Editing Opel (section)

===Logo===
{{Unreferenced section|date=July 2013}}
[[File:Old Opel logo.jpg|thumb|1862: Adam Opel's initials]]
[[Adam Opel]] began his manufacturing venture in Rüsselsheim, Germany, in 1862, initially producing sewing machines. To represent the brand, the earliest known logo featured a bronze "A" for Adam and a red "O" for Opel—his initials forming the foundation of the company's visual identity.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fitzgerald |first=Craig |date=2018 |title=Opel’s Bechromed Blitz |url=https://www.hemmings.com/stories/opels-bechromed-blitz/ |website=Hemmings}}</ref>

In 1866, Opel expanded and started to produce bicycles. Around 1890, the logo was completely redesigned. The new logo also contained the words "Victoria Blitz" (referring to Lady Victory; they were certain of the triumph of their bicycles). The word "Blitz" (English: lightning) first appeared back then, but without a depiction.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=admin |date=2023-01-16 |title=Opel Logo and sign, new logo meaning and history, PNG, SVG |url=https://logohistory.net/opel-logo/ |access-date=2025-04-13 |website=logohistory.net - logohistory.net |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[File:Das-Opel-Auge in-guten-Haenden LWS2577.jpg|thumb|1910: the blue eye]]
Another redesign was commissioned in 1909. The new logo was much more spirited and contained only the company name Opel. It was placed on the motorcycles that they had started to produce in 1902, and on the first cars which were produced in 1909.

In 1910, the logo was the shape of an eye, and it was surrounded by laurels, with the text "Opel" in the centre.<ref name=":0" />

From the mid-1930s to the 1960s, passenger cars carried a ring which was crossed by some kind of a flying thing pointing to the left, which in some form could be interpreted as a [[zeppelin]], the same flying object being used also as a forward-pointing [[hood ornament]]. In some versions, it looked like an arrow; in others, like an aeroplane or a bird.

Besides the hood ornament flying through the ring, Opel also used a coat of arms in various forms, which mostly had a combination of white and yellow colours in it, a shade of yellow which is typical for Opel until today. One was oval, half white and half yellow. The Opel writing was black and in the middle of the oval symbol.

The origin of the lightning in the Opel logo lies in the truck Opel Blitz (German ''Blitz'' = English "lightning"), which had been a commercial success, widely used also within the [[Wehrmacht]], Nazi Germany's military. Originally, the logo for this truck consisted of two stripes arranged loosely like a lightning symbol with the words "Opel" and "Blitz" in them, in later, 1950s models simplified to the horizontal form of lightning which appears in the current Opel logo. <ref name=":0" />The jag in the lightning always follows the original from the "Opel Blitz" text stripes, in the form of a horizontally stretched letter "Z".

By the end of the 1960s, the two forms merged, and the horizontal lightning replaced the flying thing in the ring, giving way to the basic design which is used since then with variations. Through all its variations, this logo is simple and unique, and both easily recognisable and reproducible with just two strokes of a pen.

In the 1964 version, the lightning with a ring was used in a yellow rectangle, with the Opel writing below. <ref name=":0" />The whole logo was again delimited by a black rectangle. The basic form and proportions of the Blitz logo have remained unchanged since the 1970 version, which made the lightning tails shorter so that the logo could fit proportionately within a yellow square, meaning it could be displayed next to the 'blue square' General Motors logo. In the mid-1970s, the Vauxhall "Griffin" logo was, in turn, resized and displayed within a corresponding red square, so that all three logos could be displayed together, thus signifying the unified GM Europe.

<gallery caption="Evolution of hood ornament flying through ring">
File:Opel olympia 1935-1937.JPG|Hood ornament of the Opel Olympia (1935–37)
File:Opel-z-37.jpg|alt=1937: Hood ornament flying through the ring|Hood ornament flying through the ring (1937)
File:1937 Opel Gläser Cabriolet (only 2 built) IMG 3535 - Flickr - nemor2.jpg|Hood ornament of a 1937 Opel car, typical for many other Opels at the time
File:Milestoned's photostream - 003 - Logo-in-Reserverad.jpg|Logo on spare wheel cover of a 1938 Kapitän
File:Opel Kapitän '51 (1951-53) am 2009-10-13 Heck nur-Logo.jpg|Logo on the rear of a 1951 Kapitän
File:Opel Kapitän 1959 01 nur-Logo.jpg|1959 Opel Kapitän
</gallery>

<gallery caption="The lightning of the Opel Blitz replacing the hood ornament">
File:2011-09-30 Bonn Polizeiauto Deutschlandfest (Logo-und-Grill).jpg|alt=early 1950s Opel Blitz with words in horizontal lightning|Early 1950s Opel Blitz with words in horizontal lightning
File:1961 Opel 1 75 pic1 Logo-only.jpg|1961 Opel Blitz with stylised horizontal lightning
File:Opel Blitz 2,1T (1968) pic2 Logo-only.jpg|Basic form of current logo on a 1968 Opel Blitz
File:Opel Kapitän B BW 1 (1969) Logo-only.jpg|Lightning in ring on a 1969 Opel Kapitän
File:Opel Logo Handel 1970.svg|alt=The 1970-1987 version, the "Opel" script was dropped in 1981.|The 1970-1987 version, the "Opel" script, was dropped in 1981.
File:OPEL 2002 logo.png|Opel logo (2002–2007)
File:Opel logo.svg|Opel logo (2009–2017)
File:Opel-Logo 2017.png|alt=2017-2021: Opel logo|Opel logo (2017–2020)
File:Opel logo 2020.svg|alt=Since 2020: Opel logo|Opel logo (2020–2023)
File:Opel logo 2023.svg|Opel logo (Since 2023)
</gallery>