Interesting prototypes, development cars, drawings.

[sun.and.rain]

Following on from a recent pic of a FE Victor in another thread I found these links -

Next generation Victor / Ventora proposal circa 1976. Check out the rear view of the hatchback with centre rectangular exhaust. V8 rival for the SD1 ?
http://vauxpedianet.uk2sitebuilder.com/vauxhall---...

FD Victor 2 door coupe. Very stylish pillarless coupe IMO, miniature late 60s GM muscle car and better looking than the lovely Opel coupes of that period. Note dual tailpipes and proposed V8 engine based on the slant-4 ohc.
http://vauxpedianet.uk2sitebuilder.com/vauxhall-94...

I remember reading a 1971-ish magazine road test of a very limited edition uprated Victor FD V8 which was available with a Chevy 327 or 350. Sort of in the spirit of the Mk2 Cortina Savage.

Edited by sun.and.rain on Tuesday 2nd June 15:08

[droopsnoot]

There's a lot of interesting stuff on that site, if you're into Vauxhalls at all. He seems to have some very good sources.

[imagineifyeswill]

That hatchback Ventora doesnt look that far away from the Cavalier Sportshatch of the time which was almost exactly the same as the design drawn by William Towns for Jensen as a replacement for the Interceptor before Jensen went bust. As there was a connection between Jensen and Vauxhall with the Jensen Healey using the VX bottom end with the Lotus designed twincam head Ive always had a strong suspicion that somewhere along the line VX accquired that Jensen design.

The 2 door coupe to my mind is not that far away from the Opel Commodore coupe of the same era.

[imagineifyeswill]

That hatchback Ventora doesnt look that far away from the Cavalier Sportshatch of the time which was almost exactly the same as the design drawn by William Towns for Jensen as a replacement for the Interceptor before Jensen went bust. As there was a connection between Jensen and Vauxhall with the Jensen Healey using the VX bottom end with the Lotus designed twincam head Ive always had a strong suspicion that somewhere along the line VX accquired that Jensen design.

The 2 door coupe to my mind is not that far away from the Opel Commodore coupe of the same era.

[sun.and.rain]

The links are to the Vauxpedia site which has an absolutely massive amount of official period pics and info. Haven't had time yet to look into it in any depth.

Will let Vaux fans find out for themselves but 2 items of special interest -
Viva HC estate mock up from 8/67, maybe doesn't sound interesting but imagine a 1970 Dodge Challenger estate . . .
It's about pics 20 down in this link
http://vauxpedianet.uk2sitebuilder.com/vauxhall-93...

Also, a write-up and couple of pics of the Vauxhall-built 1966 Cresta PC 7-litre V8. Which was, errm, front wheel drive. Using GM Oldsmobile Toronado based drivetrain. The only car built was written off in an accident in Luton.
http://vauxpedianet.uk2sitebuilder.com/vauxhall-pc...

[grumpy52]

Does it include the FE Victor with a holden V8 ? It only failed to enter production because of bulkhead/A post failure caused by weight and torque when tested on the ripple/paved road at millbrook for extended periods .

[Impasse]

imagineifyeswill said:

As there was a connection between Jensen and Vauxhall with the Jensen Healey using the VX bottom end with the Lotus designed twincam head Ive always had a strong suspicion that somewhere along the line VX accquired that Jensen design.

Going to have to don my anorak about this bit. The Lotus 907 engine is 100% Lotus. At the time of development it was discovered that the Vauxhall short engine shared a number of dimension similarities with the proposed Lotus design. Therefore a number of Vauxhall blocks were purchased by Lotus to use as mules simply to speed up the development process of the heads - and that's it. No Vauxhall parts were used in production once this short development period ended.

[FailHere]

If you have some spare space and want your own interesting prototype/development car, why not treat yourself to this one
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Daewoo-Musiro-Concept-Ca...

[sun.and.rain]

grumpy52 said:

Does it include the FE Victor with a holden V8 ? It only failed to enter production because of bulkhead/A post failure caused by weight and torque when tested on the ripple/paved road at millbrook for extended periods .

Interesting post grumpy52.
Short magazine road test in this link of the FD Victor 327 V8 Black Prince. Engineered by ex Gordon Keeble staff using surplus GK stock Chevy 327s. 0-60 in 7.5, 0-100 in 20s. Vauxhall griffin badge replaced by a GK tortoise. I like it!!

Scroll right to the bottom of the page, it's the last roadtest in the link.
http://vauxpedianet.uk2sitebuilder.com/vauxhall-94...

Do any survive?

