Opel 1.2 litre

Opel 1.2-litre (1931 – 1935) Opel 1.0-litre (1933) Opel P4 (1935 – 1937)
Opel 1.2-litre Cabrio-Limousine (1932)
Overview
Manufacturer	Opel (General Motors)
Production	Opel 1.0-litre: 1933 Opel 1.2-litre: 1931 - 1935 Opel P4: 1935 - 1937
Assembly	Rüsselsheim
Body and chassis
Body style	2-door saloon/sedan, various 2 & 4 seater 2-door cabriolets and other inexpensive open topped configurations
Layout	FR layout
Powertrain
Engine	1933: 995 cc side-valve 4-cylinder 4-stroke 1931-35: 1193 cc side-valve 4-cylinder 4-stroke 1935-37: 1073 cc side-valve 4-cylinder 4-stroke
Transmission	1931 – 37: 3-speed manual 1933 – 1937: 4-speed manual No synchromesh
Dimensions
Wheelbase	2,286 mm (90.0 in)
Length	3,215 mm (126.6 in) - 3,500 mm (140 in)
Width	1,425 mm (56.1 in)
Height	1,585 mm (62.4 in) – 1,650 mm (65 in)
Chronology
Predecessor	Opel Laubfrosch 4/20
Successor	Opel Kadett

The Opel 1.2-litre is a small car manufactured by Opel between 1931 and 1935. The 1.2-litre was replaced in 1935 by the Opel P4 which was broadly similar but employed a new engine and continued in production till December 1937. For just one year, in 1933, the manufacturer also offered the Opel 1.0-litre which was an Opel 1.2-litre with a smaller engine. The Opel 1.2 litre replaced the last version of the Opel Laubfrosch and was itself first complemented and then effectively replaced by the more roomy Opel Kadett which had itself already entered production in 1935.

Opel was Germany’s top auto-producer throughout the 1930s. Between 1932 and 1936 this model was the manufacturer’s top seller.

The Opel 1.2-litre entered production in July 1931. Conceptually and technically it closely resembled the Opel 1.8-litre which had been launched six months earlier, the two models even sharing identical cylinder dimensions. However, the 1.8 engine included six cylinders where as the 1.2 came with only four. Control over Opel had been purchased by General Motors in 1928 and the 1.2 model was developed in America, with the need for efficient inexpensive production built into the development process. The wheelbase would be considered a little short for this class of car, but there would be no arguing with the aggressive pricing strategy that Opel were able to pursue with the 1.2-litre.

Opel naming conventions had hitherto followed the normal German practice of giving each model a two number name in which the first number represented the car’s tax horsepower and the second number represented its actual (metric) horse power. The car’s predecessor had been sold as the Opel 4 / 20 because its tax horsepower would have been 4 and its "actual" horsepower 20 PS (15 kW; 20 hp) The Opel 1.2 was an early example of a new naming convention whereby the car was simply named according to the engine size in cc, rounded to the nearest 100cc and then divided by 1,000. Although Opel themselves would not always follow this convention faithfully, it was nevertheless a naming convention which became popular with auto-makers in several European countries in the ensuing decades as “Tax horsepower”, differently calculated in each country, became ever less relevant and less widely understood.

The 1193cc side-valve engine delivered a claimed maximum output of 22 PS (16 kW; 22 hp) which in 1933 increased a little to 23 PS (17 kW; 23 hp). published top speed was 85 km/h (53 mph), and in the case of the slightly heavier “Regent” bodied version 82 km/h (51 mph). Transmission of power to the rear wheels took place via a three speed manual gearbox without synchromesh. From 1933 a four speed option became available, although the three speed transmission continued to be the standard offering on the lower specification cars throughout. The brakes were controlled via a cable linkage and at this stage operated on the drive shaft.