Photography Colin Mileman
Maybe it’s because the Superboss and I were contemporaries in my early days as a motoring writer, but the raucous little Opel holds a special place in my heart – as it clearly does for guys like Chris Davison who have dedicated many waking hours to ensuring its survival.
I thought that I had died and gone to heaven when my then editor, Geoff Dalglish, handed me the invite to the launch of the first 16-valve Kadett, which took place at Zwartkops and included laps of the track with some of Opel’s top racers. I vividly remember being chauffeured by Graham Blankfield in a Stannic Group N twolitre eight-valve Boss, an experience remarkable for the fact that not once in the lap did he brake with his right foot.
The first 16-valve Kadett became known as the Big Boss, but there was more in store and less than a year later the Superboss arrived. It was unleashed at Tarlton with the press pitted against each other down the dragstrip. Dalglish held tightly onto that invite, possibly because the spectacularly sexy Michelle Bruce (Miss SA 1989) was in attendance. She proved to be pretty handy away from the lights apparently, turning in low 16-second runs over a quarter-mile.
Any drag racer will tell you that a 16 for a four-cylinder, normally-aspirated front-drive production car is quick, but street drags had nothing to do with the birth of the ’Boss. Nope, it was simply about the maxim that what wins on Saturday sells on Monday – and in those days Delta pinned its marketing on production car racing.
Two names were key to the success of the Superboss but only one got the glory. It underpinned the track career of Mike Briggs and he went on to win epic battles against arch rival Tony Viana in a BMW 325iS. But the mastermind behind the Superboss was Rolf Mentzel, then Delta’s manager of product engineering and quality assurance.
Mentzel headed overseas with an extensive shopping list after being instructed to make sure Briggs retained his hard-fought ‘A1’ race number at the end of the 1990 season. This was in the face of the looming challenge of the lightweight iS and the rumoured (and ultimately stillborn) Spitze Golf. He visited tuning and suspension specialists Irmscher, camshaft expert Schrick as well as Aluette, who made some very tasty lightweight wheels.
To shorten a long story, Mentzel returned with hot cams, springs, ventilated discs (from the Opel Omega sedan) and wheels with a distinctive five-spoke pattern and a powder-coated anthracite finish. What he didn’t find overseas was a suitable limited-slip diff or an exhaust system.
André Verwey, already acclaimed as a brilliant engineer and innovator, was approached to build a differential and he came up with a design which allowed for two settings – road and track. Needless to say, all cars were sold with the higher preload though dealers could theoretically change it to the more forgiving position if the customer so desired. The same applied to the camshaft phasing, which could be set to give less overlap and a smoother idle. But a Superboss without a lumpy, slightly fluffy idle wouldn’t be a Superboss.
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opel jou doring
i own a 1992 2l 16v 4door opel kadett and man what a car opel is just the best of the best no contest
opel
Opel for ever!!!!!!!!!!
The Superboss/Opels
I've always heard from people that the Superboss is a wonderful car, unfortunately I still eagerly waiting to drive one. I'm currently driving around in a an Opel Astra 200i. I have to say I'm impressed with the car, to such an extent that I don't want to part with it... Opel really rocked back in the days
Supie!!
There can and ALWAYS will only be one:"SuperBoss"!!!!! Even after 20 years still one off the fastest cars off the production line!!!!
GSI
Great feedback folks.
I am the 'nut' owner of abovementioned Superboss , it's been with me around 9yrs now. It was the same one used in the Corsa OPC shootout. No doubt the Corsa OPC's strides in technology will ensure it gets around the track slightly quicker. On the day of that test, Grant Mcleery perhaps drove my car at 90%, he respects that it was not a dealer demo car and treated it accordingly, the Corsa OPC he drove the &^%$%s off it.
However, my latest creation in topCar Feb (yellow Group N Superboss) is quite a few seconds a lap faster than the Corsa OPC, in fact it's quicker around "Z' than my Astra OPC.
Pop along to Zwartkops on 27th Feb, i'll be entering my first race with the Group N GSI in Superhatch 2010.
2.0 8v CLI
Another great car from Opel, owned this baby for an eventfull 5 years. The car was parked off for atleast 9 months before I got it sold.After a quick cleanup and some fuel it was alive once again and gave me a wicked 205km/h average speed that night from Mpumalanga to Gauteng. Ahhh what a machine!!!
The Legend
Lol at superboss with electronic dash!!!
