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Opel Rekord Convertible ???

7K views 28 replies 5 participants last post by  slracer 
#1 ·
Hi all, I was driving along US70 today about 10 miles NE of Las Cruces, NM (passing through Organ, NM) when an older Opel caught my eye in a fenced yard next to an OLD mechanical service company (? open). I just went to Google maps and found the location using the satellite image. It is on the corner on the west side of 2nd St and north side of US70. I then looked at Wikipedia to determine it was probably a late 50's to early 60's model then went to Google images to find a pic of a convertible that looked like it. No luck! (?) This attachment is the car that looked most like it, but it was a convertible, no top or top down, and did not have the rigid window frames which showed up on a number of the earlier year pics. The grille was almost exactly like this picture (as I saw it, but I was driving my pickup with a loaded 16 foot flatbed trailer chasing me down the hill)! No other info as I was just passing through and had about 8 more hours of driving to do before I got home! Good luck if anyone is interested!

FWIW - Organ is a very small town so a note to the Post Office would probably get a letter delivered to the right person.

Doug
 

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#2 ·
What you show is a Rekord P1. This was produced as model years 1958 through 1960. There was a 1200 model which used this body style for a few more years. The 1200 was never officially imported to the USA. Opel produced a convertible in the Rekord line from 1953 through the 1956 model year. There was a German firm called Autenrieth which modified cars, including Opels, from the 1920s into the 1960s. They made convertible conversions of the Rekord P1 as well as the Rekord P2 Coupe. If the car you saw was an Autenrieth conversion, it would be a real rarity. Below is a link to a model of the P1 convertible which is for sale in Germany. Is that what this car looked like? Bill

Opel Rekord P1 Cabriolet (Karosserie Autenrieth)-JM030-1
 
#3 · (Edited)
That looks like what I saw!

I was driving past on a downhill with a loaded trailer on the back of my F150, but that model looks like what I think I saw! :yup: I remember thinking it was a mid- to late 50's Olds convertible, then realized it was too small for that. I thought "Opel?" and looked for a Blitz and there was one (fairly large) on the hood. The vertical "teeth" in the oval shaped grille was another "remember that" so I could try to ID the model. There was no sign of a top, nothing sticking above the rear body line, but a bare frame probably would not stick up. I guess the rarity might be why I couldn't find a photo of a matching convertible Rekord in that time period. I have made that trip a number of times as I formerly lived in Ruidoso (maybe 70 miles from Organ) for 10 years and I always looked at that lot as there was often something interesting in it.

I took another shot at a "street view" of Organ at this link (if it works):
https://www.google.com/maps/@32.424...ata=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sTka1l_78M6azRgVM6YR_lg!2e0
The lot is just past (north east of) the building that says "Garage, Buy Sell Trade, Cars Trucks" on a banner on the side of the building and it is looking toward 2nd St from 3rd St and US70. Hope someone here can snag it! -- Doug

I just tried the link and it pointed directly at the building. The car lot is on the other end, but I couldn't figure out how to move a few yards NE (and don't know when the car hit the lot or the date of the photos).

I found this link from wklopf's and the car is like photo 19/21. I'm almost sure!
 
#4 ·
It would be interesting to know if it were in fact a convertible or just had the top removed. I looked into a Rekord for sale of that vintage about two years ago in Missouri. It had the top damaged when the garage it was in had a roof failure. I am pretty sure it got repaired so it had to get a donor roof from somewhere.
 
#6 ·
Norbert, I stumbled across this website when looking for a picture to confirm what I saw. Thanks for bringing it back as I "lost" it! The car was a two tone and looked like these pics (with the dip in the dividing line). I didn't see a second chrome piece so the later (?) models P1 is out and the grille was oval so the P2 is out. I'm about out of memories and I plan on sleeping again tonight so the rest will probably disappear then! :ugh: -- Doug
 
#7 · (Edited)
If I had the money, time, space, etc.. I would get it..

Its actually one of the Opels on the top of my bucket list.

BTW here are pictures of it.. :)






Looks like the real thing to me.. Wonder if there is a German jumping on an airplane now as we speak or not..?
 
#8 ·
Charles, How did you get pics? :confused: The angle from the highway was left front 3/4 view, so these were ground level from 2nd street! Do you have a friend in the CIA? :lmao: My nearest friends are about 75 miles away and hardly know cars (and think an Opel is a pretty rock)! Did you get an indication of price along with the pics?

