After many years of roaming around all kinds of classic car shows and events, I finally met one in the metal. Or flesh, if you wish. I’m talking about my all time favorite classic Opel, the Commodore B Coupe with the GS package and fuel injected 2.8 liter engine. Even its color was just perfect.
The Commodore B -fully based on the Rekord D- was introduced in 1972, it was offered as a four-door sedan and two-door coupe. They were powered by an Opel CIH inline-six, displacement 2.5 or 2.8 liter.
The letter E stands for Einspritzung, injection. An electronic Bosch D-Jetronic system, in this case. With a maximum power output of 155 DIN-hp (initially 160), the GS/E was said to be good for a top speed of around 200 km/h (125 mph). Autobahn fähig for sure.
Featuring a live rear axle and disc brakes all around, internally ventilated at the front. Wheelbase 2,668 mm (105”), registered curb weight 1,246 kg (2,747 lbs).
This peppy Opel could boldly go where none of our much beloved Kadetts could go before. Or after.
For now, one Last Salute To The Commodore! How appropriate, Columbo happens to be my all time favorite classic TV show.
Related article:
Cohort Outtake: Opel Rekord D Coupe, With Owner – Ich Liebe Dich, Chuck Jordan
This has made my morning. Beautiful car which I wish GM had brought Stateside.
Fantastic car in one of the best colors, there was an avacado green as well as I recall that was quite popular. And the wheels! Just beautiful.
Mazda must have liked those wheels too – it looks like they pinched the wheel design for the RX5.
My ’79 Mazda 626 had similar looking wheels, also used on the same year RX-7 in the same 13″(!) size.
During 4 years, I had its 4-door 4-pot sibling, namely a Rekord D Berlina, with a 97 bhp 1.9 liters.
Great car. Very solid, a bit lest prone to rust than its contemporaries. Very comfortable too. And a very 70’s livery, both inside and out, you can’t dream of today.
The 1.9 was good enough for everyday trafic both inside and outside cities, thanks to a gearbox with neat ratios. Also a very sturdy mill thanks to Opel’s practice of oversizing engine displacement.
I was also pretty amazed by its braking and handling abilities.
Once, I had to enter an emergency moose test thanks to a guy who nearly T-boned me. I really thought the car would go on a spin. Nope. Perfect trajectory without any tire squealing, like the car was on rails.
Nicest interior I’ve ever had.
Although I prefer the earlier Commodore hardtop, this is a beautiful car, right down to those tasty wheels.
In my opinion, the Rekord D/Commodore B is the most perfect combination between american and german 70’s design cues, as if the best from both was reunited.
Magnifique!
Don’t know about Paris/France, but in my part of the world the Rekord D was seen as an affordable Benz W115 alternative.
In France, Opels were seen as nice and good cars, with serious built quality, onpar with their more famous german contemporaries, yet without any serious brand identity such as Mercedes and BMW.
Which is a pity because, in my opinion, Commodores could have been a BMW killer, till the Rekord E/Commodore C/Senator were introduced (their design were a bit too much taxicab-like, unlike the Commodore A and B which had a bit more of a sportive flair, especially the coupés).
These were so cool ! A reminder of Opels’ golden years.
We’d be hanging out in the gas station where a friend worked many an evening on the outskirts of Rotterdam. All of a sudden we heard the rumble of a very powerful car and there it appeared : a beaten red Opel Commodore.
Turbo Joe ( we’re still mates) got out.
What on earth have you bought I asked him.
Commodore GSE, an ex-DNRT car from Fred Frankenhout he replied. Cars been champion last year. (Dutch NationalRacingTeam)
How;s it go I asked him ?
Get in he said.
I got the scare or treat of a lifetime, the thing howled away and he’d take the van Brienenoord bridge’s hughe roundabout drifting with me seeing the road ahead through my side window going around local traffic and avoiding trucks., ‘t is there and then where the Tokyo Drifting was invented.
Turbo always bought and sold weird cars, and believe it or not in those days you’d just hang the license plates on a car and it was fine with everyone.
He sold the Commodore at the end of summer with a decent profit.
The only Opel I had ever fun with.
The picture may or might be the car, thing is these were dead cheap to buy used so if the DNRT wrecked one, it was very cheap and easy to replace.
Great real-life Rammstein story, as usual!
Chuck Jordan did a superb job on these, making them some of the most attractive cars in Europe at the time. It was a high point, especially this GS-E coupe. I was very taken in by these, even across the pond.
Note how in profile it is clearly inspired by the BMW E9 coupe. And with good reason.
It makes a great counterpoint to this morning’s Thunderbird of the same era. While different brands, they served the same general demographic relative to their makers’ “status” but displays the stark differences between continents. At least, that’s how I see it.
Thank you Paul for reminding me; I was trying to figure out where I’d seen that profile before.
I’ve believed for over 40 years that GM missed the boat by not importing more Opel products. They were perfect for the rough times of the 70’s and early 80’s and might have saved GM much trouble (and market share).
Best Opel ever !
We got these down here as Chevy royal 2800 and Chevy 2500 which was locally assembled in GM pars khodro.
Love this shape, variant and colour. Sweet example.
Ford imported the Capri in the 70s, this would have been a great answer from GM. With the fuel injected I-6 and manual trans it would have inspired much lust in me.
I think the Manta was a more natural competitor, this would have been priced quite a bit higher.
Engineering and finish as good as MB and BMW, and superb, superior styling. Just a certain lack of magic to the name.
Opel was a blue collar brand, no matter what model and trim level. Just like all Euro-Fords, BTW.
In the mid-seventies, you could move up all the way to an Opel Diplomat with a Chevy 327. Kadett, Ascona, Manta, Rekord, Commodore, Admiral and Diplomat. An unbelievable line-up for a mainstream brand, not to mention all the different body styles and engine choices.
Beautiful! As a former owner of a 1975 1900 3 door station wagon (last and only year in USA with Bosch L-Jetronic injection), would love to have this Commodore B, in any version.
Great example, great shape, but always lost out on image. But still looks great and attractive to me.
I was always puzzled by the layout of the instruments asymmetrically within the binnacle, and the rather dowdy twin spoke wheel.