The arrival of the first generation Opel Astra on the market could not fail to build on the great success of the Opel Kadett Cabrio by Bertone, of which around 55,000 examples were produced from 1987 to 1992 at the famous Italian coachbuilder’s plant in Grugliasco, just outside Turin. The new Opel Astra-F was also to be available in a cabriolet version obviously designed by Bertone himself. And so it did. You could almost touch the sky with one finger with the Opel Astra-F Cabrio presented thirty years ago as a world premiere at the Geneva Motor Show in 1993 and on sale since late September of that year in Italy. All you had to do was press the button located between the front seats on the central tunnel to raise the hood and discover the third dimension. If it then cooled down or threatened to rain, the electric mechanism would just as easily reposition the soft top exactly in place in the short space of just 15-20 seconds.
These were just some of the consequences of the technical progress and long-standing collaboration in the open-top car sector between the German manufacturer and Carrozzeria Bertone in Grugliasco (Turin). “The designer knows how to imagine in his work the product that doesn’t yet exist,” explained Nuccio Bertone thirty years ago. “He responds in advance to trends in market taste that perhaps are not yet officially emerging, but which must be intuited. It perceives before others what no research institute can ever guarantee’. Thus was born a classic-looking cabriolet, comfortable for four people that, despite lacking the roll-bar typical of the previous Opel Kadett Cabrio, ensured maximum safety for its occupants.
The standard equipment of the Cabrio version included the same integrated safety system that was inherent in all Opel Astra-Fs and which included double steel bars inserted in the doors to protect against side impacts, front seatbelt pre-tensioners and anti-slip seats. ABS and ‘full-size’ driver’s side airbags were available as options. Contributing to active safety was the road holding and handling of the Opel Astra-F Cabrio whose front McPherson strut suspension and compound torsion bar at the rear, although derived from that of the corresponding 4-door saloon version, had special springs and settings.
