Omega Buyers Guide?

[anV6]

Hi anV6

A famous site about Omega B is this one:

http://www.senatorman.de/opel_omega_b.htm

You will find chronologies about anything regarding this car. Development, prototypes, production details, brochures, technical data, foreign versions all over the world, including a Holden special.

I know Hendrik personally and I know how much work he invested in this site.

There is much insider knowledge, including the mysterious Omega V8 and V8.com.

Enjoy it!

Rolf

Senatorman is a great website with very in depth information about the Omega's development. I learned I lot from that site and still check it when I need info about something concerning the Omega. A lot of work went into it indeed.

[anV6]

Hi zirk

Erich Bitter (Coupe Diplomat) converted some Holden Monaros into LHD Omega V8 Coupes with German licence. This was before the Pontiac GTO was launched.

One of them was sold late last year in Freiburg, only 60 km from here. 40 k on the counter, mint condition.

I did not have the money....

Nice info. I know the Bitter cars but never knew about this. How much did it go for?

I wish Opel would have pulled a Vauxhall and imported the Monaro and Commodore in LHD drive. Although the interior of the Omegas are so much better and better finished. The Commodore interior only kind of caught up in the very latest generation. And from 2002 and up it actually looks good externally. The earlier ones can't match the PFL beauty.

But a Commodore V8 with a new European interior in LHD would have given BMW a lot of trouble and would have been cheaper than the Omega V8 program IMO. The Omega is too little for a V8 and the Commodore was already a finished product. Vauxhall played the right card but didn't go all the way to make the car what it had to be to be taken seriously in Europe.

[zirk]

Hi zirk

Opels are for continental use - all left hand drivers 

But RHD / LHD is for continental / UK riding not a real problem. I remember first time driving to the Uk with my Senator to the High End Show Meridian Hotel London Heathrow. My turntable in the back box was 10 times more worth than the car.

My co pilot alway say "turn left / right but do not forget the wrong way"

We did it.....

Dont forget Opels in Ireland are RHD. 

Talking of Opels, RHD, Ireland and V8's.........

[anV6]

Hi zirk

Opels are for continental use - all left hand drivers 

But RHD / LHD is for continental / UK riding not a real problem. I remember first time driving to the Uk with my Senator to the High End Show Meridian Hotel London Heathrow. My turntable in the back box was 10 times more worth than the car.

My co pilot alway say "turn left / right but do not forget the wrong way"

We did it.....

Dont forget Opels in Ireland are RHD. 

Yeah, but I think in that case it would be more accurate to call them re-badged Vauxhalls. 

[zirk]

Dont forget Opels in Ireland are RHD. 

Yeah, but I think in that case it would be more accurate to call them re-badged Vauxhalls. 

If your referring to the Euro Market, then its more of a case UK Vauxhalls are a re badged Opel.

[anV6]

Dont forget Opels in Ireland are RHD. 

Yeah, but I think in that case it would be more accurate to call them re-badged Vauxhalls. 

If your referring to the Euro Market, then its more of a case UK Vauxhalls are a re badged Opel.

No. I was referring to the RHD "Opels" in Ireland.

[Fraggles Rock]

Forgive me of I am speaking out of turn, but I thought ALL Omegas, regardless of market were built in Germany and badged according to market?

I believe, but am prepared to be corrected, that it was sold as Opel, Vauxhall, Cadillac and Chevrolet brands, and with the obvious exception of Cadillac, all badges were left and righthand drive...

[anV6]

Forgive me of I am speaking out of turn, but I thought ALL Omegas, regardless of market were built in Germany and badged according to market?

I believe, but am prepared to be corrected, that it was sold as Opel, Vauxhall, Cadillac and Chevrolet brands, and with the obvious exception of Cadillac, all badges were left and righthand drive...

Yes, as far as I know all Omegas were built in Germany. That is if you are talking about the Omega B. Even the Catera if I'm not wrong was built in Germany and exported to the U.S. But which Chevrolet are you talking about? There were no Chevrolet Omega B as far as I know. And the Chevrolet Omega A (Carlton) was built in South America, not Germany.

[zirk]

Forgive me of I am speaking out of turn, but I thought ALL Omegas, regardless of market were built in Germany and badged according to market?

Correct, made in Opel Land. 

[Zirfeld]

Hi anV6

Here are some pictures of the Bitter Monaro. The pics are taken on a Freiburg industrial area. I knew the place, so I am sure that is no fake. The car was offered for 19500 €

Not so bad.

Pontiac GTOs imported via Bremerhaven  are (included toll and license) in the same range. But without history.

Kostenloses Bilderhosting

[Zirfeld]

Hi zirk

Not correct!

The omega was a Opel creation, but the Ecotech engines came from the UK!

[Fraggles Rock]

Found this Rhd Opel in SA...

http://www.automart.co.za/cars/keywords/opel-omega/

Think the Chevrolet badged cars were Middle East market? Looking around, even the Asian stuff is Opel badged.

[Zirfeld]

Hi Fraggles Rock

Worldwide there are two Omega based production lines. Opel and Holden. The Holden Base is a little wider than the Opel base. These cars you can identify by welding lines on the roof. Opel based cars do not have this.

Omega based Chevrolet Luminas in Middle East are all based Holden. It was much easier to adapt V8 engines in a wider frame.

[Fraggles Rock]

The Russelheim built car is the Omega B. The Victoria built car is the VT Commodore and ne'er the twain shall meet

The Russelheim car was sold everywhere apart from South America and Australia. South America kept the Omega A for a couple more years after the tooling got shipped over as part of a trade agreement. Covered a bit of it for A level Geography

[anV6]

Yes, South America, or Brazil to be more specific, built the Omega A (Carlton) till quite a bit after it was discontinued in Europe as the Chevrolet Omega. As far as I know it's the only Omega car ever built outside of Europe between Omega A and Omega B both. It basically came out there as it was going out here.

But the engines were a bit different. The top engine was the old Chevy 4.1. They had to use that when the 3.0 was discontinued in Germany. The 4.1 was the same engine they had been using in their version of the Opel Rekord C since the 70's, called the Chevrolet Opala, which interestingly had one of it's trims named Comodoro, or Portuguese for Commodore. . Some of the other Opala trims were Diplomata and SS for the sports coupe. They build the Rekord C (Opala) in 2 doors coupe, 4 doors saloon and 2 and 4 doors estate from the late 60's till the early 90's when the Omega A replaced it. It was the same body shell as the original Opel Rekord C all the way through, changing only the front and rear fascias through the years. But although the body shell was Opel, the mechanic was very much American GM, including from the Impala.

Ford did the same thing in Argentina with the Taunus (The Cortina MKIII European cousin). They built the TC1 there, which had a coupe version as in Europe. But when they rolled out the TC2, unlike in Europe where the coupe was dropped, Ford Argentina just used the TC1 coupe body shell and stuck the TC2 front and rear fascias on it.

Interestingly, the old Chevy 4.1 was reworked by Lotus to make it more modern to be used in the Brazilian Omega A.

The Omega B was never made or sold in South America. Once time came to replace the Omega A they decided to import Holden Commodores from Australia and call them Chevrolet Omega. So there was never as far as I know a Chevrolet Omega B. The Middle East Chevrolet Omega is a Holden, yes. 

So I guess every Omega B, regardless of where sold or if LHD or RHD were built in Russelheim.