Roshake 77 found what is becoming undoubtedly more scarce in Europe too: an Opel Ascona C, which was of course Opel’s version of the GM J-Car, best known here as the Cavalier and its many clones. It was hardly an exciting or brilliant car, but the Ascona C was never tainted by the brush of mediocrity as much as its American relatives. A bit more attention to detail, a smoother OHC engine, and a different competitive environment all played into that.
That’s not to say there wasn’t plenty of disdain for what came to be seen as a rather dull and boring car, given its typical role as a low-end sedan. Even in Europe, the J-car couldn’t quite escape that reality.
The Ascona A and B (still) get all the love. The C just gets
When the driver from the former Liberian embassy in the former West German capital of Bonn picked up my family from the airport in one of these in ’83, I had absolutely no idea it was related to a Chevy Cavalier. None whatsoever. And I considered myself a pretty car-savvy kid by that point.
Actually, looking at this car again, I can’t six human beings (including two younger kids) and their luggage actually fit in this thing. What kind of Tetris-like magic did the driver perform??
One thing that’s noticeable is that the hood and fenders extend all the way to the grille and lights, there isn’t a full Endura nosecone over common hood and fenders as on the American box J-cars, because Opel wasn’t building five badge-engineered variations on the same line.
That’s the 1985-87 model with the full width trim between the lights. The Vauxhall Cavalier is the same car of course, though the 5-door hatchback was the more popular option in the UK. Very unusual to see one now and even it’s replacent Mk.3 (Vectra A) is rare now.
The hatchback has been likened to a shortened Rover SD1, but the resemblance to this 1972 styling model for a fourth generation Viva is, I think, closer.
http://files.uk2sitebuilder.com/ab/57/ab577066-c921-4683-9ae2-d91c716bdb98.jpg
The Vauxhall version was one of the most scrapped cars in British history. They were already rare by the early 2000s.
The 1981 Ascona C and 1984 Kadett E were the starting point of Opel’s Malaise Era. Cheaped out rust buckets.
I wish the U.S. J car had been more like the European version, with the OHC engines and lighter weight parts, and had been used to replace the old RWD X cars. GM should have also manufactured the FWD T car in the U.S. to replace the Chevette and the RWD H cars. Then GM would have never needed to develop the X body and saved billions.
An overhead cam engine was an option on the Buick and Olds when they went into production. I think the Pontiac offered it at that time too. The Chevrolet offered the V6 but not the OHC 4.
I could never understand why GM in the US felt the need to develop a new pushrod four for this car.
Okay, the Opel 1.6 as we received it in the Holden Camira needed the gears stirred for good performance, but seeing as how it was later taken out to 1.8, 2.0 and even 2.2 litres, surely an enlarged Family Two engine with more torque could have been rushed through for US usage?
Yes, I know Buick Olds and Pontiac got the OHC engine later. I’m wondering why it wasn’t there from the start.
Buick and Olds were 1983 models, several months later than the Chevy and Pontiacs. The OHC engine was available from the start for the Buick and Olds. I know this because I bought a 1983 Skyhawk with the OHC engine, a 5 speed transmission and automatic climate control plus a number of other options.
Nevertheless this is the ultra succesful Brazilian contemporary twin called simply
Chevrolet Monza for Latino markets . A truly great reliable automobile , a favorit among Brazilians, Chileans, Uruguayans, Argentineans and Peruvians . It gets hard to believe that the J-Platform adapted for USA`s GM divisions was so low reputated meanwhile here the Brazilian version was a remarkable vehicle , quite good for our rough surfaces .
Incidentally once i`ve read an italian test drive from q u a t t r o r u o t e magazine and they concluded the Opel Ascona 1.6 made in Germany was a **** Stars Vehicle , very near the five stars , in a few : a hard to match good quality vehicle in its category
Back in 1981, when the Ascona C was introduced, the competition on the Euro-market was fierce. There was plenty of choice in this segment of 4-/5-door family cars. Every mainstream automaker from Europe and Japan offered something similar.
Digging into my memory: Ford Taunus (soon to be replaced by the Sierra), VW Passat, Peugeot 305, Renault 18, Fiat 131, Toyota Carina, Honda Accord, Datsun/Nissan Bluebird, Mitsubishi Galant, Mazda 626.
