UK’s rarest cars: 1967 Vauxhall Cresta PC – an estate car fit for HM The Queen

Her Majesty is the most high-profile owner of a car that cost a princely £1,507 and became the largest British-built estate of the period

Andrew B Roberts 19 November 2021 • 5:29pm

Queen Elizabeth II in her Vauxhall Cresta PC Estate at Windsor Credit: Tim Graham Photo Library/Getty Images

The PC-series was the last incarnation of the Vauxhall Cresta – a five- or six-seater that brought a measure of Detroit to suburban Surrey driveways. Production ended in 1972; survivors are now scarce due to various fuel crises, rust and their fatal attraction to the banger racing fraternity. And if any saloon is now an unusual sight, the Estate is one of the rarest British cars of the 1960s.

The latest Cresta made its bow at the 1965 London Motor Show. As with the last examples of the outgoing PB-series, power was from a 3.3-litre straight-six engine, while the main sales feature was the distinctive “Coke bottle” styling. Some dealers had complained that the previous model appeared too anonymous, so Vauxhall HQ in Luton responded with looks partially inspired by the fourth-generation Chevrolet Impala.

The result, according to the copywriter at least, was “Space-Curve” lines, “space to spread yourself”, “dynamic performance”, and “luxury riding”. The occupants further benefited from “cosseting” Ambla upholstery. The reality was a rather handsome and dependable machine that Motor thought suited to “people who want to complete long journeys quickly and in style”. Car magazine regarded the PC “a good, honest, safe car into which Vauxhall’s engineers have put a lot of work”.

By January 1967, the Cresta was available as an estate that made “country-life’ motoring a perfect pleasure”. Martin Walter Ltd of Folkestone transformed the PC into a station wagon with heavy-duty rear suspension and larger tyres. At £1,507 9s, it was £430 more expensive than its saloon equivalent, but the owner could always boast of driving the largest British-built estate car of that period

1967 Vauxhall Cresta PC Estate — The Cresta PC Estate was a conversion based on the saloon but offered via Vauxhall dealers. It cost £430 more than the De Luxe saloon

Vauxhall sold the Cresta wagon through its dealerships as a factory-approved product. All were based on the De Luxe, which meant the price included a heater and a cigarette lighter. The interior may not have been as opulent as that of the flagship Viscount, but at least the owner avoided the social death of the Standard version with its single headlights. Better still, the PC was an undeniably impressive sight, the brochure “carpeted rear load platform extending to 6ft 4ins in length”.

The PC occupied a near-unique place in the UK car market as its only direct local rival was the equally mid-Atlantic Ford Zephyr/Zodiac MkIV Estate. BMC never made a factory-built Austin A110 Westminster Countryman, while Rootes was preparing to end Humber Super Snipe production.

Some motorists bold enough to “buy foreign” considered the Citroën DS Safari, the Fiat 2300 Familiare or the Volvo 221 Amazon – but these fine vehicles had a European, rather than Anglo-American, design ethos.

When Autocar evaluated the Cresta Estate, the report listed the Ford, the Chrysler Valiant and the Rambler Rebel Six as its main competitors. The writer also complained about the optional four-speed, floor-mounted gearchange and heavy steering but thought powered steering and an automatic gearbox would make “an outstanding improvement” in the Vauxhall’s character. However, many owners found that the two-speed “Powerglide” automatic transmission drastically reduced performance.

Luton gained invaluable publicity when HM The Queen took the wheel of a Martin Walter-bodied PC, registration PYN 1F (one of a long line of Vauxhall estates driven by the monarch), but sales remained slow. The Triumph 2000 Estate, which debuted in the same year as the Cresta saloon, was smaller but more attuned to the requirements of young executives with Simon Dee hairstyles. By 1968 the PC station wagon was no more, its place in the Vauxhall line-up taken by the more compact Victor 3300 SL.

Vauxhall’s griffin badge was never to adorn an estate of a similar scale to the Cresta. The company did not market a five-door version of the Royale or Senator, while the Carlton lacked the PC’s chromium-decorated panache.

Survival rates aren’t sufficiently detailed to record the number of PC Estates that survive, although the invaluable howmanyleft.co.uk site lists only 31 Cresta PCs of all types as being on the road as of June this year.

This example in Oyster Grey that had until recently been for sale at GTC Classic could have emerged from a Vauxhall catalogue of 54 years ago – a car for the ambitious proprietor of a chain of off-licences. Or perhaps for an Emma Peel-era Avengers villain to use as off-duty transport after a tiring week of attempting to conquer the Home Counties.