Father bought a Rekord C Coupe 1.9L new in 1970. It was in the family for over 17 years till lack of parts forced us to salvage the car. The car has been nothing, but fun. Father drove the family from England to Pakistan and back and it did not fail us once. After 200,000 miles it had its first mechanical failure, the crankshaft broke. Am now looking for one to restore and relive the good old days.

Hi there.

You are right, they do not make them like this anymore. But "Safer than Volvo" - only partly!. We were once, around 1978, in an accident, where a Renault 4 crashed in the rear of our Rekord 1,9. The R4 car was totally scrap - the driver sat looking down on his smashed radiator, only about 20-30 cm away from the windscreen. But he could walk away unharmed, fortunately.

The only damage done to our Rekord, was that the rear bumper moved sideways just ½ cm - nothing we ever did correct - it was invisible by any normal standards.

So far so good - but you still have to remember, that the fuel tank is sitting behind the rear axle. So if you look down the luggage compartment, you are looking at the tank...

Remember the Ford Pinto? - it had the same arrangement, and that was NOT a safe car.

I'm just thankful we weren't hit by a Volvo, another Rekord, a Mercedes from the rear - that could have been flamingly ugly (literally).

By the way - still have that exact same car in working condition - and now it´s 2011 (see post for Rekord year 1968).

Best wishes - and good fun with your Rekord.