Neville your previously owned Opel Rekord

[008 Julian W]

Neville - What was UK Registration of the Opel Rekord Coupe you had imported via the UK and now owned by a woman on this forum - It seems very few have surived now days

The rariest model of this shape was the Opel Rekord Sprinter - I heard stories that only dozen were sold new in the UK as 2 of these were used as demo cars for the various British car magazines of the time as it believed only 1 surives -
Opel Rekord & Commodore coupes of this period are now very rare

What was registration of your later UK Opel commodore coupe

As you know a hobby of mine is documenting the contents of magazines from cover to cover i been doing this for 38 years of my age 50
I done most of Practical Classics 1981 to 1999 (working through gaps) of course this includes not only articles but all the discoveries and cars that come up for sale!
I covered The Automobile 1982-1989
CLassic & Sportscar 1982 to 1991 working through gaps and countless others
I done Autocar UK Sep 1947 to 8th June 1975 -
In the couese of my research where noted i note down reg number; chassis number and ownership details anything of interest concours winner etc

[001 Neville]

I don't have any note of the Rekord's original English rego. It may have been with the papers I gave to the new owner, but can't recall now. The Rekord Sprint was an identical shape coupe with twin carbs and 2.2 engine. I've got the details somewhere.




My UK Commodore B coupe was MMX 588L



to this when Alf had finished his revamp



I bet the old boy I bought it off would have a heart attack if he saw the new colours and 24V engine in there!

[197 Wolfgang H]

Maybe you will be able to find out more interesting information on my Opel Rekord. The registration plate is GT5338

The only info I got is that it was ordered by a NZ soldier new, whilst stationed in Singapore in 1968. It does make sense that it was delivered into Asia as the car has no heater system installed.

He brought the car back to NZ and it was apparently registered in Christchurch. The rego label indicates entry rego was 07/1974.
Apparently the car was sold after the first owner died in 1997.
When I got the Opel from the last owner Colm in Hamilton it still had a key label from Dr Heinz Classic cars on it.

It is a bid of a shame that I don't have the original ownership papers and I wondered if it ever ended up in a magazine.

To many people it is just an old car but I am surprised how many people in the Hotrod scene are interested to know more about it.

Cheers Wolfgang

[008 Julian W]

I gone through most of the NZ magazines in terms of documenting from cover to cover
they are Motorman from pretty much the very first one to 1977 No 2
There was an Opel Rekord for sale in a Motorman ex South Africa that I did not record the details around the 1970s but I believe that was Hal Kings Parents car as he confirmed to me they advertised in a Kiwi magazine (I worked for Hal King at Actix Networks in Wellington in 1998)
Autonews from 1968 (some early stuff not so much it mainly Newspaper originally)
No OPELS apart from ones imported from 1985
Weird thing there is NOT one Opel Manta test or driving Impression! - GM were pretty useless at promoting the vehicle!
All the AA magazines it started as A3 Newspaper from 1958 -2000
The only one that could have something in it and I documented very few of them as such a few in 70s and 80s would be NZ Hot Rod sometimes they do articles on unusual cars or some history not necessery all Hot Rod orientated - For example in 2000 they did an excellent history article that pretty much mentioned all the surivors of little knowns early 1950s Willys 2 door saloons oof only 150 odd came here.

They have produced 2 indexes latest one in Sep 1993 issue and Rob Campbell a hell a nice guy anf founder of the mag came me a copy of it which covered articles 1967-1993 no Opels are mentioned! as index was just the main articles its possible a small news story caption and photo would be in the magazine not recorded

My database directly I believe is the biggest and comprehensive undertaking in the world I done over 30 different magazines from cover to cover -hoping to these to year 2000 then put it on a CD for sale

Best Bet would be the Newspapers - they might have done a story on it - Papers Past which currently covers to the early 1940s are planning to cover later newspapers in the next few years heres hoping!

[001 Neville]

Maybe you will be able to find out more interesting information on my Opel Rekord. The registration plate is GT5338

The only info I got is that it was ordered by a NZ soldier new, whilst stationed in Singapore in 1968. It does make sense that it was delivered into Asia as the car has no heater system installed.

He brought the car back to NZ and it was apparently registered in Christchurch. The rego label indicates entry rego was 07/1974.
Apparently the car was sold after the first owner died in 1997.
When I got the Opel from the last owner Colm in Hamilton it still had a key label from Dr Heinz Classic cars on it.

It is a bid of a shame that I don't have the original ownership papers and I wondered if it ever ended up in a magazine.

To many people it is just an old car but I am surprised how many people in the Hotrod scene are interested to know more about it.

Cheers Wolfgang

There are some pretty cool Opels that have been rodded up .... seems to lend itself to the "tough" look

[001 Neville]

More pics of your Rekord from when Colm owned it, and we met up in Hamilton

[197 Wolfgang H]

Thanks for trying to find out more about the car.

I very much like the look of the yellow coupe that is in the photos. Would be great to built one of them with a fuel injected chevy V8, lower it and put on a set of BBS rims.

I will resist doing any of that to the old girl, the car is just too original to mess with it. I will put on a new exhaust system next week and that is about the extend of it to get ready for summer.

[001 Neville]

Did you know there was also a 2 door sedan and 3 and 5 door wagon shape, Wolfgang?








The "Black Widow", driven by Erich Bitter of Bitter Cars fame

and even a cabrio and stretched limo!




quite apart from the ambulance and hearse variations

I guess the Rekord was the Opel equivalent to the Ford Cortina, to which it does bear some resemblance from certain angles.

[197 Wolfgang H]

There are a number of interesting Opel's on Ebay in Germany at the moment.

Maybe one of these years I get a mate to buy a car and bring it over here, unfortunately I run out of space and my wife introduced a one out, one in policy.

[001 Neville]

unfortunately I run out of space and my wife introduced a one out, one in policy.

Yep, a real pain when they do that!

What is the car behind your Rekord?

[197 Wolfgang H]

It's a 1973 Plymouth Duster.

I got it from Los Angeles a couple of years ago.

It is a real handful to drive got a 360 mopar engine with twin 4barrels and a tunnel ram. Gearbox is a racing transmission with transbrake and 9inch true track diff.

Lost of noisy fun but sucks gas faster than you can put it in the tank.

[001 Neville]

Not too different in shape to the Rekord coupe, which is what caught my eye in the background!

Just seen there's another car on the ramp above the Corvette in your garage?