Edited by sun.and.rain on Monday 15th June 18:30

[droopsnoot]

Impasse said:

imagineifyeswill said:

As there was a connection between Jensen and Vauxhall with the Jensen Healey using the VX bottom end with the Lotus designed twincam head Ive always had a strong suspicion that somewhere along the line VX accquired that Jensen design.

Going to have to don my anorak about this bit. The Lotus 907 engine is 100% Lotus. At the time of development it was discovered that the Vauxhall short engine shared a number of dimension similarities with the proposed Lotus design. Therefore a number of Vauxhall blocks were purchased by Lotus to use as mules simply to speed up the development process of the heads - and that's it. No Vauxhall parts were used in production once this short development period ended.

Yes, and the Vauxhall twin-cam engine (as used in the Chevette HS and HSR) is similar but not the same. As I read it, there were some issues with at least one very early HS rally victory because it was found that due to delays in completing the Vauxhall head, it was running with a Lotus one fitted. I believe that the Lotus head can be relatively easily fitted to the 2.0 Vauxhall block, but the 2.3 requires some modification.

I'd heard tales of Lotus testing their heads in anything from Viva GTs to Bedford CFs - if they only bought blocks, it sounds as if that might be not quite right either.

[imagineifyeswill]

Is the Jensen Healey fitted with a complete Lotus engine though, Ive allways been led to believe it was a Vauxhall bottom end with a Lotus designed head. Forgetting about the engine anyway, the Cavalier Sportshatch was almost identical to the William Towns Interceptor replacement design.

Edited by imagineifyeswill on Tuesday 16th June 22:37

[sun.and.rain]

Link to some pics of early XJ6 styling. Stretched 4-door S2 E-type anyone?

http://www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/concepts/concepts-...

Edited by sun.and.rain on Tuesday 16th June 22:56

[sun.and.rain]

droopsnoot said:

Impasse said:

imagineifyeswill said:

As there was a connection between Jensen and Vauxhall with the Jensen Healey using the VX bottom end with the Lotus designed twincam head Ive always had a strong suspicion that somewhere along the line VX accquired that Jensen design.

Going to have to don my anorak about this bit. The Lotus 907 engine is 100% Lotus. At the time of development it was discovered that the Vauxhall short engine shared a number of dimension similarities with the proposed Lotus design. Therefore a number of Vauxhall blocks were purchased by Lotus to use as mules simply to speed up the development process of the heads - and that's it. No Vauxhall parts were used in production once this short development period ended.

Yes, and the Vauxhall twin-cam engine (as used in the Chevette HS and HSR) is similar but not the same. As I read it, there were some issues with at least one very early HS rally victory because it was found that due to delays in completing the Vauxhall head, it was running with a Lotus one fitted. I believe that the Lotus head can be relatively easily fitted to the 2.0 Vauxhall block, but the 2.3 requires some modification.

I'd heard tales of Lotus testing their heads in anything from Viva GTs to Bedford CFs - if they only bought blocks, it sounds as if that might be not quite right either.

If Vauxhall hadn't cancelled further development of the V8 on which the strong slant 4 was to be based on then we would have had some very interesting Vauxhall classics on the roads today. Not many though, as most would have rusted away by now, but these V8s developed further with a pair of 16V heads . . . . a quad-cam 32V UK Firenza maybe? Or a top of the range mid 70s "Lotus" Ventora 32V saloon / estate?
Vauxhall had a 4-litre V8 based on this design running in 1965.

http://vauxpedia.net/vauxhall---the-slant-four-eng...

Apologies for referring to the superb Vauxpedia site again but the links fit with the way this thread has been flowing.

[droopsnoot]

Possibly. The fuel crisis of the early seventies had a hand in Vauxhall losing interest in these things, but the increasing integration with the rest of the GM companies to reduce duplication of effort also made a difference. After all, when you're part of a group that has Chevrolet and Holden V8 engines already, why develop a new one? Prior to that, of course, separate companies did their own development work, but I think the HC Viva platform is pretty much the final original Vauxhall design - the Chevette was next out and that was an Opel, in fact I think some of the underneath of the FE range is also Opel.

[sun.and.rain]

Rover P6.
A few pics of the Rover P6 preproduction in 1957. The second pic of the low-front car with tailfins looks like a prop from Thunderbirds or Stingray.
A turbine engine would have been interesting, especially in later years when transplanted into various outher cars, hot-rods, etc.

Can't imagine a police-liveried version of the first car having the same presence in your rear-view-mirror as a 3500S. The front of the first car looks amazingly modern for a design from almost 60 years ago. I love the uncluttered clean lines of the interior.

http://www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/concepts/concepts-...