It rolled off the production line in the 1970s, it was stolen in the 2000s, it was impounded by the police, and then, it was sent to a junkyard. You would think that the story of this Chevrolet Opala ended there after a riotous life. Well, it might actually just begin. Someone saw potential in it and rescued it from the crusher. Now, it gets its first wash in 20 years. The owner wants to sell it for profit.
$30,000. That is how much the owner of this Chevrolet Opala is hoping to sell it for. Yes, you read that right. It is not an Impala, the full-size American icon, but an Opala, a model manufactured by General Motors do Brasil for the South American market.
The Opala never set wheels on American soil. If it did, with just the right engines, it might have battled for the leadership in the muscle car segment with the Ford Mustang. But GM did not need it in the US. They already had the Camaro for the job.
However, GM did not neglect the South American market and took there its best engines with some derivations, while the car shared many components with a German sibling, the Opel Rekord, which GM was already importing to Brazil in small numbers. GM put in straight inline-six and V8 engines and sent them to South America as sedans, coupes, and station wagons starting in 1969.
General Motors unveiled the model on November 23, 1968, at the sixth Sao Paulo Auto Show, putting it on a rotating stage. Two years before, GM had introduced the Project 676, a concept car that was to become the Opala. The name is inspired by a semi-precious stone that has no color when extracted, but displays multiple tones depending on the light that it is exposed to.
Photo: Percepcar USA | YouTube
The model has been a muse for experts in rendering, tuning, and restomodding. Some of them converted the Latino muscle car into a beast with over 1,000 horsepower, a power boost that boosted its price to over $300,000. But that is not the case for the Opala coupe that we have here. The coupe was the variant that survived the most, long into the 1980s.
Abandoned for two decades, this Chevy Opala still has life left in it
This car sat abandoned for 20 whole years and its body and cabin show every day of those two decades. The yellow paint is covered in a thick layer of dirt. However, it was not a victim of rodents, so vacuuming will do for the moment. A degreasing solution, detergent, and foam should also do the trick.
The detailing experts charge around $2,000 to get the car looking like it did the day it rolled off the production line of the GM factory in Sao Caetano do Sul in Brazil. However, that seems next to impossible. Corrosion has taken big bites from the floor. Rust mixed up with engrained dirt. Painting the Chevy will be an extra $1,000 for the customer.
But the seats withstood the test of time and, even though they show the usual wear and tear, which is normal for a car that old, do not really look bad. But rust had something against the three-spoke steering wheel as well.
Photo: Percepcar USA | YouTube
Its current owner, who chose to take it to a detailing shop, paid $10,000 for it. He might have spent a little more, considering the condition of this car. Dirt entered every single crease and crevice, making cleaning complicated. In the end, polish makes the paint regain part of its old shine.
The car resided in a junkyard for 20 years and was inching closer to its dismantling moment. It was its current owner that came to its rescue. He tried to trace back the car and found out that the previous owner regarded it as a member of his family.
A story to tell grandchildren or make a movie about it
However, one day, it was stolen from him. He tried to take it back, but lost his life in the process. Authorities eventually impounded the car, but the criminals fled to avoid going to prison.
The Chevrolet Opala spent years in the yard of a police station. The police must have even considered using it since the military government purchased Opalas for the police fleet through the 1970s. They eventually got rid of it by moving it to a junkyard.
Photo: Percepcar USA | YouTube
The team detailing it believes it might be the SS. If it truly is, it lacks the front and rear emblems. Probably somebody who needed them spotted them on this car and stole them. It also lacks the matte black striping on the hood. That couldn't have been stolen, though.
The SS version was originally available with the 250-cubic-inch (4.1-liter V8 engine) with 140 horsepower. It was also the first engine in the lineup to be mated to a four-speed manual gearbox.
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