Extra! Extra! Read all about it! The first full #irmscherMV6 project update has been published in the brand spankin’ new issue of Total Vauxhall. Those of you already in possession of the magazine should turn to page 85, and those of you without one should nip to your local newsagent or supermarket, download a copy at
http://is.gd/20gDTM or order one to be delivered direct to your door (at no extra charge) by visiting
http://is.gd/mo5rqg. There are loads of fantastic motors in the new issue, so don’t delay – get yours today!
Notwithstanding the Holden derived Monaro and its totally bonkers successor, the VXR8, the Omega B was the last full-size rear-wheel drive car to wear a Vauxhall badge. That’s surprising when you consider that the final example left Opel’s Rüsselsheim factory almost a decade ago! Unfortunately, a fashionable move towards compact, fuel efficient motors rendered the large barge all but obsolete, and it became the victim of ridiculous depreciation as fuel duty and road tax increased with startling regularity (I’m not sure much has changed in that respect!).
Consequently, the car that had been royally appointed as fit for a soon-to-be king – and one that had worked tirelessly for Her Madge’s law enforcement agencies – was to become a stalwart of the nation’s scrapyards as many owners considered them too cost-inefficient to keep on the road. Occasional sightings of the endangered species would be reported as caravan owners scanned the classifieds for cheap load luggers or as tyre burners tried their hand at drifting, but the Omega became a relic of a pre-global financial crisis motoring world and has yet to be officially replaced by the GM big-wigs.
I’ve owned three V6 Omegas to date, so you can rightly assume that I’m a fan. If you can stomach the fact that you’ll be heading to the pumps more often than you would in your 1.2-litre ADAM, then the Elite and MV6 models can be mighty rewarding thanks to huge amounts of torque on tap, close to 220bhp from the 3.2-litre variant and more cabin space than a 5-Series Beemer. More toys and luxury trim too, and all this from a car that you can pick up for under a grand.
The Omega B that trumps them all is the facelift 3.2 Irmscher edition. Although examples aren’t badged as such, Vauxhall/Opel’s official styling partner developed a wide range of trim including a bodykit, exhaust system, alloys and coil springs specifically for the car. Perhaps unsurprisingly, few punters emptied their wallets for these cost-option extras on top of the £32k that they’d already forked out for their new ride – the upshot being that Irmscher Omega goodies have commanded a premium in recent years due to their scarcity.
I’d always fancied an Irmscher-kitted facelift MV6, but with rare special edition bumpers and steering wheels often costing more than entire cars it seemed an unlikely prospect. That was until I spotted an ad for a black 2004-plate rocking almost every item from the Irmscher catalogue. One of the last Omegas registered, it was on sale for just £500 and available to collect from a Vauxhall dealer in the New Forest. There was the small matter of suspected head gasket failure to contend with, but that wasn’t going to put me off of buying a car that came complete with so many desirable components, an exhaustive service history and masses of potential!
Loading my brother-in-law’s Jeep with a set of pre-facelift Elite rims (to replace the MV6’s apparent mismatched steelies), I trailered up and set off on the 350-mile round trip to collect my new project car. Tune in next month to see what I’ve ended up with! In the meantime, you can follow the dedicated Facebook and Twitter project pages by searching for the hashtag
#irmscherMV6.
Quality steelies. Ahem...
I shouldn't scoff. The example above is pretty horrific, but Craig Evans has a nicely painted set of these same steelies on his wide body 4x4 Nova Turbo and they look great. Perhaps I should ditch plans for my staggered 18s after all?!
Sod it.
Puny brakes for such a big car. Will be beefing these up in the not-too-distant future:
16-inch mini-facelift Elite five-spokes at the ready. Temporary rimmage:
Looks pretty tidy under there...
...apart from all that mayo! Here's a handy tip for the GM V6 owners and fans among you. Head gasket and oil cooler failure symptoms on these engines are often mistaken for one another, but as a rule, oil in the water is oil cooler failure and water in the oil is head gasket failure. So now you know! Guess which one I was presented with...
Time to set sail for home: