Patina extreme
09/07/2021
It was March 1956 when a brand new Opel Olympia Caravan was registered for road use for the first time. It served its first owner faithfully for 20 years, then changed hands. To this day, it has almost always been registered.
In 1977, the Opel was put up for sale, with a fresh MOT and completely cleaned. The Rüsselsheim car should have cost DM 500, but nobody wanted to buy it.
Instead of throwing the car away, it simply continued to be used, e.g. as a construction vehicle. In 1978, the Caravan was spotted at the first "Autos Avus Attraktionen" AAA trade fair in Berlin in 1978 (the vehicle behind the Beetle, we would like to thank Joachim Quednau for the contemporary photo).
The Opel was no longer maintained, as it was now considered worthless.
After many years, the owner decided to leave the caravan in its "true original condition", with the original technology and signs of use, dents, rust and dirt. Several times it was threatened with being taken off the road, but the owner remained loyal to the caravan.
And so it is still on the streets of Kreuzberg today, roadworthy and with a valid MOT sticker. With its extreme patina, it represents an extreme example of mobile cultural heritage.
You can see it this week at the IAA Mobility in Munich in Hall B4. Incidentally, no other hall has more cars than Hall B4 and almost all of them are powered by an internal combustion engine!
