My 1971 Opel GT….. and The Angel?
Marshall Adame
June 06, 2009
In 1983 I purchased a 1971 red Opel GT. Some folks used to refer to the Opel GT as the "poor mans vet" because it so resembled the Corvette, just much smaller. I drove that car everywhere. I loved having it. Today in 2009 I still own it. It is sitting in my back yard rusting away.
Some time ago, during 1995 and 1996, I was working as an Aviation Logistics support representative (LSR) for a Aviation Services Company. I was assigned to an Air Force Reserve Base in Newburgh New York. From my home in North Carolina it took me about 11 hours to drive in my Opel, which smoothly made the trip many times over the course of that year.
On day while returning from a weekend at my North Carolina home to my studio apartment in Newburgh, New York, I had just made it through the Baltimore tunnel and over the bridge going North when I felt a hard thump which seemed to come from the engine of my Opel. A second later I heard a "tap, tap, tap, tap" sound coming from my engine. I knew that I had blown a push rod in the engine and that I would have to stop very soon. I recall that I had already passed the first exit after the bridge and was approaching the second exit which had a slight uphill incline to it. About half way up the incline my Opel began to sputter so I stopped the car on the ramp and walked up to the gas station which was right at the top of the freeway off ramp. It was an older type gas station and had a fruit stand on its shaded side.
The gas station attendant was standing just outside of the area where his cash register was located, as though he were getting a little fresh air, and he said "hi" as I walked into his station. I told him that I had broken down on the off ramp just below his gas station and asked if he could tow my car up to his garage and maybe fix it. He told me he could get the car brought up to the station and then asked me what kind of car I was driving. I said "a 1971 Opel GT". He laughed and said "I can´t work on an Opel GT; no parts, no gaskets". At that moment a voice rang out; "Did you say Opel"? I had not noticed the man who was at the fruit stand stocking it with fruit and vegetables. He was driving a white van with no markings to indicate his business, or company. The fruit stand was probably a one man business in any case I thought.
I looked over at the fruit stand guy and simply answered his question. "Yes, a 1971 Opel GT" I said. He walked over to where we were and said "Where is it"? I told him that it was just off the road halfway down the off ramp. "Come on" was all he said as he headed for his van. I followed and got in. He drove to the off ramp and then proceeded to back down the ramp until he was placed directly behind my Opel GT.
We both got out of his van and he headed right to the Opel and lifted the hood. He then got in the car, turned the key and seemed to listen intently. "You bent a push rod" he said and then walked to the back of his van and opened both doors. He pulled back a blanket from a small stack of things in the back of the van. When he pulled back the blanket, I could not believe what I was seeing. The blanket had been covering car parts. Lots of them. "You´re going to need this gasket set" he said as he displayed a brand new gasket set for a 1971 Opel GT. I could not believe this was happening. You´ll be needing these too" as he pulled out an entire set of push rods for a 1971 Opel GT. "Can´t replace just one; got to replace all of them on both sides" he said.
I just sort of stood there dumbfounded and not knowing what to say. He pulled out a tool box and carried it to the front of the Opel and began to dismantle my car right there on the off ramp. I watched him intently as he seemingly tore my car apart, yet I was not worried, or stressed about what was occurring. In an hour there was what seemed like a thousand parts on the ground around my car. Two hours passed, then three. I don´t really remember him doing the reassembly, but almost surprisingly he said to me "Kick it over". I jumped into the drivers seat, said a prayer and turned the key. The engine immediately started and I could not believe how great that engine sounded. My Opel GT had never sounded that smooth, or quiet in all the time I had owned it.
The man who had just spent almost four hours on the off ramp fixing my Opel GT with his tools and his spare Opel GT parts started packing his tool box with his tools and asked me to put all the old parts into his van. I did what he asked. My car was running and we were standing there looking at each other.
I said "My name is Marshall Adame and I most certainly expect to compensate you for this wonderful work". The man sort of stared at me like I was the strange one and said "Don´t worry about it". I assured him that I wanted to pay him for his services and he again said "no, don´t worry about it". I asked him if he had a card, or an address where I could send a thank you card. He said "don´t worry about it". He turned around and started to walk to his van and I asked him his name. He said "Hey look Marshall, its better like this", and he walked to his van and began to jump in it when I shouted to him; Hey! Are you an angel, or something? He kind of just looked at me with a big grin and said, "I don´t know…Maybe".
