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Found a Cadillac Catera in the P&P yard today.
Surprisingly attractive quad-cam V6 and rear drive.
Not a lot of HP but the torque is nearly equal so would probably be easy to drive and red-lines at 6600 rpm.
Manual trans versions are out there or easy to convert.
Lots of electronic engine management so not an easy conversion.

It is the IRS I found most interesting.
Alloy diff carrier, semi-trailing arms, and mounted on a cradle so easy to get out.
Just another possibility to consider.

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If I must be a one-man PC free zone, so be it!

I think, and I may be wrong, there is no direct fit manual transmission for a RWD setting available state side. It uses an OPEL bell housing pattern. I think all of those cars came with a 4l30e automatic trans in RWD flavor, so It may be possible to mate a 4l30E bell housing to a manual trans with a little machine work.

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Tucker

From what I see on Wiki the later CTS had manual transmissions as an option.
They do not detail differences in the bell housing bolt pattern over the varied years and models.

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If I must be a one-man PC free zone, so be it!

Thats got that oddball and distinctly unloved 54* bank angle V6... and the electrical system from...hades....

You never see those on the roads anymore...that gives you a hint of he overall quality of the car, because they sold fairly well.
Opel has had some quality concerns. There's always rumours of that but they never have meant to benchmark MB or BMW, so who do you compare them to- VW, Volvo? Yes, well and even then they are middling to poor.

I note that Wiki mentioned a recall due to a tensioner bearing failing a little too often.
I was curious about the engine as it was fairly attractive for a modern design.
The cam covers were fairly clean and pronounced like traditional engines of the golden age.
With the aluminum heads weight should be decent.
I will have to look up the CTS but I bet they are ugly and hidden under some sort of cover to hide their shame, like most modern engines.

Looked up the CTS.
The earlier version looks similar to the Catera engine but should? accept the optional manual trans.
The newer engines are bigger and have more power but get progressively uglier as expected.
Idle curiosity ask what you would get if it were stripped down and fitted with a simpler control.
No doubt would lose some power but would be much more user friendly without the VVT and other over-complication.

For myself I'm still using a simple 3.8 Buick, pushrods and carburator.
From the Catera it was the IRS with alloy center I was most interested in.
Not sure what the CTS might have there.

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If I must be a one-man PC free zone, so be it!

CTS IRS is similar to Gen IV Camaro?

no. It isn't.

Opel so... cheap copy of E28/30 era BMW, basically.