemans gegönnt. Schönen Malibu haste da, gefällt mir. Der Rochen is auch gut 😉 Viele Grüße, Carsten

 

[mymontess]

Hello & welcome to the site.
Cool Malibu with the export taillights!
Have to respect the across- the- pond folks & the tough battle you have with finding parts. There are members from Europe on the build thread you might be interested in checking out.
Good luck with the Malibu & keep us posted

 

[Rockabilly]

Hi guys! Thanks for the nice welcome.

It is hard to find parts in europe, because you will have to search a long time for used parts in good condition. And there aren´t much of them around here.
The other way to get parts is to order them in the US. The parts are cheap, but the shipping is very expensive, so I´m always waiting till i need more parts. Then I´m ordering them together from one seller (if possible).
Sadly not all sellers are sending parts overseas, but thats no problem. I got 2 american working colleagues ,working in SC, who are willing to buy parts for me and send them to me via collictive shipments from our company.

@Longroof79: The Opel Manta really looks similar to the Skyhawk or Monza, but actually the Manta should be the eutopean version of the Camaro. My Manta is powerd by a 2,4 litres 4 banger. With all the modifications it should have 150 to 160hp.
The Manta with the different body style you ment is the predecessor of mine. Was it looking like that?

My best friend also has an Opel GT. He bought it in the US. It is much easier to find a good GT in the US than in Europe.

@Lennox11: Hallo nach Germany! Hast ja auch eine schöne Fahrzeugsammlung. 🙂
@mymontess: Thanks for the info regearding the build threads...I´ll check ´em out.

 

[FirstClass 383]

welcome to the best site out there Elmar. theres alot of smart people here, that can help you out in about any question you may have

 

[Longroof79]

@@Longroof79: The Opel Manta really looks similar to the Skyhawk or Monza, but actually the Manta should be the eutopean version of the Camaro. My Manta is powerd by a 2,4 litres 4 banger. With all the modifications it should have 150 to 160hp.
The Manta with the different body style you meant is the predecessor of mine. Was it looking like that?

Elmar,
Yes, that's the Manta body style that I'm familiar with.
Is your Manta pretty much the size of a Camaro, or is the size of a Skyhawk/ Monza? I like that body style, I wouldn't mind owning one. I'll bet it runs pretty good with the 2.4 4-cyl.

I'm glad to hear that you have work colleagues in the states that could find and ship parts for you. I'm sure it's cheaper sending it thru your company.

 

[Doug213xrj]

Welcome from West Michigan, EL.


Doug

 

[Rockabilly]

@FirstClass 383
Yeah, you´re right...most of my questions were already answered by only reading a few threads.

@Longroof79
i´ve never seen a skyhawk/ Monza in real, so I don´t know the size of these cars, but I think that they nearly are the same size like the Manta.
My Manta is smaller that a Camaro.
Length Manta / Camaro: 175,2 in / 197,6 in
Width Manta / Camaro: 67 in / 74,5 in

Here in Europe Mantas are relatively cheap. You can get a good one for less than 10000$, but I don´t know how expensive it is to import a car to the united states..
If you want to buy a Manta from Europe, you can search for it on www.mobile.de or on www.autoscout24.com. 😉

The Manta really runs pretty good, because it is a lightweight. It only has 2200lb.

@Doug213xrj: Thanks from Lower Austira

 

[ssn696]

Las Vegas, April 2-5, the 18th Annual Rockabilly Weekend.