﹒Single family ownership from new

﹒Original and unrestored

﹒Full and comprehensive history

﹒Excellent drivetrain in reliable running condition

Throughout the 1960s and ’70s, European car manufacturers expressed a keen fondness for cribbing notes from the design studios of their American contemporaries. It was evident across the market as more and more chrome trim found its way onto everyday runabouts; Ford Anglias had fins like baby Cadillacs, British Leyland’s various estate cars sported wooden frames resembling old-school Pontiacs, the trend was strong across the board. And perhaps the most vivid manifestation of this was striding out of Rüsselsheim, in the form of the gloriously transatlantic coupe shape you see here. The Opel Manta, unleashed upon the buying public in late 1970, featured muscle car styling at either end, scaled down to sylph-like European proportions; it even had chrome manta rays on its flanks, a clear tribute to the evergreen Corvette Stingray.

But this car was no pastiche. As a rival to the perennially popular Ford Capri, the first-gen Manta was a serious contender. With its 1.9-litre cam-in-head motor and four-speed manual transmission, the slippery rear-wheel-drive coupe was effervescent enough to raise eyebrows in the early seventies, and the sweetly engineered chassis ensured that the power was deployed effectively, the car often lauded in period group tests for its best-in-class handling. 

So it’s got the looks, the power and the agility… but what makes it such a compelling proposition today is the obscurity of it. You simply don’t see these cars very often in 2020; they were never huge sellers in the UK when they were new, and today they’ve all but disappeared into the realm of legend and folklore. And among the oeuvre of super-rare Mantas, this one’s a little more special than most…

What we’re looking at here is a beautifully original, unrestored example of the Manta A 1900 SR, with genuine low mileage, a life spent being garaged and cared for, and a history that can be precisely traced back to the very start. How so? Well, this car has been in the same family from new. It was purchased from a dealer by the current owner’s maternal grandfather; a keen motoring enthusiast who part-exchanged his Razor-Edge Karmann Ghia for the Manta. It was a company car, and the history contains meticulous hand-written records of all of the servicing that was carried out; this original owner kept the Manta for the rest of his life, and when he passed away in 1986 the car was handed down to his daughter, the current owner (the grandson) inheriting it himself in 2012. All three owners have kept the car garaged, and the low mileage is genuine and testament to the Manta’s relatively gentle use over the years – but don’t go thinking that it’s been treated as some secret garage queen. The seller’s mother drove it daily, taking it to the shops and all sorts, using the car as it should be used.

Why sell now, after all these years of family history? It’s simply a case of the car not being driven very much these days. The seller is a committed motorcycle enthusiast, and the collection of bikes always gets first dibs on his time when the sun comes out. As such, the Manta is increasingly finding itself languishing unused in the garage, and he feels that it’s finally time to let the car go to another enthusiast who’ll drive and enjoy it as it deserves.

What we’re witnessing here is not such much a service history file as a time capsule. Motorists of a certain generation shared a level of fastidiousness seldom found today, hand-writing obsessive notes to detail every piece of work and maintenance carried out on a car, and that’s all present here. In the first owner’s Southern Electric Board Motor Vehicle Log Book we can track with incredible detail everything from its first 6,000-mile service in 1973 up to its 45,000-mile service in 1985, with all manner of detail in between the two points. As the car passed down through the family, receipts and invoices from garages and specialists were retained with similar fervour, ensuring that every step taken can be accounted for. This really is an impressive sheaf of documents, proving that this car has absolutely no skeletons in its closet. There are also fifteen MOT certificates in the file, along with proof of the clutch being renewed in 2011, the jacking points receiving attention in 1994, and plenty more information to reassure the buyer.

