Opel Commodore C

[Wesuri]

Opel Commodore C (and other Opels vs. Holden)

Greetings from the north to down under!

My name is Jukka and I'm an Opelholic . I live in Finland, northern Europe.

As you may know there is a lot in common between Opel and Holden and I've been looking through various Australian sites for info about Holdens. I spotted these rather large Just Commodores forums and as it is nice to view your cars here I decided to post my Opel Commodore C's here too.

Opel Commodore C was the car that ended the history of Commodore in the Opel model palette to 1982. It was started with Opel Commodore A in 1967 and was continued with a B-model from 1972 until C took over in late 1977. This same car was also the start for Australian Commodore legend that continues to this day.

Below are my two C models, both are projects and need new paint among many other things. On the right a -79 4dr sedan Berlina (Berlina was the name of higher accessory level on various Opels from early 70's on, as was Berlinetta) with original 2,5S Opel cih (cam in head) engine. On the left a 1981 4dr sedan Berlina that has it's 2,5 liter straight six swapped to a 3 liter injected piece from Opel Omega or Senator.

The original engine options were limited to 2,5 liter straight six that was available in two versions, either with one carburetor (2.5S 115hp) or injected (2.5i 130hp). It's predecessors had more variations in 2,5 and 2,8 liters, hp up to 160. The A-model was raced in it's day with a crossflow head and other mods with some 300hp.

rear view

side

interiors

under the hoods

I'd be interested in finding out the differences in the bodies of an Opel Commodore C compared to Holden Commodore VB. So far I haven't seen any but as it is claimed that 110 million aus$ was put strenghtening the Opel there has to be some. Is there some literary about more precise actions that were taken or something? Or do we have to reverse-engineer, slice them and compare . I know Holden used it's own engines and axles but the body mods would be interesting to find out.

 

[Wesuri]

Here's a link to a great german site that has tons of pics and info of various Opel models
Senatorman

Many of them were further developed in Australia, like Senator A, Senator B and Omega B.

There are also pics of the C-Commo 2dr sedan which Holden didn't have it it's range. However I just read somewhere in these forums that a small series of Holdens were converted to 2dr by some small company using Opel side panels...

 

[Jo3_Blo]

Wow, that's cool! :thumbsup:

Theres another guy that was on here a while back with something like these (opelboy)

They look like a version of what we call the VB/VC/VH Commodores.

 

[aj318]

hehe, the opel steering wheel, its huge

 

[Wesuri]

You should see the steering wheel of the Commodore A, THAT one is huge .
Commodore A
Uusi sivu 1

Yes I read the Opelboys thread, some nice E-Rekords there. Rekord is the car that Commodore was based on. Rekords were 4cyl and Commos 6cyl, other differences being the axles and some trim.
the model generations are related as follows:
Commodore C - Rekord E
Commodore B - Rekord D
Commodore A - Rekord C
Rekord A and B had 6cyl versions too, they carried the massive old Opel ohv-giant originating from the 30's. Rekord C also had small 2,2 liter cih-6 for a while but from then on the 6cyl models were divided to their own Commodore range.

And yes this is the same body as in your VB-VC-VH. VK-VL were based on Opel Senator A. VN-VP-VR-VS on Opel Senator B and VT-VX-VY-VZ on Opel Omega B. Now we have been hoping Opel would in turn release your new VE as Omega C or something but that is just dreaming.

 

[Wesuri]

Happy new year 2009, mates!

Here's a more recent view over my Commodores .

 

[Jo3_Blo]

Very nice, I've always like two-tone. :thumbsup:

 

[PaulSV6]

Wow, didnt think id see a Commodore, let alone a VB/C in that part of the world.

 

[ausrs]

hope you have had fun trying to find out the differences between our commodore and your opel variant of it
there was an article published in Australian Muscle car magazine a month or so about an opel Monza that had been converted to a Vh monaro ( or what it would have looked like IF it had been made )
basic differences
our commodore was evidently a mixture of a rekord(sp) and a senator )
we have rack and pinion steering
the shock towers on our cars are approx 25mm bigger in diameter
radiator support panel is different
thats all i remember from the article in the magazine although i do remember many other things had to be beefed up to suit our conditions
hope that helps you out somewhat
ohh and the main thing different between ours and yours
We got a V8 in our version

 

[Wesuri]

Well the engine thing is clear. That is what generates the most interest towards the Australian Commodores. Apart from that I haven't found out anything solid about the structural body differences yet so your info is very welcome.

So much money is said to have been put in the development of the Opel Commodore to fit the Austalian conditions that there had to be some bigger steps to get the body stiffer than the Opel was, but what were they.

There are pretty much no differences on the exterior, no differences in the interior (except you steer from the wrong side ).

It always confuses me when the Australian sources sometimes mention that the VB was a mixture of Opel Rekord E1 rear and Opel Senator A front but never mention that it was a direct derivative of the Opel Commodore C which itself already was a Rekord/Senator hybrid.

Oh, and now Vauxhall is offering the Holden derived VXR8 Bathurst S edition in the foggy island but Opel is just happy with the Insignia OPC on the continent. Well, it doesn't look too good at Opel at the moment anyway so I'll forgive them.