COBI Opel Manta A 1970 Set 24339

COBI's Opel Manta A 1970 is a 1:12 model built from 1,905 blocks, 37 cm long, under original Opel licence. The steering wheel turns the wheels, the doors open on hinges, the bonnet tilts to a brick-built engine, and handles, lights and instruments are reproduced in print. No stickers.

A car with its own genre of joke

In Germany the Manta acquired something almost no other car has managed: a complete cultural stereotype, and a body of humour to go with it.

By the 1980s the Manta had become cheap secondhand, and the image attached to it was of a driver with a fur-lined steering wheel, a spoiler, a fox tail on the aerial and a girlfriend called Uschi. Manta jokes ran for a decade — an entire format, like lawyer jokes in America — and in 1991 a comedy film called Manta, Manta became one of the biggest German box-office hits of the year. A sequel appeared in 2023, thirty-two years later.

None of which the car deserved. It was a well-judged, clean-lined, aerodynamic coupé with room for five and a large boot, Opel's answer to the American pony cars, and nearly half a million were sold in five years — the car was a success long before it became a punchline.

It is now a sought-after classic, and good examples cost what a new car costs.

The car

Launched in 1970 with a 1.9-litre engine producing 90 hp and 170 km/h. Opel sold it in the United States through Buick dealers until 1975, badged simply as Opel.

In the COBI range

Set 24338 is the Executive Edition of the same car with a display stand and engraved plate, and 24349 the Manta A GT/E of 1974.

Specifications

Pieces: 1,905 · Scale: 1:12 · Licensed by Opel · No stickers
Model dimensions: 37 × 14.5 × 12 cm (14.6 × 5.7 × 4.7 in)