The black vinyl interior is factory-original, and in superb condition throughout with no rips, stains or excessive wear to the seats or carpets. The instruments are all in good working order, including the three extra VDO gauges on the centre console showing volts, oil pressure and the time, beneath the factory-fit push-button radio. All of the window seals are in good shape, the door glass winds up and down correctly, and the pop-out rear windows open and close as they should. Interestingly, this car has a period roll-back sunroof which was fitted when the car was nearly new by the now-defunct Gwinfield Motors of Wokingham – a proper and professional installation which is fully weatherproof and still in perfect working order today. The rear-view mirror has been repaired to as-new standard (with documentation to prove). The front seats tilt forward properly to allow access to the rear, and click back into place without issue. An ashtray slot was fitted to the centre console in the 1970s, and the current owner has fitted a tasteful gear knob from an Opel GT. There is a three-inch tear on the vinyl on the rear corner post, but all else is presented very well. Inside the boot we find everything dry and in good condition, with a matching spare wheel fitted with a good tyre; the original jack is also present.

The way this Manta presents itself is supremely honest – original paint, original trim, everything just as it looked when it rolled off the production line in the early 1970s. The lack of any significant corrosion is testament to its life spent garaged, and being in unrestored condition we can see the evidence of a life well lived. You’ll spot a handful of very minor car park dings along the doors and wings, and there’s some micro-blistering to the paint on the roof in the section between the windscreen and sunroof, along with the odd paint chip – but as the old saying goes, it’s only original once! The paperwork shows the front wings having been replaced in the 1990s and a door and lower panel were painted, but for the most part it’s all the factory paint. There are a few very small areas of surface corrosion visible, most notably at the front bottom corner of the driver door and along the lower-most edge of the bootlid, but the car does appear to be impressively solid overall. All the panels sit straight and true, and the bonnet, boot and doors all close with a pleasing Germanic thunk.

The original wheels were sand-blasted and powder-coated three years ago to return them to their classic lustre, and are fitted with decent tyres with plenty of tread. The wheels are mounted with a set of spacers (15mm front, 20mm rear) to provide a slightly wider track and more purposeful stance, although of course they’re easily removed if the buyer is a stickler for originality.

There have been a few minor welding repairs to the underside over the generations, as you’d expect of a car of this age, with the jacking points having been addressed in the early 1990s. The chassis has never been undersealed, for the reason that it’s always been garaged and seldom taken out on salted roads, so there are surface blemishes underneath but it does all appear to be remarkably straight and solid.

The 1.9-litre CIH engine is renowned for its smoothness and robustness, and as we know from the fastidious service history this is a very low-mileage example of the motor which has always been correctly maintained. As such, it’s in excellent working order today, firing up easily, idling evenly, and pulling strongly through the gears. The four-speed manual transmission is also in great order, shifting cleanly and precisely without graunching or reluctance. The owner does report a slight juddering when pulling away from a standstill, which is most likely attributable to the rubber transmission mount, which he has a spare of; however, he does also state that there’s a knack to it, and learning the car’s ways allows you to drive without the judder, hence not having renewed the rubber himself thus far. The drivetrain is all matching-numbers and in factory spec, with the only aftermarket upgrades being an electric cooling fan fitted to the radiator, and the rear silencer with twin tails from an Opel GT. The owner reports that the brakes, steering and suspension are all in good order, and the car is a pleasure to drive.

It’s a phrase you hear a lot in the classic car world, but it’s particularly pertinent here: where are you going to find another car like this? The Manta A as a model is rare enough in itself, but a Manta A that’s this original, unrestored, low-mileage, and with an honest and easily traceable history? And all of this wrapped up in a reliable and trustworthy package? You could jump in this car tomorrow and press it into daily use, turning heads and sparking jealousy and admiration wherever you go. Alternatively, if you wanted to restore the car, you wouldn’t find a huge amount of heartache along the way – with dependable mechanicals and straight panels, along with a complete original interior and all the correct exterior trim in place, it really is a Manta among Mantas.

This isn’t just a car, it’s a story: a tale of one family loving and cherishing a desirable sports car for decade after decade, while also using is as it’s meant to be used. And wouldn’t it be wonderful to write the next chapter of this story?

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