Under her management and controlling interest Opel transformed from manufacturing sewing machines and bicycles to automobiles.

In 1869, her father, Friedrich Scheller, won 100,000 Thalers in the Lottery of the Duchy of Brunswick which he split between his surviving ten children.

Sophie Opel invested her stake in the company of her husband which ultimately led to the purchase of a new steam engine.

Her sisters Dorothée and Elise Scheller also invested in the Adam Opel works in Rüsselsheim and she managed the transformation from sewing machine and bicycle production to an automobile factory.

They resided on the industrial land of the factory in Rüsselsheim and had five sons; Sophie Opel died on October 30, 1913, from heart failure aged 73.