Ouch, I had that happen, so I know how it feels.
…and you could always ask @Happyhungryhippo if it is fun to have to rebuild a whole bus. 
5 Likes
that is…truly terrifying
1 Like
ONE LAST REMINDER
48 hours 'til deadline now. If you haven’t sent your entry in, remember to do it before that.
I’ve got full submissions from
@DuceTheTruth100
@Ch_Flash
@HelloHi
Submission but no ad from
@happyfireballman
2 Likes
Kackstuhl K1
Wait what, a car named shitstool and its even brown? With a vinyl roof in toilet paper color? Well, thats due to the guy that builds these cars.
Maximilian Kackstuhl is an Opel enthusiast, restomodding the cars with one main idea in mind: A more modern and secure ride. but not too far away from the original.
The wood and leather interior reminds of the times when men were men, and even with LED lights and other goodies, you recognize the K1 as Opel Rekord.
The engine is a 2.2 inline four from USDM Primus models, however, not too much modern stuff otherwise. For safety, ABS and traction control (Swedish winters need this), power steering, and more gears. The driver will be delighted to find adaptive dampers from Bilstein, allowing either for a smoother highway ride or better cornering.
Yes, there is still a manual transmission. Yes, there is body roll, yes there is brake fade and no, there is not THAT much power. If the car does not feel like a Rekord, you could as well buy something else.
6 Likes
A German car with an American heart that lives in Sweden:
Introducing the SVETSON tuned Opel Rekord.
To start, we have engine swapped the old Rekord with an LS7 which makes 517 horsepower and 480 LB-FT of torque meaning that you’ll be able to reach a 0-60 time of just 5 seconds! The Rekord now has a SatNav and a newly upholstered premium interior which is now more comfortable than what it was. The car is now more reliable with improvement to parts such as the improvement of safety systems in place.
This car can reach a top speed on 215 MPH with a near perfect 50/50 weight distribution which makes it easier to drive. The car is also given a purple/black two tone color combination with new steel rims that invoke muscle.
This can all be yours for $43,800!
6 Likes
Opel Rekord by DHP
The old rekord has been modernised and improved by the engineers at DHP.
While we kept the front suspension, the rear has been swapped to a multilink suspension. The engine has also been swapped to a 3L V6 making 217hp and 329Nm to a 6-speed advanced automatic gearbox.
An electric differential, wider tires and ABS keep the car under control, while the modern premium interior keeps you comfortable and safe during your driving.
3 Likes
Introducing…
The Opel Rekord “Windowmaker”.
- Repainted the car.
- Swapped in an i6.
- Redid the hood to include a window, with easy removal.
- Painted the engine bay, given that it can be seen.
- Various other smaller tweaks.
For the record… I’m not sure how much I enjoy the brief of this particular iteration of the challenge. Why? Because the hefty focus on authenticity tends towards the answer being no more than yes. I did have some potential ideas here and there, but went conservative because of the brief going towards authenticity. Did it work? We’ll see. I have been sick as well, that’s part of it. Eh, looking forward to judging.
1 Like
SUBMISSIONS CLOSED!
There were no instabins, so expect first part of judging during the start of the week.
1 Like
SORRY!
I know that I said that there were no instabins. Turns out that I missed one thing at a first, quick glance, though. In fact, there is one.
@Danicoptero with the Opel Rekord DHP. The reason? Engine TP set to +5 in all areas.
Clearing bin round:
@Ch_Flash
@DuceTheTruth100
@happyfireballman
@Happyhungryhippo
@HelloHi
@AMuteCrypt
5 Likes
I’m a bit mad at myself right now, first engine I made was fine but I forgot to check the one I actually submitted…
I guess these things can happen to anyone, I’ll try to be more careful next time.
4 Likes
Happens to to the best of us. I got instabinned for my first four CSRs in a row. First ARM too. It’s certainly frustrating, but every time it happens you become more vigilant in the future! And least there’s always next round.