Clintonv
I had a
1989 GSE 1.6
1991 GSI 8v
1992 CD16v
The CD 16v was a Big Boss set up with 5 doors (hatch back) in Metalic Blue. I did 330,000km and had to sell as parts were an issue. Modded by CRD Wynberg and redone 5000km later by Steves Auto Clinic Kyalami (Sued CRD for damages)
Lifters made a noise but before all the work, it ran forever. Back in the day, did JHB to DBN in 2hr 58m (M2 East to Tolgate Bridge DBN). Ave speed 185km/h, that same night I got passed by a 325iS after the Tugela Toll
I miss the"toy"
Old Opel vs new
I think the superboss was a great car for its time, if you look today there are few cars that can get close to it and the new OPC is not really that much faster. One would think that 20 years later the technology would have improved... The same can be said for VW, the Golf 3 was actually faster then the Golf 4, and the same goes for Honda, the old VTEC is faster then the new one. It looks like the car manufacturers are all going down the drain...
Nismo
Although I loved it when i was growing up, when i got a bit older & learned more about cars & performance, i realised how overated it was ! Credit to slowpel for selling what is basically a tuned car (like an M) off the showroom floor though. However, when doing the same mods / specs to other 2.0 16v engines, e.g. the Nissan SR20DE, you actually get more power than the Supie produced. However, in it's time, with that state of tune, combined with light weight & LSD, it was legendary ! And to the idiot talking about nm/litre for Jap motors - go read about the Nissan SR16VE - built in the early 90's & more bhp/litre AND torque/litre than even a new M5 V10 !
SupeyOwner
I own a black Superboss, had it for the past two years and albeit she needed some TLC ive had some unfogettable km's behind the wheel
Ive yet to drive something that gives the thrill of aSuperboss, pure brute power Opel FTW
@ SuperGrandpa - car tests dont always give the full story, remember that. Ive held my own with corsa opc's and believe you me they wont whip a superboss, even though they are 20years older they still out perform the new "hot hatches"
An Icon Indeed
I own an Opel Astra 200ie 16v 115kw. The same as the one that was used in the super boss. I can't let go of the car. The drive and the power is addictive. Great cars and engines Indeed!\
The Real Superboss
What A Car ..........If you owned one with a digital dash it was not a Superboss. I owned one of the first ones that came out in 1990 with the cosworth head. Digital dashboard was long gone by that time.
Those were the days!
When motoring journalists wrote about handling and pedal spacing instead of squeaks, rattles and NCAP ratings, people actually bought and made cars for the thrill of the drive *sigh*
Super engine, thats about it
The engine used in this car and even the 'normal' 110kW version were the very first production engines achieving 100nM per litre. Many cars, expecially the Japanese still do not deliver 100nM per litre. Really an awesome and reliable engine. The rest of the car was shacky though, especially the interior..
Superboss
I had the opportunity of driving one with the Cosworth head. It was the days of Tony Viana vs Mike Briggs. I took my cousin (really) around Chapmans Peak, reached 160km/h just before the peak while my cousing almost blacked out from the g-forces!!! Then I brought it up to JHB in 9 hours which included a 223km/h run near Three Sisters!!!
16v 2.O boss
I had a Boss 2.0 then when that was written off by a drunk driver i upgraded to the 16v version. To this day after owning many nice cars that is the car i will never forget. it was awesome, nothing could touch it performance wise. It was truly the Boss. Man those were good days
God Of all cars Superboss
I had a fake superboss 1600 GSE but specs(outside) like a superboss. Man did everyone wants to dice when you get to a robot. Drove the original and what an experience with an expensive R2500 tag for speeding. Was worth it though:-)
God Of all cars Superboss
I had a fake superboss 1600 GSE but specs(outside) like a superboss. Man did everyone wants to dice when you get to a robot. Drove the original and what an experience with an expensive R2500 tag for speeding. Was worth it though:-)
WHAT A CAR
yeah i owned one with the coswoth head and digital dashboard oh what a car
pity opel's just gone down from there
The Boss Lady
More importantly - anybody know what happened to Michelle Bruce? She was one awesome babe!
SuperGrandpa
A back to back test with the OPC Corsa was done last year and the Corsa had no problem giving the SuperGrandpa an old age home ass whipping...LMAO...Basically the Superboss was a foot note to OEM's how NOT to build production cars...why you think nothing followed?
The Boss
I grew up respecting Opel cars, and there was one car which stoop up against most cars for me which is Superboss. things got worse in time and opel have proven that they are the best there was and the best there is with the introduction of kaddet ts and calibra. now things have gotten worse now, Opc kick ***.
A true icon
This is a tru classic,opel was only able to mach this standard with the new astra opc+.
The Superboss
My dad had one of these when I was in my early 20's it was as wild as hell - I managed to ride it a few times, racing up and down the M5 between Muizenberg and Claremont. I took out everything in sight. My Mom knew nothing about cars and did not even realize when he traded the boss for the superboss (it was our secret)...they were both bright yellow. What a car !
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