VERY SPECIAL ! -- For an American to be Aware of Not Ony the Very Cute Opel GT, But also the Beautiful Opel Manta (A), and the handsome '70s Rekord/Commodore Coupe. All 100% G.M.!! Thank you twice ! -- For Showing these to an American audience, AND to a Younger audience.
I had a '74 Manta. What a great car it was. There was nothing I couldn't fix on that car. GM was still using Opels until recently when they closed down. The last Buick Regals were Opel Insignias with Buick badges.
The main problem with the British and European cars in that class was that their engines were too small. It meant they lacked the smooth luxury power of American cars. They were beautiful looking cars though.
Hi ! The Opel Rekord D was introduced as "Rekord II" - to avoid it to be identified as a Rekord Diesel. What Bob Lutz did *not* mention, was a factory prototype of the very same Commodore B with a 305 V8 engine. This idea then migrated to Holden in Australia and they later created the Holden Commodore based on the Rekord D successor Rekord E while merging it with a Commodore-successor Senator A front-end and installed V8s. Rekord and Commodore however differ even more. The Rekord has 4-bolt axles and the Commodore 5-bolt. The axles and brakes on the Commodore were bigger and "more substantial" to cope with the six cylinder engines. Those were the CIH (camshaft in head) and essentially the 4 cylinders and 6 cylinders share a lot parts. The automatic gearboxes were THM180 built at GM in Straßburg. Opel offered in July 1972 a 2.1 liter 60 hp 4 cylinder Diesel for the Rekord, which was reduced to 2.0 liters / 56 hp for the italian market (due to the tax regulation in Italy at that time where cars over 2 liter got a 50% "luxury tax" addition to the normal tax.). That was Opels first official Diesel personal car. The Rekord D was produced under various names and designations in South Africa, South Korea and - Iran. Thanks for sharing !
@@stefanmzenhardt2891I once had a Diplomat B 2.8H (twin carb gasoline guzzler) and had the Senator A1.5 2.5E (the one between the A1 and the A2, which got the rear "light band" and numberplate in the bumper). I'd never owned an Omega or Senator B ... Gets me to the question: why not ? Hmm ...
I'll even give props to AMC, who's styling you either loved or hated, but I thought the Pacer was cool AF when it released, and my babysitter's Gremlin was the coolest care I'd ever ridden in.
Bob Lutz is my hero, when I was 11-13 years old my dream car was the 1994-1996 Impala SS, when it was cancelled Car and Driver did a feature on the Holden Commodore, UTE and Caprice with the LS1 and of course mentioned that they built them with LHD for the GCC market as the Chevrolet Lumina and Caprice, once I saw those I knew that was the car I wanted. More roomy and usable than a C5 or an F-body, sort of a modern day size equivalent to a '64-'72 GM A body. I sent letters and emails for years begging for those cars. Eventually in 2003 the Pontiac GTO was announced, I believe that was thanks to Bob Lutz, then the G8, Caprice PPV and SS sedan also thanks to Bob. I have owned A PPV, SS and GTO. They're wonderful cars, I really wish that they would have built them on the line with the Camaro 5 in Canada and sold them as a full line with V6s(possibly turbo I4s) to replace the W body so that the production numbers could have been very large and performance V8 models could have been more affordable and common. Once things like traction and stability control we're widely available there was no reason that RWD cars couldn't have been a safe and easy to drive in bad weather fwd was previously needed for. Even if they eventually had to sell only the UTEs and wagons as "Light truck/SUVs" for CAFE to still be good enough or even deleved into a hybrids and plug in hybrids for similar to the CT6's tech to keep the numbers good enough and keep a full size full line(coupe, sedan, wagon, ute) RWD GM cars available that ride, handle and stop much better than the rolly polly CUV junk they are shoving down our throats now. Oh well. Maybe there is an alternate universe where it happened. I hope Nixon is roasting away in hell for creating the EPA and allowing the fuel crisis to happen and ruining the US auto industry.
I grew up in Germany and a neighbour had a Commodore limousine and even as a kid (probably 5 or 6 years old) i absolutely loved the design. Till this day for me the Rekord D/Commo B are the most beautiful cars of the 70s, they are so elegant and light.
I also grew up in Germany.My dad was an Opel guy.He had 3 Rekords,all different generations.I loved them all.His last one was the Rekord D which he finally was able to buy brand new. I also remember how Ford was its closest rival,the Taunus was was the Rekord's competition.Their engines were as superb as Opel's but their models were ugly compared to Opel.
My dad was car dealer and his Lackierer drove a 1971 Commodore A 2.800 GS Coupe with double carbs and 145 bhp what a blast , once he pulled the hand brake while sliding at 30 miles per hour into our home road the tail came around I will never forget this .
300k? That's a serious question of who pounded who. Sitting straight legged in a driver's seat about 6 inched above the pavement is not a pleasure, speaking as former GT owner myself.
Indeed, huge mileage for such a car?! But hey, maybe some serious engine maintainance over the decades allowed it to clock up that 300,000 mileage figure.
I owned a 1970 Opel GT in my senior year of high school and Loved Everything about it as a matter of fact I presently own a 2007 Opel GT and love it as well!!! 🤠👍 P.s. It has 298763 miles on it!!
I always felt GM sent its best designers to create its cleanest designs at Opel/Vauxhall. I recently bought a 24,000-mile 2008 Opel/Saturn Astra to use as daily driver -- people come up to me as much at gas stations than they did and do for my 50 year old Firebird or Camaro. I would have loved to have found a nice Manta or 1900 Wagon. Beautiful clean designs.
As an exchange student in 1978, Opels we're everywhere in Germany. I always wanted a Manta, but wound up with a VW type 3 fastback. Thanks Adam for covering these cars.
The Opel GT was built upon the chassis of the Opel Kadett. The Kadett also loaned its chassis to Chevrolet, which installed an Isuzu engine and sold it as the Chevette. Great video!
It was a Kadett, but the GT, and at least some versions of the Kadett B, had a Corvette-like front suspension with a transverse leaf spring and a Panhard rod in the rear, giving it little in common with the Chevette, which was based on the Kadett C, with its very conventional double-wishbone front suspension and semi-torque-tube rear suspension. It's amazing how much GM was changing these models during those years.
@@pcno2832 "Semi-torque-tube" rear suspension? The Chevette sold in the United States had a cruddy live axle rear end that was prone to bump steer. The odd thing about this rear axle was that the input neck of the axle shaft stuck forward about two feet and the driveshaft was very short as a result. My dad had one of these cars; It was utterly terrible~
@@douglasb.1203 Hahah! I KNEW someone would point this out to me! YES it was, you are 100% correct. I'm glad to see there are other people in the world who pay attention to this stuff. The Impulse Mk1 used a Chevette/Kadett chassis, yes. But did you know that the body was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro for Volkswagen? It was his design for the second generation Scirocco and was supposed to be front wheel drive. VW turned it down for an in-house design, and Giugiaro sold the design for his "Giugiaro Piazza" to Isuzu who converted it to rear drive. Thanx! 👍
The Opel´s of this era were really desirable. As Bob Lutz said, only one notch below BMW, if you were lucky enough to Own a Commodore with the In Line six cylinder engine. Thank´s for reviewing these once great European GM´s
Rekord C ended up being "more american" in the version sold in Brazil, as it was sold as a Chevrolet instead of Opel (Chevrolet Opala), with an american engine, the GM Turbo Thrift 250. Sold more than a million.
I had a Diplomat when I lived in Germany. It was a beautiful and fine car. I really wish that I would have been able to bring that car back to The United States.
