Shortly after introducing the P4 passenger car in 1935, with its outdated frame construction and wood-and-steel body, Opel’s plant in Rüsselsheim unveiled a year later a significantly more modern car, dubbed the Kadett. Intended for mass production, it was to feature a simplified design, a low price, and be accessible to lower-income middle-class customers. Like the slightly larger Olympia OL38, the Kadett featured a partially self-supporting metal sedan body with two or four doors. The front featured a so-called synchronized suspension. Power came from a small, in-line four-cylinder engine with a displacement of nearly 1.1 liters and an output of 23 hp, familiar from the Opel P4. In 1938, a new Kadett K38 model was introduced, featuring a modified front end similar to the Olympia. Due to the end of P4 production, a simplified version, the KJ38 (Kadett-Junior), was also introduced, with a frame-based design. Due to the outbreak of war, Opel switched completely to war production, and the last Kadett rolled off the production line in 1940. A total of over 107,000 units of all versions were produced. After a few years, the Kadett, quite unexpectedly, returned to mass production, this time in the USSR. After the end of World War II, the Moscow MZMA plant launched production of the Moskvitch 400, a four-door Kadett K38. Along with the larger GAZ Pobeda, it became the first passenger car in the Soviet Union intended for individual customers.
Technical specifications:
Length: 3.8 m
Width: 1.38 m
Height: 1.46 m
Wheelbase: 2.34 m
Unladen weight: 740 kg
Drivetrain: In-line four-cylinder Opel petrol engine
Displacement: 1074 cm3
Power: 23 HP
Top speed: 98 km/h
Average fuel consumption: 7.8 l / 100 km
