For years we had Buick-Opel dealers in the US. They had plenty of Buicks, and they had some Opels too. But they never had any Buick-Opels. Finally I spotted one!
Last week I was in the beautiful city of Halmstad, on the southwest coast of Sweden. Walking back to the hotel, this CC caught my eye, obviously an Opel hatchback. But wait a minute, that front end looks familiar. What’s that emblem, could it be?
Yes, it’s a Skyhawk! So is it a Buick with an Opel badge, or an Opel with a Buick badge? Neither. Finally, I found a true Buick-Opel!
What we have here my friends, is an eighties J-platform Opel Ascona CC with a Buick Skyhawk front clip. It’s a perfect fit, too. The trim makes me wonder, are those Opel or Buick doors?
Its nose was too buried in the bushes to get a good shot, but here at least is confirmation of its Skyhawk beak.
The interior is best of all, Opel dash and steering wheel, with those plush Buick door panels. Are those plush Buick seats as well?
From 1981 to 1988 GM’s J-body platform was the core of a dizzying array of cars, the American Buick Skyhawk, Chevy Cavalier, Pontiac 2000/Sunbird, Olds Firenza and Caddy Cimarron, plus the German Opel Ascona C, British Vauxhall Cavalier, Aussie Holden Camira, Japanese Isuzu Aska and the Brazilian Chevy Monza.
Here’s a complete Opel five-door hatchback, called the Ascona CC. (It’s a CC, how great is that?) Opel was the only one with the five-door hatch.
What do you think is under the hood? Presumably the Opel drive train, but could it be a Buick? (They’re both FWD.) Are the fenders, nose and hood bolt-on interchangeable? Or is this the whole Skyhawk front end, including the Buick drive train? Check out the side exhaust. Is that a clue? And what about those doors? And the interior? How did a Buick Skyhawk ever end up in Sweden, anyway? Every car has a story, but this car has at least two. Quite a piece of work, don’t you think?
One of the very best CC finds ever! Quite amazing; who would have thought someone would do this? And of course it goes to show just how “global” these cars were, despite the differences in engines, suspension tuning, etc.
+1 – a lot of unexpected effort’s gone into creating this. I applaud anyone who thinks up and creates such things.
Another familiar car,used to be a lot of Cavalier 5 door hatchbacks about here but most have been beaten to death by now.My ex BIL owned several of these much to my parents fury as he stripped them in their driveway
J cars are like hens teeth here we did get Camiras and Askas but they are all gone, most would say thats a good thing. Unless you count the Vectras and X JDM Cavaliers that roam the roads.
hmmm a confederate flag on the hood. who would have thought the South would rise again…..in Southwest Sweden??
It could certainly use a fresh paint job.
Eeww, that’s what puts me off a lot of U.S car fans here- always with the damn confederate flag.
The Confederate flag has nowhere near the negative baggage in Europe than it has in the politically correct parts of the US. In England, its part of the “rockabilly rebels” style.
I recently bought a 1:18 diecast model of the General Lee. The flag on the roof was actually covered under a removable decal…..mwuhahahaha….
I do like the style very much.
I do find it better looking than the five door Citation and Phoenix.
But I don’t think they would have been as popular in North America
as the notchback sedan Skyhawk.
Perhaps if there was a Chevrolet and/or Pontiac version.
Why didn’t the US get a 5 door hach? Reminds me of my ’84 Olds Firenza S Coupe.
That would have encroached on X-Body turf which was more money for GM
Cool.
Kinda creepy too to see the Frankenstein looking (from an American’s perspective only seeing our version of the J-body) version.
What a mind blowing machine. This took some work to create I’ll bet. The styling actually all works together quite well.
This is pretty wild. The U.S. long hood proportions make this hatch quite unique.
I had no idea that the J platform was a world car. I’m assuming that it was developed first as a U.S. domestic platform. Unusual as far as I know for a U.S. platform to spread overseas.
Or, was this originally a Holden or Opel platform?
“The J-Car project was kicked off in 1977, and from the outset, had been designed as a world car. It was agreed at board level to design it with as much parts interchangeability as possible – such as engines and transmissions – and in the responsibility of putting the programme toegether was placed with two ‘design centres’, the GM Tech Centre in Detroit and Opel in Germany.
Both worked on the basic platform, with the directive being that there should be minimal difference between their two products. As a result, the European and RoW J Cars ended up being largely – but not entirely – the same in size. The European-designed four-door was a couple of inches longer in the boot, while the fastback cars were three-door for the USA and five-door for Europe and the rest of the world.”
http://www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/cars/vauxhall/cavalier-vauxhall/the-cars-vauxhall-cavalier-mk2/
The wagon version was developed by Holden, and then the necessary panels exported to allow wagons to be built in other markets.
