Vauxhall-Bedford Short Motors.
Engines tended to wear out pretty quickly in days gone by, and manufacturers did a healthy trade in supplying replacement engine parts, re-conditioned or new engines, and - as this leaflet explains - short motors. A short motor is basically an engine, minus its ancillaries and the cylinder head. This original Vauxhall engines leaflet from the late 1960s describes it as follows:
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What a Short Motor Is
A partial engine comprising all the critical working/wearing parts - such as Cylinder Block, Pistons, Crankshaft, Camshaft, Con Rods, Bearings, etc etc - that must, when considering important factors like metal fatigue, be brand new and factory fresh. Vauxhall/Bedford Short Motors contain all brand-new components, factory engineered and assembled by the same specialist craftsmen who produce the original engine, ensuring the original performance is built back into the vehicle.
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The leaflet's cover features an illustration of just such a Short Motor, a six-cylinder example.
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So anyone that owned a smokey Vauxhall Viva (HA or HB), Victor, Velox, Cresta, Viscount or Ventora, may well have picked up a copy of this leaflet before deciding on a best course of action. Same for any trades people who ran a Bedford JO light lorry, a 6/8/10/12cwt van, or larger Bedford truck. Unsurprisingly, the leaflet suggests that investing in a new short engine from the factory, would make way more sense than simply re-conditioning one's existing engine. Plus, by choosing a short motor, you'd benefit from any developments that the factory might have made to the engine's overall design, in the time since your original engine had been built, as they also describe:
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A hidden bonus
Vauxhall Motors policy is progressive engineering improvement of the product. Consequently, every time that you specify Vauxhall/Bedford Short Motors, you get a hidden bonus.
Vauxhall/Bedford Short Motors incorporate all these latest improvements, enabling you to not only build back to the original performance but to the latest specifications as well. One example which shows this aspect of Short Motors most dramatically - was with the introduction of the "Bedford Dry Seal End to End Water Flow" 300 petrol and 300/330 diesel engines.
Short Motors for these engines are so designed and machined that any type of fuel pump can immediately and simply be transferred from the old engine, thereby enabling any Bedford engine built since 1957 to be brought up to date with this latest specification.
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As is described on the rear of the leaflet, one key aspect that could well sway a purchaser to opt for a new short motor, rather than a re-condition of their existing unit, was that each new unit would come with a factory warranty as standard. A dealer would also issue a written verification to this effect for one's service history file, which would help the vehicle's re-sale, when time came for a change.
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Judging by the models mentioned in the leaflet, and the code on the rear cover, plus the fact that the 1970-on HC version of the Viva isn't referred to, this leaflet dates to 1968.
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Return to the Motoring Collectables section of the site, where pages relating to Vauxhalls and indeed many other makes of car, may be found.
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