Panoramic in Pink: 1958 Opel Olympia Rekord
It’s not too often when we see a pink car but this looks like a nice pink project P1. This is a 1958 Opel Olympia Rekord and it’s on Craigslist with an asking price of $3,500. It looks solid and it’s located in Chicago, Illinois. There were two P1 models available, a base Olympia and a more luxurious Olympia Rekord.
There are a lot of design features of American cars from the 1950s on these Opels but these were small compared to the huge cars from US manufacturers. A two-tone pink and white scheme would have been nice if a person were going for a pink car. The “P” of P1 stands for the new panorama windshield and rear window.
I’m not sure what’s going on here with the photos. Again, there are only four photos; four. No trunk photos, even though the trunk is cracked open as if to get ready to snap one. No engine photos, showing the 1.5L inline-four with 45 hp. The seller says that this is a “running, all original, near mint interior, solid car.” I’m not sure why the wheel is off, some sort of maintenance? It looks like the trim over the RR wheel opening may be screwed on in a couple of spots, but I could be wrong. In any case, this car is not showroom perfect so expect to do some work on it.
The dash looks great, but is that a brown, velour seat? That couldn’t be original and there are no other interior photos. Just think, it could have had these seats! And, maybe they’re still under there and that’s a seat cover. In any case, I would restore this car back to bone-stock original, but that’s just me. Would you ever drive a pink car, even if it was as cool and unusual as this Opel?
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Comments
I always thought these were so cool too. A mini-50’s type car. Just amazing condition. I wonder what the story was with this. The anemic engine would have to go,( 0-60 in half a minute) and there’s so many choices one could go with to make this a decent driver. And I may keep the pink inside, but a repaint outside would be in order. I couldn’t handle all the “Mary Kay” jokes.
A German chap who lived across the street from my parents bought one of these new circa 1959. IIRC, the color originally was a light red that, for some reason, turned pinkish as it aged. His Rekord had a white top, as did a few others I remember seeing. Can’t recall if he traded his DKW “3+6” Sonderklasse in on it, but the Opel lasted about three years before he ditched it and bought a Chevy station wagon.
Not a very nice car, at least for driving in SoCal. And it seemed to deteriorate quickly. The paint got funky in a hurry, and the interior didn’t last much longer.
Visually, it reminds me of the Toyopet Crown Deluxe, a car that would definitely have a place in my Dream Garage. The Opel, alas, would not….
This is a very similar color to my 1958 Ford Consul, which is an English Ford sedan very comparable to this Opel. I love the color, in fact that’s what prompted me to buy the car based on a Craigslist ad 1000 miles away. And pretty much everyone who sees it also loves it; I don’t recall ever getting a Mary Kay comment. It’s just so evocative of its time period.
It does appear that the paint got funky in the past though. It’s been repainted, and although the original paint under the hood and in door jambs matches pretty well, there are places where the repaint has chipped off and the original paint underneath obviously faded to something more like a beige. The difference is really dramatic.
The performance is comparable as well; 0-60 is “eventually,” but you don’t buy a car like this to go fast. You buy it to enjoy a leisurely drive on a sunny day.
I like this Opel. I won’t be looking to add it to the fleet, but it’s a fun old thing.
Looks like a broken Rekord.
I hate pink cars! A buddy and myself were test driving a Renault 5. (seeing how high I could get the inside rear wheel of the ground on hard cornering) When we pull up to a stop light next to a pink Edsel. It was summer time and the window were down. I loudly remarked. WOW a pink Edsel! There is something that you don’t see everyday! The driver of the Edsel woefully remarked “I do!”
Better him than me!
The tail lights remind me of looking similiar to a 1955 Chevys.
I had two of these, a ’58 and a ’59–virtually bulletproof if well cared for. The second was one of my better buys–$12.50. I got two cars, a ’53 and a ’59 for $25. The ’59 ran, but had bad tires. The ’53 didn’t run, but had good tires. I got the ’53 running, and sold it for $25, after swapped the tires to the ’59. I drove the ’59 for two years, and sold it for $200. I haven’t always come out that well.
I agree with Elmer. This strikes me as a copy of the tri 5’s chevy made. When I was stationed in Germany I had an Opel Ascona B it was essentially the next generation after this model. It came with a 4 cylinder and 3 speed manual. That lil car would do 120 KPH all day long. It was a very dependable car. It just didn’t have enough top speed for the autobahn so I sold it to a newby and bought a BMW. He drove his car to Paris on leave and it got stolen. They found it a few days later in Nice.
I love that pink Opel. I would make it origanal. MY father had one and I want one too. I wish I could afford it.
Same year as the one my Dad had when I was a kid, back in the early 60s. His was a brick red though, and he ended up trading it for a ’62 Comet. Also, not that long ago my neighbor transplanted a Buick V-6 into one of these, it was a black one. That thing ran like a scalded cat. He sold it.
I love this Opel and plan to look into buying it. I owned a 1970 Opel Rekord 2dr. coupe while in the Army in West Germany. I paid $50 dollars for it and restored it and 3 years later when I went back state side, sold it for $1200. I loved that car but it was not a model that was sold in the USA, so would have been a pain to get parts for. the engine however was the same one used in the Opel GT, a 1.9S in line 4 cyl. and went down the Autobahn just fine. My 1969 Opel Commadore 4 dr., with it’s 2.8 duel carb inline 6 cyl. was much faster. I know a lot about Opel cars and hope to buy another one here in the states, maybe this pink one and add it to my collection of early 60’s GM cars and truck.