The car I saw recently is somewhat reminiscent of the Dongfanghong from my previous CC, in respect of being an adaptation of Western technology by a manufacturer from the Far East. However, this time we’re dealing not with a rip-off of a humble Soviet taxicab, but rather with a full blown Brougham, albeit from South Korea.
The complete name of this car seems to be Daewoo Super Salon Ace Brougham. Compared to the ordinary Daewoo Prince / Super Salon, It had a longer wheelbase and fancier trim, including silvery gray plastic cladding on the lower body. It was produced in 1991-97 and eventually replaced by the infamous Daewoo Leganza and, to some extent, the Ssang Yong / Daewoo Chairman (said to be based on the Mercedes-Benz W124) which is still in production.
Unlike its predecessor, the Daewoo Royale, which was a more or less exact licensed copy of the Holden VB Commodore (essentially Opel Rekord E body with Opel Senator front clip), the Prince / Super Salon / Ace / whatever else they called it was much more elaborate. Keeping the somewhat antiquated RWD GM V platform in its early revision, which featured solid rear axle on a five-link suspension and in essence dated back all the way to 1966, it received a new, rounded body – relatively attractive for the time and making the car competitive enough for the home market.
Coming closer to the car, I experienced a strong attack of deja vu: I’ve seen it all before ! My 21-year-old self seeking for his first $1000+ car 5 year ago, more specifically.
The Ace, built in 1991 as I recall it, was much shinier back then, and didn’t have all those nasty dents and rust spots. It was being sold by a young lady in her twenties. While I liked the styling, and the car’s comfy (if somewhat cramped compared to its external dimensions) gray leather interior and automatic transmission (a relatively rare option on used cars back then) were tempting, its exotic origins scared me off. Daewoo (often misspelled “duh-a-woo”) was still associated here with such lowly stuff as the Nexia and the Leganza at the time; well, it still is, but now this brand is used only for the older models built in Uzbekistan. The original Daewoo is now called GM Korea, and it made quite a progress since 1990s and early 2000s, becoming a no-nonsense world-class developer and manufacturer of cars.
The car still has old “52” [region number] license plates; in 2009 cars were issued “152” plates being re-registered by the new owner, so it most likely didn’t sell. At least not until about 2011, when the registration procedure was changed so that you could keep the plates issued to the previous owner. And now it seems to be parked permanently, front wheels turned into the curb, supposedly due to some irreparable (without significant investments at least) mechanical failure – a common fate among old oddball foreign cars here.
Interior shots would be nice. Then we could judge the full brougham-iness of the vehicle.
They were very difficult to take, primarily due to the thick layer of dust and dirt covering all windows, making them only formally transparent. All in all, it is by far not up to the name – sorry, no loose pillow upholstery or Corinthian leather for you. That’s a regular Prince –
However, check this advertisement for more neo-classic/brougham themes
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the headmaster of my junior high was/is driving one of those ( Prince ) and now the car is still in a mint condition ( i never understand this ) in china
the car was obviously dated even back then, it’s more so now
Not a bad looking car, but if this is what the Holden Statesman is based on, I’m not impressed.
The Holden Statesman is an updated Opel Senator. The Daewoo Prince>>Super Salon>>Brogham is based on the Opel Rekord-D and E series which was slightly smaller and simplier then the Senator-A and B. But only minor differences had been issued on the shell and body sheet designs between the Rekord and Senator. Due to the different requiremnts of the continents GM combined easily those light differences in order to offer “original” cars to each market on the globe where these had been sold. This Daewoo got its engine block sourced from Holden. The electronics were sourced mainly from Bosch and Siemens. Transmission could be Hydramatic or at least ZF (?). The family tree of the latest Opel based big Daewoos are rooted from the Royale series like Royale Duke, Royale Prince and Imperial… The latest Pontiac Le Mans which was imported from Daewoo Motor was also rooted from the former Opel Kadett…as the Sunbird/Cavalier/Firenza/Skyhawk from the Opel Ascona but with different drivetrain and engines. The Rekord/Senator sized Daewoos had never reached the North-Americas. On the other hand South-Americas had imported them.
The Brougham and Prince both have the same wheelbase. I owned the Prince version , a ’95 in 1998-99. Main downfall was underpowered due to Korean road tax system, only had a 1.8 OHC Family 2 engine, when it should have had much bigger.
Second downfall was the rubbery interior, whcih reminded me of a late 90s Taurus, especially the door panels. The Brougham & Super Salons were much nicer inside. It was a great expressway cruiser, in as much as if you get it up to speed and stay there, it was fine. It did have a heavy, “vintage” feel which I found somewhat endearing, a blend of mid-70s Nova with S10 pickup undertones. It had a BW T5 trans and an integral carrier rear not unlike that in an 80s F-Body.
One thing it passed with flying colors was the door-slam test. These things were solid, with Euro levels of body integrity. I used to recommend these to first time expat drivers in Korea. 5-6 year old examples could be had for peanuts, making fuel costs irrelevant, and you couldn’t buy a safer car for the money,IMHO. However, almost nobody followed my advice, and ended up with POS Excels or worse, Ticos!
And yes, I owned a Leganza after this that couldn’t hold a candle to it.
The NZ market only Commodore 4 used a 2 litre version of that engine normally found in the FWD Camira and early Vectra, fortunately the NZ car used the Australian panels and doesn’t look quite so blah.
My first thought was Vauxhall/Opel with Buick overtones…but then there is that almost Mercedes Benz grille.