Good Luck! -- Doug
 
#9 · (Edited)
Shhh... AnonymousD can't know I have "Connections"..

:haha:

I simply "Walked" around the building in Google Street View (notice a bit of it was in the first picture :) ) and Zoomed up the pictures when I "Saw" it.. and did a screen capture. All at my computer in Virginia.
 
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#10 ·
Doug, I was also intrigued on how Charles got those pictures. I had seen the views from highway 70, but if you go to Google maps and put in the address and then go to street view, you can maneuver around to B street where you see the scenes as Charles presented them. Now, after seeing what Google knows about us, are we still concerned about NSA? Bill

P.S. I see that Charles beat me to the answer!
 
#12 ·
Although that may be a Rekord P1 convertible, I'm 99.99999% sure that it is not an Autenrieth. If I thought that could be an Autenrieth, I'd be well on my way to NM! The vehicle right in front of the Rekord appears to be another Opel. This one appears to be a Caravan of the 1953 to 1957 vintage. Bill
 
#13 ·
Pic is not current!

OK, when I drove by, there were no vehicles in front of the car! The grille was easily visible as was the chrome strip on the left side. I don't remember any fog/driving lights inside the grille as on Norbert's pics, and the front fenders were more like a 55-56 Olds with a peak at the top. The attached P1 Cabrio pic, NOT Aultenrich does look a likely candidate. -- Doug
 

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#14 ·
The Rekord P1s looked a lot like a mini 55 or 56 Chevy. I based my opinion that it was not an Autenriech on a couple of things. I had read on German Google that Autenriech had widened or lengthened the doors on their cabriolets. If you look at the side views of the authentic conversions and the "other" conversions, you can see the difference. I did some ratios of door width to wheelbase (100.04") and determined that the Organ car had the standard doors. Then there are the numbers. I found several statements that Autenriech had made twenty P1 cabriolets. Opel produced 816955 Opel P1s, of which 80120 came to the USA. Yes, Americans bought more Opel P1s than we did GTs! The Convertible was a custom conversion and I have no idea what they cost. But, in that time period in the US, people could buy a T-Bird convertible of a Corvette. I really doubt that anyone of that period would have spent the money to have what we bought as an economy car converted to a convertible. Not with its 1500cc engine and three on the tree transmission. Someone COULD have brought one over years later. There are currently only four known Autenriech Opel Rekord P1 convertibles known to still exist. They converted three Rekord P1s to coupes. Only two of these still exist, and both are owned by the same person. Bill
 
#18 · (Edited)
There is currently a Rekord P1 convertible for sale on the German used car site mobile.de. The car is in Budapest. It even has a hard top included. It looks great. The link is below. At the top of the web page, if you click on the German flag, you can get some of the information in English. Bill
One of these days.. or when I win the lottery.. I have a LOT of cars to buy ( A P1 convertible is one) and a big garage to build.
 
#19 ·
Here's the scoop!

I talked to the Opel man in Organ, NM today. He does indeed have two Opels. There is the Rekord which he described as a sedan with the top cut off, and the Caravan which he identified as a 1957. He has had the cars for about two years. He has no titles for them. He would provide a bill of sale.

The Rekord has little or no interior, but it has all four hubcaps. The floor pans appear to be sound. The engines of both cars turn over, but he has never had them running. He said that the guy that he got the cars from put new tires on them. I asked him if the Rekord had been reinforced to make up for the removal of the top. He thought that the cars were body on frame, so I'm guessing that there has been no reinforcement added.

The Caravan has some body damage. The top part of one of the doors is damaged, and I believe that he said something about a crease in the roof in the cab area. The rear window has been broken.

As for price, he has been asking $1500 each. However, he has had the cars for longer than he likes, so he said that he will listen to offers. I have his phone number, which I got from a sign on the fence in the Google pictures. You can PM me or go to the pictures for the number if you are interested. Bill
 
#20 ·
From what I see $500 for the pair would probably be the best he can hope for.
 