I once owned an Opel Diplomat be it a six cylindre… it was a fantastic car: the rear axle was a De Dion one giving the car a roadholding and handling unmatched by anything those days!!! Also build quality was noticably better than the smaller Opels (I owned a lot of different Opels in the 80’s and 90’s) Problem for the Admiral/Kapitan/Diplomat-range was that they didn’t sell too well; Customers were not willing to pay a lot of money for ‘just’ an Opel…. nothing wrong with the cars themselves!!
@@henktulp4400After the discontinuation of the "KAD" Kapitän - Admiral - Diplomat line of cars and after the introduction of the Opel Omega and Omega-based Senator-B Opel intended to bring a left-hand-drive version of the Holden Commodore VT - VZ to Europe. These base on the Omega platform and had the 3 and 3.3 liter V6 (and MV6 known in Europe from the top models of the Senator) as well as an LS based 5.7 liter V8. Holden already manufactured LHD versions of the Commodore and Ute for the middle-east market, namely the Gulf states, so it were a matter of minor adaptions regarding lights and glass. But the deals were postponed year by year until the Omega line of cars was dicontinued without a successor model. They souped up the Vectra a bit and introduced the Signum (which based on the Vectra C caravan platform) then stopped the entire line and introduced the Insignia instead in 2008, which is based on the GM Epsilon 2 platform and never got V8s. Unlike its predecessor Holden Commodore VE / VF based on the GM Zeta platform, which came with the 6-liter Alloytech L98. By what reason GM never realized what compact V8 cars could do in market shares in Europe, if you look at the numbers that Audi, BMW or Mercedes / AMG sells anually. Well ... the Americans never understood the European market. We don't want fat trucks or SUVs and other landyachts, we want sporty compact cars, sedans and even stations.
I had a yellow Corvette back in 1970, it was a Corgi and i was 8! Just part of my mult imillion car patk collection of Match Box, Dinkies and Corgis since i was a kid in the sixties.
My uncle had an Opel two door sedan in Germany. I got to drive in it as a teenager on the autobahn. It was rock stable at 140+ kmh. Uncle had a blast rowing gears in that!
Adam, Great to hear another interview with the incredible Bob Lutz. Your much earlier episodes with Lutz peaked my curiosity and caused me to order three of his books. What an incredible automobile executuve with an astounding history and early experiences! Thanks again. JJS
This is the car of my childhood! Opels were on every corner in the Netherlands in those days. Especially the Kadett C, which was for a number of years the most sold car.
My dad had the UK version, the Vauxhall Senator 3.0i, his first fuel injected car and a big step up from the old ford Granada 2.0. A great car in it's day with a tilt and slide sunroof and power steering.😂😂❤
6:28 I still have 2 NOS fenders and NOS front from the Rekord/Commodore (Coupe) as well as a bonnet, trunk lid, left door and all windows. I was never able to completely say goodbye to that model.
They were just stunning designs; I used to take my allowance and buy European magazines Auto und Motorsport, CAR, et al. and remember comparisons and features as well as ads for them. Those interiors... Thanks Adam, for this trip back in time.
An Opel Diplomat four door was used by Porsche to test prototype designs of the rear suspension of their coming 928 coupe. To test the 928's V8 engine, they installed one in a modified Audi 100 coupe. This required widening the car by four inches, something that occasionally would be noticed by passing pedestrians. The engineers concocted a story that some Audi's were accidentally built with "shrinking paint", and that the car they were driving had been repainted and thus never shrank....
01:00 When I was 25, I had and drove a 1977 Opel Commodore GS/E Coupé aut. for about a year. It is a beautifull car, but very expensive to drive and maintain. I came from a 1974 Chevrolet Caprice Classic 454 and wanted to save money. I went back to a 1973 Cadillac Coupé de Ville and drove it for nine years. To my knowledge the GS/E didn't live long after I sold it. 02:41 This Diplomat Coupé was rare. I have never seen one in the street. But the Kapitän/Admiral/Diplomat sedans of this series were VERY popular where I grew up in Denmark. To me they represent the most beautiful German cars ever built. They share some interior design elements with the 1965 Buick Skylark, I drove prior to the Caprice. But they were a class of elegance of their own, which the boxier models, that came after really never managed to pick up on and follow.
@Rare Classic Cars and Automotive History - Adam, I don't often disagree with you, and enjoy your videos and knowledge immensely, but in the case of this line of Opels I take a different view. When I was a 16-year-old teenager in 1980-81, I lived in West Germany for a year with my family. As a lifelong Motorhead, I was amazed and intrigued with all of the exotic automobiles that were available in Europe and could not be had in the United States. I was especially impressed with how modern and futuristic most of the European makes were by comparison to American cars of the day. We owned a late '70s station wagon version of the Opel Rekord and I remember thinking how boring the entire lineup of Opels looked in comparison to most of the other European manufacturers cars. It's not that they were bad looking cars, but there was no excitement at all in the design to my "teenaged auto enthusiast" eyes. The Mercedes-Benz's, Audis, and BMWs of the day, as well as several other European manufacturers, we're just more exciting and fresh, whereas the Opels and older Fords of that era were reminiscent of the boring American cars I had left behind in the states. That is not to say that there weren't models that I wished they would have brought over. We bought a brand new 1980 European Ford Granada (no relation at all to the American Granada) and it was a stunning, clean, modern, example of what we could have had in the states. It's styling, both inside and out, blew the doors off of the equivalent Opels available at that time, and the performance of those cars was refreshingly European, compared to the soft mushy American cars we went back to. When we moved back to the states in the summer of 1981, I remember being excited by the styling of the "world car" European Ford Escort that could be found on the pages of car and driver, and how disappointed I was at the boring and uninspired interpretation that reached American shores at the same time. The Opel Rekord was little more than basic transportation from point A to point B. If you could afford something nicer, that's what most Europeans would buy. They didn't dislike their Opels, but they definitely would have preferred something else. Incidentally, my favorite European car of the 1980s era, and possibly one of the most beautiful cars ever made, is the 1986 BMW 635csi - absolutely stunning! 😉😎
@stevebergman6747 As an asian man living here in South Asia, i liked the Opel cars, specially the 60's and 70's designs, because they always had more advanced designs and advanced features comparatively, than the other European cars of that period. Opel made some beautiful and handsome cars. This is my view regarding Opel. My late father had a 1959 model Opel Record sedan in which we travelled here for many years. I think that you, as an American, have a complete different point of view regarding Opel cars. But i want to mention that Opel cars must not be compared with the most expensive luxury type cars like Mercedes Benz, BMW, Audi etc. as it is not fair. Anyway I noted your whole comment and thanks for sharing.
Well done on a finely-researched and enjoyable documentary. I learned a lot in these 17 minutes, and I particularly appreciated the interview excerpt with Bob Lutz. I have to mention, however, that these Opel designs didn't have the "Hofmeister kink" as you mention, which was similar to BMW design language. The rear window slanted quite cleanly towards the trunk without any artifice, and I think a synthesis of this and the "Hofmeister Kink" appeared in the design of the GM J-Car almost a decade later.
Agree, would love to hear and see more about the origins of the America Opel designs and thought process for their importation to the U.S. The unfortunate trifecta of being sold through Buick dealers that probably couldn’t care any less about them, dollar exchange rates making them more costly, and GM believing they could produce a better small car with the Vega doomed them. Add in their susceptibility to rust and it was a losing formula. Too bad because they were wonderful driving cars, with excellent build quality. My grandparents bought a new 1971 1900 4-door sedan that I now own. Only 58,000 miles but needs a lot of rust repair. I also own a 1964 Cadillac Series 62 coupe, and other than the weight of the doors being different between the 2 cars they feel exactly alike when opening and closing them.
