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[Andy H]

Teenage boys lust after cars that their fathers cannot afford (or are not cool enough to own).

When those teenage boys reach the male menopause they go and buy the car they lusted after (which then becomes a classic)

[78bex]

It`s been the car of choice for some very infamous famous ppl 

 http://yournewswire.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Savile-and-Charles-660x553.jpg

[Doctor Gollum]

Ignore the prat - people like him are removing all the joy from the world, like the PC brigade who have no sense of humour and would have us afreaid to speak lest we offend anyone.
Not on topic, I know, but I felt like a little rant!   

Ron.

Last broken down car I saw was a nearly new Audi... Hopefully said prat

[TheBoy]

If classic implies some sort of value or desirability, answer this question: have they ever been particularly desirable or sought after?


so there's your answer: NO!

Not in the UK, because general UK population is all Hyacinth Bucket, and Vauxhall never did and probably never will have a status about them.

That's why mainland UK prices for Omegas are so low (plus the pressure from the tree huggers), yet remain at more realistic levels throughout the more sensible world.  Now don't get me wrong, the fickleness of our stupid public has served me very well, imagine how much poorer I'd be if I'd been buying german marques for the past 14yrs, even the downmarket ones like VW.


The Senator, a car I desired in the late 80s, I think was something to aspire to...  ...as the other option was the rather sluggish, rather dull, rather old fashioned Grandad 2.8i

[Kevin Wood]

Not in the UK, because general UK population is all Hyacinth Bucket, and Vauxhall never did and probably never will have a status about them.

That's why mainland UK prices for Omegas are so low (plus the pressure from the tree huggers), yet remain at more realistic levels throughout the more sensible world.  Now don't get me wrong, the fickleness of our stupid public has served me very well, imagine how much poorer I'd be if I'd been buying german marques for the past 14yrs, even the downmarket ones like VW.


The Senator, a car I desired in the late 80s, I think was something to aspire to...  ...as the other option was the rather sluggish, rather dull, rather old fashioned Grandad 2.8i

Yep, very true. I remember going test driving with my Dad when he bought his Senator. The competition was a 12v 2.9 Granada and it was so slow in comparison we took it back to the garage and asked if something was wrong with it!

Vauxhall got a little bit of status going with the styling of the Senator, plus the exposure the extensive Police use gave it, then messed it all up with the Omega which had all the road presence of the Astra Merit. I suspect those who bought the Omega were those who knew that, underneath, it was a better car than the Senator and who didn't care about the status.

I suspect the Omega will be one of those "classics" like the Montego where you see one preserved very rarely and think "I remember those" swiftly followed by "but he could have been spending his time polishing something actually desirable instead".

[Lincs Robert]

Not in the UK, because general UK population is all Hyacinth Bucket, and Vauxhall never did and probably never will have a status about them.

That's why mainland UK prices for Omegas are so low (plus the pressure from the tree huggers), yet remain at more realistic levels throughout the more sensible world.  Now don't get me wrong, the fickleness of our stupid public has served me very well, imagine how much poorer I'd be if I'd been buying german marques for the past 14yrs, even the downmarket ones like VW.


The Senator, a car I desired in the late 80s, I think was something to aspire to...  ...as the other option was the rather sluggish, rather dull, rather old fashioned Grandad 2.8i

Yep, very true. I remember going test driving with my Dad when he bought his Senator. The competition was a 12v 2.9 Granada and it was so slow in comparison we took it back to the garage and asked if something was wrong with it!

Vauxhall got a little bit of status going with the styling of the Senator, plus the exposure the extensive Police use gave it, then messed it all up with the Omega which had all the road presence of the Astra Merit. I suspect those who bought the Omega were those who knew that, underneath, it was a better car than the Senator and who didn't care about the status.

I suspect the Omega will be one of those "classics" like the Montego where you see one preserved very rarely and think "I remember those" swiftly followed by "but he could have been spending his time polishing something actually desirable instead".

I worked for GM at the time the Senny was killed off. There was an interesting internal newsletter interviewing the then new incoming American who took the decision. I clearly recall him stating that given the volume of sales (of the Senny) that he couldn't justify making a vehicle whose two largest customers were 1) GM Europe executives for use as company cars, 2) British Police forces. These two categories made up 50% of sales & given that the first lot was loss/funny money and the second was breakeven at best the decision was stated as being taken on business grounds.
Just some background trivia you might find of interest .......

