Opel Monza Trailer

The Monza was planned as a successor for the Commodore Coupé. In the late 70´s the Commodore C model was made as a 2 door version (as was the Rekord E1), but still as a sedan type car. The first model of the Commodore the "A" series had a regular coupé in the production line and Opel desired to make a newer version of their large luxury coupé. Work began in 1976 and in 1978 the first Monzas were available to buy. The cars to compete with would be the Mercedes W126 coupé and the BMW 6 series C models (coupe models), and any other large luxury coupe. But what Opel hadn't realized was that the old ways was too old. The car was big without hugely luxurious. This did not mean that the Monza was not comfortable. There was plenty of space inside the car, and the enormous seats left you with a feeling of sitting in a much more upmarket brand than Opel.

But the internals consisted of parts mainly borrowed from the Rekord E1 and later the E2, which meant cloth seats, and lots and lots of plastic on the dashboard, and inner doors. Even the rev counter and the tachometer was taken directly from the Rekord E models, so that when you sat in one, the feeling was not that you drove a Monza, but more that you where driving a Rekord. If that wasn't enough trouble for Opel they also experienced gearbox problems. The engine range for the Monza A1 was the 2.0E, 2.5S (and later the fuel-injected E), the 2.8S and the new developed 3.0E (the 3.0 had 180 bhp and 248 Nm with fuel injection), gave a wide range. The 3-speed Borg Warner automatic transmission from the Commodore range needed to be modified to cope with the new and improved power outputs. Opel's own 4 speed manual gearboxes was not up to the job and, instead of putting in a more modern 5-speed manual gearbox, Opel turned to gearbox and transmission producer Getrag, and installed the Getrag 264 4-speed manual gearbox in the early Monzas. But when people bought a big luxurious coupé they wanted modern products as well, and Opel o