From The Classifieds: 1960 Vauxhall Cresta
The 1960s British Vauxhall Cresta family sedan might be a rare sight on Australian roads today, but it has an undeniable link to Australian motor sport historyFrom The Classifieds: 1960 Vauxhall Cresta
As the first winner of the Bathurst-preceding Armstrong 500 production car endurance race held at Victoria’s Philip Island circuit in 1960, the Holden-size PA series Vauxhall Cresta set the stage for an enduring event that continues – in a different form and in a different location – today.
Sold in Australia from 1958 to 1965 as the upmarket version of the Vauxhall Velox that continued through for an extra year to 1966, the Cresta was a minor sensation with its notably US-influenced styling, solid six-cylinder power and plushly-furnished six-passenger interior. It was Vauxhall’s answer to the six-cylinder Mark II Ford Zephyr and sold alongside the smaller but similarly-influenced four-cylinder Victor model.
At its local introduction in 1960 the Australian-assembled Cresta was powered by a 62kW 2262cc six-cylinder pushrod overhead valve engine already familiar to Australians as the Holden “grey” engine. Interestingly, and controversially at the time, the 1960 Armstrong 500 winner driven to victory by John Roxburgh and Frank Coad was in fact a 1961 model, complete with an update that was accompanied by a new 2651cc square-configuration engine that upped the power to 71kW.
An altogether more contemporary car (although it used the same engine until 1961) than the FB Holden, the Vauxhall was very close in body dimensions apart from being a little shorter overall.
It was also more expensive: The Velox version was tagged at $2776 in 1960 – which was quite a jump over the $2338 Holden FB Special 2338 – and the Cresta was pricier again at $2926.
Unfortunately for Vauxhall, the Velox/Cresta, though generally found to be advanced and refined enough to justify the price premiums, were forced into a loyalty battle with the high local content Holdens which foreshadowed their demise in 1966.
The 1960 three-speed manual column-shift transmission Cresta offered for sale on carsales.com.au is actually a first-generation pre-facelift model with a three-piece rear window, ribbed roof, thick side garnish strips, Vauxhall-signature fluted bonnet moulding and a flat-top grille (The 1961 facelift came with a larger grille, a single-piece rear window and a flat roof minus the outboard ribs that identified the original).
The current owner of the black-with-red-interior Cresta says the car’s low kilometres are “not reflected in the speedo reading” and that the engine has been recently rebuilt. The car is claimed to be in “excellent condition throughout” and comes with an owner’s manual as well as a “full set” of workshop manuals.
The very original-looking Cresta is offered for sale at $21,500 and lives in Kilsyth at the foot of Victoria’s Dandenong mountains. It’s on non-transferable club registration and will be sold without a roadworthy certificate.
A hard-to-find example of an almost-forgotten British car with genuine historical Australian connections.
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