In 1964, Opel released the latest versions of their luxury class Admiral, Diplomat and Kapitan saloons, all of them under the A Series label.
Generally known as the KAD series, the Kapitan was the entry-level version, the Admiral the “sandwich” and the Diplomat the most powerful and accordingly most luxurious of the three./p>
The KADs marked a brief return to GM’s roots with very strong US American-influenced styling, with the trio’s body line an almost complete copy of the top-selling Buick Special., although quite a bit smaller.
The typically conservative Western European who had the financial ability to afford a luxury sedan took to KADs much more enthusiastically than they had to the previous series, where the North American design influence was much stronger. The Series AKADs had a much clearer, symmetrical style.
The entry level of the KADs was the Admiral, powered by a 2.6-litre engine, and followed by the Kapitan with a 2.8 litre, with the most potent and luxurious being the Diplomat driven by an eight-cylinder 4638 cc engine, as used in GM’s Chevrolet Chevelle.
With that kind of power at its disposal, the Diplomat rivalled the most elegant saloons from their rivals, BMW and Mercedes Benz, and could hold its own very well on Germany's recently constructed autobahns.
All three KAD engine versions were matched up to the same four-speed automatic gearbox.
In 1967, Opel indulged themselves a little when they introduced a coupe version of the Diplomat, produced on their behalf by coachbuilders Karmann.
The KAD Series A gave a good account of themselves in sales during their four-year production run with the mid-range Admiral proving to be the best seller.
In 1969, the Opel Admiral, Diplomat, and Kapitan Series A were discontinued to be replaced by the very similar Series B KADs.