[Kevin Wood]

I worked for GM at the time the Senny was killed off. There was an interesting internal newsletter interviewing the then new incoming American who took the decision. I clearly recall him stating that given the volume of sales (of the Senny) that he couldn't justify making a vehicle whose two largest customers were 1) GM Europe executives for use as company cars, 2) British Police forces. These two categories made up 50% of sales & given that the first lot was loss/funny money and the second was breakeven at best the decision was stated as being taken on business grounds.
Just some background trivia you might find of interest .......

The thing is, they didn't kill it off, they brought out the Omega as its' successor which, I imagine, probably compounded the problems of a limited market beyond the Police and GM executives. I know my car started out as a GM fleet car. I wonder how many more?

[ronnyd]

I worked for GM at the time the Senny was killed off. There was an interesting internal newsletter interviewing the then new incoming American who took the decision. I clearly recall him stating that given the volume of sales (of the Senny) that he couldn't justify making a vehicle whose two largest customers were 1) GM Europe executives for use as company cars, 2) British Police forces. These two categories made up 50% of sales & given that the first lot was loss/funny money and the second was breakeven at best the decision was stated as being taken on business grounds.
Just some background trivia you might find of interest .......

The thing is, they didn't kill it off, they brought out the Omega as its' successor which, I imagine, probably compounded the problems of a limited market beyond the Police and GM executives. I know my car started out as a GM fleet car. I wonder how many more?

Mine was a Network Q car, is that the same thing?

[TD]

I worked for GM at the time the Senny was killed off. There was an interesting internal newsletter interviewing the then new incoming American who took the decision. I clearly recall him stating that given the volume of sales (of the Senny) that he couldn't justify making a vehicle whose two largest customers were 1) GM Europe executives for use as company cars, 2) British Police forces. These two categories made up 50% of sales & given that the first lot was loss/funny money and the second was breakeven at best the decision was stated as being taken on business grounds.
Just some background trivia you might find of interest .......

The thing is, they didn't kill it off, they brought out the Omega as its' successor which, I imagine, probably compounded the problems of a limited market beyond the Police and GM executives. I know my car started out as a GM fleet car. I wonder how many more?

Mine was a Network Q car, is that the same thing?

No, KW means his car was driven about by a Vx employee, probably a managers car, then sold after about 9 months.

NetworkQ is a dealer thing when selling a second hand car to put 12 months warranty on it and covers consumables like brake pads/etc....so basically the car doesn't cost you a penny in repairs for 12 months 

[ronnyd]

Thanks for that TD

[BazaJT]

Mine is the same as KW's I believe and was a fleet car.

[2boxerdogs]

Interesting yes Classic unlikely.

[VXL V6]

I worked for GM at the time the Senny was killed off. There was an interesting internal newsletter interviewing the then new incoming American who took the decision. I clearly recall him stating that given the volume of sales (of the Senny) that he couldn't justify making a vehicle whose two largest customers were 1) GM Europe executives for use as company cars, 2) British Police forces. These two categories made up 50% of sales & given that the first lot was loss/funny money and the second was breakeven at best the decision was stated as being taken on business grounds.
Just some background trivia you might find of interest .......

The thing is, they didn't kill it off, they brought out the Omega as its' successor which, I imagine, probably compounded the problems of a limited market beyond the Police and GM executives. I know my car started out as a GM fleet car. I wonder how many more?

Mine was a Network Q car, is that the same thing?

No, KW means his car was driven about by a Vx employee, probably a managers car, then sold after about 9 months.

NetworkQ is a dealer thing when selling a second hand car to put 12 months warranty on it and covers consumables like brake pads/etc....so basically the car doesn't cost you a penny in repairs for 12 months 

In fairness, a lot of Network Q cars are (or at least were) ex Vauxhall Fleet.

[Doctor Gollum]

Best taken with a pinch of salt...

Afterall, the Express isn't renowned for its accuracy

[Pmacca2000]

According to Wikipedia there are 16,000 omegas in the uk including Those currently SORN Senators and Carltons have a following and good examples are beginning to command money, so could it be history predicting the future of Omega?
There's one on eBay with 33,000 miles in 2.6 CDX form for about £2.500.