WW2 German Opel Kadett K38 staff car KM Clock

Description

Relic condition WW2 German Opel Kadett K38 Kilometres clock . Steel bezel and case , white faced. This clock is either for the “KJ38” or “K38” Spezial .Commandeered by the German Army for Staff Cars.

From December 1937 a modified front grill identified an upgrade. The 1,074 cc Opel 23 PS (17 kW) engine and the 2,337 mm (92.0 in) wheelbase were unchanged, with few differences between the cars for 1937 and those for 1938.^[8]

The manufacturer now offered two versions of the Kadett, designated the “Kadett KJ38 and the “Kadett K38” the latter also being sold as the “Kadett Spezial”. Mechanically and in terms of published performance there was little to differentiate the two, but the “Spezial” had a chrome stripe below the window line and extra external body trim in other areas such as on the front grill. The interior of the “Spezial” was also better equipped. To the extent that the 300 Mark saving for buyers of the car reflected reduced production costs, the major difference was that the more basic “KJ38” lost the synchromous springing with which the car had been launched, and which continued to be fitted on the “Spezial”. The base car instead reverted to traditional rigid axle based suspension similar to that fitted on the old Opel P4.

The base car was available only as a two-door “Limousine” (saloon). Customers looking for a soft-top “Cabrio-limousine” would need to specify a “Kadett Spezial”. For the first time Kadett buyers, provided they were prepared to choose a “Kadett Spezial” could also specify a four-door “Limousine” (saloon) bodied car, priced at 2,350 ℛ︁ℳ︁ as against 2,150 ℛ︁ℳ︁ for a “Spezial Cabrio-Limousine” and 2,100 ℛ︁ℳ︁ for a two-door “Spezial Limousine”.

The “Kadett KJ38” was intended to fill the market segment of the Opel P4, but the KJ38, priced at 1,800 ℛ︁ℳ︁, was more expensive than the P4 and its reduced specification left it with the image of a car for poor people (..Image des Arme-Leute-Autos..) at a time when economic growth in Germany was finally fostering a less minimalist approach to car buying.^[7] The “Kadett K38 Spezial” fared better in the market place: in 1938 and again in 1939 it was Germany’s top-selling small car. By May 1941 the company had produced 17,871 “Kadett KJ38″s and 56,335 “Kadett K38 Spezial”s.^[7]