2 Likes
REVIEWS PART 1: FIRST IMPRESSIONS
In the parallell reality, where I don’t have a potato computer, we don’t have the coldest may I ever remember, and where my inbox is not full of spam, I turned on my computer, logged in to my protonmail account, and started browsing through the new messages in the inbox. The first one I found was from LIGHTNING GARAGE. Their OPEL REKORD 3.0 GS/E looked like an interesting proposal indeed. ( @Ch_Flash )
My general impression of the Rekord 3.0 GS/E from Lightning Garage is pretty good. The purplish blue metallic paint is gorgeous, and overall the styling seems to be rather true to the original but still very much of an update. It takes what makes the original such a looker and makes it better.
Zooming in on the rendering, I see that the grille is actually totally custom made, keeps the original look at a first glance but when looking at it more in depth, it actually looks much better. It is also complemented by a lower grille with the same pattern, which in combination with the round fog lights gives a more aggressive appearance. The front splitter is even more contributing to a more “evil” look, so are the headlights that retains the original shape, but has some BMW inspired DRLs. The shape makes them too mean looking to be called “angel eyes” but… Looks better than I thought that it would do. Not sure about the slimmed down and painted bumpers. Do they look better? Worse? Different is maybe the right word here.
The wheels seems to be some custom alloys that resembles the ones used on the Opel Monza, but in 17”, a fun little detail. But the red brake calipers, nah…a bit too much like looking in some 90s tuner magazine, and does not really match the paint IMO. The subtle side skirts actually enhances the looks - something I never would have thought. The rest of the side detailing, like the chrome trim and the front fender vent - I guess they fall into the same category as the bumpers. Unclear if they makes the car look better, worse or just different.
The strongest point of this car is probably the rear. The wing looks like if it belongs there - clearly muscle car inspired and manages to not look too modern. The tail lights, keeping its original shape but updated with modern technology and a lightbar in between them - just lovely, especially surrounded by the black panel that really makes them pop.
The only thing that bothers me in the rear: The square backup lamp in an oval hole.
Interior wise, it seems to keep the looks of the stock interior, but updated with higher quality materials, modern, comfortable seating and a nice leather wrapped steering wheel, also the Commodore wood trim on the dashboard. Yup, a nice place to spend time on the road indeed.
So, that was the aesthetics. What does the stats say?
Engine seems to be a 3 litre Monza/Omega 3000 unit, with some aftermarket alloy head? I did not know such a head existed, but hey, German tuner companies have gotten a bit wild on Opel engines before, so it’s probably from one of them. It bumps up the power to 204 hp. That makes for some frisky performance. Not blazingly fast, but a rather nice update from the original. The fuel economy, though, hmm….slightly worse than original, but well, that could probably be expected since it is basically a larger version of the same engine. Also, service costs aren’t bloody, neither is the purchase price. Also, mostly using high quality bits and technology that is well tried and true by now, I expect this one to be reliable.
Interesting indeed, but let’s see what WELLS MOTORSPORTS has to offer…. @DuceTheTruth100
The first impression of the REKORD GSE 5.3 is a car that is pretty close to the original, with some bits updated here and there. Nothing wrong with that, it is after all a good looking car also in its stock form. Also, even if it probably is just a lucky strike, it is a bit funny that it’s silver with a black vinyl roof - exactly the paint scheme this car had from the factory. I am normally not a huge fan of silver on cars, true - but indeed it works well here!
Most of the front end is kept stock. But there is some rectangular yellow fog lights under the bumper - a nice retro touch even if they hardly make the car more beautiful. Also, the creative design of the front spoiler deserves a mention. But I could have done without the large amount of chrome trim (that is also found under the rear bumper). It only looks tacked on and does not improve the styling at all.
Less tacky is the side vent - it actually works very well with the styling of the car. The wheels are a bit larger than on the Lightning Garage entry - 18 inch. And I am not sure that the extra inch there does anything good - it is almost like if the wheels makes the car look small. The wheels themselves, though, looks surprisingly good on the car. I am not too sure about the black wheel lips, though. At a distance it almost looks like if the tyres are starting to come loose from the rims.
