Lots have been written about the never-say-die Buick V6 engine that was used in millions of cars for more than half a century, and how it eventually emerged as one of the best V6 engines of the 20th century over its long career. Spanning a size range from 3.0 to 4.1L, it would be the 3.8L version that would be the most enduring and prolific. And being a General Motors engine, it inevitably found its way into a myriad of cars of many different brands. It’s an all-iron engine with offset crankpins and a balancer shaft – necessary to quell a 90-degree V6’s imbalances.

This is the story of how the 3.8L Buick V6 made its way to the southern tip of Africa via Holden in Australia, and installed under the hood of a car not available anywhere else, cobbled together from GM parts from all over the world to create a unique sedan not found in any other country to meet the needs of a specific market. And if you think Opels weren’t sold in the US as well, you’re mistaken. We’ll look at a few of the many Opels that were rebadged as other GM cars in the States, some reaching the US from Europe and others from Korea.

The Opel Rekord That Wasn’t Meant To Have Six Cylinders

Back in the Apartheid era when South Africa was isolated from much of the world through economic sanctions, American automakers such as GM, Chrysler, and Ford withdrew their products from the country. For a time, the only GM cars available there were Opel-branded ones from GM’s European division. As the country emerged as a democracy in the ’90s, foreign products started to return, but by that time, the South African car industry had already resorted to ingenious methods to develop its own cars with the parts and support available.

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Opel’s “V-cars” were made in South Africa – a range of sedans sharing a 105-inch wheelbase and passenger cell, but with different noses and tails grafted on to create three different sizes. The larger cars were the Opel Senator and Commodore, both powered by Opel’s Cam-in-Head OHC inline six-cylinder engine, and the smallest one was the four-cylinder-only Opel Rekord. When Delta Motor Corporation – which manufactured the cars – rationalized the range, it kept only the smaller Rekord to contain costs, and set about creating a South-African luxury six-cylinder flagship out of it. And because the I6 wouldn’t fit, the search for a suitable engine started.

A Solution From America – Via Australia

GM’s Australian subsidiary, Holden, was manufacturing the Buick V6 to install in its Holden Commodore, so Delta Motor Corporation imported the engines with transmissions already attached once it was discovered that the compact V6 fitted in the engine compartment with ease. Shorn from its emissions equipment that weren’t required in South Africa at the time, the 3.8L V6 produced 174 hp and 214-217 lb-ft, linked to either a five-speed manual or the trusty GM 4L-60 four-speed automatic. In a country unused to American-style large-capacity engines, the big old Buick lump turned the lightweight 3,000-pound Rekord into a veritable muscle car, with a 0-60-mph potential of about eight seconds. The low-revving V6 redlined at 5,200 rpm and 183 lb-ft of its maximum torque was already available at only 800 rpm.

The factory then proceeded to stuff the lowly Rekord full of all the best stuff it could find. Out went the live rear axle and in came the Senator’s independent suspension. The steering system was poached from the European Opel Omega and the leather-trimmed three-spoke sports steering wheel from a South African Opel Kadett E. Local leather was sourced to trim the seats. The 15-inch Minilite-like alloys poached from the 1988 Australian Holden Commodore VN SS were installed with side skirts and an external facelift to give the aging Rekord a new lease of life. An all-disc braking system was installed, but no ABS was available. The Buick V6 was a superb fit for the compact Rekord shell, providing effortless towing power and excellent fuel economy.

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This particular engine was sourced from a 2006 Pontiac Grand Pix GT with 126,000 miles on the clock.

Opel Went To America In Disguise

General Motors borrowed some Opel-branded cars to sell in the US too, with varying degrees of success. Here are a few examples:

• The 1984-1995 Opel Kadett E was sold as the sixth-generation 1988-1993 Pontiac LeMans compact hatchback, imported from GM’s Daewoo operations in South Korea.
• The 1994-1998 Opel Omega B1 was rebadged as the 1997-1999 Cadillac Catera in the US, imported straight from Opel’s Rüsselsheim factory in Germany.
• The 2004-2008 Opel Astra H was sold as the Saturn Astra in the US, only for the 2008 and 2009 model years.
• The Opel Antara compact SUV was sold in North America as the 2007-2008 Saturn Vue and then, after Saturn’s demise, rebadged as the 2011-2015 Chevrolet Captiva Sport, with 2.4L I4 and 3.0L V6 engines.
• The 2009-2014 Opel Astra J compact hatchback was sold in the US as the 2012-2017 Buick Verano in the US.
• The Opel Cascada convertible, based on the Opel Astra J, was sold as the 2016 Buick Cascada in America. The car was discontinued in 2019.
• The first-gen Opel Insignia sedan was sold as the mid-size 2011-2017 Buick Regal in North America and the Insignia Country station wagon as the Regal TourX. It was originally supposed to be the Saturn Aura, but these plans were dropped when the Saturn brand was discontinued.
• The Opel Mokka was sold as the subcompact Buick Encore crossover in America from MY2012-2022.

Conclusion

You would be amazed to find how many cars share parts with other cars, as automakers embrace economies of scale to share as many parts among brands as possible. This may be restricted to a few parts, an entire powertrain, or the entire car, with only minor styling changes and different badges serving as the differentiators.

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And sometimes, a real fruit salad comes along, such as the wonderfully odd South African Opel Rekord V6 with its beating American heart from Buick – albeit made in Australia – mixed in with a smorgasbord of different parts from all over the world to create a unique product that’s testimony of the its engineers’ ingenuity to this day. It must be some kind of, er, record… A well-kept Rekord V6 goes for far more than it cost new today as they become unicorns in their country of manufacture.

Sources:

South African CAR Magazine, Drive.com.au, Wikipedia.