Opel Rekord D / Rekord II

Introduction

IN LINE WITH then current General Motors styling trends Opel changed the body design of their Rekord II. Now wearing a brand new face the Rekord II (or Rekord D) looked very similar to several other GM medium-sized sedans. Opel wanted more glass and crisper side panels. Lowering the belt line achieved both. It also wanted the Rekord to have an identity - so it called on its Australian cousins and borrowed the protruding grille of the HQ Holden and then tidied up the tail considerably.

About 1.1 million Rekord "Ds" were manufactured over a 5 year lifespan. Because the name Rekord D was easily mistaken to signify a diesel-powered car, the name Rekord II was often used in sales literature - and was how the car was known in Australia. The first prototype was ready in 1971. The engine types available were 1897cc, 1698cc and 2068 cc CIH (cam-in-head) four-cylinder gasoline engines. There was also a diesel version with an engine whose displacement was initially 2.1 litres and afterwards reduced to 2.0 litres.

The diesel engine was higher than gasoline variants, so diesel model bonets have a raised midsection. The six-cylinder variant of this car was called the Commodore B - a name later used in Australia when the Commodore VB was launched. But, for the Rekord, the design was very much based on that of the HQ Holden.

Transmissions available were standard four-speed manual with either floor or steering-column shifter and TH-180 automatic transmission. The body was of unitary construction. Body types available were four-door saloon, four-door wagon/estate and two-door coupe. There was also a variant called the "Berlina" with more luxurious interior and wheels. The name would again be picked up by GMH Australia for use on the years off Commodore.

The Rangers were also transferred to this new generation, with the dropping of the 130 and 153 and the adding of a 1.7 litre engine. In 1972, the line-up consisted of the base Ranger 1700, the mid-level Ranger 1900, and the top-of-the-line Ranger 2500. In 1974, a 2.8 litre engine was introduced to the Ranger family. However, by that time the Rangers were unpopular, and were discontinued after the 1976 model year. Most of these were sold exclusively in Continental Europe, especially the Benelux region.

South Africa used this body type for their Chevrolet 2500, 3800 and 4100 series. They looked visually almost identical but had the Chevrolet 2500 (4-cylinder) or 3800 and 4100 (6-cylinder) engines installed. They were available as four-door saloon or estate. The six-cylinder versions could be differentiated from the "fours" as they had four round headlights as opposed to the two rectangular units.

These cars were also assembled in Iran (before revolution) from 1974 till 1977 under the local "Chevrolet Royale / or Chevrolet Iran" brand-name by Iran General Motors. The two models were 2500 and 2800 with 2.5L and 2.8L, respectively.The production of these vehicles ended in 1977 when the assembly line started producing the Chevrolet Nova, Buick Skylark, and Cadillac Seville cars until 1987

Styling Changes

Under the front bumper Opel pulled the valence down just as deep as it possibly dared, to hide away the knobby bits of suspension. A millimetre more and it really would have looked heavy. Fog lamps under the bumper helped break this potentially heavy line. In profile the stylists took the same calculated gamble with glass areas. Particularly in the two-door sedan the ratio of glass to door/ wing was about as far as you might go. The four-door came off better. For the coupe variation Opel rounded the rear and tilted the windscreen but both were subtle changes.

Drivers would have appreciated the near-30 percent increase in petrol capacity. Boots in both sedan and coupe did, however, lose a little space to make way for the larger tank. Inside the new semi-dished seats with reclining backs were a jump ahead of Ford's Taunus/Cortina, the direct competition. Even the rears were dished on either side of a fold-down armrest. Unless the driver sat well back (which only those taller than say five foot ten inches would have) there was plenty of rear leg room.

Behind The Wheel

Behind the wheel the dials were from the latest Ascona (the next size smaller Opel model) with large faces and white numerals on black backgrounds - in short eminently readable. Unfortunately the information was meagre unless you ordered the "Sprint" package. Then a big tacho replaced the clock (which moved to centre-dash) and four small faces for fuel, temperature, volts and oil pressure took over the left end of the dash. A leatherette wheel, bulky (too kinky in fact) combined wand for turn indicators and wash/wipe, and stripes come with the Sprint, along with a matt grille and five and a half inch rims mounting 185/70 radial tyres.

On the road the better location for the back axle helped keep the inside rear wheel down around a skid pad but it wasnt't enough to change the basic understeer which changed a touch too easily to a wagging tail. Fortunately the steering had good feel and it was easy enough to catch that wayward rear. On bad surfaces the nose wanted to push and the tail went light - all safe enough if you didn't try to correct each small swimming motion. Brakes were disc/drum still but sufficient for any job below competition useage.

In an automatic (Opel version of the Trimatic) four-door sedan (in the early 1970s, one of the finest small automatics known) with upshifts at 40 and 65 mph I toad testers achieved a mean top speed of 93 mph against a claimed 96.5. A quick try for 0-60 times came out 14.5, nearly a second better than Opel's claim. Both manual and automatic Rekord II cars used the 3.89 final drive with unchanged gearboxes. The old Rekord automatic was geared higher. Coupe versions matched the 14.0 seconds for 0-60 which the factory claimed for the four-speed manual

Opel raised compression considerably from 9.0 to 9.8 for the 1.9-litre version, added a cam with more overlap and a compound Zenith carb to get 97 (DIN) bhp, an increase of seven bhp. Teutonic emission controls and increased weight helped keep performance where it was. All in all, the Rekord "D" or Rekord II was a noticeably better Rekord and a better looking one.