The stranger who had just fixed my Opel on an off ramp of I-95 got in his van, started it up and drove up the ramp. It took me a few more minutes to pick up the smaller pieces around the car, but I finally got in my Opel GT and headed up the ramp back to the gas station where this all started. I once again met the same gas station attendant and asked him about the man delivering the fruit to the fruit stand at the station. He told me that that particular man "was not the regular guy who comes here. Never saw him before". He went on; "the regular guy doesn´t drive a van, he drives a truck. I gave up and got my Opel GT back onto the highway going North to Newburgh NY. I had to get to the office the next morning.
To answer the question most of you reading this now have; No, I never saw him again and never knew who he was, not even his name. I like to think his name was David.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marshall Adame served in the U.S. Marine Corps for 22 years as an Aviation Logistician. He is a Vietnam veteran. He became an Aviation Management/Logistics Consultant in 1992. He worked in the Kuwait recovery of 1992 rebuilding the Kuwait F-18 Logistics program and was an Aviation Logistics Support Representative (LSR) throughout the United States until 1998.
He was the Senior Aviation Logistics Manager for Kaman Aerospace in their Egypt US Government Aviation programs and lived in Egypt from 1998 until late 2002.
Marshall went to Iraq in 2003 where he was the U.S. Coalition Airport Director for Basrah International Airport.
Later he was VP for Aviation development with a Commercial Services Corporation in Iraq where he lived and worked in the "Red Zone" of Baghdad.
In 2005 Marshall received a U.S. State Department Diplomatic appointment in Iraq and was a U.S. Advisor to the Iraqi Minister of Interior.
Later, as a State Department Official in Iraq, Marshall was assigned to Department of State Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT) where he was on the staff of the National Coordination Team (NCT) in Baghdad, Iraq overseeing PRT development throughout the country.
He returned to the United States in August 2006 after over three years in Iraq and is now the DRS-TSI Program Manager for the U.S. Army CECOM Reset program.
He is a member of the consulting groups, Gerson Lehrman Group and The Society of Industry Leaders. Marshall is also an artist member of BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc) where his music is cataloged.
Marshall attended the University of Maryland, NC State University and Carolina College. He is also a graduate of the Marine Corps Staff NCO Academy, the Navy Senior Aviation Logistics School, and the Marine Corps / State Department Embassy School.
Marshall and Becky Adame´s family home is in Jacksonville, North Carolina where Becky is a 3rd grade teacher. They have four children, Paul 37, Veronica 35, Billy 30 and Benjamin 26, and twelve grandchildren.
Billy and Benjamin are presently serving in the US Army and are both Iraq veterans. Billy was wounded in Battle about 20 miles North of Baghdad on July 2, 2006. Benjamin returned from his second 15 month tour in Iraq November 2008
marshall_adame@yahoo.com
Some time ago, during 1995 and 1996, I was working as an Aviation Logistics support representative (LSR) for a Aviation Services Company. I was assigned to an Air Force Reserve Base in Newburgh New York. From my home in North Carolina it took me about 11 hours to drive in my Opel, which smoothly made the trip many times over the course of that year.
On day while returning from a weekend at my North Carolina home to my studio apartment in Newburgh, New York, I had just made it through the Baltimore tunnel and over the bridge going North when I felt a hard thump which seemed to come from the engine of my Opel. A second later I heard a "tap, tap, tap, tap" sound coming from my engine. I knew that I had blown a push rod in the engine and that I would have to stop very soon. I recall that I had already passed the first exit after the bridge and was approaching the second exit which had a slight uphill incline to it. About half way up the incline my Opel began to sputter so I stopped the car on the ramp and walked up to the gas station which was right at the top of the freeway off ramp. It was an older type gas station and had a fruit stand on its shaded side.
The gas station attendant was standing just outside of the area where his cash register was located, as though he were getting a little fresh air, and he said "hi" as I walked into his station. I told him that I had broken down on the off ramp just below his gas station and asked if he could tow my car up to his garage and maybe fix it. He told me he could get the car brought up to the station and then asked me what kind of car I was driving. I said "a 1971 Opel GT". He laughed and said "I can´t work on an Opel GT; no parts, no gaskets". At that moment a voice rang out; "Did you say Opel"? I had not noticed the man who was at the fruit stand stocking it with fruit and vegetables. He was driving a white van with no markings to indicate his business, or company. The fruit stand was probably a one man business in any case I thought.
I looked over at the fruit stand guy and simply answered his question. "Yes, a 1971 Opel GT" I said. He walked over to where we were and said "Where is it"? I told him that it was just off the road halfway down the off ramp. "Come on" was all he said as he headed for his van. I followed and got in. He drove to the off ramp and then proceeded to back down the ramp until he was placed directly behind my Opel GT.
