A Wehrmacht 1938 Opel Super 6 Cabriolet

The Opel Super 6 was in production 1937 and 1938, 46,453 being assembled.  A brief Wikipedia entry in English is here, but from there you can link to a longer entry in German.

World War 2 started on 1 September 1939, after production of Super 6s was completed.  Since the German military needed automobiles for use by staff (as did all other war participants), some cars had been purchased before the war and others were requisitioned after it began.

Paul Allen, the late co-founder of Microsoft, established what is now called the Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum, located at Paine Field in Everett, Washington, the site of the Boeing factory that builds 747, 777, and 787 aircraft.

That collection includes an Opel Super 6 staff car.  The museum's web site's page dealing with the car states:

"This machine, a 1938 Super 6 two-door cabriolet, was used to transport high-ranking officials near combat areas. Its license plate, with WH for Wehrmacht Heer, marks it as a staff car used by the German army.

"Staff cars were enticing targets for Allied fighter bomber pilots, who knew those riding inside could be of high importance in the German military command structure. As a result, the car’s civilian glossy paint scheme and chrome trim were painted over with drab colors to make them less visible from the air. At night, the cars operated with blackout headlights, designed to cast a diffused horizontal beam of light onto the roadway."

Below are images of Opel Super 6 cars along with photos I took of the one at the museum.

Gallery

The grille resembles that of the 1936 Chevrolet, also a General Motors car.

Another view.

Publicity images of an Opel Super 6 Cabriolet.

A Cabriolet seen from on high.

Wartime photo of a Cabriolet in military service.  Its license plate appears to be civilian, but the left fender has WH (Wehrmacht Heer) painted on it, designating it as an army car.  Its grille and bumpers are the same as those shown a few images above.

The museum's Opel Super 6 has a different grille and different front bumper than seen in the photos of civilian Super 6s.  It is possible that these items were customized after the military took possession.  An alternative possibility is that a limited number of Super 6s were purchased by the army in 1937 or 1938 and were provided these non-standard features by the factory because the army requested them.

That's a British tank in the background.

Note the landau irons on the canvas top.  The car has considerable ground clearance, but so do the civilian Super 6 Cabriolets shown above.

In the background are (left to right) a U.S. army ambulance, a navy Corsair fighter, and a German army half-track personnel carrier.