Opel Blitz

[claudiu1988]

Here is what I found yesturday, the truck hasn't been moved for 60 years.

I would like to buy it, but I don't know how much it is worth?

[VAMPIRE V12]

thats amazing if you get it fancy like taking me on ride?

LOL


Alex

[CMc]

What a find! Values are always difficult things to assess with old vehicles, possibly even more so than with some other historical artifacts.

Do you know any of the lorry's history? As far as I can see, whatever it's done earlier in its life, it's ended its life as a civilian lorry, as demonstrated by the colourscheme etc, which must have been quite attractive once. Reminds me a little of the colours of a firm my Grandad used to drive for. One potential issue is that Opel and Daimler Benz carried on making Blitzes for the civilian market after the war, and this might be one of those. Having said that I'm no expert on Blitzes and there may be ways of telling if this is a civilian model or military.

Getting back to values, I've never actually dealt with Blitzes before (my Grandad used to buy and sell old military vehicles at one point after the war, but that was well before my time, and the prices are very different now!) but I've been around old cars and lorries all my life so hopefully the drivel I'm about to type contain some useful insight for you!

Since Blitzes aren't my usual sort of thing, I've had to do a bit of online digging. Seemingly the precedent for buying a Blitz in need of heavy restoration is something like 1500-2000 euros, although that's just my impression from a quick internet search of previous Blitz restorations and how much the restorer paid for them

Given that it seemingly hasn't moved in decades (I wouldn't have said sixty years, it doesn't look as completely seized as I'd have thought would be the case, but still it has been there a long time.) the lorry's going to be quite seized up and corroded in places, plus there appear to be a lot of missing parts, and even many of the moving parts that remain are probably going to need replaced. At the end of the day, it's worth whatever a buyer's willing to pay for it, but I'd walk away for sure if the owner wanted anything more than two thousand pounds/euros or so, and even if that was the asking price I'd haggle as low as you can go.

It's a major project for sure, but if you decide to go for it, I wish you the very best of luck!

[Bebyko]

Hey Claudiu , nice to see a Romanian ! good find !

[PietvanHees]

Hi,

I found your pictures of the Opel Blitz. Carefull what you wish for, the engine is not the original, the steering gear looks odd, the front bumper seems from another vehicle. The rear end is not original too. The cab seems original, but is a lot of work. Seems that this truck has been working man many years after the war. The production of this type was until 1952. If this truck was from the last year it was produced they would have totally worn it down in 8 years. Chanses are it's (much) older or that it has not been retired as long as they say.

Value? If you ad up what you have to replace they should give it to you for free. But usually sellers of this kind of thing think they have struck a goldmine.

Hope this helps.

Bye,

Piet van Hees

[Berthier92]

The best way to discover whether it is military ot civilian, is to check the registration number welded on the firewall in the engine compartment. you can type this into a website on the net and it will give you its history, im currently restoring a Morris Minor Ute, and payed 2500 Euros for it, and it was in much better condition, Values are dificult to asses, especialy if you can only dertermine it from photos, but keep in mind what you need to buy for it, or what you need to replace, how much rust and if you have enough money, i would buy this Opel for maybe at most 800 Euro.

Cheers, Richard.

[Walkwolf]

I have to agree with the previous statements..............

A lot of work involved, and perhaps not so easy to get/find parts.
Least it has been stored under cover for some time.

Good luck if you do buy it !

[spaltring]

must be a after war one coz stearing has 3 arms war time has 4

[stuka f]

I knew a similar truck here in Belgium 7 or 8 years ago.The engine had been redone, not in order to restore it, but just to have a engine for mechanica students to learn about a engine.
But i left it where it was!
I did collect old cars in a previous live and learned a lot then.
It costs a lot of money!
cheers
|<ris

[Wagriff]

Sorry, but as had been said earlier, this truck is basically beyond restoration interest-in my opinion. It has been much altered over time and the amount of time alone to bring it up to specs would be outrageously prohibitive. As for the cost in money for parts and labor? If the parts could even be found or manufactured? It would take a Very wealthy man to see this project through to finish-and a wealthy man who did not care at all about seeing a return on his investment, as this truck even in minty running condition would be worth far less than the money put into it.