Thank you so much Adam! 30 years ago I had a baby-blue '76 Opel Rekord 4-door saloon with the 1.9N engine and i loved it! It had an electrical boot opener unter the dashboard from the factory and an electronic antenna integrated into the windshield. It also had the hydraulic lifters instead of the mechanical ones and I remember the boot was huge! I still have some nice photos of it, but only from the outside.
My grandfather and father were both engineers for Opel and my mother's family own several Opel dealerships in Bavaria. I remember my grandfather and father discussing the possibility of GM importing several Opel models. Opel had a pretty good reputation and a rather enthusiastic following especially the Manta and GT. Several people within GM wanted to give Opel buyers another opportunity to buy a larger more powerful more luxurious vehicle once they had outgrown their 1900 Manta or GT. I remember them saying there was a lot of resistance from other divisions saying that once people had outgrown their Opels they could pick up domestic division vehicle but in truth they usually bought another import.
Let me add... if you look at the that '72 Rekord/Commodore you'll see a lot of the "coming trend" prediction shown in Motor Trend during that early '70s period of what the NOVA cars at GM would soon look like, and sure enough that dip in the beltline to provide more glass was seen on these cars first before it appeared on the 1975 NOVA cars in America.
It's intriguing how GM styling cues from Detroit would jump entire continents back then and show-up in vehicles produced for local markets all over the world (and this was well before the generic "world car" concept was put into practice in later decades). You would often look at a vehicle unfamiliar to yourself but would instantly recognise it as a GM product, even though it was wearing a badge with a strange name and with the steering wheel on the "wrong" side.. As soon as that pic of that metallic green Rekord D coupe with the black vinyl roof came up at 4:25 I instantly recognised that familiar front end, even though I'm in Australia and we never got the European Opels here until much later. The sweeping lines of that hood, header panel and grill are all straight off a '71 Holden HQ Kingswood (a full-sized Australian-designed car of the time that was produced locally here by General Motors Holden), and those particular rectangular headlights on the Opel showed up a decade later on the updated Holden WB series vehicles (the HQ's had round headlights and indicators recessed into the front bumpers).
Both of my German uncles had Rekord Cs.. preteen me thought they were very handsome cars.. Opa had a '64 Kadett which, when they came to visit us for the weekend, we usually had to help push-start for them!
"among other Opell models"... Like the Kadett, which was absolutely eviscerated by Car and Driver. Back then they even complained about the ergonomics of the ashtray! 😂 On the other hand, in grammar school my oldest teacher drove a suicide-door Lincoln while my youngest teacher drove an Opel GT. I've always remembered him showing me the hidden headlights that's spun around longitudinally instead of flipping up...
Back in 1984 I had a 1974 Rekord D 1.7 in “van” configuration, a 2 door station wagon without backseats. An option in my country. Not a fast car, but very simple, durable and rugged car.
@@janath9118Denmark. It is a tax thing in my country. The seats are removed here to have it registered as a commercial vehicle, with that you get a significant tax reduction. Sounds crazy and it is crazy, but our tax system is crazy…
@@carscloseup Good heavens! Denmark is one of the best countries in this world to live in! You are living in a really good country! I wonder how it happened! I wonder how the tax system became so crazy in Denmark. I am a man living in South Asia. Thank you very much for replying!!
Excellent work showing non US GM designs from around the world. In my country -Uruguay-, those Rekords, Commodores and Asconas were very popular back in the day.
Wow, that Opel Diplomat was very "Chevelle" like. A really pretty car. Did it have the same basic dimensions of the Chevelle? I also liked the Opel Kadett. It was attractive for such a small car. The European looking spelling of the name probably also made it appealing to some Americans.
You mentioned the Manta and showed a picture of the first generation, the Manta A, but on topic of gorgeous cars the second iteration, the 1976-88 Manta B is an astonishingly beautiful car. It vaguely looks like a Chevy Monza but with a semifastback complemented by the somewhat separated trunk.
When living in Germany in the 70s I actually owned both of these vehicles, at different times, and liked them both. The Rekord I had was a 74 with the 1.9 litre 4 cyl and a 4 speed manual. It was a nice, roomy, comfortable car with good acceleration and a smooth ride. I later purchased a 76 Commodore as an upgrade both in power and the 5 speed trans and found it a very good car for the autobahn. My only complaints were the quality of interior materials and that the Commodore was a bit light in the rear and could be challenging in slippery conditions because they were rear wheel drive. The interior that you showed was a Commodore with the wood trim, extra gauges and large center console. The automatic shown was a real rarity in Germany because of the gas mileage penalty. Also, these cars were sold in the UK and Ireland as Vauxhalls with the steering on the right. Seeing this brings back some fond memories.
The first commodore a in the gs verision and opel record sprint coupe got buick rally wheel design but narrover than buick wheels bolt pattern is also close to 4.3/4 as small gm The automatic transmission used by opel was a powerglide with divorsed bolted bellhousing to fit the opel l6 engine on the commodore a and opel admiral
Personally I prefer the Holden HQ-HW looks over this Opel. Adam, you should talk about the gorgeous Fiat 130 Coupe sometime, a car Bill Mitchell sited as a huge inspiration for the 1977-79 ‘B’ bodies and looks a lot like a cross between an Impala & LeSabre.
Opel made some very beautiful motor cars in the 60's and 70's era. They made very advanced looking and advanced featured cars in comparison, during that period. Although they were European (German) cars, they were manufactured by the American company which is General Motors. According to my knowledge, Opel was the only European car made by the American GM company, and this was an exception. I specially liked Opel cars very much when i was a small boy. My late father had a 1959 model Opel Rekord four door sadan in which our family travelled here during that time. Thank you for the video!
Great that you introduce those great Cars to your viewers. In 1998 I purchased a 1977 Commodore 2.5 Automatic for only 1DM (2 Euro) just for Fun . It was a great Car exept for one major Thing . Rost! It was absolutly done because of the Rost,the whole Body was cracking but the Engine was running great and I kept it for over two years because the rostet Bodyparts were just falling appart more and more . At the end I actually sold it for the profit of 50Euro
I was a GM apprentice in the UK from 1972-76. As an external factory engineer I got to drive a lot of Vauxhall & Opel cars of that era. Whilst the more expensive Opel's were sold in the UK for a while alongside Vauxhall models they were much rarer on UK roads. As a result I preferred the rarer Opel models & got to drive quite a few of them. In particular the Manta A & B, Ascona A & B, Commadore, Senator & GT. The Opel GT (mini Corvette) was my favourite but it was never officially sold in the UK as a RHD car so I never got own one myself. Vary rare cars these days.
I wonder why GM had Opel in a good position in it's market in the early 70's and just let it rot after 1980? With some effort they could have challenged BMW for market share and international sales but it seems the management was thinking that they could never be more than rubbish. What am I thinking! Look what they ended up doing to Saab.
In South Africa these were sold as Chevrolets , but like with so many other cars we had to upgrade the engine. There was a 3.8 V6 which I think came from Buick , and also a 4.1 litre as well. The next shape Rekord / Commodore was then sold as an Opel again ( the one that became the first Commodore in Aus ) with all Opel engines except the top model with a Buick 3.8 V6 , known as the Opel Rekord 380 GSi
These were so beautiful cars. My father first had a Rekord C 1900, then a Rekord D 1900 and at last a Commodore B GS/E, always as Sedans. Especially the Commodore B was fantastic, for that time a lot of power, a beautiful looking and interior - only the brakes were just a joke for this power.
