Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
I know what you’re saying. “Carter, that Opel from last week was boring”. Okay, how about two Opel Rekord C models in a week, then? That’s got to be worth something? As with the last example, this blandish late 1960s-early 1970s GM/Opel coupe has been presented in all the brown color spectrum – but in this case, it’s an all-gold affair, as the matching tan cloth interior provides continuity to the gold exterior. But with some shiny details and ridiculously low mileage, isn’t it worth a look?
One of the joys that continues to drive my automotive interest is seeing cars that aren’t often discussed day to day. They may not be the most attractive, best selling or performing cars ever made, but regardless it’s because of their infrequency that they’re neat to see. No one would claim any of the previous traits for basically any Opel model ever produced. But in what can become a sea of Porsche 911s and BMW E30s, strolling across a clean early 1970s Opel coupe can really be a breath of fresh air. Let’s stop for a moment with our usual programming and take a look at this 1971 Rekord C:
You can’t walk two steps into the E28 community without confronting someone looking for Euro bumpers and lights, selling them, or yelling about how much better they look than the diving boards. For many, the cost of sourcing the parts, hacking up the ends of their 5er, and welding in smaller bits is worth it. The more authentic route is to find a true Euro market car, like today’s ’84 520i. It has passed between serious enthusiasts for quite some time, and is now being sold in favor of an E30 M3 project. I’m typically a go before show car guy, but I enjoy seeing people who daily drive low, unique cars just like this one.
The slammed XYZ suspension and reproduction Hartge front spoiler indicate that this 520i is far from stock, with an M20B25 out of an E30 and a serious amount of effort put into redoing all the mounts and inner bits to make daily driving a reality as long as you don’t have to confront such mountains as a slightly inclined driveway, or perhaps a small speedbump. After the effort gone into making this a head-turning daily Euro, the seller is thinking he can get very strong E28 money.
Just like we saw with yesterday’s 928S4, there are specific dealers that have made a go of importation of vehicles from Europe that have passed the magical “25 year” rule. Most of what we have seen from this particular seller is of the BMW variety, and we’ve featured quite a few of their E30 Tourings as well as a wayward Volkswagen. While the photography is never as slick as the 928s looks, the photos are a bit more honest and the descriptions usually show the drawbacks. What you get is a good look at a model infrequently seen in the U.S.. However, in this case it’s one that will probably leave most people scratching their heads, as it’s a right-hooker 1.0 liter base Polo wagon. At least it’s a manual?
From earlier’s obscure E21 B6 2.8 we move on to the much more popular (then and especially now) E30 model. Alpina once again worked their magic in many ways over the production of the E30, steadily increasing output to try to stay one step ahead of the factory. Up until 1986, that was a bit easier, but the introduction of the M3 model that year put some serious pressure on Alpina and would result in the M30 based B6 2.8 and 3.5 models, but the earlier Alpina models were based upon the M20 323i powerplant. Punching that out to 2.5 and later 2.7 liters as BMW released its own updates, the ultimate result was 210 horsepower from the larger unit. These were expensive cars in their day and consequently few were sold, but performance was top-notch and it was a premium product from the unique manufacturer:
