Opel 1.3 litre

Opel 1.3-litre
Overview
Manufacturer	Opel (General Motors)
Production	1934–1935
Assembly	Rüsselsheim
Body and chassis
Class	Small family car (C)
Body style	2-door saloon/sedan 4-door saloon/sedan 2-door Cabrio-Limousine (soft topped saloon/sedan) 2-door Cabriolet with four seats but two side windows also offered in “bare chassis” form
Layout	FR layout
Powertrain
Engine	1288 cc side-valve 4-cylinder 4-stroke
Transmission	4-speed manual No synchromesh
Dimensions
Wheelbase	2,474 mm (97.4 in)
Length	4,225 mm (166.3 in)
Width	1,475 mm (58.1 in)
Height	1,595 mm (62.8 in)
Chronology
Successor	Opel Olympia 1.3

The Opel 1.3-litre is a small car manufactured by Opel. Production commenced in January 1934, although a few (officially 2) pre-production cars had been built during the final part of 1933.

More than two thirds of the 1.3-litres produced were produced in the single year of 1934, but the car continued to be manufactured until October 1935 by which time its successor, the innovative unitary bodied Opel Olympia, had already been in production for some six months. During its brief production run, the Opel 1.3-litre was a big seller, with 19,840 of the cars produced in 1934 alone, representing the equivalent of 15% of the overall German auto-market, though even the 1934 volume never toppled Opel’s own 1.2-litre from its top spot in the market place.

The 1.3-litre can be seen both as a potential successor and as complementary to the popular Opel 1.2 litre, though production of both cars was formally ended in the Autumn of 1935. The 1.3-litre, developed by General Motors in North America, was like its predecessor engineered with ease of manufacture in mind. The car was designed around a new “torsion resistant” box frame chassis and featured a fashionably streamlined body that incorporated, at the back, an unusually large (by the standards of the time) trunk/boot which could be accessed via a lid from outside the car.

The brakes were now hydraulically controlled, in place of the cable based system that had stopped the 1.2-litre, and which continued after 1935 to be fitted on the upgraded version of the smaller model, the Opel P4.

The 1.3-litre accordingly embodied visible technical progress in several important respects. Another advance much trumpeted at the time but not uncontroversial in retrospect was the inclusion of “, also recently introduced by General Motors in North America. The suspension was based on the relatively complex Dubonnet suspension system for which General Motors had acquired a license, but the General Motors approach involved further developments that attempted better to harmonise the springing of the front and rear wheels. The system included an axle beam rigidly attached to the chassis frame which reduced the unsprung weight on the vehicle, and it came with the promise of a smooth ride, but on a car as small and (by North American standards) light as the Opel 1.3-litre, it attracted criticism for a loss of directional control, especially when the car was not driven in a straight line, while technically astute critics recorded that unless the front wheels were perfectly balanced each time a new tyre was fitted, directional stability was further and alarmingly compromised by savage vibrations travelling up the steering column. As the years continued to roll, the system was presumably refined and the criticisms addressed, but the Opel 1.3 litre was an "early adopter" and with a production run of less than two years, was evidently not in production for long enough to benefit from these developments.

...
Wikipedia