Remember my relative Henry Haga was also one of the GM design executives rotated to Opel. He came to our home in 1974 for Xmas in a brand new Opel Diplomat. Had never seen such a big car. I was just a kid. Got a beautiful red Opel Rekord model car as a Xmas gift.
My grandmas dude had a Rekord D back in the 70s up to the 90s - brown metallic, no vinyl - at that point I saw them as boring and pedestrian but this video gave a great background. They had a Rekord C, green metallic with the black vinyl before that, I have only seen it in pictures and thought it to actually be quite cool. It was legendary in the family since one day the gear leaver rusted off and came loose in their hand... :)
The red Coupe at 6:00 is a Commodore, not a Rekord. The Rekord had rear lights that appeared smaller, with a painted area between the rear lights and the license plate holder. The fuel injected Commodore 2.8 GS/E had 160 PS, which is about 158 hp.
Since i grew up in The Netherlands, i’ve seen and driven a lot of Opels! Thanks for this insight into the design proces! I remember that the Commodore was rather upmarket.
Fascinating interview with Bob there! When I look at the Rekord/Commodore images you have there I just see overtones of Holden Monaro (HK) and the HQ Kingswood in the Rekord front end. There must've been the same styling vibes swirling the world for both GM and Ford.
Adam, I wanted to hit the thumbs up button and comment just off the thumbnail. Opel was such a cool part of Buick that many Bick lovers did not even know Buick owned. The Opel GT (aka..mini=vette) was just a drop-dead beautiful design and style. So sad the other two never made it stateside...A 327 in that little car would have been a whoot!!!
Great channel, you've really evolved it of late, great cars, not the usual suspects, and some fantastic interviews with people like the designers and big players like Mr. Lutz.
Hey! I love your videos, and I found your channel only recently here; it's helping me out loads with my own searches and efforts on cars. (Looking for a Pontiac 6000 now!) - but, I was wondering, would you ever do a video on the Buick 3300 V6? I feel like that's an engine that's right up your alley! Regardless, thank you for everything. God bless!
Fun to hear the anecdotal history from back in the day. I had three new Opel's and 81' coupe with the 1,100 cc and later the 73' Opel 'Manta' Blue Max coupe which was a sweet handling car and much better than the BMW 2002, and the 75' Manta wagon which also handled pretty good. It got wrecked by my girlfriend so I bought a new Datsun 510 wagon which did a lot of modifications to so it too was a good canyon runner. The Record 'D' coupe in green is a nice design. I wonder if one can still find one for sale. Something different than the popular JDM's some are importing. Thanks for the post.
Wow. Great show. In South America this car was marketed as the very popular Chevrolet Opala. Fascinating that Opel (Vauxhall and Holden?) was injected excitement by expat Americans.
Definitely one of the best looking sedans ever built in Germany. The only downside was the typical opel muffler sound of that era. Opel mufflers did sound like no other cars.
Thank you Adam. I thank you for sharing the Opel. Thank you for sharing some of GM's global cars. I hope you will do more. It is sad GM does not own Opel/Vauxhall any longer. I wished they still did, but times change and things change. It is nice to see the story from Bob Lutz about design and its impact.
I really like you that you showed a European car. I grew up in Belgium and saw these everywhere . Opel was considered a ho-hum kind of brand, mostly bought by sensible and price conscious people, Same for Ford Europe. The American influenced styling is undeniable. French cars from the fifties like Simca and Renault(Fregate) and some British cars were similarly influenced. American cars enjoyed some popularity so their influence was being felt. I would love to see some old Japanese cars from the sixties and seventies on your channel, some also sporting American inspired design. Absolutely love this channel and so far haven't missed an episode. So glad you're well over 100K subscribers. Well deserved. Next target 200K!
You are absolutely right, also from the design, this car Rekord D was all other European car manufacturers years ahead. I'm living in Switzerland and my parents had a 1972 Opel Rekord 1900 S Bermuda Green, 4-Speed and it was a wonderful car, very reliable and in maintenance an easy case. My parents where very smart, because they realized the ratio of what you get and what you pay, this car was amazing. I was much more car crazy and spent much more money and time with all my 70/71 Mustang's, 70 Mach 1, Shelby GT 500 SCJ 4-Speed Conv. Maserati Ghibli, E-Type and many other Jag's and finally a 71 454 Vette Conv. of course I always had and have fun. But in retrospect my parents Opel Rekord had enough space for a family and had also a big trunk to travel with much baggage in vacation.
![Twenty One Pilots - The Line (from Arcane Season 2) [Official Audio]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/XCz7WUotXs8/mqdefault.jpg)
I’m Australia we had the commodore from 1978. It had throughout its history echo up to 8 cylinder models. They were great cars.
VERY SPECIAL ! -- For an American to be Aware of Not Ony the Very Cute Opel GT, But also the Beautiful Opel Manta (A), and the handsome '70s Rekord/Commodore Coupe. All 100% G.M.!!
Thank you twice ! -- For Showing these to an American audience, AND to a Younger audience.
I had a '74 Manta. What a great car it was. There was nothing I couldn't fix on that car. GM was still using Opels until recently when they closed down. The last Buick Regals were Opel Insignias with Buick badges.
i agree, i’ve always thought the opel manta was a beautiful car
The main problem with the British and European cars in that class was that their engines were too small. It meant they lacked the smooth luxury power of American cars. They were beautiful looking cars though.
Opel GT . Well known in US. They were on the Get Smart TV series.
Hi ! The Opel Rekord D was introduced as "Rekord II" - to avoid it to be identified as a Rekord Diesel.
What Bob Lutz did *not* mention, was a factory prototype of the very same Commodore B with a 305 V8 engine. This idea then migrated to Holden in Australia and they later created the Holden Commodore based on the Rekord D successor Rekord E while merging it with a Commodore-successor Senator A front-end and installed V8s.
Rekord and Commodore however differ even more. The Rekord has 4-bolt axles and the Commodore 5-bolt. The axles and brakes on the Commodore were bigger and "more substantial" to cope with the six cylinder engines. Those were the CIH (camshaft in head) and essentially the 4 cylinders and 6 cylinders share a lot parts. The automatic gearboxes were THM180 built at GM in Straßburg. Opel offered in July 1972 a 2.1 liter 60 hp 4 cylinder Diesel for the Rekord, which was reduced to 2.0 liters / 56 hp for the italian market (due to the tax regulation in Italy at that time where cars over 2 liter got a 50% "luxury tax" addition to the normal tax.). That was Opels first official Diesel personal car. The Rekord D was produced under various names and designations in South Africa, South Korea and - Iran.
Thanks for sharing !
All through the video I was wondering this: when they are talking about sixes, are they talking about inline, or V6s like the Ford Cologne?
Hi ! Opel traditionally had line-6. The first V6 was introduced with the Opel Vectra in around 1988 or so.
Sorry - in 1993 it was. The somewhat strange 54° V6, a 170 hp, 2.5 liter named "L81".
@wacholder5690 you are right but it was the opel omega that got it to
@@stefanmzenhardt2891I once had a Diplomat B 2.8H (twin carb gasoline guzzler) and had the Senator A1.5 2.5E (the one between the A1 and the A2, which got the rear "light band" and numberplate in the bumper). I'd never owned an Omega or Senator B ... Gets me to the question: why not ? Hmm ...
Super reportage. Ich habe einen Commodore B GS/E seid 30 Jahren, umgebaut mit 3.6 L motor . Grüsse aus Deutschland 😊
Another super treat. Loved hearing Bob Lutz speaking on the subject!
