Ah the 70’s, such a weird time for automakers. They were trying to sell cars anyway they could while dealing with Government Mandates on Fuel Economy, Emission Controls, and Federal Bumper Regulations. On top of all this, the US Dollar was losing value to the ever stronger German Currency, and the US Core Inflation Rate was hovering around 6% (which was down from only a few years before, as high as 11% for 1974).
So, what does General Motors do to combat both the lack of an affordable small car in their Buick Dealers, and take advantage of a venerable nameplate that has at least some built in equity? They introduce a hand-me-down small Japanese built car, slap an Opel name to the sides, and push in onto an unsuspecting public in 1975. This was the Opel by Isuzu, and it was only available as a two-door coupe for the first two years it was offered in the states. 1977 brought the only addition to the line in this sedate looking 4-door sedan.
So, do you remember these cars (I do, as I owned one from 1976 to 1981)…
Publicity Photo of the Weekend – The New for 1977 Buick Opel (by Isuzu)
By Jim Brennan
Jan 31, 2015
Eric Trytko 
Antti Kautonen 
Kamil Kaluski
Thanks for making me feel old there, Jim.
It's so forgettable looking… I remember the Opel Manta and Opel GT but I probably didn't even notice them until the '80s, when the idea of getting a driver's license started to loom larger. I remember the days when there were "Buick/Opel" dealerships, and I thought it was one marque. Same time I thought Lincoln-Mercury was one marque.
And sold as the Isuzu Gemini and Vauxhall Chevette in NZ, the Holden Gemini in Australia available as vans, wagons, coupes,and three door hatchbacks.
The best version of this platform available was the Vauxhall Chevette HSR with it's 2.3 litres and interesting homologation story of it's 16 valve head. It achieved quite a few rally successes.
<img src="http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/2738/holdengemini1978tdpanelvan285t.jpg" width="450">
<img src="http://i985.photobucket.com/albums/ae335/marky_bmd/gemini%20Phlippines/geminiside.jpg" width="450">
<img src="http://www.holden.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/IMG_1944edited-600×400.jpg" width="450">
<img src="http://classics.honestjohn.co.uk/imagecache/file/width/640/media/5633846/Vauxhall%20Chevette%20%281%29.jpg" width="450">
<img src="http://www.cavalierandchevetteclub.co.uk/images/Chevette.jpg" width="450">
<img src="http://maltabuses.piwigo.com/uploads/6/6/o/66oat8hhq4//2011/10/25/20111025111824-73d1759b.jpg" width="450">
<img src="http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/gldc4dtmz6ozeb3qclei.jpg" width="600">
<img src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/d1/09/8e/d1098e49a6af21f27b4ca7489a4e2e24.jpg" width="450">
America got the only five door hatchback version with their Chevette.
And all thanks to those engineers at Opel.
Not true. There was a three door version available in the U.S. In fact, the three door was the only body style until '78.
<img src="http://s.hswstatic.com/gif/chevrolet-chevette-3.jpg" width="600">
Sadly, ours didn't come with the funky front end styling or the raunchy 2.3L hot rod versions.
Umm, perhaps I wasn't clear enough. Yes, America got the three door and the five door, nowhere else got the five door. Everywhere else in the world four egress doors came with a boot/trunk as in the article's lead image.
Oh, sorry. I read that as "America ONLY GOT THE five door hatchback version with their Chevette." My bad.
That's okay. 🙂 I think that it's the only example of the US version of a world car being the 'world car better selling, not generally popular in the US five door hatchback, not available in the rest of the world, but only available in the US' genre.
Imagine VW not selling the Jetta in the US and only selling the Golf- and not selling the Golf five door anywhere else.
Yes, but your old fashioned 'MURICAN-ness fixed that.
