Keep Holden

[SLR_dave]

You can check out this page which shows the relationship between Germany, Korea & Australia with a similar looking Commodore.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opel_Rekord_Series_E.

It is also worth reading this link which shows the Australian car industry started to decline many years ago with the button Plan. The recent closure announcements have been know in the automotive industry for the last few years and came as no surprise. It was the general public who were not aware.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Button_plan

Interesting post. History tells us that the Opel Rekord was the base for the VB Commodore. The European electrics came in on Calais (about VK I recall), giving Holden the "world class car". Holden also put the 6 and the 8 in it, straight up, making it very quick for a family car, brakes and drivetrain came pretty much off what they were doing with Torana and Kingswood.

However, yeah shared GM body, but we made it here!

[Dr Terry]

Interesting post. History tells us that the Opel Rekord was the base for the VB Commodore. The European electrics came in on Calais (about VK I recall), giving Holden the "world class car". Holden also put the 6 and the 8 in it, straight up, making it very quick for a family car, brakes and drivetrain came pretty much off what they were doing with Torana and Kingswood.

However, yeah shared GM body, but we made it here!

There several major differences between the Opel & the Holden. You mention the engines, but they also used Holden transmissions & rear axles. The Holden Commodore front structure was upgraded substantially due to failures in early testing. Also the Holden uses Australian designed rack & pinion steering, whereas the Opel still had a recirculating ball box & draglink etc.

I'm not sure what you mean by "European electrics" but by the time VK was built, most of the German stuff was long gone. Even the entire heater/demister/air-cond system was totally Aussie.

Dr Terry.