I love 60s and 70s cars. American, European, Australian, they're all beautifully designed. Especially the GM companies
Mad Max cars are cool
@@jayweiss4378look up the Torana A9X , the Holden Hurricane , the R/T 4 Charger , and the LTD Landau....you won't be disappointing
I'll even give props to AMC, who's styling you either loved or hated, but I thought the Pacer was cool AF when it released, and my babysitter's Gremlin was the coolest care I'd ever ridden in.
Bob Lutz is my hero, when I was 11-13 years old my dream car was the 1994-1996 Impala SS, when it was cancelled Car and Driver did a feature on the Holden Commodore, UTE and Caprice with the LS1 and of course mentioned that they built them with LHD for the GCC market as the Chevrolet Lumina and Caprice, once I saw those I knew that was the car I wanted. More roomy and usable than a C5 or an F-body, sort of a modern day size equivalent to a '64-'72 GM A body. I sent letters and emails for years begging for those cars. Eventually in 2003 the Pontiac GTO was announced, I believe that was thanks to Bob Lutz, then the G8, Caprice PPV and SS sedan also thanks to Bob. I have owned A PPV, SS and GTO. They're wonderful cars, I really wish that they would have built them on the line with the Camaro 5 in Canada and sold them as a full line with V6s(possibly turbo I4s) to replace the W body so that the production numbers could have been very large and performance V8 models could have been more affordable and common. Once things like traction and stability control we're widely available there was no reason that RWD cars couldn't have been a safe and easy to drive in bad weather fwd was previously needed for. Even if they eventually had to sell only the UTEs and wagons as "Light truck/SUVs" for CAFE to still be good enough or even deleved into a hybrids and plug in hybrids for similar to the CT6's tech to keep the numbers good enough and keep a full size full line(coupe, sedan, wagon, ute) RWD GM cars available that ride, handle and stop much better than the rolly polly CUV junk they are shoving down our throats now. Oh well. Maybe there is an alternate universe where it happened. I hope Nixon is roasting away in hell for creating the EPA and allowing the fuel crisis to happen and ruining the US auto industry.
Honestly though, what a shame that the GTO was the one Euro/Australia designs that was so dated and frankly at best boring.
I grew up in Germany and a neighbour had a Commodore limousine and even as a kid (probably 5 or 6 years old) i absolutely loved the design. Till this day for me the Rekord D/Commo B are the most beautiful cars of the 70s, they are so elegant and light.
I also grew up in Germany.My dad was an Opel guy.He had 3 Rekords,all different generations.I loved them all.His last one was the Rekord D which he finally was able to buy brand new.
I also remember how Ford was its closest rival,the Taunus was was the Rekord's competition.Their engines were as superb as Opel's but their models were ugly compared to Opel.
My dad was car dealer and his Lackierer drove a 1971 Commodore A 2.800 GS Coupe with double carbs and 145 bhp what a blast , once he pulled the hand brake while sliding at 30 miles per hour into our home road the tail came around I will never forget this .
My dad had a 72 Opel GT. He pounded over 300K miles on that car.
He Loved that little 2 seater
300k? That's a serious question of who pounded who. Sitting straight legged in a driver's seat about 6 inched above the pavement is not a pleasure, speaking as former GT owner myself.
Indeed, huge mileage for such a car?! But hey, maybe some serious engine maintainance over the decades allowed it to clock up that 300,000 mileage figure.
@@randallstewart1224 Lmao, Yep, you’re right.
My dad Always loved 2 seater sports cars.
Until us kids came along, he always had a Corvette.
I owned a 1970 Opel GT in my senior year of high school and Loved Everything about it as a matter of fact I presently own a 2007 Opel GT and love it as well!!! 🤠👍
P.s. It has 298763 miles on it!!
for 300,000 he probably had to put three new engines in it over time.
It is very much appreciated that you venture into European cars.
That Bob Lutz interview was AWESOME!!! More please.
Great looking cars. Thanks Adam for getting these Designers so we have a little history before these sources are sadly gone.
Always love Lutz and his stories
My dad had a Record D 1900 coupe when I was little, so it brings back lots of memories. 😊
I always felt GM sent its best designers to create its cleanest designs at Opel/Vauxhall. I recently bought a 24,000-mile 2008 Opel/Saturn Astra to use as daily driver -- people come up to me as much at gas stations than they did and do for my 50 year old Firebird or Camaro. I would have loved to have found a nice Manta or 1900 Wagon. Beautiful clean designs.
As an exchange student in 1978, Opels we're everywhere in Germany. I always wanted a Manta, but wound up with a VW type 3 fastback. Thanks Adam for covering these cars.
The Opel GT was built upon the chassis of the Opel Kadett. The Kadett also loaned its chassis to Chevrolet, which installed an Isuzu engine and sold it as the Chevette.
Great video!
It was a Kadett, but the GT, and at least some versions of the Kadett B, had a Corvette-like front suspension with a transverse leaf spring and a Panhard rod in the rear, giving it little in common with the Chevette, which was based on the Kadett C, with its very conventional double-wishbone front suspension and semi-torque-tube rear suspension. It's amazing how much GM was changing these models during those years.
@@pcno2832 "Semi-torque-tube" rear suspension? The Chevette sold in the United States had a cruddy live axle rear end that was prone to bump steer. The odd thing about this rear axle was that the input neck of the axle shaft stuck forward about two feet and the driveshaft was very short as a result.
My dad had one of these cars; It was utterly terrible~
Aaaaand the Chevette platform was used by Isuzu underneath the first generation Impulse.
@@douglasb.1203 Hahah! I KNEW someone would point this out to me! YES it was, you are 100% correct. I'm glad to see there are other people in the world who pay attention to this stuff. The Impulse Mk1 used a Chevette/Kadett chassis, yes. But did you know that the body was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro for Volkswagen? It was his design for the second generation Scirocco and was supposed to be front wheel drive. VW turned it down for an in-house design, and Giugiaro sold the design for his "Giugiaro Piazza" to Isuzu who converted it to rear drive.
Thanx! 👍
@Flies2FLL and ironically Giugiaro designed the original Golf(Rabbit) Scirroco.
The Opel´s of this era were really desirable. As Bob Lutz said, only one notch below BMW, if you were lucky enough to Own a Commodore with the In Line six cylinder engine. Thank´s for reviewing these once great European GM´s
Rekord C ended up being "more american" in the version sold in Brazil, as it was sold as a Chevrolet instead of Opel (Chevrolet Opala), with an american engine, the GM Turbo Thrift 250. Sold more than a million.
Its a mix of Impala and Opel = Opala
You should have talked about the Opel Diplomat with small block V8. That was a real beauty as well.
I had a Diplomat when I lived in Germany. It was a beautiful and fine car. I really wish that I would have been able to bring that car back to The United States.
I once owned an Opel Diplomat be it a six cylindre… it was a fantastic car: the rear axle was a De Dion one giving the car a roadholding and handling unmatched by anything those days!!!
Also build quality was noticably better than the smaller Opels (I owned a lot of different Opels in the 80’s and 90’s)
Problem for the Admiral/Kapitan/Diplomat-range was that they didn’t sell too well; Customers were not willing to pay a lot of money for ‘just’ an Opel…. nothing wrong with the cars themselves!!