The subtle twin tail pipes indicates a V8, let’s see if I am right…yup, an LS it seems like. 5.3 litres…oh wait, “read the fine print”, uhm…
“AVAILABLE AT EXTRA COST!”, yeah right. Wells Motorsports, why are you doing this to me? The submitted car only has a 3.7 litre engine, I did not know that such a small LS even existed. But 255 hp is enough to make it slightly faster than the Lightning Garage car. Identical 0-100 acceleration but everything else is faster. It is also priced much lower, and cheaper to service, but the V8 makes the fuel economy take a hit. On the positive side, I guess this car is fairly solid and reliable….
(OOC: I guess the engine displacement is a mistake from your side, the family capacity is indeed 5.3 litres but the variant is only slightly under 3.7. I had to roleplay around that, but of course, the mistake won’t affect the judging, except that it will of course be judged with the engine as it is)
The next proposal was from SVETSON. @happyfireballman
The Svetson is another car with a fairly stock looking outside, in a nice purple shade, the black roof is a nice contrast even if I guess I would have preferred a vinyl roof over the sparkling black metallic I guess - but hey, there is nothing wrong with this either.
The only questionable thing is the very small fog lights up front - did they convert some old bicycle lights, or…. Also, like on the Lightning Garage car, the red calipers are kind of clashing with the paintjob - didn’t they go out of fashion a long time ago? For some reason, it manages to pull off 18 inch wheels better than the Wells Motorsports car. As for the design of the wheels themselves - yeah, they are OK. Not very original on a 60s car but that may be because this 5 spoke style of wheels just look so good on them.
The Svetson is another LS swapped car, but with more than twice the power of the Wells proposal. That, of course, makes it blazingly fast. A top speed of over 350 km/h in a Rekord speaks for itself. And 5 second times to 100, mid 12 second quartermile times. That’s mental.
The safety equipment is actually pretty well beefed up - and that’s probably a good thing with that kind of performance. Unfortunately, an abysmal fuel economy and high service costs are the price I will have to pay for it, and Svetson will charge me a fair amount for the car too. Hmm…
Maybe KACKSTUHL and their K1 could offer an interesting alternative? @Happyhungryhippo
OK, let me tell you one positive thing here - I like the metallic brown with the light vinyl roof. Unfortunately, that’s more or less where it ends.
Cramming in the LED lights from god knows what just makes it look like some third world car facelifted until oblivion. Or gives vibes of some drunk eastern european trying to pimp his Lada with modern parts from the junkyard. Maybe the Opala would look like this, if they still made it in Brazil. I don’t know what the bumpers are from, they don’t look half bad but I still prefer the original ones. The mirrors does not fit into the design of the Rekord at all, and the oversized tyres looks like if they are from Donald Duck’s car, because who the f… puts crossplies on a restomod? Getting radials would just be so much easier in 2023…
It is at least cheap to buy. And service. And sparse on gas, thanks to a 2.2 litre Primus 4 cylinder, an engine choice more sane than exciting I guess, but 179 hp still makes it fast enough. Still, this is just too much of a mess, both when it comes to styling and engineering. It should probably be pretty reliable, though. So, there are after all some nice things to say, even about this one.
A well known name in the bussiness is SUNSET GARAGE, and their offering is the OPEL REKORD MOONRAY. @HelloHi
If the other entries has been looking close to stock, that’s nothing that can be said about this one. It is rather wild looking, has aesthetics that could be seen as typical for a Sunset Garage car. Bold and muscular is the overall impression one will get from this car. It is finished in a very nice shade of purple. The grille shape is kept stock, but with a custom pattern, making the front end look a little bit more hungry. Like the Lightning Garage entry, there are DRLs surrounding the stock headlights, but a bit more subtle here. Less subtle is the rather extreme front spoiler, as well as the rest of the bodykit. Suits the overall look of the car, even if I don’t know if I would call it an improvement.
