Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Ellis]

[img]

A Vauxhall Victor FB is arguably a better car than it's competitor a Consul (later Ford) Cortina Mark 1 but why does one see so few of them at shows or on the road?

[img]

The HB Viva was a good and handsome car, more spacious than a Mark 1 Ford Escort yet any Mark 1 Escort is revered these days and priced accordingly.

[/img]

A Vauxhall Ventora. The FD Victor series was immeasurably better than a Mark 2 Ford Cortina and the one to buy is either a GT or 1600E version but when did you last see a Vauxhall VX/4/90 or a Ventora?

The same applies to 1990s Vauxhalls, a Cavalier GSi or a Calibra V6 were potent cars and so was a Cavalier Turbo with four wheel drive. A Sierra Cosworth equivalent at the time but largely forgotten today.

I don't know the reason why Vauxhalls are largely overlooked as classic cars.

What are your opinions.
_________________
Starting Handle Expert

1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
1962 Land Rover Series 2a 88"
2002 BMW M3 E46 Cabriolet

[Keith D]

Ellis, they are not overlooked. They just don't exist any more. The word Vauxhall also meant mega rust! The fifties and sixties Vauxhalls were notorious for their corrosion problems. The early Victors were almost extinct by the sixties!

Keith D
_________________
1926 Chrysler 60 tourer
1932 Austin Seven RN long wheelbase box sedan
1950 Austin A40 tourer
1999 BMW Z3
Its weird being the same age as old people.
You are either part of the problem or part of the solution

[victor 101]

I have to agree, I have a 101/FC victor in the garage which in honesty is probably beyond saving.

[Rick]

I also wonder whether the NOS parts supply for most Vauxhalls began to dry up much earlier than for equivalent Fords and BMC products?

RJ
_________________
Rick - Admin
Home:https://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk
Videos:https://www.youtube.com/user/oldclassiccarRJ/videos
OCC & classic car merchandise (Austin, Ford ++):
https://www.redbubble.com/people/OldClassicCar/shop

[Mikey77]

My father had an excellent 1963 VX 4/90. I had an excellent 1966 FC 101 estate.
The DVLA says the distinctive registration number of the VX 4/90 is now on a Sorned 1983 Volkswagen. I imagine all trace of the 101 rusted away long ago.

[52classic]

Even I don't understand my own prejudice against Vauxhalls! Bought and sold a few but save perhaps for the Viva HA and maybe Nova, they don't stir my blood at all.

Musing the other day about our funeral plans.......... I asked that I would wish to take the 'last journey' in a classic hearse. Nothing special, no fuss, just a base vehicle more than 30 years old - BUT NO VAUXHALLS!

And I recall a thread, maybe on here, about one's sadness on seeing a truckfull of cars destined for the crusher. I said at the time that I shed less of a tear for an Astra or Chavalier than for say a Rover 214 or a Fiesta.

Totally illogical, Vauxhalls have done me no harm.. But there you go!

[peter scott]

Soft suspension and not enough gear ratios doesn't appeal to everybody.

That said I very much enjoyed the 2 litre Cavalier SRi that I had as a company car.

Peter
_________________
http://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[alanb]

I had 3 hatchback cavaliers as company cars in the 80s, far superior to the sierras in every way, but I bet less have survived. I also had numerous fords anglia's, Escorts, cortina's, as company cars, didn't rate any of them, since giving up company cars in 2000 I have had Citroen's and Mercedes.
_________________
old tourer


Morris 8 two seater

[MikeEdwards]

I think parts supply is an issue - and once parts start getting difficult to get, the cars start dropping off, and then it isn't worth anyone investing in having new parts made.

It's not all doom and gloom though - the VBOA (Vauxhall Bedford Opel Assocation) show is next weekend and looks like it will be a big event. Having been displaced from Billing Aquadrome, it's at a new showrground (definitely not a field) in Market Harborough. There's a VBOA autojumble as well. And I still come back from most autojumbles with something in the way of a part.

[Mikey77]

I completely forgot to say - in later years I had a Cavalier SRi. I think it was the least likeable car I ever owned. I can hardly believe, looking back, that I sold a Lancia HPE to buy it because I was changing careers and thought I ought to have something a bit more responsible-looking! I kept it all of three months...

[alastairq]

I have owned two FB Victors. Both had floor gearchange. The last one [around 1981-2] was a two-tone deluxe [or, was it a super, I forget?]...Either way, it had a single carb version of the VX4/90 engine , same brakes, and 4-on-the-floor...as well as leather somewhere on the seats! It felt a lot heavier than a Mk1 Cortina, which also had a better gearbox & gearchange.

Compared to the equivalent Fords [aside from the Consul Classic, and Corsair]....the Victor felt typically sloppy-American in the way it drove.

I kept it a year or so...it came to me as a part-exchange [no cash] for a Wolseley Hornet which I had re-decorated.

Previously, I also owned, for a brief time, a PC Cresta....bought as a leaky non-runner, but all it needed was a set of the 5 pence piece [not then!!!] core plugs that lined the cylinder head.

None of these early Vauxhalls had any pretensions to being what some now describe as 'sporty' in the way they drove.

Even had the use of a FC Victor [101] estate, which was my employer's school dinner car....[school dinners being delivered, on contract, rurally-speaking, from the one school with a kitchen...big ally boxes that permeated the car with the smell of overcooked cabbage]...Considering the choice of transport was the Victor, or an Allegro 1500 estate..well, Hobson's choice, really....

Some years earlier I had a mk 1 Cortina estate...nice-ish car, really.....until it started leaking coolant from the bell housing!! I ceased treatment after 7 eggs.....swapped it for a Super Minx estate.....a bus if ever there was one.....but being a bus driver, the driving character didn't, and never has, phazed me at all.

I've also had a Cavalier [mk2]....which I consider to be the most family-proof car ever made. Nothing inside could be damaged by kids or dogs....and even after a wife filled it with diesel [ strongly denied, however the proof was in the pudding, or, rather , tank?]....did it worry....it even got home before conking out.

[Conking out is something only older-generation cars did....before the advent of all these electronics?]

I think my aversion to VAuxhall probably stems from my driving generation?

Those of us who used the pre-FWD VAuxhalls probably are more averse to the brand than the newer generations?

But then, being 'of the generation' that grew up [driving-wise] with these cars, and Escorts, and stuff....I completely fail to comprehend the current buying public's attitude towards these old Escorts.....reflected in the stupid prices they are prepared to pay, for what I have scrapped years ago?

Nowt special then...and still nowt special, to me.

Sorry....

[Paul fairall]

Most of them rusted away thirty years ago.
_________________
1957 ford popular

[MikeEdwards]

[Richard H]

I bought this Vauxhall Royale two weeks ago. It's one of eight left on the road, apparently!

The spares situation is pretty dire for all classic Vauxhalls. They also rot really badly and don't have the popularity of Fords - hence not as many people willing to fork out to fix them (unless it's an F type/PA or a later sporty variant).

My Royale was designed and built by Adam Opel in West Germany - my first German car! In contrast, the FE I had before was British designed and built. I'd say that rustproofing on this car is a bit better - not fantastic though by any means. The car is in pretty good condition overall but is starting to rot in the usual places. Still, for a 37 year old Vauxhall it's pretty good really.
_________________
Richard Hughes

[falconriley]

Probably so few because the last Vauxhall was built in 1925.
Matthew