Viva

It was not what you might expect: In 1960s America, General Motors was experimental and unorthodox, its first generation of compacts including Chevrolet's air-cooled, rear-engine Corvair and Pontiac's "rope drive" Tempest, while overseas in England, the contemporary compact Viva from GM's Vauxhall division was Ford Falcon-like in its rote conventionality. But that British compact proved just what its market wanted, and would become a popular best seller that endured through three generations and 16 years. We've spent time with a 45-year-old survivor now living in the U.S., learned the model's history from fans in the home market, and discovered how, despite some challenges, this was the right car for its time.

A mere 31,477 miles register on the odometer of Terry Gale's 1974 two-door de Luxe, making it among the lowest-mileage, best-preserved examples of the third-generation "HC" Viva. When he found it online 15 years ago, the Gold Starfire car was residing in California, under the care of the grandson of its original purchaser. "He'd had it shipped to the U.S., and it caught my eye because it's unusual—I'd never seen one before. It looks like a little British Pontiac, with the pointed front end. I liked the look of it, and it's the perfect small size." After getting the Vauxhall home to his 700-plus vehicle-strong Rambler Ranch collection in Colorado, Terry had the exterior repainted, but left the factory-installed interior intact.

Occupant safety was key in the HC Viva interior, with its padded dash and "Energy Absorbing" steering wheel. Note the low original miles.

If you aren't familiar with the Viva, or indeed, with Vauxhall, you aren't alone, since this veteran brand has had a very small presence in America. London's Vauxhall Iron Works was formed in 1892, and began making motorcars in 1903; within its first decade, the company had moved to Luton, built its first four-cylinder model, and begun competing in international racing. By the Teens, General Motors was looking to establish a foothold in the British market, and the first solution—in 1924, it began assembling knocked-down Chevrolets in London—was proving expensive thanks to import duties. After a failed attempt to purchase Austin, the corporation turned its attention to Vauxhall, and purchased the small (1,000 cars a year), upmarket fi rm in 1925. During the postwar small-car boom, GM would tap its U.K. arm to import the Vauxhall Victor sedan and station wagon, which looked like Tri-Five Chevrolets shrunk to three-quarter size; these were marketed to American buyers in Pontiac showrooms from 1957 through 1962.

The following year, 1963, was when Vauxhall opened its Ellesmere Port factory near Liverpool, and began construction of its new compact, the 1964 Viva. This model, internally coded HA, was initially available in two-door saloon (sedan) form, and it featured a 1,057-cc (64.5-cu.in.), 50-hp overhead-valve four-cylinder engine and 12-inch wheels and tires; a van/estate (station wagon) variant followed. The follow-up HB Viva was launched in late 1966, and it sported a fresh and attractive new two-door body, with a two-door estate arriving in 1967, and a four-door saloon in late 1968. This generation enjoyed the availability of Vauxhall's more powerful 1,599-cc (97.6-cu.in.) and 1,975-cc (12.05-cu.in.) SOHC "Slant Four" engines and sporty editions like the Viva GT, and sold well, to the tune of 556,752 built over four years.

The HC Viva debuted at the 1970 Paris Motor Show, and sales began that October. This redesigned model, in its basic two-door saloon form, had pleasingly simple, well-balanced styling; its 97-inch wheelbase was generous in proportion to its 162.9-inch overall length. A swoopier, close-coupled coupe variant called the Firenza was a new addition to the Viva line, intended to fight Ford's hot new Capri, while a four-door saloon and two-door estate rounded out the line. This generation would evolve with the times, as from late 1973, Slant Four-powered versions were called Magnums, while the Firenza would gain a limited-production, high-performance HPF variant that was visually distinguished by its aerodynamically optimized fiberglass nose cap—the fan-dubbed "Droop Snoot"—designed by the future GM vice president of design, Indianapolis native Wayne Cherry (Profile in Excellence, HCC #107).

In 1974, when the Viva on these pages was built, Vauxhall buyers could select engines ranging in displacement from 1,256-cc (76.6-cu.in.) to 1,759-cc (107.3-cu.in.) to 2,279-cc (139.1-cu.in.). Our mid-spec feature car has the smallest option under its peaked bonnet, its displacement arising from an 80.9 x 61-mm (3.19 x 2.4-inch) bore and stroke. With a compression ratio of 9.2:1 and a single Zenith-Stromberg 150 CD sidedraft carburetor, this four-cylinder makes a net-rated 56.5 hp at 5,500 rpm and 63 lb-ft of torque at 3,400 rpm. That output sounds meager, but with standard rack-and-pinion steering, a crisp-shifting full-synchromesh four-speed manual transmission, 4.125:1 final drive ratio, and curb weight at 1,903 pounds, to be precise, the Viva manages to feel, well, sorta vivacious.

Base 1974 Vivas used this longitudinally mounted 1,300-cc, single-carbureted, 57-hp OHV four-cylinder, while Magnum variants had more powerful SOHC engines; the flagship HPF sported a twin-carb 2.3-liter engine with 131 hp.

"It's fun to drive. I've driven it around the property, and it's a really nice compact," Terry tells us. When asked if this British car's right-hand drive is off-putting, he dismisses the thought. "I'm lefthanded, so it's easy for me to shift with that hand and drive a right-hand-drive car."

While a contemporary 2.3-liter, 131-hp Firenza HPF coupe would run rings around our 1.3, both shared inherently capable coil-sprung underpinnings, including the subframe-mounted short and long wishbone front suspension, and four links supporting the live-axle rear. Skinny 155/80-13 radials on 4.5-inch-wide wheels added to the potential for corner-drifting fun, while braking power came from 8.5-inch front discs and 8-inch rear drums.

The HC Viva changed little through the rest of its run, which lasted until 1979. It sold well (nearly 641,000 units in this generation), despite quality issues that would have lasting consequences, as author Louis Fourie wrote in the excellent On a Global Mission: The Automobiles of General Motors International, Volume 1. "What was obvious was that the Opels and Holdens came off the line with consistent quality, yet the Vauxhall design had far greater design and production tolerances, resulting in unacceptable quality variances. These deficiencies in production engineering could not be blamed on the line workers, but instead on the engineers at Luton who had simply not set a high enough standard. With this background, it is not difficult to understand why the corporate managers in Detroit decided that this Viva would be the last total design to come out of Vauxhall. From henceforth, all Vauxhalls would incorporate a greater percentage of Opel engineering, to the point where Vauxhalls would be little more than re-badged Opels."

So this tidy little car represents the last fully British-designed model to bear the griffin crest, which now signifies French ownership, under the same Groupe PSA umbrella as Peugeot, Citroën, and ex-GM sister Opel. Like most economical small cars, the Viva was conceived for utility, but still managed to inspire a dedicated and engaged enthusiast following that's exemplified by the Vauxhall Viva Owners Club (www.vauxhallviva.com). Our basic example might not get the blood flowing like a Droop Snoot HPF, but it offered sturdy, reliable mechanicals in an understatedly attractive package, and it has been well-loved enough to inspire dedicated long-term caretakers on both sides of the Atlantic.