Bumpers are painted, and the rest of the car is de-chromed too - quite natural, chrome would not really fit the style of this entry. I am not as sure about the red details, though, like the stripe, the detailing on the wheels - red and purple is not the best match IMO. One interesting thing is that it seems to be replacing the roof and trunklid with parts from the notchback version. Maybe in combination with the widebody, it is supposed to be a hint of the Steinmetz Commodore. But since I don’t like the notchback body as much as the fastback, I am not sure about that change. Bonus points for the wheels, though. Slotted mags almost have cult status…
There is no doubt that the part I like the least about this car are the oval taillights. I can get that they are maybe supposed to match the oval exhaust pipes, but they look a bit cheap and not very suited to the shape of the car.
One thing that could not be argued about: This car has a nice leather/tweed interior. Both nice looking and well crafted. The questionable thing is maybe making it into a 2-seater. Sure, I rarely have use for a back seat, but since it is rather roomy for a coupé, I don’t see what the back seat delete is good for.
A 2.7 litre turbo inline six is what is propelling this car forward. 311 hp makes it fast! Of course, not as fast as the Svetson, but still. Yet, it provides very good fuel economy. But on the other hand, it uses up the whole budget and is expensive to service. Also, I do have my doubts how well this car will hold up in the long run….
(OOC: I was close to wanting to give you the body mod penalty for the roof/trunkline change. It felt a bit sad, though, since it would have meant an instabin for an entry that appearanty had lots of work put into it, by something that would have been totally in the eye of the beholder. I decided to be nice, let the entry stay and let authenticity take a little hit instead.)
The last entry the better, alternate timeline version of me found was the OPEL REKORD WINDOWMAKER @AMuteCrypt
Another car that seems fairly close to stock, another car in purple (but that’s a nice colour, right?). The purple tinted glass cover over the engine is more original than beautiful, though.The choice of wheels is interesting. I would not have thought about using those myself, but I sort of like the look of them now when I see them on the car. But yeah, except for the window in the hood it is pretty much a fixed up stocker.
Even under the hood…or window…it is very carefully modified. It is using a CIH six cylinder, like the Lightning Garage entry, but this seems to be a souped up unit from a Commodore B GS/E. With “only” 176 hp, it is not among the faster of the entries. By modern standards, actually almost a bit slow, but of course still very much quicker than original. Fuel economy is also slightly better than the original, and service costs low. It is a bit surprising, however, that it is rather expensive to buy… I predict reliability to be decent, not much more. It should be pointed out, though, that it has an extensive update of the safety package, making it unparalleled in that regard.
So, now part 1 of judging is out of the way. Stay prepared for the finals…
9 Likes
Nicely written, I just didn’t have the heart to remove your chrome trim on the wheel arches 
1 Like
I opted to paint them but leave them there. It was a massive pain, though I’m happy with how it turned out- it took forever to change the paint slot on each one of the chrome bits. I’d have removed them, but it adds a little bit of definition to the very slab-sided fenders without being too blingy. Probably would have been much easier had I not also had to expand the front arches to get the stance I wanted- I had to rearrange a bunch of miniscule little bits while keeping it looking smooth and round. Saved me from having to clean up the dogtape on the arches too much at least.
2 Likes
You were kinda asking for a lot of purple here, I have to say. You’ve posted here on this forum about wanting to paint the car with Nissan KN6 paint - a dark purple metallic. That’s why I picked this colour, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s why others picked it too.
1 Like
As I said, nothing wrong with choosing a colour I like. If anything, the entries have convinced me that KN6 is a good choice.
1 Like
Now, question you might happen to expect, being directed to you as actual real-life person…
Have you gotten any inspiration from these entries related to working on very example of Rekord that inspired this challenge in first place?
3 Likes
I guess he decided against fitting LED lights
3 Likes
Excellent writing, nice breakdown of all the cars.
I thought itd be nice to keep the same color scheme going but shine it up a bit lol. Also, I didnt want to deciate too far from the og design, tried to keep all the extra design cues subtle.