@@henktulp4400After the discontinuation of the "KAD" Kapitän - Admiral - Diplomat line of cars and after the introduction of the Opel Omega and Omega-based Senator-B Opel intended to bring a left-hand-drive version of the Holden Commodore VT - VZ to Europe. These base on the Omega platform and had the 3 and 3.3 liter V6 (and MV6 known in Europe from the top models of the Senator) as well as an LS based 5.7 liter V8. Holden already manufactured LHD versions of the Commodore and Ute for the middle-east market, namely the Gulf states, so it were a matter of minor adaptions regarding lights and glass. But the deals were postponed year by year until the Omega line of cars was dicontinued without a successor model. They souped up the Vectra a bit and introduced the Signum (which based on the Vectra C caravan platform) then stopped the entire line and introduced the Insignia instead in 2008, which is based on the GM Epsilon 2 platform and never got V8s. Unlike its predecessor Holden Commodore VE / VF based on the GM Zeta platform, which came with the 6-liter Alloytech L98. By what reason GM never realized what compact V8 cars could do in market shares in Europe, if you look at the numbers that Audi, BMW or Mercedes / AMG sells anually. Well ... the Americans never understood the European market. We don't want fat trucks or SUVs and other landyachts, we want sporty compact cars, sedans and even stations.
But it sold much less well than previous big Opels.
When I was a little kid, I bought a model of a Opel GT thinking it was a Corvette... Remember I was a little kid........ LOL
Mid 70s, about eight years old, I almost made the same mistake. Easily done then!
@@sergioleone3583 But not a bad looking car
@@billolsen4360 Oh, not at all!
I had a yellow Corvette back in 1970, it was a Corgi and i was 8! Just part of my mult imillion car patk collection of Match Box, Dinkies and Corgis since i was a kid in the sixties.
I owned a 1970 model when I was a senior in high school!!! 🤠👍
My uncle had an Opel two door sedan in Germany. I got to drive in it as a teenager on the autobahn. It was rock stable at 140+ kmh. Uncle had a blast rowing gears in that!
Wow, what a speed!!...
Adam does such a great job showing us history of the automobile. So accessible, accurate and interesting.
Adam,
Great to hear another interview with the incredible Bob Lutz.
Your much earlier episodes with Lutz peaked my curiosity and caused me to order three of his books. What an incredible automobile executuve with an astounding history and early experiences!
Thanks again. JJS
This is the car of my childhood! Opels were on every corner in the Netherlands in those days. Especially the Kadett C, which was for a number of years the most sold car.
You introduced my first automobile love, thank you for that. My dad had Opel Rekord early seventies. Lovely classic design❤
Even in Europe the Rekord D is a little bit forgotten, but I absolutely love it. Thanks for shining a light on it! :D
I really loved the simple Opel 1900 sedan and wagons of the early 70's. The fronts really were similar to Nova's of the time.
My dad had the UK version, the Vauxhall Senator 3.0i, his first fuel injected car and a big step up from the old ford Granada 2.0.
A great car in it's day with a tilt and slide sunroof and power steering.😂😂❤
Expensive cars!......
6:28 I still have 2 NOS fenders and NOS front from the Rekord/Commodore (Coupe) as well as a bonnet, trunk lid, left door and all windows. I was never able to completely say goodbye to that model.
This entire video is a masterpiece, many thanks for producing and posting it Salute from Brazil!
They were just stunning designs; I used to take my allowance and buy European magazines Auto und Motorsport, CAR, et al. and remember comparisons and features as well as ads for them. Those interiors... Thanks Adam, for this trip back in time.
Me too! I bought the British "Motor" and "Autocar" megazines.....
An Opel Diplomat four door was used by Porsche to test prototype designs of the rear suspension of their coming 928 coupe.
To test the 928's V8 engine, they installed one in a modified Audi 100 coupe. This required widening the car by four inches, something that occasionally would be noticed by passing pedestrians. The engineers concocted a story that some Audi's were accidentally built with "shrinking paint", and that the car they were driving had been repainted and thus never shrank....
01:00 When I was 25, I had and drove a 1977 Opel Commodore GS/E Coupé aut. for about a year. It is a beautifull car, but very expensive to drive and maintain.
I came from a 1974 Chevrolet Caprice Classic 454 and wanted to save money. I went back to a 1973 Cadillac Coupé de Ville and drove it for nine years. To my knowledge the GS/E didn't live long after I sold it.
02:41 This Diplomat Coupé was rare. I have never seen one in the street. But the Kapitän/Admiral/Diplomat sedans of this series were VERY popular where I grew up in Denmark. To me they represent the most beautiful German cars ever built. They share some interior design elements with the 1965 Buick Skylark, I drove prior to the Caprice. But they were a class of elegance of their own, which the boxier models, that came after really never managed to pick up on and follow.
@Rare Classic Cars and Automotive History - Adam, I don't often disagree with you, and enjoy your videos and knowledge immensely, but in the case of this line of Opels I take a different view.
When I was a 16-year-old teenager in 1980-81, I lived in West Germany for a year with my family. As a lifelong Motorhead, I was amazed and intrigued with all of the exotic automobiles that were available in Europe and could not be had in the United States. I was especially impressed with how modern and futuristic most of the European makes were by comparison to American cars of the day.
We owned a late '70s station wagon version of the Opel Rekord and I remember thinking how boring the entire lineup of Opels looked in comparison to most of the other European manufacturers cars. It's not that they were bad looking cars, but there was no excitement at all in the design to my "teenaged auto enthusiast" eyes. The Mercedes-Benz's, Audis, and BMWs of the day, as well as several other European manufacturers, we're just more exciting and fresh, whereas the Opels and older Fords of that era were reminiscent of the boring American cars I had left behind in the states.
That is not to say that there weren't models that I wished they would have brought over. We bought a brand new 1980 European Ford Granada (no relation at all to the American Granada) and it was a stunning, clean, modern, example of what we could have had in the states. It's styling, both inside and out, blew the doors off of the equivalent Opels available at that time, and the performance of those cars was refreshingly European, compared to the soft mushy American cars we went back to.
When we moved back to the states in the summer of 1981, I remember being excited by the styling of the "world car" European Ford Escort that could be found on the pages of car and driver, and how disappointed I was at the boring and uninspired interpretation that reached American shores at the same time.
The Opel Rekord was little more than basic transportation from point A to point B. If you could afford something nicer, that's what most Europeans would buy. They didn't dislike their Opels, but they definitely would have preferred something else.
Incidentally, my favorite European car of the 1980s era, and possibly one of the most beautiful cars ever made, is the 1986 BMW 635csi - absolutely stunning! 😉😎
@stevebergman6747 As an asian man living here in South Asia, i liked the Opel cars, specially the 60's and 70's designs, because they always had more advanced designs and advanced features comparatively, than the other European cars of that period. Opel made some beautiful and handsome cars. This is my view regarding Opel. My late father had a 1959 model Opel Record sedan in which we travelled here for many years.
I think that you, as an American, have a complete different point of view regarding Opel cars. But i want to mention that Opel cars must not be compared with the most expensive luxury type cars like Mercedes Benz, BMW, Audi etc. as it is not fair.
Anyway I noted your whole comment and thanks for sharing.
Well done on a finely-researched and enjoyable documentary.
I learned a lot in these 17 minutes, and I particularly appreciated the interview excerpt with Bob Lutz.
I have to mention, however, that these Opel designs didn't have the "Hofmeister kink" as you mention, which was similar to BMW design language.
The rear window slanted quite cleanly towards the trunk without any artifice, and I think a synthesis of this and the "Hofmeister Kink" appeared in the design of the GM J-Car almost a decade later.
Such a cohesive design 😍 please, do a follow-up for the Manta and Ascona 🖖🙏
Agree, would love to hear and see more about the origins of the America Opel designs and thought process for their importation to the U.S. The unfortunate trifecta of being sold through Buick dealers that probably couldn’t care any less about them, dollar exchange rates making them more costly, and GM believing they could produce a better small car with the Vega doomed them. Add in their susceptibility to rust and it was a losing formula. Too bad because they were wonderful driving cars, with excellent build quality. My grandparents bought a new 1971 1900 4-door sedan that I now own. Only 58,000 miles but needs a lot of rust repair. I also own a 1964 Cadillac Series 62 coupe, and other than the weight of the doors being different between the 2 cars they feel exactly alike when opening and closing them.
