Opel Senator: Opel’s flagship saloon for fifteen years

The Opel Senator was Opel’s full-size executive saloon, sold in Europe from 1978 to 1993 in two generations. For its whole life it was the flagship saloon of Opel and Vauxhall, and its first generation was built on a stretched Rekord E with the Monza coupé on the same platform.

Opel Senator at a glance

Based on one source, the English Wikipedia article on the Opel Senator.

History of the Opel Senator

A stretch of the Rekord

The Senator A was part of a joint programme in which General Motors developed common platforms for Opel and Vauxhall, and also for Holden in Australia. Two families of that strategy, the T-Car of the Kadett C and the U-Car of the Ascona B and Manta B, had already appeared; the V-Car, or V78, would provide the next Rekord, a replacement for the Vauxhall FE Victor, and a stretched version to replace the unsuccessful KAD cars and act as flagship for both Opel and Vauxhall. The Senator therefore emerged as a long-wheelbase version of the Opel Rekord E, with a three-door fastback coupé, the Opel Monza, on the same platform as the successor to the Commodore coupé.

Names and markets

The Senator A and Monza were first sold in Britain as the Vauxhall Royale and Royale Coupé, with only detail differences from the Opel cars. After the British Opel and Vauxhall dealer networks merged in 1982, the Opel marque was repositioned as a performance-luxury brand and the Royale was dropped in favour of the Opel Senator, together with the A2 facelift. That policy was reversed in late 1984, and the Senator returned to Vauxhall badges for 1985, while the Monza stayed an Opel until the end of 1987. Elsewhere the car was the Chevrolet Senator in South Africa, with a locally built 4,093 cc Chevrolet six of 132 PS until 1982 and Australian sixes afterwards, the Opel Kikinda in Yugoslavia with the 2.5-litre six, and the basis of the Holden Commodore and Daewoo Royale.

Engines and the A2

The first Senator came with the 2.8S and the new 3.0E, which gave 180 PS and 248 Nm with fuel injection, through a three-speed automatic built in Opel’s Strasbourg transmission plant and modified for the extra power. Opel’s own four-speed manual was not up to the job, so Getrag supplied a 264 four-speed, later replaced by five-speed 240 and 265 gearboxes. All the sixes were cam-in-head designs from the Commodore line. With the 3.0 the Monza was the fastest Opel built, at 215 km/h. In June 1981 the fuel-injected 2.5E of 136 PS joined the range, close to the now dated 2.8 of 140 PS, and the 2.8S was dropped in 1982. The Senator and Monza were facelifted as the A2 in November 1982. The second generation of 1987 used a lengthened Omega platform and carried the Senator to 1993.

Design and features

• Long-wheelbase Rekord: a flagship built from a family car, and later from the Omega.
• Cam-in-head sixes: the 3.0E of 180 PS and later the 2.5E of 136 PS.
• Monza coupé: the fastback sister model on the same platform.
• Flagship for fifteen years: the top Opel saloon from 1978 to 1993.

Opel Senator versions

• Senator A (1978): the original with 2.8S and 3.0E engines.
• Senator A2 (1982): the facelifted first generation.
• Senator B (1987): the second generation on a longer Omega.
• Vauxhall Royale and Vauxhall Senator: the British versions.
• Chevrolet Senator and Opel Kikinda: South African and Yugoslav versions.

The Senator shared its platform with the Monza and replaced the KAD range of the Kapitän, Admiral and Diplomat. More cars are in the Opel collection.

Video: Opel Senator b V8 ls3 6,2L neu Holden Commodore,Vauxhall

Video by Rolf Bartels on YouTube.

Sources

• Opel Senator, English Wikipedia: programme, markets, engines, facelift