opel in cuba

[opeldean]

A friend gave me these photos taken 12-08 in Havanna, Cuba.

Is this a Rekord?

What year?

[hallgeir]

Yes, that is an Opel Olympia Rekord. I would say it`s a 1955.

[blancojp]

A friend gave me these photos taken 12-08 in Havanna, Cuba.

Is this a Rekord?

What year?

In Cuba you will find lots of pre-1959 cars that are still on the road. Most of these cars have been altered using home made parts just to keep them running. There are quite alot of Opels there, mostly Reckords from the 1950's and they run almost as good as new.

Besides, driving an Opel beats the crap out of driving a Moskowitz (the real version of the Yugo).

[Gary]

There was a show on the HDNet network last week that showcased the old U.S. classics in Cuba. Pretty interesting.

[wklopf]

A bit of a correction for those who said that this is a Rekord! It is an Opel Olympia CARAVAN. The name "Rekord" only applied to the sedan models. My first car was a '54 Rekord, and this is a '54 or '55 Caravan. The wheels are not stock, of course. Bill

[kwilford]

When I was in Cuba a few years ago (story and photos at http://www.opelgt.com/forums/opel-st...uba-opels.html) I saw several vintage Opels, and one that is very similar to the photo posted here (see post #12 in my Opels in Cuba thread)

[hallgeir]

A bit of a correction for those who said that this is a Rekord! It is an Opel Olympia CARAVAN. The name "Rekord" only applied to the sedan models. My first car was a '54 Rekord, and this is a '54 or '55 Caravan. The wheels are not stock, of course. Bill

Yes, you`re right about the name. They later dropped the name Olympia, and kept the Rekord name (in the early 60`s I think), and then they used the names Rekord, and Rekord Caravan for a long time. That`s why we have a tendency to call them all Rekord, I guess.
But I`m pretty sure that is a -55, since I think that`s the only year it had that grille.

[wklopf]

I have to agree with you on the year. Something didn't look quite right about the grille, but I bought that '54 Rekord 50 years ago and traded it on a '61 Rekord in '61, and memory sometimes isn't 100%. After looking at the photos on Alt-Opel.org, I see what had bothered me. Bill

[tekenaar]

. . . love the "matte" paint job and single, driver-side windshield wiper too!

[wklopf]

I was curious about when they phased the name "Olympia". I have a brochure on the Rekord P2 series, a brochure on the Rekord A Coupe and a copy of the parts list covering the 1958 through 1962 model years. The parts list is in German, of course, which I can usually read, and was originally published in 1962, but has been updated as late as 1972. The parts list has an overview section which shows pictures of the models which are covered. The 1958 to 60 years had the Olympia-Rekord-P in two-door and four-door models. The Caravan is just listed as "Caravan-P", with no mention of the word "Olympia", but on the front fenders is the name "Olympia". There is also a delivery van which looks like the Caravan, except that it has no windows on the sides behind the doors. There is one additional model which shares the body of the Rekord-P two-door, but seems not to share either the "Olympia" or "Rekord" names. It was the "1200", which was an economy model produced from 1960 through 1962. Much which was chrome-plated on the other models was painted on the 1200. There apparently was a 1500 cc engine in the export models of this car. Less than 80,000 of these were ever produced and I have seen a total of one. In 1960 the Olympia P II models were introduced. Again there were the two-door and four-door Rekord models, but a coupe was also added. There were also the Caravan and delivery vans. The name "Olympia" was found on the glove-box door in the Rekords and on the rear fenders of the Caravan and delivery van.

The Rekord A Coupe brochure which I have is written in Swedish, which I don't read, but names don't change with language in most cases. The word "Olympia" doesn't show up in the text of this brochure, but on the glove box door there is a chrome strip with the words, "Olymia Rekord". The Rekord A was produced in 1963 and '64. That is the latest year which I have any information on. BUT, I just came across a book put out in 1961 which covers the models from 1953 to 1961. According to this book, for the model years 1955, through '59, Opel produced both Opel Olympia AND Opel Olympia Rekord sedans! The Olympias were apparently a bit more austere than the Rekords, with prices which were about 8 to 9% lower than for the Rekords. This is probably more than most wanted to know about these cars and names. Bill