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Vauxhall Victor
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The Vauxhall Victor is a medium/large model of automobile produced by Vauxhall Motors, the British subsidiary of General Motors from 1957 to 1976. The car was the smaller of two new models from Vauxhall to replace the outgoing Wyvern model, the larger one being the Vauxhall Cresta PA. It was renamed as the VX Series and continued until 1978, when it was replaced by the Carlton, which was based on the German Opel Rekord D. The last model was manufactured under licence by Hindustan Motors in India as the Hindustan Contessa, during the 1980s and early 1990s, with an Isuzu engine.
The original Victor was the first European car to use the panoramic windscreen, and for a time was Britain's most exported car, with worldwide sales in markets as far flung as the United States (sold by Pontiac dealers, as Vauxhall had been part of GM since 1925), Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Asian right hand drive markets such as Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore.
In Canada, it was marketed as both the Vauxhall Victor (sold through Pontiac/Buick dealerships) and the "Envoy" (marketed through Chevrolet/Oldsmobile dealers).
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Encyclopedia
The Vauxhall Victor is a medium/large model of automobile produced by Vauxhall Motors, the British subsidiary of General Motors from 1957 to 1976. The car was the smaller of two new models from Vauxhall to replace the outgoing Wyvern model, the larger one being the Vauxhall Cresta PA. It was renamed as the VX Series and continued until 1978, when it was replaced by the Carlton, which was based on the German Opel Rekord D. The last model was manufactured under licence by Hindustan Motors in India as the Hindustan Contessa, during the 1980s and early 1990s, with an Isuzu engine.
The original Victor was the first European car to use the panoramic windscreen, and for a time was Britain's most exported car, with worldwide sales in markets as far flung as the United States (sold by Pontiac dealers, as Vauxhall had been part of GM since 1925), Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Asian right hand drive markets such as Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore.
In Canada, it was marketed as both the Vauxhall Victor (sold through Pontiac/Buick dealerships) and the "Envoy" (marketed through Chevrolet/Oldsmobile dealers). The Victor was also instrumental in giving Vauxhall its first in-house designed estate car, which complemented the four door saloon.
F Series
The original Victor (1957-1961) was dubbed the F series and saw a production run totalling over 390,000 units. The car was of unitary construction and featured a large glass area with heavily curved windscreen and rear window. Following then current American styling trends, the windscreen pillars sloped backwards. Bench seats were fitted front and rear trimmed in Rayon and "Elastofab" and two colour interior trim was standard. The Super model had extra chrome trim, notably around the windows, the exhaust pipe coming through the rear bumper, arm rests on the doors, door operated courtesy lights, a two spoke steering wheel and twin sun visors. An estate variant was launched in 1958
Although the engine was of similar size to that of the outgoing Wyvern it was actually new. Fitted with a single Zenith carburettor it had an output of at 4200 rpm and gained a reputation of giving a long trouble free life. The three speed gearbox had synchromesh on all forward ratios and was operated by a column mounted lever. In early 1958 Newtondrive two pedal control was available as an option.
Suspension was independent at the front by coil springs and with an anti-roll bar was fitted on a rubber mounted cross member. The rear suspension used a live axle and semi elliptic leaf springs. Steering was of the recirculating ball type. Lockheed hydraulic drum brakes were used.
A "Super" version tested by The Motor magazine in 1957 had a top speed of and could accelerate from 0- in 28.1 seconds. A fuel consumption of was recorded. The test car cost £758 including taxes of £758. The estate car cost GBP931.
A Series II model was announced in 1959 with simplified styling. The new car was available in three versions with a De-Luxe as the top model featuring leather trim and separate front seats.
FB Series
The cleaner styled FB ran from 1961 until 1964. It was widely exported, though sales in the US ended after 1961 when Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick came up with home-grown compact models of their own. Consequently, the FB only achieved sales of 328,000 vehicles by the time it was replaced in 1964. Mechanically, the main change was the fitting of a 4 speed all synchromesh transmission with floor change. In early 1964 the engine was enlarged to 1594 cc.
A sporty derivative, the VX4/90 was also available with twin carburettor, high compression, engine and servo assisted brakes.
FC Series
The FC (marketed as the 101) (1964-1967) was the first Vauxhall to use curved side window glass, allowing greater internal width: the Estate derivative was noted as being especially capacious for its class. An innovative styling cue which would be adopted four years later by the Audi 100 was the incorporation of the side and indicator lamps in the front bumper.
It was also the last of the overhead valve Victor models and racked up 238,000 sales by the end of its run in late 1967 when the 'Coke bottle'-shaped FD replaced it. The 101 label was given as there were claimed to be '101 improvements' over the FB. Bench or separate front seating was offered, together with the near identical to the FB series gearbox three-speed column change or the optional four-speed floor change. A 'Powerglide' automatic transmission was available.
As with the rest of the running gear, the sporting VX 4/90 was developed from the FB series and offered an alloy head, higher compression ratio, twin-Zenith 34IV carburettors, stiffer suspension and additional instruments.
Overall 101 survival numbers appear to be less than the F, FB and even FD series, so examples are rare, unfairly forgotten, and undervalued.
