Retaining the Holden Commodore badge on an Opel-based large car from Germany perhaps could be a case of déjà vu – after all, the original 1978 VB was heavily based on this German-built Opel Senator up for sale in the UK classifieds this week.

If the decision to keep the nameplate is radical – and it rightly has loyalists up in arms – then so too was the VB Commodore that killed the mighty Kingswood back in the late 1970s. Smaller and Euro-chic, there are parallels here that are impossible to ignore.

VB commodore

The CD matched our SLE with power steering, power windows and central locking – huge luxury for the 1970s – but the German-built model exclusively scored heated seats. Otherwise the two are the same inside, right down to the door skins, door pulls, window and heater switches, dashboard design and gauges – all but the steering wheel and seats.

Opel interior

Not that the VB Commodore was just a mirror-imaged Senator outside or under the skin.

Commodore VB interior

The biggest point to take away is that Holden engineers tested the German version in the Australian outback and it basically fell apart on rough dirt corrugations – one prototype was said to have broken at the firewall.

Holden toughened the Senator and created the Commodore, with the V8 engine the beating heart of our nation’s driving enthusiast culture. The name came good with new fans and Kingswood loyalists alike, and Commodore has outlasted Rekord, Senator and Omega nameplates in Opel’s history. Even the new Insignia hardly has a loyalist pull overseas.

Opel senator rear

Picture credit: autotrader.co.uk