The Opel 2 Liter, also known as the Opel »6«, is an executive car that was manufactured by Opel. Produced from January 1934, the 2 Liter replaced the Opel 1.8 litre which had ceased production in November 1933. Production continued till June 1937, but the replacement model, the Opel Super 6, was already in production in November 1936, after which production volumes for the 2 Liter were very much diminished.
The Opel 2 Liter was noteworthy for the appearance in August 1934 of a long wheelbase version, available with several different six seater bodies. This was a rapid response to the appearance the previous year of a longer version of the Mercedes-Benz Typ 200 which had managed in a very short time to capture practically the entire German taxi business.
Like other Opels of the period the 2 Liter was designed and developed for Opel by the manufacturer's parent company, General Motors, in North America.
New chassis
The 2 Liter, like the smaller 1,3 Liter which appeared at the same time, came with a newly developed "Torsion resistant" box frame chassis with lateral reinforcement. The brakes were now controlled using a hydraulic mechanism. The suspension involved the new synchronous springing, a suspension based on the Dubonnet system for which General Motors in France had recently acquired the license. The General Motors version, which had been further developed by Opel's North American parent, provided a soft ride, but the suspension generated criticism of its impact on handing and control, especially in the early applications of the system such as that on the Opel 2 Liter.
Transmission of power to the rear wheels was achieved using a four-speed manual gear-box. There was no synchromesh. The car was fitted with conventional steel disc wheels, with perforated wheel discs (featuring a ring of holes between the hub and the tyre) replacing the plain discs in 1937.
The standard wheelbase was . A lengthened version of the Opel 2 Liter, with a wheelbase, appeared in August 1934, targeted unapologetically at taxi operators. It was no coincidence that a rival model was the longer wheelbase version of the Mercedes-Benz Typ 200 which since its appearance in 1933 had achieved impressive sales volumes in Germany primarily because of its popularity with taxi operators.
Engine
The 1932 side valve six cylinder engine was a bored out version of the unit used on the car's predecessor with which it shared its 90 mm stroke. The bore had been increased by 2.5 mm to 67.5 mm. A maximum output of at 3,300 rpm was claimed. Listed top speed was .
New bodies
The 2 Liter followed the trend of the time with a range of bodies that were fashionably streamlined. The standard bodies all came with a sloping tail that incorporated a boot which could be accessed from outside the car using a lid provided for the purpose.
When the car first appeared in January 1934 there the choice was between a four-door Iimousine (saloon) and a two-door, four-seater cabriolet with two side windows. These were priced aggressively at 3,600 Marks and 4,000 Marks respectively.
Later that year, in August 1934, the long wheel base version was launched with a range of bodies that included a six-seater Limousine (saloon), a six-seater (soft top) Cabrio-Limousine, a 6-seater Pullman-Limousne (with a more vertical back-end), a Torpedo-bodied Laundaulet and a Droschken-Landaulet. Although only the last of these spelled out the target market (Droschke meaning livery car, or taxi) in its name, all the various long wheel base Opel 2 Liters were designed with the taxi trade in mind. The least expensive of them, the four-door, six-seater long wheelbase Limousine came with a manufacturer's listed price of 4,800 Marks throughout the model's production period. A buyer determined to buy even the least costly Limousine-bodied Mercedes-Benz Typ 200s with a long wheelbase would have needed, in 1934, to find 5,700 Marks.