I'm thinking of an Opel that I once drove, and its not a GT nor a Kadett.

What is it?

Opel Commodore?

Nope.

Calibra?

Rekord?

No and No.

Manta?

That's the one!

How 'bout the "Buick-Opel"? Or are you lumping that in with Kadett (Kadett C by Isuzu)...

My dad's first Buick...1978 Buick Opel...beige, 4-door, automatic. He traded his 1976 Plymouth Volare Coupe with a 318 and 4-speed manual for it...

See above.

One of my favorite Opels from the past.

Really nice little coupe.

I liked it too, except that the one I drove had almost no brakes at all.

What did they call the Manta with the blacked out hood?

I'm not sure, but the one in the pic I posted is called a "K".

I have a vague memory of a special name for them, but I can't remember more.

I found the name: OPEL MANTA RALLYE

I guess the Manta was a T-body, like the Kadett, Chevette, and I'm sure other variants worldwide. I always liked them. Were they competition for the Ford Capri of that vintage, or was the Capri a step above?

Just got done reading quite a bit about them. Yes, Rallye was the name of the black hood model.

Yes, they were competition for the Capri (I owned one of those!) and they outhandled it, but the Capri won the power race.

These cars continued in Europe until 1988! The updated ones are something like a Chevy Monza in appearance.

The ones sold here were very similar to the GT, not the Kadett.