Super Sleeper: 427 Powered 1978 Chevrolet Chevette:
<img src="http://bringatrailer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/1978-Chevrolet-Chevelle-Front.jpg" width="600"> <a href="http://bringatrailer.com/2014/10/03/super-sleeper-427-powered-1978-chevrolet-chevette/” target=”_blank”>http://bringatrailer.com/2014/10/03/super-sleeper-427-powered-1978-chevrolet-chevette/
What a super-cool Chevette!
<img src="http://bringatrailer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/1978-Chevrolet-Chevelle-Rear.jpg" width=640>
I knew the older Kadetts well. They were garbage. The Isuzu had to be a step up. Did they actually sell any in the US? Having these in the Buick showrooms probably helped to sell a lot of Regals.
Back around 1980, the Renault dealer from which I had bought my new R5 LeCar ridiculously botched a warranty repair in a way that was immediately obvious when I went to pick it up. As punishment (I'm convinced) for my insistence on an overnight loaner during the do-over, the dealer gave me one of these. The only worse loaner or rental I've had since then was a genuine (and related, I think) Chevy Chevette I rented from a national firm a year or so later, although some of that might have been due to the Chevette's obvious lack of basic maintenance, esp. brakes.
Thanks for the confirmation I am not the oldest feller on this blog.
You know, if you block out the front and rear clips with your fingers and squint, you can just about see the Chevette it's based on. Interesting that for a few years there you could buy the same European GM car in both US and Japanese built variations.
Strange to think that the Opel Kadett was always considered as a german car – in Germany.
It's just as much a German car as the Astra.
Seen here as a Korean, Daewoo made Pontiac LeMans sold by Holden dealers in New Zealand, the decision to have done such odd branding, in hindsight, without an author.
<img src="http://www.carjam.co.nz/p/80/400/0/1303.jpg"width="500">
Yet not the weirdest branding that car got. I give you the Asüna SE:
<img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7325/12546917755_07261d0f7e.jpg" width="500">
That was the same Pontiac LeMans (with a different front grille) that was sold in other countries for one year. You might think it would make more sense to just sell the Pontiac instead of launching and immediately folding an entirely new brand.
It was almost like GM let 'The largest Company In The World' thing go to it's head.
At the time of it's release in NZ, Pontiacs hadn't been marketed in NZ since the late 60s,'imported bits from Canada, assembled here' , Pontiac Parisienne. With the demise of the little LeMans the brand has gone again.
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/1967_Pontiac_Parisienne_4_door_Hardtop.jpg"width="500">
Because it essentially is. Development and first market entry of the Kadett was always Opel Rüsselsheim. The Kadett C already entered the market in 1973, even the Vauxhall Chevette came two years later.
I knew about the Daewoo coming way later than the original car, but I wasn't aware of the rest of the timing. There's still news in old cars to me!
This thing got the best advertisement ever, when Buick conducted a comparison test and then advertised the Opel coming second.
<img src="http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4011/4539425176_4eb1c1b056_z.jpg">
<img src="http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4049/4538790533_0756535e71_z.jpg">
That is one of the strangest ad texts I have ever seen…is there more to it? In Germany, the battle between Opel and Volkswagen is epic, fanboys crave orthodoxy and you don't just switch from one to the other. Probably comparable to the pick-up-division in the US. I need to repost this in a German language forum…
Everything old is new again:
<img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/slideshows/images/slides/326/246/6/S3262466/slug/l/buick-cascada-17-1.jpg" width="500">
I've always thought that the Buick Opel coupe was actually rather attractive in S/C trim.
<img src="http://www.curbsideclassic.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/78-Sport-Coupe-800×514.jpg" width="580">
<img src="http://www.automobile-catalog.com/img/picto28h/buick/1978-buick-opel-sport-coupe-4.jpg">
It's a pretty shape. Datsuns were weird and Toyotas were dull by comparison.
Yes, but there's this. Pretty damning criticism.
<img src="http://tanshanomi.com/temp/1978-Opel-SC-R%26T.png">
It was also available with one of the most hilarious names for a car with 4 wheels: Scooter…
<img src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/03/09/automobiles/600-rust.jpg">