RE: Spotted: 1974 Vauxhall Firenza HPF
Discussion
The Droop Snoot Firenza preceded the copycat Mk II RS2000 and dates from 1974. It wowed the Motor Show it first appeared at and totally fired my imagination in a world of dull dull cars and I fell in love with these cars. I suspect that when I bought a 3rd gen camaro, it had more to do with this car than the Camaro itself.
Fabulous car. very rare but £13k is probably a bit steep - then again classics do cost money and with a run of 204, you won't get much rarer without going exotic. It was quicker than a 3.0 Capri and handled better and what do they go for now? I suppose the good and bad point about this car is that 170hp is very handy but while it makes it a better car, it is no longer original but a modified car so the collectability is compromised even though I suspect many of these ended up in motorsport anyway. I know I saw one race at Oulton Park in the 70s and it was very quick but had some slight uinreliability, fell back down the field and then we had a glorious fight back, headlights blazing, to reel in the leading Mk 1 yellow Escort driven by Nick someone who janaged to take the win despite the avalanche descending on him from behind. Great race.
It was probably the Chevette HS that killed it, an altogether less glamorous car but still with massive street-cred. I recall looking into a compound in Hooton near Ellesmere Port at about a dozen purple Magnum Sportshatches which they made to use up the nose cones, like a kid in a sweet shop.
Fabulous car. very rare but £13k is probably a bit steep - then again classics do cost money and with a run of 204, you won't get much rarer without going exotic. It was quicker than a 3.0 Capri and handled better and what do they go for now? I suppose the good and bad point about this car is that 170hp is very handy but while it makes it a better car, it is no longer original but a modified car so the collectability is compromised even though I suspect many of these ended up in motorsport anyway. I know I saw one race at Oulton Park in the 70s and it was very quick but had some slight uinreliability, fell back down the field and then we had a glorious fight back, headlights blazing, to reel in the leading Mk 1 yellow Escort driven by Nick someone who janaged to take the win despite the avalanche descending on him from behind. Great race.
It was probably the Chevette HS that killed it, an altogether less glamorous car but still with massive street-cred. I recall looking into a compound in Hooton near Ellesmere Port at about a dozen purple Magnum Sportshatches which they made to use up the nose cones, like a kid in a sweet shop.
Edited by LuS1fer on Wednesday 14th September 14:02
I remember my dad borrowing my uncles 2300 Magnum Coupe and going to Oulton Park for the day with me, my bother and my cousin, got into a bit of a dust up with I think an early 2.8i Capri which was a bit quicker but not enough to shake off the Magnum, cue a massive plume of oily smoke and my dad going "oh s
t Ive blown it up, Ive blown his bloody car up", stopped and surveyed the damage, bit of back pressure on the old slant four had ejected the dipstick and blown a pint or so of GM Buses finest engine oil (they used to work there) all over the engine back and critically the manifold, a pint of oil is enough to lay a smoke trail the Red Arrows would have been proud of 
So, cue a slightly slower journey home, a quick top up and check over and then liberal Gunking of the engine bay before he got back.
Happy Days.
Same car a few years later, my cousin at the wheel and we had a bit of a "Learning RWD the hard way" moment round the back of the airport, going round a corner and he said "Watch this", the three passengers had no choice as we span into the field dont think it was his intention but we got it out without Police intervention.
My cousin had a moment with it once when he had decided that he could get away without new disks, nobody replaced disks then unless they had to as they were really epxensive and not really considered a consumable, braked hard and the hub and disk separated causing a massive brown trouser moment for him.
t Ive blown it up, Ive blown his bloody car up", stopped and surveyed the damage, bit of back pressure on the old slant four had ejected the dipstick and blown a pint or so of GM Buses finest engine oil (they used to work there) all over the engine back and critically the manifold, a pint of oil is enough to lay a smoke trail the Red Arrows would have been proud of So, cue a slightly slower journey home, a quick top up and check over and then liberal Gunking of the engine bay before he got back.
Happy Days.
Same car a few years later, my cousin at the wheel and we had a bit of a "Learning RWD the hard way" moment round the back of the airport, going round a corner and he said "Watch this", the three passengers had no choice as we span into the field
dont think it was his intention but we got it out without Police intervention.My cousin had a moment with it once when he had decided that he could get away without new disks, nobody replaced disks then unless they had to as they were really epxensive and not really considered a consumable, braked hard and the hub and disk separated causing a massive brown trouser moment for him.
thewheelman said:
A good find, a little overrated & little pricey in my opinion. If i was interested in a classic for that kind of money, i'd want somthing a little more special than a Vauxhall. For less money you could have had this ex show car, road & race spec Lotus Elan for £12,500....
