In Oklahoma City, the original home of the “Street Outlaws” television franchise and a mecca for high-horsepower cars, you never know what might pull up beside you at a stoplight. In the greater OKC area, if you hear the rumble of horsepower and a modestly-sized, bright orange something hits your peripheral vision, you just might be getting a visit from Fred Werner and his beautiful street/strip Opel GT.
Werner is a self-taught craftsman of everything race car construction. Not only has it provided him with an assortment of cool cars over the years, but it’s segued into a role with “Street Outlaws” racing series, “No Prep Kings.” Werner works with Chuck Parker and his “Chuck 55” No Prep Kings racing team. Fred is not only part of the team on the road, but also spends considerable time keeping Parker’s shop humming between events.
The Opel is mostly steel, other than the Class Glass fiberglass front end. “The Opel was built over the last two years, including all the bodywork that I did myself. Following that, my friends at Bakers Body Works shot the Sunset orange metallic,” says Werner.
Big things in small packages is what the Opel GT has stood for in drag racing for decades. Fred Werner’s new piece takes that same ideology to both the streets and strip.
With all functioning lights, turn signals, and even factory glass, Werner’s Opel is a licensed street dazzler; but just like all of his cars in the past, it sees both dragstrip and street racing as the mood hits him. “It is nice to come home to my Opel when we get back from being on the road and just go for a drive,” jokes Werner.
The 25.1 spec chassis was built in his own shop. Fred started doing work for himself years ago, but others started seeing his craftsmanship. He soon got into creating all kinds of chassis and race car fabrication “to make a little extra money,” he remembers.
“Back in the day, I had a Subaru Brat that I built a tube chassis for, and put a small-block Chevy in it,” Werner remembers. “That’s the first car I entirely built from zero. That thing ran high 5-second e.t.’s in the 1/8-mile, which was kind of unheard of in that time in a street car.”
Two VS racing turbochargers settle in nicely ahead of the aluminum radiator. Combined with Holley Performance EFI, a nitrous system, and a methanol injection kit, the 5.3 LS-platform engine produces plenty of power.
Strange Engineering components handle a majority of the Opel’s suspension…
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