"With demand for American styled cars in the UK soaring, Vauxhall announced the PA series Cresta in 1957, with styling cues from its older General Motors siblings such as tail fins, wrap around windscreen, whitewall tyres and lashings of chrome. Power came from the tried and tested 2,262cc straight six-engine from the previous Cresta E, and a larger 2,651cc engine became available from 1960. The PA Cresta sold well, with a total of 81,841 produced, of which it is understood according to HowManyLeft, that only 32 cars are currently registered in the UK with a further 13 cars registered as SORN.
Our vendor purchased this example 26 years ago but only got around to restoring it around five or six years ago. The car underwent a total rotisserie restoration and now presents in exceptional condition, probably even better than when it left the factory 64 years ago. The engine and gearbox have both been fully rebuilt and we are told the car drives superbly. Our vendor has owned a large number of classic cars in his life and as such has picked up an excellent knowledge on restoration over the years, so he was able to carry out a large bulk of the work himself in his workshop. The paintwork and interior were entrusted to specialists and have both been finished to an excellent standard. The paintwork has a deep shine all over and the split white and blue colour scheme suits the car perfectly. Some parts were very difficult to obtain, the bonnet badge alone cost the vendor £1,500 as it was in such high demand. Being a pre-facelift example, this Cresta has the attractive three-piece rear window, opposed to the later single wrap around rear screen. This is sure to be one of the finest Cresta PA’s in existence and with such scarcity of parts and soaring labour costs, it would be very hard to replicate such a restoration for a fraction of the estimate price."