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3119802.htm
Completely agree, the old Vauxhal is not in the same league. The little Lotus is a far mor sophisticated animal! http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3119802.htm
The Firenza suffered by being late to the party and borrowing styling gues from the Chevelle where the Capri used a Mustang "template". The original 1600 and 2000cc engines were not particularly powerful (my father had a 2000SL...I mean SL, come on, where's the sportiness in that!)and the appearance of the 1256, 1800 and 2300 didn't help that much because they were not very powerful either and Ford outpunched them with 2.0 and 3.0 Capris. The "Sport SL" tag helped a bit but still wasn't as good as Ford's GT/GXL.
The Firenza design was slightly awkward in its virgin form with a "short nose, long tail" look being the antithesis of the long bonnet, short tail Capri but the droop snoot made it a very balanced design. However, the lighter Chevette became Vauxhall's weapon of choice in rallying and the Firenza bodyshell was demoted to the Magnum range which came as estate, saloon and coupe in 1800/2300 form and the Chevette took up the rally and motorpsport mantle.
I suppose the irony is that the Firenza shell was a success going on to become the cheap Viva E Coupe which was put out to compete with the Escort Popular so ended up being quite long-lived and productive overall even though the Viva E was saddled with the lacklustre 1256cc engine which also did service in the Chevette which also had a 2 and 4 door saloon derivative running alongside the Viva.
The Firenza design was slightly awkward in its virgin form with a "short nose, long tail" look being the antithesis of the long bonnet, short tail Capri but the droop snoot made it a very balanced design. However, the lighter Chevette became Vauxhall's weapon of choice in rallying and the Firenza bodyshell was demoted to the Magnum range which came as estate, saloon and coupe in 1800/2300 form and the Chevette took up the rally and motorpsport mantle.
I suppose the irony is that the Firenza shell was a success going on to become the cheap Viva E Coupe which was put out to compete with the Escort Popular so ended up being quite long-lived and productive overall even though the Viva E was saddled with the lacklustre 1256cc engine which also did service in the Chevette which also had a 2 and 4 door saloon derivative running alongside the Viva.
Edited by LuS1fer on Wednesday 14th September 14:50
Porkie said:
Needs twin turbos on that LS V8. Will be Gutless and gay otherwise.
Gutless??? Are you having a giraffe??drewcole81 said:
This is about the only Vauxhall I would want to drive, very cool indeed.
Agreed, I'm not a great fan of Vauxhalls either tbh but I do like the shape of the Firenza.
martin-reyland said:
Some might say its expensive but Snoots are pretty rare and I reckon theyre a nicer looking car than an Escort :-)
Here's my project Firenza.. Can you spot what engine??
Now that looks good, much prefer the front of yours. I'm guessing that's an LS engine? Nice Here's my project Firenza.. Can you spot what engine??
Edited by martin-reyland on Wednesday 14th September 14:05
martin-reyland said:
Some might say its expensive but Snoots are pretty rare and I reckon theyre a nicer looking car than an Escort :-)
Here's my project Firenza.. Can you spot what engine??
wow nice car and nice color, maybe paint the heart of those lovely wheels also in that color or in a anthracite color...Here's my project Firenza.. Can you spot what engine??
Edited by martin-reyland on Wednesday 14th September 14:05
ooo nice a big Chevy V8,its gonna be be a monster.
martin-reyland said:
thewheelman said:
Now that looks good, much prefer the front of yours. I'm guessing that's an LS engine? Nice
Yeah its a 6.0 LS2 with hotter cam and a few other mods, should make around 450+hp
Would like a standard one for the road but this one whilst no doubt being quick sounds on the expensive side. What would one do with it other than run it on the road for plod car baiting or as speed camera speed fodder. Problem with Vivas - had two at once - was inner wing rust at an early date and repair wasn't easy. Seem to recall gearbox bearing troubles also.
thewheelman said:
I'm now hoping you create a thread about your build, & the finished product. Very original
I might just do that as there's loads of interesting stuff on the car that could be of interest.. The rear wheels for instance are billet one offs as I couldn't get them in the size I wanted so I had them made 
The day the Firenza was announced, we had a Silver one on display.
A man stopped to see it, he was driving a Ferrari Daytona.
"I want that car ready for my wife to pick up on Friday"
"OK" we said.
"I don't want a Staffordshire registration because they end in BF and I'm not a Bloody Fool"
"No problem, we'll register in Birmingham"
So we applied to Oozells St tax office in Brum and asked for a low number.
The number they issued :-
YOB 8J
A man stopped to see it, he was driving a Ferrari Daytona.
"I want that car ready for my wife to pick up on Friday"
"OK" we said.
"I don't want a Staffordshire registration because they end in BF and I'm not a Bloody Fool"
"No problem, we'll register in Birmingham"
So we applied to Oozells St tax office in Brum and asked for a low number.
The number they issued :-
YOB 8J
martin-reyland said:
thewheelman said:
I'm now hoping you create a thread about your build, & the finished product. Very original
I might just do that as there's loads of interesting stuff on the car that could be of interest.. The rear wheels for instance are billet one offs as I couldn't get them in the size I wanted so I had them made 
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