FD Series
The FD (1967-1972) was released at a time when the UK was undergoing a currency crisis as well as increasingly militant labour relations, resulting in rising prices and poorer quality. On paper, the new 1599 cc and 1975 cc overhead camshaft engine design (the Slant Four) was advanced, as was the suspension design of the car which was far less compromised than most previous British mass-produced efforts, featuring a live axle with trailing arms, Panhard rod and coil springs instead of the traditional leaf springs, and a double wishbone front suspension assembly, but the FD's on-road performance and durability were less than its on paper promise in standard form. Independent tuner Blydenstein could effectively transform the overhead cam Victors to fulfill their advanced specifications.
The FD, however, departed from the traditional Victor family car bench front seat norm (there were still models with bench seats however) and could be ordered with comfortable contoured bucket seating front and rear. This was standard on the Victor 2000 (later 2000 SL with the facelift for 1970) and optional on the Victor 1600 (renamed Super with the 1970 facelift). Bucket seats were standard on the more sporty VX4/90 and six cylinder Ventora versions, with the latter having reclining backrests as standard from 1969. All bucket seat models dispensed with the column shift and adopted a four speed floor shift, with overdrive optional on the VX4/90 and Ventora.
Sales of the FD came in below that of the FC at 198,000 or so units produced over a slightly longer production run that ended in early 1972. The lower numbers reflected the effects of a long strike Vauxhall underwent in 1970, as well as the closing off of some export markets — the FD was the last Victor to be sold in Canada as either a Vauxhall or Envoy, and the last to be officially imported (and assembled) into New Zealand.
As well as the 1.6 and 2.0 I4s, the FD series was also available in New Zealand (sedans only; wagons were rare imports) with the larger Cresta PC's 3294 cc engine, badged as the Victor 3300, later 3300SL. These were manufactured with a choice of 4 speed manual gearbox or a 2 stage GM Powerglide automatic and most, apart from early cars, had the Ventora's grille. The Holden Trimatic gearbox was available for the last models. Bench (earlier models only) or bucket front seats were available.
FE Series
The last of the Victors was the FE (1972-1976) which was also known as the Transcontinental. It shared its floorpan with the Opel Rekord but retained a distinct bodyshell, its own suspension and rack and pinion steering as opposed to the Rekord's recirculating ball unit.
The FE Victor was the last Vauxhall to be designed independently of Opel. The engines were carried over from the FD range and slightly enlarged to 1759 cc and 2279 cc. For a short period, the straight six engine was used in the Ventora and 3300SL models, the latter effectively a Victor Estate with lesser trim than the luxury Ventora. The estates had a more sloping rear, similar to a hatchback, than the Rekord equivalent. The FE estate in fact had perfect 50/50 weight distribution.
1974 finally saw the introduction of a proper Ventora Estate, along with running changes for the rest of the range.
World energy crises, falling exports and an increasingly muddled image led to Vauxhall's decline from the early 1970s, such that sales of the FE slumped to 55,000 units before it was transformed to the VX series in early 1976.
VX Series
The VX Series was a minor update (facelift) to the FE series. It is distinguished by revised grill and headlights, and improved interior trim. The four-cylinder VX 2300 GLS replaced the six-cylinder FE Ventora as the Vauxhall flagship.
The VX 4/90 was re-introduced for around 12 months in 1977/8 with a 5-speed close ratio Getrag gearbox.
Product variants
The VX four-ninety was introduced to the FB series as a performance oriented version. During the FB series, the name changed slightly to VX 4/90 which continued, until the FE range. The final VX 1978 incarnation was badged VX490. The VX Four Ninety designation originally came from its engineering designation - Vauxhall eXperimental four cylinder engine of 90 in³ capacity. As well as performance increasing modifications, VX 4/90s also had a number of exterior and interior modifications to distinguish them from Victors.
The Ventora, was introduced to the FD series sold between 1968 until it was dropped from the FE series in 1976. This used the Victor bodyshell, but had the Bedford derived 3294 cc straight six engine from the larger Cresta models. Again, the Ventora was distinguished from the Victor by improved trim levels
Victor specials
Big Bertha
A special version of the FE was the one-off 1974 Holden-Repco Ventora, nicknamed "Big Bertha", built to compete in the V8 class in the touring car championship. Driven by Gerry Marshall, this car was fitted with a massive race-tuned 5.7 L V8 Holden engine and bore little resemblance to the production car except in its overall appearance. However the design was ill-fated, and suffered a major accident after only a few races. It was considered too big and too heavy, and had serious handling problems, even in Marshall's capable hands. Eventually it was decided to build a new, much smaller car around the same engine and chassis (much shortened) and this car was given the silhouette of the "droopsnoot" Firenza. Nicknamed "Baby Bertha", this car was very successful went on to dominate the sport until Vauxhall moved from racing into rallying in 1977.
Red Victor One
(RV1) is the fastest street legal car on the planet to date, with records to back up the claim: 0 to 60mph in approximately 1 second, 1/4 mile in 7.68 seconds. Red Victor One is a one-of-a-kind modified Vauxhall Victor FD. The owner upgraded it in several stages beginning with the stock 4 cylinder, moving on to a 6-cylinder then 3.5 litre Rover V8 motor, and arriving at a twin turbo Chevrolet V8. As the narrator in the video clip says, "things got really serious when he [the owner] added some stickers", signifying a move to more professional and sponsor-funded drag racing. At last count, the car was fitted with a 9.3 litre engine, supplying .
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