Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

Rick · Site Admin Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 22843 Location: UK

Ok, the 105E thread stirred up some great memories and anecdotes, so this time, how about the Viva in it's various incarnations? What memories, impressions and so on do the forum members have about Luton's finest??

Rick
_________________
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

47p2 · Joined: 24 Nov 2007 Posts: 2010 Location: Glasgow

My second car was an HA Viva which cost the princely some of £25.00 of which I got a fiver back because the clutch was slipping. Hand painted it and run it for 10 months until a woman driver cut across infront of me and I swerved and wrote the car off. My next purchse was a Viva HB which cost a heck of a lot more, £115.00 and had a worn layshaft in the gearbox and worn engine. I swapped the engine from the HA into the HB, fitted a new layshaft and bearings and run it for about 1 year before having the original engine rebored and the crankshaft reground. My father bought a Humber Super Snipe for the engine and I had the rest of the car do do as I wished, so half of it ended on the Viva HB. I kept the car another year before selling it to a mechanic.

I bought my wife an HC years later and never liked it at all, completely different from the HB

_________________
ROVER
One of Britain's Fine Cars

Ray the rocker · Joined: 01 Aug 2008 Posts: 187 Location: south wales

Hi 47,by the look of the hb ,you were a bit of a boy racer by the added spotlights---a little bit like me when owning a mini van with a straight thro
exhaust--4 spotlamps i fitted from a leyland comet,put them on and the van used to slow down by 10 miles per hour!!!
The extra spot on the rear---very useful for reversing---but a godsend if you had a tailgater .Could`nt use such weapons these days.thanks for the pics.Cheers---Ray the Rocker....

peppiB · Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 8:42 pm Post subject:

Had an HC estate (replaced a mkII 1800 marina) To fit a childs seat the anchorage point was in the middle of the floor space in the back Shocked

It wasn't too bad but traded it for a BMW 3 series after a year.

RotaryBri · Joined: 20 Dec 2007 Posts: 465 Location: Warwick

I had one new in 1963 (reg 693 HLN from memory) as my first company car. I found it very light in weight and it got blown around by cross winds on motorways but it went well. I found the seats left a lot to be desired for my 6'4'' body.
_________________
Keep Torqueing,

RotaryBri

1976 NSU Ro80

Rick · Site Admin Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 22843 Location: UK

Circa 1980/81 we used to go and stay in a static caravan in S Wales. The owner was a farmer, and his runabout was an HB Viva. He'd had one previously, and when the first one reached the end of the road, he drove it over some fields, and rolled it down into a large ditch under some trees. There were several other cars he'd finished using in the same spot. Several times I hitched a ride with him in the HB to go and retrieve some bits from his (upside down) spares car in the ditch Smile

R
_________________
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

47p2 · Joined: 24 Nov 2007 Posts: 2010 Location: Glasgow

Keith D · Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 4:51 pm Post subject:

The Vauxhall Viva became the Holden Torana in Australia. Starting life as a four cylinder, it graduated to a pretty impressive six cylinder with a "normal" Holden red motor of 3.3 litre capacity. It's final graduation was to a V8, especially built for racing at Bathurst in New South Wales. It had a 303 cu inch motor. (about 5 litres!) I believe they built 200 of them to be classified as a production car. The motoring magazines of the day felt they should not have been released to the general public as they were very potent machines with some interesting handling characteristics!

Keith

Rick · Site Admin Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 22843 Location: UK

What mods did the Brabham Viva have? was it all show and no go, or were there some useful upgrades applied to the motor, suspension etc???

R
_________________
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

Ray the rocker · Joined: 01 Aug 2008 Posts: 187 Location: south wales

Not a lot of difference rick---modified inlet manifold with a stromberg fitted,brabham gear knob and those wonderful "go faster" stripes over the bonnet and down the sides in a taper.Oh!! and a chrome exhaust tail pipe fitment if i can remember..

Cheers--Ray the Rocker...

Jim.Walker · Joined: 27 Dec 2008 Posts: 1229 Location: Chesterfield

Sorry Rick! I noticed I had typed off side instead of nearside. Trying to correct it And made a mess. Please see the next post.
_________________
Quote from my late Dad:- You only need a woman and a car and you have all the problems you
are ever likely to want". Computers had not been invented then!

Jim.Walker · Joined: 27 Dec 2008 Posts: 1229 Location: Chesterfield

For many years I have wondered whether a HA Viva problem I encountered was a "one-off" or a problem common to all.

A passing motorist arrived at my dad's garage one day with very auduble knocking. Investigation revealed a shortage of engine oil. The engine was topped up to determine whether the knocking was terminal or not. Surprisingly the engine sounded fine, but everyone near got drenched in oil!
The LEAK was traced to the nearside engine mounting! A bolt had come loose and fallen out and the tapped hole had been drilled right through into the main oil gallery (by Vauxhall presumably). Oil was spraying out of the hole at high pressure!
Careful use of a (slightly oversize, custom made) threaded plug and sealant stopped the leak and a bolt replaced in the mounting with more sealant. The customer left with instructions to check the bolt for leaks or looseness regularly . We crossed our fingers, but he never returned.
WAS this a one-off??
_________________
Quote from my late Dad:- You only need a woman and a car and you have all the problems you
are ever likely to want". Computers had not been invented then!

Ray the rocker · Joined: 01 Aug 2008 Posts: 187 Location: south wales

That theory of jim`s is spot on!! I remember working for an engine reconditioners based in wolverhampton--we had a depot in south wales.
We would strip out the unit and send it to be reconditioned--only to find out that the opel cadet engine i took out came back as a HA 1256cc viva unit!!! As the ancillary units were totally different,i had to modify some of the fittings to suit.The engine mountings were in another position so i modified to assemble the engine,drilling the block to achieve the results.
On start up---oil leaks from the block coming from one of the bolt securing the original engine mounting!! Sealed the offending bolt hole with copper washer/bolt and no other problems surfaced.I never did find out where the original engine went!

Cheers---Ray the Rocker...

Brian M · Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2009 10:26 am Post subject:

I never thought I would be posting a picture of this HA van in a classic forum!

In 1975-6 this was our works van that I was allowed to take home every night as a "company car".
_________________
Brian
1970 Volvo Amazon and 1978 Safari 15-4 Caravan
Classic Safari Forum: www.classicsafaris.co.uk

Brookie · Joined: 28 Sep 2009 Posts: 30 Location: Western Australia