Old Opel rescuing\roadtrip! 1970 Rekord Caravan

[StanceswithWolves]

Cool car. Scenery is not much different from Alaska, I've been to the Arctic a few times. Summers are nuts, really screws up your sleep cycle. Even if you have those heavy blinds for your windows.

[Rainer]

The car has loads of potential and, of course, loads of respect to You for taking such a trip with a car that had been standing so long.

[Vermilion]

What stunning surroundings you have, and a brave man for just buying a car that has been sat around and going straight into a 1000km drive home. Nice writeup.

Agreed. Norway looks like a beautiful place and you've picked a cracking car with great potential.

[Jorge]

What stunning surroundings you have, and a brave man for just buying a car that has been sat around and going straight into a 1000km drive home. Nice writeup.

[P78]

make the ats fit pls

this has serious potential

[Coops90]

Thats fucking cool.

[birdy]

That sounds so fun. I wish I could so something like this someday

[Raarasutra]

Loving it!

[Mad_Maxx]

So there I was, kinda tired at work, planning what to do for the weekend (26th may-onward. ) Surfing the norwegian Opel Motorsport forum, I found a old Opel Rekord Caravan, figured I wanted it, well, not so much the car, but the trip in itself..

Seeing as the car had been on the road and running quite recently, 1995 I do believe, I figured this would make a nice and relaxing way to spend the weekend..

Pictures from the sales thread, as you can see its a minter, and well cared for





So, I convinced a friend and workmate to join me on this little journey, after all, the car was pretty close, Rena to be exact, a little over 1000km`s from here. Seeing as I forgot to buy both a memory card and batteries for my camera, I don't have any pictures from the trip there, but 1000 kms in a Ford Mondeo 1.8 diesel is not really that exiting (well, losing the brakes, and then buing new ones and fitting them in the closest gas station parking lot was. Lots of people not quite believeing their eyes )

Anyway, we arrived some time around 3 in the afternoon on friday, loaded up with spare parts.

First things first, proper wheels for the journey there. Sadly the 8x13" ATS`s rubbed on the upper A-arm up front Talking to a guy about some ET -14 ones for it now...


Also emptied a ton of mouse nests, and other various bits of things.

For some reason, the carburettor seemed a bit stuck, but this was quickly remedied with some WD-40, harsh words and a lot of fettling. Changed the spark plugs, and she started on the [s]tenth[/s] first try, running sweet as!

My friend checking out the awesome paintwork, pristine!






Ready to roll



Bench seat and 4 speed column shift, nice!



So I hit the road.



My friend figured he needed to get back to Trondheim, to help some fellow move or something. I of course agreed, seeing as there was only a mere 1000kms back home, and the car hadnt been parked in a field for more than 16 years, i figured i had no need for a back up car to follow me... Oh yeah, we changed and aired the front brakes first, just in case

A little stop to fill `er up first





And off I went



Quick wheel exchange in Lillehammer, sadly I didnt have room for many pictures, only got this one...



Great garage I visited, amongst other things there was a Rekord c with 700 horsepowers, and a Corsa A with a 2.5 V6 from a Vectra ;D

As I got to Trondheim, I finally got a memory card for my camera, and was followed by this fellow for quite a while, got a thumbs up and a few honks as we parted ways



The man himself, looking pleased. Self-centered bastard



As I started nearing Nordland, the car was running a wee bit hot...




All fixed with a proper radiator flush

Some real clever distance signing



There was a 555 one too, approx. 111 kms further north

So finally I was back in my own county, Nordland, not quite past the polar circle yet.

Gates of hell, as they are called. Road goes from semi-smooth, to washboard, mixed with a bit of autocross :P



The wheels I picked up in Lillehammer, 6x14 ET minus a lot. Will be the wheels i use for it, atleast for a while.... 14" tires are cheap



Snapped some pictures as I started crossing the mountain that is conveniently placed right at the polar circle mark.





Snow, road, reindeer... This place has everything :P



Trains aswell



Quick pitstop right at the arctic circle





Before reaching the highest point of Saltfjellet



Some nice places going down from the mountain, the sky had turned from simply nice, to awesome!





Roaaad... I got to see a lot of road. 67 horsepowers is not very much. Notice clever "custom paintwork" on my bonnet



More sky



More parking lot.







Trying to take fancy pictures :P



So, after this, I was kinda tired, and just wanted to get home to my own bed. I found a 1960 Chevy impala convertible behind a barn that i`ll be looking into when my vacation money comes in, but ofcourse I forgot to take a picture of it

Really close to home now...



My house, preeetty much just beneath the rainbow. Pot of gold exchanged for a bunch of rusty old Opels..



And finally, a mere 29 hours after I started, I was home




As I said, quite a boring trip, with driving a modern car with disc brakes and all that ;D

So.. Plans for the old girl include quite a bit of welding ( new sills, the sill part behind the rear wheels and the rear rollpan-thing are on the way as we speak) then some slight lowering () and new tires on the slotmags, and washing the wheels some... Car will stay the way it is other than that, well, atleast until i get tired of the moss.