Manta White

Manta White, a white for the Opel Manta coupe

A white shade carrying the name of the Opel Manta. On this subject the white appears mainly where a light ground is needed for the stripes and lettering of rally graphics, but it holds up just as well on the production version of the coupe without a single decal.

The real subject

The Opel Manta was sold from 1970 as a sportingly cut coupe of the middle class. What interests modelers on it above all, though, is the rally version 400, homologated into Group B in 1983. Against the four-wheel-drive cars of Audi, Lancia and Peugeot it lined up with rear-wheel drive and an inline four-cylinder only, yet in national events, mainly British and Belgian ones, it kept on winning even after the works competition had outgrown it in power. The angular silhouette with its short tail and flared fenders is therefore represented by a whole range of period schemes.

Where the white suits a model

• bodies of Group B coupes as a ground under period graphics
• wide fenders and sills, where the light surface breaks at the edge of a flare
• the production version of the coupe without rally equipment
• white surfaces of period accessories, such as trailers, service cars and course markings

Who the shade pays off for

Modelers focused on Group B and on the period when four-wheel drive met rear-wheel-drive cars in rallying. With them it will be used on the main car as much as on the scene around it, because a light tone holds a whole diorama together. The rally version had a number of outer panels of fiberglass and fitted fender flares, so several edges arise on a model where the white ends and the lip of another surface begins.