Manta - Der Film (1991)

Manfred Grabowski, a 17-year-old apprentice, is taking driving lessons with Theo, an instructor who drives a Manta. To impress Tina, his fellow driving student, and his friend Sven, who are both in the Golf Club, he wants to buy a Golf GTI as soon as possible. He even delivers brochures to earn the money. On one of these delivery rounds, his friend Sven leads him to the squash center. Manfred impresses Tina, who had seemed arrogant until then, so much with his gentlemanly behavior that she becomes his girlfriend. The day before his 18th birthday, thanks to a puzzle solution submitted by his mother, he wins a souped-up Opel Manta of all things. Although he is embarrassed by the Manta, he has no choice but to pick Tina up in it, since his father has tied up his savings for two years. On the way to the disco and outside it, the two are mocked so much because of the car that Tina turns to Phil and goes home with him. Believing he has lost Tina to Phil, who wants to recruit her as a nude photographic model, Manfred angrily scratches Phil’s Golf’s hood and Tina slaps him. He speeds off into the night, stops at the old factory grounds, and douses his car with gasoline. Just before the flames from the gasoline-soaked fuse reach the car, it is saved from the fire by a mysterious black, three-axle Manta, which gently nudges it out of danger. At the wheel of the black Manta is Sascha, an auto mechanic whom Manfred had visited before placing a classified ad, hoping to trade the Manta for a Golf GTI. But the attempt to place the ad ends with Manfred being accepted into the Manta Club: the typist at the classified-ad desk also happens to be the club’s secretary, and promptly slips him an application form to sign. Although he only wants to get rid of his car, he is ceremoniously admitted after passing the theoretical and practical tests. But the celebration never takes place because of Phil’s interference. Phil’s attack on the Manta’s tires escalates into a brawl between the clubs. Driving instructor Theo calms tempers by proposing a “Golf versus Manta” race to settle the dispute—not without an ulterior motive, since he has by far the most powerful vehicle. But Sascha gets Manfred a place at the starting line in the mysterious 300-horsepower Manta. The race begins and seems lost when Phil forces Manfred off course and the Manta crashes into an excavator bucket. Tina asks Phil to stop so she can check on Manfred. When Phil refuses, they argue, and Phil’s Golf rolls over and bursts into flames. Manfred then pulls up at the accident site in the Manta, its side torn open and running on three wheels, and rescues Tina from the burning wreck. So although he does not win the race, he wins Tina’s affection and the respect of members of both clubs.