Opel Rekord P1

Opel
Opel Rekord 1700
Record P1
Production period:	1957-1962
Class :	upper middle class
Body versions :	Limousine , station wagon
Engines:	Petrol engines : 1.2-1.7 liters (29-40 kW)
Length:	4433 mm
Width:	1616 mm
Height:	1490 mm
Wheelbase :	2541 mm
Empty weight :	910-975 kg
Previous model	Opel Olympia record
successor	Opel Rekord P2

The Opel Rekord P1 (originally Opel Olympia Rekord P ) is a car of the upper middle class , the Opel in summer 1957 as a successor to the Opel Olympia Rekord imagined and built by the end of the 1,962th A striking feature of this model were the panoramic windows based on the model of American vehicles.

The record P1 proved to be a great sales success both domestically and in export . Between August 1957 and July 1960, 509,110 vehicles were delivered, including 394,692 sedans, 109,282 station wagons and 15,136 delivery vans. There were also 67,952 units of the Opel 1200 .

With a newly designed body and largely the same technology, the Rekord P2 came onto the market in August 1960 . The P1 was built as the Opel 1200 until December 1962.

Model history

Rear view of the Opel Rekord 1700

On August 13, 1957, Edward W. Zdunek , CEO of Adam Opel AG, presented the Opel Olympia Record “P” in the Wiesbaden city hall (with the appearance of the successor model P2 , the car was subsequently referred to as “P1”). It was the successor to the Opel Olympia Rekord . Equipped with a stylish body, the new car was immediately popular. Paintwork and fabric interior were available in two colors.

The newly designed double-wishbone - front axle with negative camber and different length wishbones and the new fully synchronized three-speed transmission with steering wheel gearshift and the 45-horsepower engine with 1.5 liter displacement (the previous Olympic record 40 PS) conveyed a new driving experience.

The vehicle was initially only offered with two doors. At the turn of the year 1958 there were some changes to the equipment. The metal sun visor holders and the round coat hooks in the rear, also made of metal, were made of plastic from 1958. The design of the sun visors changed, and there were other minor changes to the rear taillights. The aluminum trim below the windshield was pulled around towards the doors. A station wagon (CarAVan) and a “ Schnell-Lieferwagen ” ( express delivery van ) (without rear side windows) were also available from the start. The Americans said, "It is a car and a van," both a car and a van. The CarAVan was mainly bought by craftsmen, as it offered the optimal combination of private and company cars with a correspondingly high payload. That was also the reason why only a few of these station wagons have survived to this day. At that time it was generally frowned upon to drive a “craftsman's car” privately. After the factory holidays in 1959, Opel also offered the Rekord P as a four-door sedan , while the station wagon versions always had two doors. The previously massive cast case lid handle has been replaced by a variant made of light metal.

There was also a two-door basic version Olympia (also known as Olympia P1 ). This model had no side moldings, many chrome-plated parts in the other versions were painted, and the interior was kept simple. The chrome ring on the steering wheel and the Kienzle watch with an 8-day winding mechanism were missing - the opening in the instrument insert was covered with a black plastic cap. The Olympia P1 did not have the words “Rekord” on the front fenders like CarAVan and delivery van, but “Olympia”.

The trade press attested that “the development of the new 1.5-liter Opel models largely took into account knowledge and experience, particularly from traffic practice, and applied them to practical use.” This meant, among other things, the new roller speedometer with colored bar fields.

Two-door sedan

As a new basic version, Opel replaced the Olympia in October 1959 with the Opel 1200 (also incorrectly known as the Opel P1200 ), which was intended to compete with the VW Beetle. The Opel 1200 engine developed 40 hp from a displacement of 1.2 liters. On the side, instead of the large swing arm, a narrow, slightly curved decorative strip was mounted as a distinguishing feature, over which the lettering "1200" was attached to the front fenders. This model also had no “Rekord” lettering on the front fenders. Its equipment was not quite as spartan as at the Olympia. It was supposed to bridge the time until the new “small” Opel Kadett A and was built until 1962 - longer than the more powerful versions that were replaced by the Opel Rekord P2 in 1960. For export there was a corresponding model called "Opel 1500".

The first changes came in the spring of 1958: the interior mirror was attached to the upper edge of the window instead of the dashboard , and for the first time in this series, an electric, two-stage wiper was installed. Until then, the camshaft drove the windshield wipers via a flexible shaft; a solution that was first used in the Opel Super 6 in 1937 .

In the summer of 1959, a revised 1.5-liter engine was introduced, which produced 50 hp instead of the previous 45 hp (40 hp in the old Olympic record). This increase in performance was mainly achieved through changes to the cylinder head and the exhaust manifold . At the same time, a 1.7-liter engine with 55 hp appeared, which was identified by a 1700 lettering on the rear panel and, like the other engines, had no oil filter . Otherwise, the in-line four - cylinder machines with OHV valve control were based on the pre-war design of the 1937 Olympia engine .

