With a certain melancholy we think back to the time when bread and butterbrands such as Opel and Ford still had high-profile coupés in their range. The Opel Commodore coupé was already quite an appearance in its time and especially now as a classic it is a beautiful spot.
The Ford Capri that shone in this section earlier this week could get its hands on one another. We suspect that this also applies to this Opel Commodore coupé. What a nice model that was and in this color scheme it is quite a picture. With its almost American lines, it is not very surprising that the Commodore A coupé was sometimes referred to as the ‘German Charger’, referring of course to the Dodge Charger from the same time. The C-pillar, hipline and vinyl-covered roof are indeed very reminiscent of that muscle car.
Of course, the Commodore coupé was a lot more modest in nature than a Charger. In fact it was of course just a Rekord, the Commodore was the more luxurious version of it with always a six-cylinder in the nose. That does not alter the fact that it was an impressive car by European standards. The example we have before us, for which we thank AutoWeek reader Rob Dircke, is a GS, so that means there is a 130 hp 2.5 in-line six with twin carburettors in the nose. Enough to sprint to 100 km/h in 10.4 seconds and reach a top speed of 190 km/h. In its time, the Commodore GS was already an extremely fast car.
However, it could still be a significant step sportier, because two years after this Commodore GS coupé rolled off the line, Opel released the GS/E. It had the same engine, but (as the ‘E’ of ‘Einspritzung’ indicates) direct injection instead of carburettors. With that 150 hp 2.5, the Commodore became really fast, if you consider that we are talking about 1970. It went from 0 to 100 km/h in 9.5 seconds and kicked it up to 192 km/h. The GS/E was of course also a bit more expensive and has therefore remained fairly exclusive.
This red Commodore coupé may not be a GS/E, but we certainly appreciate it no less for that. Its owner clearly doesn’t either, because he has been loyal to it for 12 years. Incidentally, he or she does not necessarily have to leave the Commodore more often now that the petrol prices are so high, because this also lusts for LPG. That hurts again. A new MOT is no longer necessary, as the car is more than 50 years old. For the time being, in any case, it still has the inspection of September 2020, so you can count on it that it is also in good shape under the apparently neat body. Fortunately, because we would like to see such a gem drive by for a long time to come!
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl