Rekord Breaker

This outstanding Rekord D nearly ended up on the scrapheap but, thanks to the dedication of Dennis Jensen, it’s now one of the best in the world!

- Dougie Rankine

General Motors traditionally liked to have a lot of different brands. In the United States they had Buick, Oldsmobile, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Pontiac and GMC. Meanwhile in Europe they had Vauxhall of the UK and Opel of Germany. In comparison, Ford were mostly just plain old Ford. With hindsight, what tactic was better? From a British point of view Vauxhall did their own thing until the 1970s when the concept of global car platforms began to be implemented. That meant Opel and Vauxhall were competitors in markets where they both sold cars. In the UK foreign cars were a hard sell as they were hit by import restrictions and it was seen as a good thing to ‘buy British’. A case in point was the Opel Ascona; a fine car, well built with superior running gear to the Ford Cortina but they only sold a handful in the UK. With Vauxhall struggling at the time and badly in need of a new mid-size car, GM wisely decided to graft the Manta nosecone on, badge it as a Cavalier and boom, a legend was born. It was perceived as British and even though cars were initially built in Antwerp (before production began in Luton) they eventually sold over 250,000.

The circumstances of the era meant that few Opels were sold on Vauxhall’s home turf, the exception being the Manta B, but that was mainly down to the short lived GM-VauxhallOpel branding of the 1980s. And you know what? It’s a real shame. Vauxhall may have had the superbly styled coke-bottle HB Viva and FD Victor, along with the mini-muscle car Magnum and Firenza, but we missed out on some equally, if not more, impressive Opels. The Kadett, Commodore, Ascona and Rekord ranges all had some of the best styling of the era. An American influence was clear, but there was none of the ostentatiousness that blighted many yank tanks.