I reckon you should check out GMH’s 1968 HK Monaro GTS 327 and 1972 HQ Monaro GTS 350 for a pair of beautiful designs.
We had the Rekord sedan abroad. Controlled curves like the Impala of the same era.
Appreciate this foray into the European design. Remember seeing these as a kid visiting family in Europe.
Thank you so much Adam! 30 years ago I had a baby-blue '76 Opel Rekord 4-door saloon with the 1.9N engine and i loved it! It had an electrical boot opener unter the dashboard from the factory and an electronic antenna integrated into the windshield. It also had the hydraulic lifters instead of the mechanical ones and I remember the boot was huge! I still have some nice photos of it, but only from the outside.
Yes, Opel were so advanced in design in those days! You are lucky to own this car that time!
My grandfather and father were both engineers for Opel and my mother's family own several Opel dealerships in Bavaria.
I remember my grandfather and father discussing the possibility of GM importing several Opel models.
Opel had a pretty good reputation and a rather enthusiastic following especially the Manta and GT.
Several people within GM wanted to give Opel buyers another opportunity to buy a larger more powerful more luxurious vehicle once they had outgrown their 1900 Manta or GT.
I remember them saying there was a lot of resistance from other divisions saying that once people had outgrown their Opels they could pick up domestic division vehicle but in truth they usually bought another import.
Thank you for sharing this interesting information!......
Future generations will be thankful Adam is documenting all this stuff…very interesting.
Let me add... if you look at the that '72 Rekord/Commodore you'll see a lot of the "coming trend" prediction shown in Motor Trend during that early '70s period of what the NOVA cars at GM would soon look like, and sure enough that dip in the beltline to provide more glass was seen on these cars first before it appeared on the 1975 NOVA cars in America.
Two of the greatest cars built were the Holden HQ Kingwood and the XA ford falcon ❤
My father bought a Rekord D Berlina in the second half of the 70's. That was one of my favourite of all the cars our family had throughout the years.
70’s German sedans… I wish I still had my C2 Audi. Love that clean design.
It's intriguing how GM styling cues from Detroit would jump entire continents back then and show-up in vehicles produced for local markets all over the world (and this was well before the generic "world car" concept was put into practice in later decades). You would often look at a vehicle unfamiliar to yourself but would instantly recognise it as a GM product, even though it was wearing a badge with a strange name and with the steering wheel on the "wrong" side..
As soon as that pic of that metallic green Rekord D coupe with the black vinyl roof came up at 4:25 I instantly recognised that familiar front end, even though I'm in Australia and we never got the European Opels here until much later. The sweeping lines of that hood, header panel and grill are all straight off a '71 Holden HQ Kingswood (a full-sized Australian-designed car of the time that was produced locally here by General Motors Holden), and those particular rectangular headlights on the Opel showed up a decade later on the updated Holden WB series vehicles (the HQ's had round headlights and indicators recessed into the front bumpers).
Thank you for sharing this interesting information!.....
I've always liked those Opel Mantas from the early 70s.
I still have my Rekord c form 1970. In two-tone paint. And i love it.
Wow! Thats very good.
Both of my German uncles had Rekord Cs.. preteen me thought they were very handsome cars.. Opa had a '64 Kadett which, when they came to visit us for the weekend, we usually had to help push-start for them!
Great video! The GS/E 2,8 had 165hp, O-60 9 sec and max 200km/h
In addition to design, the fit and quality were also higher than in the uncle Sam iron tanks. Guess that's because it was made in West Germany.
The Commadore B V8 is one of the most beautiful cars I ever saw in my life. I wish I could some day buy one.
"among other Opell models"... Like the Kadett, which was absolutely eviscerated by Car and Driver. Back then they even complained about the ergonomics of the ashtray! 😂
On the other hand, in grammar school my oldest teacher drove a suicide-door Lincoln while my youngest teacher drove an Opel GT. I've always remembered him showing me the hidden headlights that's spun around longitudinally instead of flipping up...
Back in 1984 I had a 1974 Rekord D 1.7 in “van” configuration, a 2 door station wagon without backseats. An option in my country. Not a fast car, but very simple, durable and rugged car.
This is the first time i heard of a single seater station wagon, Opel or any brand! What is your country? Tks!
@@janath9118Denmark. It is a tax thing in my country. The seats are removed here to have it registered as a commercial vehicle, with that you get a significant tax reduction. Sounds crazy and it is crazy, but our tax system is crazy…
@@carscloseup Good heavens! Denmark is one of the best countries in this world to live in! You are living in a really good country! I wonder how it happened! I wonder how the tax system became so crazy in Denmark.
I am a man living in South Asia. Thank you very much for replying!!
@@janath9118You’re welcome! The main reason for the high level of living is the tax system. Unfortunately cars has always been heavily taxed!
Excellent work showing non US GM designs from around the world. In my country -Uruguay-, those Rekords, Commodores and Asconas were very popular back in the day.
Wow, that Opel Diplomat was very "Chevelle" like. A really pretty car. Did it have the same basic dimensions of the Chevelle? I also liked the Opel Kadett. It was attractive for such a small car. The European looking spelling of the name probably also made it appealing to some Americans.
You mentioned the Manta and showed a picture of the first generation, the Manta A, but on topic of gorgeous cars the second iteration, the 1976-88 Manta B is an astonishingly beautiful car. It vaguely looks like a Chevy Monza but with a semifastback complemented by the somewhat separated trunk.
When living in Germany in the 70s I actually owned both of these vehicles, at different times, and liked them both. The Rekord I had was a 74 with the 1.9 litre 4 cyl and a 4 speed manual. It was a nice, roomy, comfortable car with good acceleration and a smooth ride. I later purchased a 76 Commodore as an upgrade both in power and the 5 speed trans and found it a very good car for the autobahn. My only complaints were the quality of interior materials and that the Commodore was a bit light in the rear and could be challenging in slippery conditions because they were rear wheel drive. The interior that you showed was a Commodore with the wood trim, extra gauges and large center console. The automatic shown was a real rarity in Germany because of the gas mileage penalty. Also, these cars were sold in the UK and Ireland as Vauxhalls with the steering on the right. Seeing this brings back some fond memories.
I see Oldsmobile Super Stock II-looking wheels on the example @0:46. Its thin pillars and tumblehome are on point!
The first commodore a in the gs verision and opel record sprint coupe got buick rally wheel design but narrover than buick wheels bolt pattern is also close to 4.3/4 as small gm The automatic transmission used by opel was a powerglide with divorsed bolted bellhousing to fit the opel l6 engine on the commodore a and opel admiral
Personally I prefer the Holden HQ-HW looks over this Opel. Adam, you should talk about the gorgeous Fiat 130 Coupe sometime, a car Bill Mitchell sited as a huge inspiration for the 1977-79 ‘B’ bodies and looks a lot like a cross between an Impala & LeSabre.
Everytime I listen to Bob Lutz, I think: Please don't stop!
Opel made some very beautiful motor cars in the 60's and 70's era. They made very advanced looking and advanced featured cars in comparison, during that period. Although they were European (German) cars, they were manufactured by the American company which is General Motors. According to my knowledge, Opel was the only European car made by the American GM company, and this was an exception.
I specially liked Opel cars very much when i was a small boy. My late father had a 1959 model Opel Rekord four door sadan in which our family travelled here during that time.
Thank you for the video!
Great that you introduce those great Cars to your viewers. In 1998 I purchased a 1977 Commodore 2.5 Automatic for only 1DM (2 Euro) just for Fun . It was a great Car exept for one major Thing . Rost! It was absolutly done because of the Rost,the whole Body was cracking but the Engine was running great and I kept it for over two years because the rostet Bodyparts were just falling appart more and more . At the end I actually sold it for the profit of 50Euro
These type of Opel's are also build in Swiss with the mark as none as "Ranger". They had some different parts.
Sold in the Netherlands by Vauxhall dealers as well. But I think the ones we got were made in Belgium.
I was a GM apprentice in the UK from 1972-76. As an external factory engineer I got to drive a lot of Vauxhall & Opel cars of that era. Whilst the more expensive Opel's were sold in the UK for a while alongside Vauxhall models they were much rarer on UK roads. As a result I preferred the rarer Opel models & got to drive quite a few of them. In particular the Manta A & B, Ascona A & B, Commadore, Senator & GT. The Opel GT (mini Corvette) was my favourite but it was never officially sold in the UK as a RHD car so I never got own one myself. Vary rare cars these days.
I wonder why GM had Opel in a good position in it's market in the early 70's and just let it rot after 1980? With some effort they could have challenged BMW for market share and international sales but it seems the management was thinking that they could never be more than rubbish. What am I thinking! Look what they ended up doing to Saab.
In South Africa these were sold as Chevrolets , but like with so many other cars we had to upgrade the engine. There was a 3.8 V6 which I think came from Buick , and also a 4.1 litre as well. The next shape Rekord / Commodore was then sold as an Opel again ( the one that became the first Commodore in Aus ) with all Opel engines except the top model with a Buick 3.8 V6 , known as the Opel Rekord 380 GSi
These were so beautiful cars. My father first had a Rekord C 1900, then a Rekord D 1900 and at last a Commodore B GS/E, always as Sedans. Especially the Commodore B was fantastic, for that time a lot of power, a beautiful looking and interior - only the brakes were just a joke for this power.
Wonderful interview !
Remember my relative Henry Haga was also one of the GM design executives rotated to Opel. He came to our home in 1974 for Xmas in a brand new Opel Diplomat. Had never seen such a big car. I was just a kid. Got a beautiful red Opel Rekord model car as a Xmas gift.
My grandmas dude had a Rekord D back in the 70s up to the 90s - brown metallic, no vinyl - at that point I saw them as boring and pedestrian but this video gave a great background. They had a Rekord C, green metallic with the black vinyl before that, I have only seen it in pictures and thought it to actually be quite cool. It was legendary in the family since one day the gear leaver rusted off and came loose in their hand... :)
The red Coupe at 6:00 is a Commodore, not a Rekord. The Rekord had rear lights that appeared smaller, with a painted area between the rear lights and the license plate holder. The fuel injected Commodore 2.8 GS/E had 160 PS, which is about 158 hp.
Opel Commodore and GT were gorgeous looking cars…wish to have Commodore today…
The Commodore B GSE Coupe is one of my all time favorites
I saw these cars a lot in Holland. Loved them.
Since i grew up in The Netherlands, i’ve seen and driven a lot of Opels! Thanks for this insight into the design proces! I remember that the Commodore was rather upmarket.
Fascinating interview with Bob there! When I look at the Rekord/Commodore images you have there I just see overtones of Holden Monaro (HK) and the HQ Kingswood in the Rekord front end. There must've been the same styling vibes swirling the world for both GM and Ford.
thank u for this insights, grew up with these cars, indeed the Commodore GS/E was gorgeous car.
So much to learn on this channel. I love it.
Had Opel D, 1700, two door, 1972, gear stick on the steering rack.
Was my first car in 1991😢
Loved it......
Oh my! Memories from my childhood 😊
Dad had an opel back in the '60s. I still have the owners manual for it.
Adam, I wanted to hit the thumbs up button and comment just off the thumbnail. Opel was such a cool part of Buick that many Bick lovers did not even know Buick owned. The Opel GT (aka..mini=vette) was just a drop-dead beautiful design and style. So sad the other two never made it stateside...A 327 in that little car would have been a whoot!!!
Great channel, you've really evolved it of late, great cars, not the usual suspects, and some fantastic interviews with people like the designers and big players like Mr. Lutz.
Best video yet. I had a 1971 Opel Manta a. Thank you so much
Hey! I love your videos, and I found your channel only recently here; it's helping me out loads with my own searches and efforts on cars. (Looking for a Pontiac 6000 now!) - but, I was wondering, would you ever do a video on the Buick 3300 V6? I feel like that's an engine that's right up your alley! Regardless, thank you for everything. God bless!
As a kid we had both commodores. I loved both😊
I had an Opel Commodore B, 4 doors, metallic blue with black top, 6 cylinder 2,5 litre engine. It was a very nice car.
Fun to hear the anecdotal history from back in the day. I had three new Opel's and 81' coupe with the 1,100 cc and later the 73' Opel 'Manta' Blue Max coupe which was a sweet handling car and much better than the BMW 2002, and the 75' Manta wagon which also handled pretty good. It got wrecked by my girlfriend so I bought a new Datsun 510 wagon which did a lot of modifications to so it too was a good canyon runner. The Record 'D' coupe in green is a nice design. I wonder if one can still find one for sale. Something different than the popular JDM's some are importing.
Thanks for the post.
Cool cars that I knew very little about. Real similar styling to my old '73 Audi 100LS.
Interesting look back at Opel, Adam.. Thanks for this one !.. Always good to get any video from you that includes commentary from "Maximum Bob" Lutz.
I love Opel. The Manta A Gte is my Favorite Car from this Brand🥰
Greets from Ahrtal/Germany🤙
Great video, wonderful channel, thank you
Wow. Great show. In South America this car was marketed as the very popular Chevrolet Opala. Fascinating that Opel (Vauxhall and Holden?) was injected excitement by expat Americans.
Definitely one of the best looking sedans ever built in Germany. The only downside was the typical opel muffler sound of that era. Opel mufflers did sound like no other cars.
Thank you Adam. I thank you for sharing the Opel. Thank you for sharing some of GM's global cars. I hope you will do more. It is sad GM does not own Opel/Vauxhall any longer. I wished they still did, but times change and things change. It is nice to see the story from Bob Lutz about design and its impact.
Would love to have a late ,50s to early 60s Rekord.
I really like you that you showed a European car. I grew up in Belgium and saw these everywhere . Opel was considered a ho-hum kind of brand, mostly bought by sensible and price conscious people, Same for Ford Europe. The American influenced styling is undeniable. French cars from the fifties like Simca and Renault(Fregate) and some British cars were similarly influenced. American cars enjoyed some popularity so their influence was being felt.
I would love to see some old Japanese cars from the sixties and seventies on your channel, some also sporting American inspired design. Absolutely love this channel and so far haven't missed an episode. So glad you're well over 100K subscribers. Well deserved. Next target 200K!
You are absolutely right, also from the design, this car Rekord D was all other European car manufacturers years ahead.
I'm living in Switzerland and my parents had a 1972 Opel Rekord 1900 S Bermuda Green, 4-Speed and it was a wonderful car, very reliable and in maintenance an easy case.
My parents where very smart, because they realized the ratio of what you get and what you pay, this car was amazing.
I was much more car crazy and spent much more money and time with all my 70/71 Mustang's, 70 Mach 1, Shelby GT 500 SCJ 4-Speed Conv. Maserati Ghibli, E-Type and many other Jag's and finally a 71 454 Vette Conv. of course I always had and have fun.
But in retrospect my parents Opel Rekord had enough space for a family and had also a big trunk to travel with much baggage in vacation.