#21 ·
I don't know what a fair price for these cars would be. I believe that having the top cut off of the Rekord probably greatly decreases its value. One would have to do some serious work to reinforce the body if one were to try to make a convertible out of it. Since the body on the Caravan is complete, it is probably worth more than the Rekord. Since GM didn't import Opels until the 1958 model year, the 57 is a gray market car. The engine and running gear under the 57 is the same as what was in the early 1958 models, until they started using a different engine. I wish that I were close enough to take a look at the cars, but I'm not, so that ends it for me. Bill
 
#22 ·
Bill, It's about 400 miles for me but I hope to be heading back in mid June (to get the rest of my shop equipment from storage)! I am NOT an Opel expert (or even very knowledgeable) but would stop in on that trip if they were still there. I could get a bunch of better pics! I will have a very loaded trailer headed home so it would NOT be possible to load either one (and that would put them further away from Ill anyway). Think about that and let me know. -- Doug
 
#23 ·
Doug, if you could get pictures and post them on here, it might help someone decide to give them a good home. It won't be me, because if I bought another car, I'd be in the dog house, except that we don't have a dog, so I wouldn't even have a dog house to live in. Bill
 
#24 ·
OK, but as I said, it won't be until mid-June (maybe later :ugh: but I would love to be out of the storage unit by the end of the month). Shoot me the phone number and name of the person you talked to so I can try to make contact before the trip!

Doug

PS - Anything special I should look for (or out for) on Rekords or Caravans?
 
#25 ·
It's "later"

I'm headed for NM tomorrow and will be there Thursday through Sunday (or Monday). If anyone wants some new pics or "data" for the Rekord (or other Opel) IF THEY ARE STILL THERE, I could try to stop on my way home (Sun or Mon). Shoot a response here and I'll do what I can (but no promises, rain is forecast for both days).

Doug
 
#26 ·
They are GONE, but ...

Hi all, I was in Ruidoso, NM emptying my last storage unit Thur - Sat last week and drove home on Sunday. As promised, I stopped in at the used car lot in Organ, NM where the topless Rekord and an Opel van were residing on my last trip (mid-April). If you were interested, so was someone else as both Opels were GONE! However, the attached pics show an Olympia station wagon (or was the Olympia only sold as a wagon? :sigh:). It doesn't look too good, but it might even be worse! The big dent in the top probably took out the windshield, as the RS door frame mishap did to that window. Actually, I only remember 1 piece of glass in the entire vehicle. With no further ado, I'll present the photos. Note that I included the telephone number in one of them if you are looking for a real project! On the other hand, there were a number of other interesting cars there, i.e., a Triumph Herald (convertible), and an MG Midget. HTH anyone interested! -- Doug
 

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#27 ·
Hi all, I was in Ruidoso, NM emptying my last storage unit Thur - Sat last week and drove home on Sunday. As promised, I stopped in at the used car lot in Organ, NM where the topless Rekord and an Opel van were residing on my last trip (mid-April). If you were interested, so was someone else as both Opels were GONE! However, the attached pics show an Olympia station wagon (or was the Olympia only sold as a wagon? :sigh:). It doesn't look too good, but it might even be worse! The big dent in the top probably took out the windshield, as the RS door frame mishap did to that window. Actually, I only remember 1 piece of glass in the entire vehicle. With no further ado, I'll present the photos. Note that I included the telephone number in one of them if you are looking for a real project! On the other hand, there were a number of other interesting cars there, i.e., a Triumph Herald (convertible), and an MG Midget. HTH anyone interested! -- Doug

Thanks for the photos, Doug. I believe that this IS the second Opel which we could just see in the Google images. It is a 1957 Opel Olympia CarAvan. The year comes from the shape of the front fender over the headlight as well as the grille which was only used that year. I started a thread on identifying these older Opels a couple of years ago. It is at the link below. Bill

http://www.opelgt.com/forums/other-...pia-rekords-caravans-1953-through-1963-a.html
 
#28 ·
I learned something today!

Well Bill, At least I learned a CarAVan is a station wagon! My preference was the Triumph Herald, but if I found one (and I'm NOT looking), a '60 Ford Anglia 105E would be my choice. A little old fashioned customizing and modernization would make it a bit of fun! JMHO -- Doug
 
#29 ·
415 days later ...

Hi all, I just returned from a drive to Albuquerque on Monday, continue to Roswell then Ruidoso on Tuesday and return to Phoenix on Wednesday (20 hours of driving) trip. As I was passing the "yard" above, I turned as I usually did as there have been some "fun" cars in there. Front row center was an Olympia caravan but I didn't look close enough to tell if it was the same one as above. I had forgotten about the big dent in top center of the windshield frame so it didn't register as an identifying feature. After this long, (he had it more than 2 years at the last report - more than a year ago), the price could be pretty negotiable! HTH if anyone is looking for something different! -- Doug
 
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