I remember reading somewhere that America did its own wagon bodies, due to rear impact regulations. IIRC the Camira wagon’s rear bumper opened up with the tailgate, a la Citroen, which would never have been allowed in ’80s America.
This is an interesting Frankensteiner. I’d guess it’s made by some truly fanatic mechanic/welder. The Skyhawk or any other of the American J-cars were never imported to Sweden, so I’d guess this is a later import. Perhaps he had two totaled cars, an Opel totaled in the front, and a Skyhawk totaled in the rear. But it’s much work for two cars that seemed to have been rusty even before he started welding them together. And the Buick interior is a nice touch…
The confederate flag indicates he’s part of the Raggar-subculture, they’re all heavily into all kinds of americana and paraphernalia. I don’t think there’s any political considerations, it’s just all part of that scene. I guess the car was made as a conversation piece for their meets. It’s just a freak ride around town…
My, such a lot of questions. Like some others, I had no idea that these were shared so generously around the world. I wonder if they were any more loved here than they were in the U.S.?
Maybe, sort of, possibly….Like that other famous world car of the same vintage, the gen1 FWD Ford Escort, the European versions were different in some key was that might be considered “better”, depending on one’s priorities. Certainbly, they didn’t have the thrashy Chevrolet 1.8 four; they used various variations of the Opel SOHC four, a variation of which ended up as an option on the Pontiac, Buick and Olds versions too.
The suspension tuning was of course “better” in that it favored handling over a soft quiet ride. And interior quality might be considered to have been better too, at least over the Cavalier.
They were reasonably competitive in Europe, but within a few years became known for being pretty lower-mid rung cars. It will be hard to find anyone to wax eloquently about their Ascona or Vauxhall Cavalier. The Vauxhall became the quintessential Brit cop car, as seen in so many tv shows of the era.
The Isuzu Florian versions, with Isuzu engines, is generally considered to be the highest quality version of the early J cars. That was imported to Australia and NZ as the Holden Camira.
Toyota sold an imported Cavalier in Japan, branded Toyota Cavalier, but that didn’t go over very well….
The Camira shared a lot with the Isuzu, but was Australian built and mostly engineered here. I think some body pressings were Japanese but the majority of parts were local due to import restrictions at the time.
The (gutless) local Family II motors were exported to various countries as were some body panels, not sure if they were the same motor as the Isuzu. I think Opel/Vauxhall got the rust prone station wagon tailgate for instance.
I’m kind of depressed that I know all this about these little shit boxes.
I should have said “exported to NZ only”, as of course Holden built its own version.
There certainly were Mk2 Vauxhall Cavaliers in service in the police fleets but I’m not sure I’d go as far as “quintesential Brit cop car”, at least not up here in the North… that honour (for my money) belonged to the contemporary Ford Granada as snapped last week at the Glasgow Transport Museum in proper “Jam Sandwich” livery.
The later Mk3 Cavaliers certainly were mainstays for the police here, but they weren’t world cars afaik?
That’s a wonderfully odd photo, my first thought was “what a clever way to display your model collection”.
Yeah the Riverside Museum does feel a lot like being inside someone’s toy chest! Like this little Imp – looks like it’s just being taken out of its box and the “shelves” of other classics behind it… the whole place has that feel: life sized toys.
Fantastic place (and free of course) thoroughly recommend it to anyone who finds themselves in Glasgow.
Wow! Looks like a terrific museum.
That Granada looks suspiciously similar to the XE Falcon.
The Mk2 Granada and the XD Falcon were developed around the same time. Although there was a hope that they would share parts they ended up completely different – the only shared part being the triangular front indicator. Some of the finer detail design is nearly identical though (eg the boot lid/taillight panel/rear guard junction). The XD rolled on an updated XC Falcon platform; the Mk2 on an updated Mk1 Granada platform. The Mk2 Granada was effectively a heavily facelifted Mk1, retaining the Mk1 hard points and the complete inner door structure. The XD was a far greater change from the XC, with the entire body structure being new (except for the utes and panelvans which retained the XC hard points from the windscreen/doors back).
XE Falcons wigged me out while in Aus. They’re nearly-but-not-quite Granadas, larger and more suitably Aussie, but still unsettlingly close to being the car from my childhood.
Also (since cars seem to get longer lives down under thanks to less strict upkeep/emissions laws) they’re still abundent on the streets (or were in ’06 anyhow) whereas I can’t remember seeing a Granny (outside a museum) in decades.
I love that someone was so into the Curbside Classic effect that they sourced US sheetmetal and trim for the front end and interior-and even went with the Buick version.