Those Japanese offerings did very well in the eighties.
Holden’s version, the Camira, gained Car of the Year from Australia’s Wheels magazine. I think the early Camira was pretty much pure Opel. We got some ‘interesting’ bodywork later.
The Ascona/Cavalier pair puzzled me as much as the Mondeo/Contour pair did. Both were very closely related but different in strange ways. Ascona C’s windsheild and side windows appeared identical to those on the Cavalier, but the back window was clearly different. Contour’s roof line behind the B-pillar was more rounded (less space efficient) compared to the Mondeo. Why did GM and Ford make these kinds of meaningless and costly changes to what were supposed to be “world cars?”
Same with the original(NA) Escort, for the longest time I thought the European and NA were the same on the outside other than the front and rear end treatments and some extra chrome/brightwork but other than maybe the roof stamping it’s all different, even the doors. They don’t appear all that different in isolation and there’s little chance of them being seen together so why make the expense to differentiate to that extent?
My guess is that vastly different manufacturing equipment/processes/capabilities, not to mention English/Metric measurement differences, made sharing of toolings impractical. Since separate toolings are needed, might as well do some “Not Invented Here” changes to justfiy the local engineering staff.
Unlike the Japanese and European transplants in the US, which are relatively recent, GM and Ford operations in Europe were established long ago (more than a century now). They are quite different from the motherships except (in Ford’s case) for the logo on the building.
I get that on one hand but I’m not sure the internal body structures of any of these examples is actually different, the Ascona C obviously uses the same center section as NA j bodies, as does the Escort, plus Ford at least was pretty quick to adopt metric, I’m not sure what the first truly all Metric designed car was but there sure are a lot of metric fasteners on domestic only foxbodies. The stuff that’s truly “global” about these cars is the stuff that NIH and metric/imperial differences is a moot point
I’d be very surprised if the American J-cars weren’t engineered, specified, and tooled in metric units.
OK. Even if everything was done in metric, the plants were still quite different. I recall a CC review of the Gen 1 Seville that GM considered basing it on the Opel Diplomat B but gave up after finding it too difficult to adapt to North American factories.
Another “not quite the same” “world car” was the Simca/Plymouth Horizon.
I’m betting the windshield is different too.
US version was “glue-in” vs pictured gasket-held.
I recall the Chevrolet Chevette changed from a gasket-held windshield to a glue-in with no surrounding molding around the time the J bodies arrived.
A mild restyle of this as usual became the Holden Camira All Australian donchaknow.
Such a mild restyle as to look almost identical.
Unfortunately this Opel wasn’t designed with the same refinement of its comrades Rekord E2, Kadett E and Senator, side by side this Ascona looks so 70’s, but the finishing of the head lights and tail lamps with the body are miserable… IMO in matters of design style the best bodies are the Isuzu Aska /Holden Camira JB, Cavalier II and the Brazilian Chevrolet Monza II.
Well, this brings back memories, of the impact which the Vauxhall versions made, in the UK’s fiercely competitive company car market. And with its drivers, who often had their own competitive streak. What may be less remembered now, is that the European J cars did contribute to raising the bar, in terms of performance, in
everyday budget models.
Even the base 1.6 ohc, with 90 bhp and 5 speed manual, was appreciated, for its getaway and its long legged stride on the motorway – I had one, for a few years. Then the subsequent premium level 1.8SRi, with 115 bhp and smart alloy wheels, became the object of every sales manager’s lust.
Next came the 2.0 SRi, initially with 130 bhp, followed by its later version with the 16 valve, 156 bhp ‘red top’ engine (from the colour of its cam covers). However, this level of urge could be somewhat beyond the comfort zone of the chassis.
Later on, among serious petrolheads, the red top engine (also found in Astra GTE’s) was rated highly enough, to get transplanted into a variety of non-GM cars.
Happy days, in some respects.
I remember going to a local car show/swap meet in Biysk, Russia (Siberia) in the mid 2000s and apparently the hot swap at the time was to take one of those 150hp 2.0L Opel engines and shove it into a Lada 2110, the strongest factory lada engine at the time was a twin cam 16 valve unit with 90hp. Looking at the wiki page now, I guess there were some aftermarket tuning firms that offered a sort of turn-key build with a 135hp(?) Opel engine.