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Viaretro in Danish

Visual Sunday: Snowman or Michelin Man?

ViaRETRO

Smalltalk

December 16, 2018

Is it Snowman Frost or just the Michelin Man in his fancy Christmas costume who’s out for a wintery drive in his classic Opel Kapitän?

Christmas December Opel Snow Snowman X-mas

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10 Responses

Claus Ebberfeld says:

December 16, 2018 at 10:21

I simply LOVE these old illustrations from a time that probably never was.

Amazing to think that the Opel and thousands of other cars went to that place every winter on their plain all year tires, slithering all over the place – and then soldiered on in the same fashion back to whereever they came from. Especially as they back then HAD proper winters.
Tony Wawryk says:

December 16, 2018 at 11:49

Great photo! The Opel Kapitän was one of the first cars to make an impression on me as a very young boy. We visited our German relatives every second year at that time, and I think it was the name that did it for me – it just sounded so important!
Claus Ebberfeld says:

December 16, 2018 at 13:19

There’s a story too, @tony-wawryk : For that same reason (and a certain V8…) I always preferred the Diplomat. Or rather the “Bitter Opel Diplomat CD” with the wonderful pun in the CD abbreviation.
K. Holm says:

December 16, 2018 at 17:31

Strange!
It must be a “Photoshop”, as the car has the three-piece rearwindow of the older model?
/
Kristen
yrhmblhst says:

December 16, 2018 at 18:39

Imagine its just a snowman as the Opel probably had Contis…
Tony Wawryk says:

December 16, 2018 at 20:01

@claus-ebberfeld yes, one has to hope that pun was intentional – any idea if it was?
Claus Ebberfeld says:

December 16, 2018 at 21:26

Officially it was “CD” for “Coupé Diplomat”, but you know the German sense of humour: I bet the marketing guys (or maybe it was just one guy back then?) were rolling around on the floor laughing about this one.

It certainly doesn’t look like photoshop to me, @k-holm ? For all I know it could be an original postcard for resort or a commercial photo for Opel.
K. Holm says:

December 16, 2018 at 21:47

But I can see a post in the rearwindow?
/
Kristen
K. Holm says:

December 16, 2018 at 22:45

And no tyremarks in the snow.
Or snow on the tyres.
Anders Bilidt says:

December 17, 2018 at 15:07

@yrhmblhst, HaHa… you’re probably right… :-D

I don’t know near enough about Opels of this era to contribute towards the discussion above, but I do know there’s a fabulous atmosphere in the picture which I long to travel back in time and be part of.
Maybe this year, Santa will gift me that time machine which I’ve wished for every year for as long as I’ve been a classic car enthusiast?

Comments are closed.

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