The only other RWD Korean sedan from the 80s or 90s I’ve ever seen was a Canadian plated Hyundai….an old Pony, I think. Calling that conglomeration a pony made as much sense as naming a car that sold in the 10s of thousands for years/decades….a Limited (LTD).
If this car wore the “Ace” subname that must be originally a Prince Ace! As the rear reg. plate is placed on the rear bumper and there is no reg. plate compartment, the owner attached the Super Salon applique on the trunklid. As the simplier Prince bonnet has been replaced by a Super Salon’s. Obviously this Prince is privately updated to a Super Salon. Originally the Brougham was the high end version of the Super Salon. Origins: Opel Rekord-E series + Opel Senator-A and B series. I have had driven an original Super Salon 2.2 Litre IL4 AUTOMATIC. The interior was just like in a mid ’80’s Buick or Oldsmobile. Soft creased leather pointed with buttons, Olds-alike coats of arms badges and additional door handles. Chromed front grille and a Daewoo hood ornament! I really like it either if it is a Prince, Super Salon or Brougham.
Interesting, now that it is pointed out the doors, windscreen and also rear wheel arch are pure V-car.
I was just going to post that! I notice they changed the door window frames slightly to cover the B-pillar.
It appears that Daewoo were trying to make it look like the Singaporean/New Zealand VS Holden Royale (which also sits on a much-modified VB Holden Commodore platform), especially around the C-Pillar window and grille:
These were very common in my Korea days and my Korean friends to a one hated them. In fact, they hated all Daewoo products, seeing them as crappy and cheap, a cynical way of getting a car-starved public to part with their cash on anything that ran. I had a side job one time in Busan and my boss had one because it was “berry strrrrongu.”
I concur with Roger that these were good used buys in Korea but I really didn’t care much. In Korea, there is a luxury express bus going anywhere you want and there is a dedicated bus lane on all the expressways. For all of $20, you could get a ticket from Seoul to Deagu and sit back and relax with your legs spread out while the drivers sat in jammed traffic.
Taxi rates were cheap for urban transportation. When you could get all your shopping done for $5 in taxi fares, or go drinking with your friends for $10, I didn’t see any reason to own a car, so I never did. This is not even mentioning the excellent, cheap and comfortable train system.
In 1995, I was in Deajeon and after our last classes were done at 9:00 pm, we’d grab a 640 ml beer, hop in taxi and head for the train station. A first class ticket on the Sameaol-ho train cost something like $25 for the 200 km trip and took two hours. We’d sit in the dining car, smoke and guzzle beer like fiends, and arrive in Seoul ready and rip-roarin’ to party in Iteawon or Hongdae. It was tremendous fun for a (relatively) young man with a whack-o-cash in his pocket.
The point is, when there are really good transportation alternatives, why bother owning a car? I never had one in Korea and I didn’t miss it a bit.
I can think of many reasons-
Residing in a semi-rural area with sporadic bus service (I hate buses anyway) and not horrendous traffic like Seoul.
My university is a few clicks from my apartment, I can be there in under 10 minutes door to door. Also, it makes shopping very convenient, since it now makes my carrying capacity huge. I would be unable to do Costco runs the way I do, and if there are serious sales on consumables at Home-Plus, I can buy all I want, comfortable in the fact that I don’t have to try and get a taxi while lugging several boxes of groceries.
I have side jobs at the Corning plant near here and I’m on a tight schedule, the car is invaluable.
Other than a 2 year stint in Incheon a few years ago when I took a voluntary holiday from work, I have always lived in areas as described above. When I was in Incheon, I rarely used the car but was happy to have it when I did need it.
I wouldn’t live in Seoul for anything. I couldn’t think of anything more nightmarish than having to take public trans to work.
I can relate and just where are you these days, anyway, Roger?
I spent most of my Korea time in Daegu, very close to Dong-Daegu station, and close to the airport. I was close enough to Kyung-dae to walk and I rode a 50 cc scooter most of the time. In fact, that was the fastest way to get around in Korean cities, since you could get away with riding them on sidewalks! I was walking distance to Costco and just took a taxi home. Daegu is a good compromise since it is not too big but you can get anything you want.
I spent a year in Seoul and had a great time, but it was too congested and pocket draining.
I’m in Asan, just west of Cheonan. Just urban enough to be convenient but still rural enough to not drive me up the wall.
I have on of these here in Brazil. The Daewoo line started being sold here by 1993-1994 and the Super Salon was its flagship. The SS was sold in small numbers and today it´s a rare vision. The car is marvelous, with its stately shape and extreme comfy. The ride is cushy and it has almost all of the things required in a luxury car of the mid-90’s. Leather upholstery, digital AC, ABS, power seats, Auto-trans and so.
In spite of its stately shape, the engine was a GM-2,0 litre, enough to move it decently. It´s easy to give repair to this car since the engine is almost the same that equipped all of the GM line in Brazil, in its 2,0 personification, including the Chevy Monza, Kadett, Omega and Vectra. The basic engine still exists on its 1,8 incarnation and equip the current Chevrolet line in Brazil, with some modifications. Follows pictures of it. I keep it garaged since have other car. It´s absolute and if it had lose pillow seats, would be the must! Mine is 1994.
Do you have any idea who made the transmission?
I was never clear about whether these used a GM, an Aisin, or a ZF.
Aisin!
Mor4e pi
More pics!
The Opel Rekord-E series the base for the RWD Daewoo …
…and one of the results in Korea was this…
Another influence&base for the Daewoo had been the Opel Senator-A(2) as well.
This one was the last in line the Opel Senator-B which took place in the Daewoo design. All these Opels also coded Holden’s styling as well.
I wish mine could have that opel 3.0 I6…..