It was the early 1990s, and Opel wanted to enter the DTM, Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft, one of the hottest motorsport series of the era.
The company chose the rather respectable Opel Omega, a typical company car for middle managers. But first, 500 road-going examples had to be built and sold to the public for the model to be homologated and approved for racing.
The result was the Evolution 500, built by tuning specialist Irmscher and now one of the rarest Opel models in existence. In fact, only 321 cars were produced, rather than the required 500. Why? Someone probably knows, but we at Bilweb Auctions do not…
According to German owners’ clubs, around 140 of them are known to survive today.
No Evo 500 was sold new in Sweden, but our 1991 auction car arrived here in 2000 after being imported from Germany. The current owner bought it in 2008 and is part of Sweden’s large and enthusiastic Opel community, with extensive knowledge of his car.
For the most part, the Omega Evo 500 is a fairly discreet car – apart from the magnificent rear wing, designed in true 1990s style. It rose progressively as the speed increased, starting at around 70 km/h. Its maximum extension was 80 mm, although some sources claim 110 mm, and it was one of the most advanced active aerodynamic solutions fitted to a road car in the early 1990s.
The 3.0-litre straight-six under the bonnet is based on the standard car’s engine, but was tuned to produce 230 horsepower. It could accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 7.5 seconds and reach a top speed of 250 km/h. Those figures may sound modest today, but 35 years ago they were enough to raise plenty of eyebrows.
Read more about the car in our inspector Fredrik Nyblad’s description here: https://bilwebauctions.se/en/augustiauktion-2-2026/opel-omega-evolution-500-55151
The auction ends on 12 August, and the estimated market value is SEK 400,000–450,000.