I also never knew how much more these had in common with their global platform mates than the Mk3 Escort did. The doors are interchangeable and the cowl stamping appears to be identical.
I want to Aska-ify a Cavalier now.
I wouldn’t be too surprised if the Skyhawk was sold new in Sweden, which had always bought good numbers of American cars.
The Aska and Cav have a different shaped rear door window frame and C-Pillar – the Cav having the kinked quarter window in the door. But now I’m wondering if the opening in the metal pressing was the same and just disguised with extra trim in the Aska. Intriguing…
No, the doors are different. What’s funny is that the treatment of the Aska rear with that blacked out triangle in the c-pillar fits perfectly with the Opel design language at the time. They did the same on the larger Opel Rekord and the smaller Opel Kadett. I’d guess the Aska is a discarded Opel proposal, that was somehow shipped off to Japan. Why Opel kept that kink in the rear door I don’t know, because none of their other cars had that kink. Perhaps there’s some interchangeability with the Amrican J-cars on the Ascona/Cavalier Sedan rear door? The rear door on the 5-door is different from the sedan.
Then there’s the Daewoo version, with a complete new skin by Bertone.
I came very close to buying a clean 3 year old example until I found out that the seller’s road taxes hadn’t been paid since new. Ended up with a Prince instead.
Cool, didn’t know these were J-cars too. We got these locally, nice lookers, but unfortunately both a Daewoo and a J….
That’s a cutting-edge design, a lot like the Mercury Sable. A GM car looked this good in the late 1980s! Why didn’t they bring it to the states? American GM styling was looking pretty tired by the late eighties, and well into the nineties.
Chevrolet Aska has a bit Daewooish solution in comparison with the Vauxhall Cavalier=Opel Ascona as seen on the pic… Daewoo Motor had similar options to Royale/Prince and Duke against Opel/Vauxhall Rekord/Carlton and Senator in the mid ’80’s… In this situation Aska is exotic for the tastes of an average Cavalier/Ascona owner 🙂
Prince!??? Espero is o.k. BUT a PRINCE is a top-of-the-score vehicle in Daewoo terms! I had negotiated for a 1996 Prince as well. In the meantime the owner had a heart operation and got prolonged the job for 2-3 month later… I didn’t try again… Maybe I shall try again… Prince is a very very rare car in Euro terms…
NZ, what is the difference between the Camira and the Aska aside from door trim?
Suspension tuning and the Aska had a 2L engine my Dad swapped a 1600 Camira for a 2L Aska version and totalled it, his is the the one on Wiki they harvested the pic from our cohort
Hey Edward, like Bryce said, suspension tuning and engine were different; the interior was also fairly loaded for the time for the NZ market. The Camira was Aussie-built but the initial quality issues saw Holden NZ import the JDM Aska instead and glue Camira badging over the Camira badges (not quite, but you get the idea). Because our J-car “Camira” was thus the JDM model, it meant we also got loads of extra features as standard – a/c, cruise, cushy seats, digital dash etc. As Ingvar notes, the Aska’s rear door/pillar design fitted the Opel design language of the time. As such, the Aska’s design matched that of the larger Opel-based VH model Holden Commodore that had been sold here.
Just discovered the JDM Aska was also sold as the Chevrolet Aska in Chile! Ad image below from the Flickr photostream of IFHP97:
Chevrolet Aska has a bit Daewooish solution in comparison with the Vauxhall Cavalier=Opel Ascona as seen on the pic… Daewoo Motor had similar options to Royale/Prince and Duke against Opel/Vauxhall Rekord/Carlton and Senator in the mid ’80’s… In this situation Aska is exotic for the tastes of an average Cavalier/Ascona owner 🙂
He got rid of the elcheapo Opel door cards to fit the more decent US ones. I like that. I wonder why he didn’t swap the rest of the dash with an US spec one.
He likely didn’t swap the dash because he wanted to keep his metric speedometer and odometer.
Also – and I may be mistaken – the Opel dash looks to be of higher quality than the Buick one. U.S. J-cars I’ve seen tended to have “soft-touch” dashboards, with padded surfaces that warped and peeled away from the metal backing.
Don’t let looks deceive you, specially with 80’s European cars.
Wow, who’d have thunk? That the “lowly” J body line was as global as the first gen FWD Escort was? Wow, just wow…
This is one odd creature to say the least, part European, part US, hell, notice that the front clip, not only from a Skyhawk, but may well be the US front clip as it has the amber side marker lights from the US models even!
I can’t tell if it has the smaller rectangular sealed beam headlights of the US, or were they retrofitted due to the bushes in the way.