We both got out of his van and he headed right to the Opel and lifted the hood. He then got in the car, turned the key and seemed to listen intently. "You bent a push rod" he said and then walked to the back of his van and opened both doors. He pulled back a blanket from a small stack of things in the back of the van. When he pulled back the blanket, I could not believe what I was seeing. The blanket had been covering car parts. Lots of them. "You´re going to need this gasket set" he said as he displayed a brand new gasket set for a 1971 Opel GT. I could not believe this was happening. You´ll be needing these too" as he pulled out an entire set of push rods for a 1971 Opel GT. "Can´t replace just one; got to replace all of them on both sides" he said.
I just sort of stood there dumbfounded and not knowing what to say. He pulled out a tool box and carried it to the front of the Opel and began to dismantle my car right there on the off ramp. I watched him intently as he seemingly tore my car apart, yet I was not worried, or stressed about what was occurring. In an hour there was what seemed like a thousand parts on the ground around my car. Two hours passed, then three. I don´t really remember him doing the reassembly, but almost surprisingly he said to me "Kick it over". I jumped into the drivers seat, said a prayer and turned the key. The engine immediately started and I could not believe how great that engine sounded. My Opel GT had never sounded that smooth, or quiet in all the time I had owned it.
The man who had just spent almost four hours on the off ramp fixing my Opel GT with his tools and his spare Opel GT parts started packing his tool box with his tools and asked me to put all the old parts into his van. I did what he asked. My car was running and we were standing there looking at each other.
I said "My name is Marshall Adame and I most certainly expect to compensate you for this wonderful work". The man sort of stared at me like I was the strange one and said "Don´t worry about it". I assured him that I wanted to pay him for his services and he again said "no, don´t worry about it". I asked him if he had a card, or an address where I could send a thank you card. He said "don´t worry about it". He turned around and started to walk to his van and I asked him his name. He said "Hey look Marshall, its better like this", and he walked to his van and began to jump in it when I shouted to him; Hey! Are you an angel, or something? He kind of just looked at me with a big grin and said, "I don´t know…Maybe".
The stranger who had just fixed my Opel on an off ramp of I-95 got in his van, started it up and drove up the ramp. It took me a few more minutes to pick up the smaller pieces around the car, but I finally got in my Opel GT and headed up the ramp back to the gas station where this all started. I once again met the same gas station attendant and asked him about the man delivering the fruit to the fruit stand at the station. He told me that that particular man "was not the regular guy who comes here. Never saw him before". He went on; "the regular guy doesn´t drive a van, he drives a truck. I gave up and got my Opel GT back onto the highway going North to Newburgh NY. I had to get to the office the next morning.
To answer the question most of you reading this now have; No, I never saw him again and never knew who he was, not even his name. I like to think his name was David.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marshall Adame served in the U.S. Marine Corps for 22 years as an Aviation Logistician. He is a Vietnam veteran. He became an Aviation Management/Logistics Consultant in 1992. He worked in the Kuwait recovery of 1992 rebuilding the Kuwait F-18 Logistics program and was an Aviation Logistics Support Representative (LSR) throughout the United States until 1998.
He was the Senior Aviation Logistics Manager for Kaman Aerospace in their Egypt US Government Aviation programs and lived in Egypt from 1998 until late 2002.
Marshall went to Iraq in 2003 where he was the U.S. Coalition Airport Director for Basrah International Airport.
Later he was VP for Aviation development with a Commercial Services Corporation in Iraq where he lived and worked in the "Red Zone" of Baghdad.
In 2005 Marshall received a U.S. State Department Diplomatic appointment in Iraq and was a U.S. Advisor to the Iraqi Minister of Interior.
Later, as a State Department Official in Iraq, Marshall was assigned to Department of State Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT) where he was on the staff of the National Coordination Team (NCT) in Baghdad, Iraq overseeing PRT development throughout the country.
He returned to the United States in August 2006 after over three years in Iraq and is now the DRS-TSI Program Manager for the U.S. Army CECOM Reset program.
He is a member of the consulting groups, Gerson Lehrman Group and The Society of Industry Leaders. Marshall is also an artist member of BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc) where his music is cataloged.
Marshall attended the University of Maryland, NC State University and Carolina College. He is also a graduate of the Marine Corps Staff NCO Academy, the Navy Senior Aviation Logistics School, and the Marine Corps / State Department Embassy School.
Marshall and Becky Adame´s family home is in Jacksonville, North Carolina where Becky is a 3rd grade teacher. They have four children, Paul 37, Veronica 35, Billy 30 and Benjamin 26, and twelve grandchildren.
Billy and Benjamin are presently serving in the US Army and are both Iraq veterans. Billy was wounded in Battle about 20 miles North of Baghdad on July 2, 2006. Benjamin returned from his second 15 month tour in Iraq November 2008
marshall_adame@yahoo.com
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