From the Patent Motor Car to DTM Champion

While Automechanika traditionally looks to the future, Opel is opening a window into its own past in Frankfurt. From the first car built in Rüsselsheim to a fire truck, and on to the GT, Calibra, and Astra Kit Car, Opel Classic brings together iconic milestones of a brand that has always been able to convey technology in an emotional way.

From September 8 to 12, 2026, Frankfurt will once again become the meeting place for the international automotive aftermarket. But amid diagnostic tools, workshop equipment, and future technologies, Automechanika will have a particularly appealing historical touch this time around: Opel Classic will be represented with its own exhibit for the first time—and will turn the trade show’s expanded classic car offering into a journey through automotive history.

In the outdoor area, around booth F12 F74A, the Rüsselsheim-based brand will span more than a century. The selection ranges from the “System Lutzmann” patent motor car from 1899 to race cars that caused a sensation in the DTM and in rally racing. It is not merely a parade of old models, but a journey through the history of technology, design icons, and a passion for motorsports.

One highlight is the Opel “System Lutzmann” patent motor car. It is considered the first Opel automobile built in Rüsselsheim and rolled off the production line in the spring of 1899. Its horizontal single-cylinder engine, with a displacement of 1,545 cubic centimeters, delivers a mere 3.5 PS at 650 revolutions per minute. Power is transmitted to the rear axle via a two-speed transmission and drive belts; the top speed is around 20 km/h.

Significantly younger, but hardly any less distinctive, is the Opel Blitz LF8 TSA. This fire truck represents an era when the name “Blitz” stood not only for commercial vehicle expertise but also for practical operational effectiveness. Built on the Opel Blitz chassis, the fire department used it to transport up to nine people, a portable fire pump, and the necessary firefighting equipment.

The 1995 MAXX demonstrates just how far into the future Opel was able to think. The concept car took up an idea that seems more relevant today than ever: a vehicle that can be customized as much as possible in terms of interior space, features, and design. The MAXX was thus not a classic concept car for its own sake, but an early vision of flexible mobility as a gateway to the Opel world.

An Icon That Gives You Goosebumps

The Opel GT embodies the emotional side of Rüsselsheim’s heritage. When it debuted in 1968, it delivered the promise of a grand sports car in a more compact format. Its sleek “Coke bottle” lines, pop-up headlights, and low silhouette made it a design icon. The tagline “Only flying is better” has long been a fixture of German automotive history—and the GT itself even more so.

Things get even more uncompromising with the race cars. The Manta Breitbau race car “Targa Florio 1974” evokes an era in which spectacular forms and mechanical directness shaped motorsports. Meanwhile, the Calibra V6 4x4 embodies the high-tech side of the 1990s: 500 PS, all-wheel drive, and a sequential transmission made it a serious contender for the title. In 1996, Opel won the International Touring Car Championship with the Calibra.

The Astra Kit Car, in turn, represents the brand’s rally ambitions around the turn of the millennium. As a production-based competition car in the Formula 2 Kit Car class, it competed both nationally and internationally and demonstrates just how far a mass-production platform can stray from everyday use with the right technical investment. (aum)