From the spring of 1958, the Olympia Rekord P1 was available with the “Olymat” (in contrast to the conventional Saxomat with double clutch ), an automatic clutch from Fichtel & Sachs , which was only moderately popular. The system consisted of a centrifugal clutch for starting and a second clutch for changing gears; there was no clutch pedal. The second clutch, activated by the negative pressure of the engine, was activated by an electrical contact on the gearshift lever. Vehicles with Olymat received an "Olymat" lettering under the rear window.

Autenrieth in Darmstadt offered coupé and convertible conversions, which have always remained a rarity, not least because of their high purchase price. A total of 25 convertibles are said to have been built, four of which are still known today. Of the three coupés that were built, two should still be preserved.

The special Opel Rekord Ascona model, which was produced in small numbers at General Motors Suisse in Biel from the end of 1959, was only available in Switzerland . The model, named after the city of Ascona on Lake Maggiore , had a 1.5-liter engine with 55 hp and a three-stage two-tone paintwork with an always white roof, as well as a two-tone interior and leather upholstery , a chrome strip at a 45 ° angle on the front fender, which separated the two colors below the belt line, and an 'Ascona' lettering on the rear side panels. Only 10 of this special model should exist.

Like its successors, the Rekord P1 was also built by GM South Africa , but there as a right-hand drive . One version of the Rekord P1, which was built for the domestic market in Port Elizabeth , South Africa, was a pick-up . This model, known as the Opel Pickup , had the Olympia logo on the fenders and, in very small numbers, made it to Europe as a left-hand drive.

• 

  Opel Olympia P1 CarAVan (1958–1960)

• 

  Fittings of an Olympia P1 CarAVan

• 

  Basic version: Opel 1200 (1958–1962)

• 

  Cabriolet from Autenrieth body shop

• 

  Luxury version of the Opel Rekord Ascona from General Motors Suisse (1958)

Technical specifications

Opel (Olympia) Rekord P1 (1957–1962)
	1200 (1958-1962)	1500 (1957-1960)	1500 (1959-1960)	1700 (1959-1960)
Engine:	4-cylinder in-line engine (four-stroke petrol engine)
Displacement:	1196 cc	1488 cc		1680 cc
Bore × stroke:	72 × 74 mm	80 × 74 mm		85 × 74 mm
Power (PS) at 1 / min:	29 kW (40 hp) 4400	33 kW (45 PS) 3900	37 kW (50 PS) 4000	40 kW (55 PS) 4000
Max. Torque at 1 / min:	82 Nm 2500	98 Nm 2300	106 Nm 2100	120 Nm 2100
Compression:	7.5: 1	6.9: 1	7.25: 1
Mixture preparation:	An Opel downdraft carburetor (license Carter Carburetor) with 30 mm Ø
Valve control:	Overhead valves, bumpers and rocker arms on the side camshaft (OHV), driven by spur gears
Cooling:	Water cooling, pump and thermostat
Transmission:	3-speed gearbox, steering wheel gearshift
Front suspension:	Double wishbone axle, coil springs, hydraulic shock absorbers, stabilizer
Rear suspension:	Rigid axle on 2 semi-elliptical longitudinal leaf springs with 3 (Caravan: 4) spring layers, hydraulic shock absorbers
Brakes:	hydraulically operated drum brakes, Ø 200 mm (caravan rear 230 mm)
Body:	Sheet steel, self-supporting
Track width front / rear:	1260/1270 mm
Wheelbase:	2541 mm
Length:	4433 mm
Empty weight:	910–975 kg (caravan: 1000–1015 kg)
Top speed:	119 km / h	125–128 km / h		130-132 km / h
0-100 km / h:	33 p	24-27 p		20-22 p
Consumption (liters / 100 km):	9.0 liters normal	9.5-10.5 liters normal		10–10.5 liters normal

literature

• Alexander Franc Storz: Opel type compass . Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-613-02930-9
• Werner Oswald : German Cars 1945–1975 . Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1975, ISBN 3-87943-391-7 , pp. 88-93

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c} Eckhart Bartels, Rainer Manthey: Opel: Vehicle Chronicle Volume 2: 1952–1990. Podszun, Brilon 2012, ISBN 978-3-86133-620-4 , pp. 8/9 and 22/23.
2. ↑ Rüsselsheimer Echo from December 31, 2007 on www.biddelberner.de ( Memento of the original from June 26, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ New prototypes of the international automotive industry - Opel 1.5 l. In: Motor Vehicle Technology 5/1958, pp. 178-179

Web links

Commons : Opel Rekord P1  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Joint forum for Opel P1 and P2
• Further information at the Alt Opel IG
• Special page for the P1 CarAVan with original brochures
• Everything about the Opel Rekord P1