Vauxhall Ventora
The Vauxhall Victor was a car model of the upper middle class, which was produced by Vauxhall 1957-1976. He was then renamed Vauxhall VX series and until they are replaced by the Vauxhall Carlton, which was based on the Opel Rekord E, 1978, continued to be built. The last model was built under license by Hindustan Motors in India as "Hindustan Contessa" in the 1980s and the early 1990s, with an Isuzu engine.
The first Vauxhall Victor was the first European car with a panoramic windscreen. For a while he was UK meistexportiertes car; exports went to the USA (there sold by Pontiac dealers, as Vauxhall had since 1925, part of the General Motors Group), Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and in Asian markets (LHD and RHD) as Ceylon (Sri afterwards Lanka), India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore.
In Canada it was sold both as a Vauxhall Victor (at Pontiac dealers) as well as Vauxhall Envoy (at Chevrolet, Oldsmobile and Buick dealers). From Victor the first 5-door station wagon factory at Vauxhall was built, which was provided to the 4-door sedan to the side.
The first Victor was called the "Series F" and from him about 390,000 were produced. He was the stylistically even more Americanized parallel model for smooth, better processed German Opel Rekord P1, whom he resembled technically. Today, by this model are only a few get, as they were very prone to rust. Due to the fist-sized holes which had opened the third year, he was considered the worst car in its class ever and gave his previously regarding battered durability manufacturer an even worse reputation.
The cleaner styled 2nd edition was called "FB Series". Qualitatively this meant a 180-degree turn. Styling and durability of the body had been extremely improved and adapted to the values ​​of the upscale buyers in England. He was widely exported, although the exports to the U.S. were set in 1961 when Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick took it designed compact car on the market. Therefore, the FB only achieved a number of 328,000 until he was unfortunately replaced as the hitherto best Vauxhall in 1964.
The "FC Series", also called "101", was the first Vauxhall, who also had curved side windows, allowing for greater interior width allowed. From the "cobbled together" appearance he was considered a step backwards compared to the conservative-solid, finely processed FB. He was the last Victor with lower camshaft (OHV) and reached 238,000 pieces until 1967, when he was replaced by the provided with Coke Bottle-hip swing FD. To unsettled To reassure customers that the rusty FA had still remembered the car was "101" since it claimed to have 101 improvements over the FB.
The "FD series" was brought into the UK on the market, as there is a currency crisis and increasing waves of strikes were what led to price increases and poorer quality products. On paper, the new design of the 1599 cm ³ – and 1975cc – OHC – motors as advanced and much better than many former British cars from mass production as the new suspension consisting of coil springs instead of the usual Leaf springs and double wishbones at the front, but driving stability and build quality of the FD were much worse than the paper it promised. The independent tuners Blydenstein could easily change the cams of the ohc machine so that the performance met the ambitious requirements.
The FD-bye to the front bench as she braves as family car had been the victor, and could be ordered with contoured bucket seats with good lateral support front and rear. The new seats were at the Victor 2000 (later 2000 SL after the facelift of 1970) of the standard equipment and were the Victor 1600 (later Super after the facelift of 1970) be ordered as an option. Contoured single seats were at the VX 4/90 and Ventora series; the latter had in addition from 1969 standard lumbar support. All single seat models had no column shift, but a 4-speed gearbox with floor shift, in the case of VX 4/90 and the Ventora with optional overdrive.
The production numbers of the FD totaled 198,000 pieces under which the predecessor, and that over a slightly longer production period, which ended in the spring of 1972. This lower number is also due to a long strike in 1970, as well as to the collapse of some export markets: The FD was the last Vauxhall Victor, which was sold in Canada (the "Vauxhall" or "Envoy"), and the last officially to New Zealand introduced.
The last Victor-series called "Series FE" or "Transcontinental". The car had the same floorpan as the Opel Rekord D, but a slightly different body, different suspension and a different steering gear (worm instead of recirculating ball).
There were the same engines as the FD used, but with slightly larger displacement (1759cc and 2279cc). For a short time there was a six-cylinder in Ventora and the 3300 SL, a Victor Combined with somewhat less equipment than the luxurious Ventora. The station wagon had a more forward-leaning rear end as the Opel models and a 50/50-Gewichtsverteilung between the front and rear axle.
, 1974 a real estate Ventora was introduced, together with some other changes to the rest of the model range.
The energy crisis, declining exports and the deteriorating image led to the decline of Vauxhall during the early 1970s; so the FE reached only 55,000 copies, before he became the VX 1976.
The "VX" was created by a small facelift of the FE series. They can be recognized by a new grille and new headlamps as well as a better interior. The Vauxhall VX 2300 GLS replaced the Ventora as flagship.
The Vauxhall VX 4/90 was introduced by the FB series. At first he was a short time VX Four Ninety and the last derivation of the VX series called VX 490 The term is derived from the prototype from: "’V’auxhall e’X’perimental ‘4’ cylinder engine of ’90 ‘ cu.in. capacity ". In addition to performance-enhancing changes, the VX had 4/90 some highlights inside and outside, which they distinguished from the Victor simpler models.
The Vauxhall Ventora was introduced in 1968 in the FD series and produced until 1976 also in the FE series. He had the body of Victor, but derived from the Bedford 3294cc – inline six-cylinder of the larger Vauxhall Cresta. Also the Ventora differed from Victor by better equipment.
A single piece of Ventora FE 1974 manufactured by Holden-Repco for the V8 Touring Car Championship and was nicknamed "Big Bertha". It was driven by legendary racer Gerry Marshall and had a massively tuned 5.7-liter V8 Holden engine. It had little resemblance to the production vehicle, but remembered only in its overall concept, something to this. The construction was immature and the car had only a few races a scshweren accident. He was too big and too heavy and had severe handling problems, even in the expert hands of Gerry Marshall. So it was decided to build an entirely new, much smaller car around the same engine and the same (heavily cut) chassis and give it the appearance of "Droopsnoot" Firenza. This car was nicknamed "Baby Bertha" was very successful and dominated the race until Vauxhall withdrew from there in 1977 in favor of the rally commitment.