The last Opel Rekord appeared in 1977 and was succeeded nine years later by the Opel Omega. However, this required a very substantial update round in 1982.
Many people look back with nostalgia on the period when large Opel cars were popular. Lovers of this genre had plenty to choose from in the sixties, seventies and eighties, because the Rekords, Commodores and (from ’78) Senators were flying around your ears in that period.
Launched in 1977, the Rekord E would be the last of the series. The car was clearly more modern and ‘more eighties’ than its predecessor, but at the same time just as down-to-earth and traditional as before. A straight grille with square headlights, turn signals that were fashionably ‘around the corner’ and a straight rear with three-color taillights were key ingredients of the highly functional design.
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In 1982 it was time to facelift the Rekord. What’s called: Opel just didn’t speak of a new generation. The first big change was that the Commodore, the more luxurious and faster brother of the Rekord, died. The ‘normal’ Rekord got a new nose and a new butt, only the ‘center section’ of the sedan remained more or less unchanged.
The front was completely replaced by a more streamlined one with smoothly sloping headlights towards the center. The bonnet stretched significantly further forward between those lamps. This setup would nowadays be called a new family face, because it was later to be found in more or less the same form as successor Omega A and the Kadett E.
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What is special is that the rear of the sedan was also firmly grasped. A late Rekord can be recognized by higher rear lights, for which the original model, surprisingly enough, already seemed to make some space. Like the headlamps, the rear lights have been slightly rounded, although the first cautious step in that area is now at the outer top corner of the unit. As at the front, the thin, partly chrome-plated bumper was replaced by a larger plastic shield bumper.