Vauxhall of fame
A TRIUMPH OF AMBITION
I was sitting in my cave the other day when my gaze fell on a two-page advert I’d rescued from English performance car mag Cars and Car Conversions, now long gone, from 1972. I’d mounted this advert onto a board, as the image was very alluring for several reasons. It was pitched in the vein of the American pony car adverts, using Dayglo-style colours, specifically touting performance racing connotations. I’d never seen English saloon car manufacturers use this type of lush artwork to sell their wares before. The image included a pit scene, a Ferrari prototype, while the hero of the piece was the 1972 Vauxhall Firenza SL Sport!
Really? A Vauxhall? Unfortunately, we didn’t see any, or almost none of the Firenza-style coupés in New Zealand, and only a few Viva GTs landed here so, unlike the Cortinas with their crossflow heads that lent themselves so readily to bigger carbs and exhausts, Vauxhalls never really acquired a sporting reputation.
ANGLO-AMERICANA
The flavour of post-war Vauxhall products was undoubtedly determined by the desperate need of Britain to export to offset the debt incurred during World War II. The industrial slogan at the time in Britain stated baldly: ‘Export or Die’.
While Britain endured austerity, the top-end models — like the Cresta and Velox — were larded with chrome
Over the pond, US confidence and its cars expanded with its highway network, so Vauxhall with its General Motors (GM) owners, themselves front runners in auto excess, played a significant role in Vauxhall’s styling cues. While Britain endured austerity, the top-end models — like the Cresta and Velox — were larded with chrome and ornate stuff.
As most of our cars in New Zealand came from the UK, these cars and the lower spec offerings like the Wyvern were a common sight on our streets throughout the 1950s
