The European late 50s to early 70s, the era of Americanophilia

The late 50s

In the 50s and 60s, Europe was in love with everything that came from the other side of the big pond. And of course that didn’t stop at their cars. In the movies, Hollywood showed us those giant landyachts, wobbling their way through cities filled with skyscrapers. And the European public wanted a piece of that. Surely those cars weren’t appropriate for our winding country roads, let alone the city centres.

That’s where some European brands, mainly the ones related to American car companies, jumped in and decided it would be a good idea to build cars which resemble American cruisers and later even muscle cars.

One good example for that would be the Opel Kapitän P 2,5 (1958-59, photo above). With a two-tone paintjob and enough chrome to blind you on a sunny day, it perfectly imitated American mid-size cars of the 50s, such as the Chevrolet Two-Ten or even the Bel Air.

Taking up little details like the chrome bars along the complete side and the rounded fenders with the model name written on it, makes it look even more American-ish.

The 60s

In the 60s it became even more. In 1967, the Corvette C3 was released and the world was astonished by the sleek design.

That was enough of a reason for Opel to task the same design team with an own design. That was the birth hour of the Opel GT, which was then released one year after the C3.

The form of the car’s body is extremely similar, just shrunken a bit. It gets almost ridiculous when you look at the cars’ rear ends.

Then in the mid 60s, with the introduction of the Ford Mustang, pony cars took over. The huge amount of sales in the US led to Ford’s idea of building a “pony car for the European market” in 1968.

The “European Mustang” was called Capri and instantly became the car to have for many European petrolheads of the time. Featuring a Cologne V6-engine instead of an American V8 and being a lot smaller, the car was considerably lighter than the Mustang. It was extremely nimble and in my opinion the most beautiful car Ford of Europe has ever built, maybe even Ford in general.

The early 70s

As a reaction to the Capri’s success, GM in 1970 decided that it would be time for a competitor. Since Chevrolet was barely active on the European market, it was Opel’s task once again to create a car that should defeat the Ford.

The car they came up with was the Manta.

Many might now ask why the Manta is part of this list, since it doesn’t really look that American, but it’s still worthy to be mentioned here. The Manta’s front end was more or less a copy of the Camaro. It featured the same pointy front, that became a trademark for the Camaro.

So, that’s all I wanted to say about this era. I hope it was at least a bit interesting to see and read. Thanks for your attention.