This page: Who won a new Vauxhall Victor estate in 1964 with this competition?
Win a 1964 Vauxhall Victor FB estate.
Who became the lucky recipient of a brand new Vauxhall Victor FB estate, as a result of supplying the most accurate answer to this competition? Maybe somebody remembers this promotion? The competition was organised by The Society For The Aid Of Thalidomide Children, an organisation founded in 1962 by parents of children terribly affected by the drug thalidomide. Further support came from Lady Hoare, the former Mayoress of London, whose name is also given on this book of entry tickets. Was this challenge unique to the Severn Valley area only, or did similar tests of the grey matter take place in other locations? This particular book makes reference specifically to the Wye & Severn areas - this book of tickets turned up in Bridgnorth, Shropshire, in the Severn Valley, but was originally posted to a Mr C. Tilley in Quinton, Birmingham. The envelope has a Glasgow postmark, probably explained by the fact that the tickets were printed by the Scottish Observer & Herald Ltd.
Entries had to be submitted by the end of July 1964.
Rather than being a straight raffle, the chance of winning a Victor estate (plus running expenses) relied on a certain amount of brain power and calculation, but only after payment of one shilling per entry had been made. The new Vauxhall was donated by Welch & Co. Ltd. of 91/92 Redcliff Street in Bristol, a main agent for Vauxhall cars in the city. The instructions for how to enter are spelt out on each entry ticket, as follows:
1964 CAR COMPETITION.
THE COMPETITION: A new VAUXHALL VICTOR ESTATE CAR will be driven by an experienced driver and carrying one passenger as navigator, from the northern boundary of Bristol along the A38 in the direction of Gloucester. He will set off at 6am on Saturday, 1st August, 1964 and will drive the car as near as possible to 30mph for as far as it will run on exactly one gallon of petrol. The first prize will be awarded to the competitor who most accurately calculates the total distance.
Prizes weren't just restricted to a shiny new Victor though. The first runner-up would win a week away in the Channel Islands for two people, while the 3rd placed finisher would take home a brand new fridge. Entrants finishing in 4th and 5th positions would, respectively, be able to claim a food mixer and a floor polisher as their prizes. Entries had to specify the likely miles, yards, feet and inches that the Vauxhall would cover using the single gallon of fuel. Did anyone try to complete the challenge in their own car I wonder, in a bid to submit the closest answer to the final, correct, result? How many people entered? None of the tickets in this particular book were ever sold, so either Mr Tilley (the recipient) had no success in selling entries, or else sold entries taken from other book(s) rather than this one.
What does a Victor FB estate look like?
A number of "in-period" photos of FB Victor estates are included on this site, several of which can be found on this page, which is where the following example photo was first hosted. The car shown here is a 1963-on example, which is how the car given away in the above challenge would have looked.
What are they like to drive?
An article from the Telegraph newspaper in recent times seeks to answer this question: link.
More cars as prizes.
Offering a car as top prize in a competition is not a new idea, and other examples feature on Old Classic Car - for instance, read here about a 1957 competition to win a Ford 100E Prefect. In 1932 there was also a competition to win a Austin 12/6 Harley saloon.