Either way, a wild find nonetheless!
Love how the interior, other than the Opal dash and wheel look SO American, and even say Skyhawk on the door cards. Love that bordello red interior in any case.
The T-body (Chevette/Kadett/Gemini/etc) was also a global car. Where’s the surprise there?
I wonder what other GM cars were sold on a truly global basis? I can think of the Isuzu-based pickups, Daewoo/Chevrolet Kalos/Aveo and now the Cruze – there must be more? I don’t really count the Holden Monaro as sales in Europe were basically nonexistant.
The Corsa B/Chevy/Barina/Classic/Sail comes to mind. Still on sale/production in some markets.
Third gen Kadett and second gen Astra also comes to mind.
From Japan they took the above mentioned trucks but also the SUVs and some cars from the Suzuki line: Swift, Esteem/Baleno, Samurai, Vitara and Grand Vitara.
Monaro would be a variant of the V-car (last Omega). Could also be put in that bag: ME, US, Brazil, Europe, Australia…
Lots of Opel/Vauxhall GM stuff finds it’s way abroad…
Not exactly intended as a World Car but the various generations of Opel/Vauxhall Omega had lives outside Europe – forming the basis of the contemporary Aussie Commodores and getting re-badged as the Cadillac Catera.
Various Astras have gone global – the F, G & H being Holdens as well as Opel/Vauxhalls, as well as being sold as Chevrolets in various markets, the H had a spell as a Saurn and now the J is sold as a Buick (in China at any rate)
B & C Opel Corsas were sold as Holden and Chevrolet models in assorted markets, the B even got a spell as a (Chinese) Buick
Daewoo’s early reliance on old Opel stock is well covered of course…
… of course you get plenty coming the other way – both generations of the Opel/Vauxhall Agila being Suzuki rebadges, the Frontera being a rebasged Isuzu Wizard (again sold under Holden and Chevrolet banners in other markets)
The only thing that doesn’t seem to translate so well is US market vehicles – unless (like the J car) they’re co-developed, they seem uniquely focussed on the domestic market, while other GM regions tend to produce more widely saleable products
“The only thing that doesn’t seem to translate so well is US market vehicles – unless (like the J car) they’re co-developed..”
American cars are so much bigger in general. This Ascona is classified as a “large family car” in Europe, 2nd biggest of the Opels at the time, while the Skyhawk was a “compact” in North America, the smallest Buick.
The T-Car (Chevette) may have been the granddaddy of them all. US-Chevy Chevette, Brazil-Chevy Chevette, UK-Vauxhall Chevette, Germany-Opel Kadett, Japan-Isuzu Gemini&I-Mark, Korea-Daewoo Maepsi, Australia-Holden Gemini , Ecuador-Aymesa Condor.
Hmmm, we Kiwis received the Vauxhall, Isuzu and Holden T-Cars…at the same time… Not sure what we did to earn three different versions of it – I guess we were just blessed! GM did come to their senses and reduced this T-Car proliferation to just the Holden version from 1980ish though.
I knew the Chevette was really just an Americanized variant of the Vauxhaul Chevette, and Opal Kaddette.
I just didn’t know that the J car was truly a global car, as mostly, one here in the states only knew of it being just an American model.
I should also say, I was aware of the Daiwoo affair when Daiwoo built the Grand Prix in the late 80’s
Here’s a better picture of the headlights. They look US-stock to me.
There are H4 projectors (with euro parking lamp globe provisions) available in the same size as the sealed beam. It looks like the outboard one is like that. Could be either.
The projectors I mentioned can be used with H4 globes, which I guess are easier to find in Europe.
Are the US-style sealed beams still legal in Europe?
More global than the Escort those didnt make it downunder we got our small Fords direct from Mazda.
Please tell me that the plastic Fisher Price beak was for low-speed crash protection only,
not for “design-reasons”.
Both. It allowed a smoother, more integrated look while meeting Federal bumper standards (which is why plastic end caps are now the universal industry standard) and allowed each division to have a different look while using the same sheetmetal pressings.
It seems like it started its life as an Opel.
NDN648
OPEL ASCONA GL 892D4
C20NE
1988/02/29
Gasoline 4cyl
FWD
116 Hk 85 kW
Perfect! That’s what I like about GM. You have (only) an Opel? Get a Skyhawk frontend, take off the Ascona’s, put on the Skayhawk’s…aaaaaaaaand you’ll have a Buick within “moments”. Later: Gettin’ tired of Skyhawk? Get a Pontiac Sunbird frontend…etc., etc. Jigsaw cars.
Anyway…I’m quite curious if this Ascohawk is still on the road??? Or in a barn somewhere in Scandinavia???