Irmscher Opium
The Opel Manta B is one of the most tuned cars of the 70s and 80s. Six-cylinder in it, flared wheel arches, fierce spoilers, you name it with which the coupé based on the Ascona was tuned. Pure cult, for decades. We mainly know the Manta from the New Kids and in Germany it is even more famous as a film car due to the Manta-Manta films. That brightly colored Mattig-wide Manta even inspired Dutch people! Opel tuner Irmscher also made a lot of money by adjusting the Manta. In 1987 they wanted to give it a sequel by sticking the nose of the Omega, launched in 1986, on the coupé!
In Remshalden, where the tuner is located, two copies of the Opium were built. Whether that name was invented because of the bizarre appearance of the Manta with the Omega nose, something for which you almost have to have been using mind-altering substances, the story does not tell. We do know, thanks to the colleagues of AutoBild Klassik, who visited it, that it was really a serious facelift proposal for the Manta B. In conversation with Günther Irmscher, son of the founder of Irmscher, they even hear that the company invited officials from Opel to come and see the ‘Manta C’. However, in 1987 they already knew how slick the real Manta successor would be, the brilliant Calibra that came in 1989. “Nice idea, but we don’t see anything in it,” and they went back to Rüsselsheim.
Two pieces, no more
The Opel bigwigs were apparently not the only ones who didn’t see anything in it. One copy of the Opium is in the Irmscher museum, the other is driving and you can see it here in the photos. So it remained at two pieces. The modern large nose, the modified rear bumper and the side skirts certainly give the Manta a different look. You would then expect at least a six-cylinder under the hood. Opel never offered that for the Manta itself, but Irmscher already spooned a 2.8 with 140 hp from the Commodore into the model in 1977. That was called i2800. However, the Opium has to make do with a 2.4 four-cylinder converted into a sixteen-valve by Irmscher, with power outputs of 160 to 180 hp. The Manta 400 also had a 2.4 16V. That homologation special for rallying is the thickest Manta that Opel itself offered. There are less than 250 of them built.
Opel Manta i2800 from 1977 next to the Opium.
Irmscher himself developed the Mantas i200, i240 and i300. You could simply order them through the Opel dealer channel and they had a souped-up 2.0, 2.4 and 3.0 respectively. The latter was a six-cylinder and that was the successor to the i2800.
Irmscher didn’t change much about the interior of the Opium. We see striking red upholstery, but otherwise the bare dashboard with which the Manta B came on the market 50 years ago this year.