The Vauxhall Victor is a large family car produced by Vauxhall from 1957 until 1976. The Victor was introduced to replace the outgoing Wyvern model. It was renamed Vauxhall VX Series in 1976 and continued in production until 1978, by which time it had grown significantly and was viewed, at least in its home market, as a larger-than-average family car.
The last Victor, the Victor FE, was also manufactured under licence by Hindustan Motors in India as the Hindustan Contessa, during the 1980s and early 2000s, with an Isuzu engine.
The Victor was replaced in 1978 by the Vauxhall Carlton - essentially a badge engineered version of the Opel Rekord E.
The Victor briefly became Britain's most exported car,<br />Belgium: Antwerp<br />New Zealand: Petone<br />Switzerland: Biel
| aka = Envoy<br />Vauxhall Voyager
The original Victor, launched on 28 February 1957, was coded the F series and saw a production run of more than 390,000 units. The car was of unitary construction and featured a large glass area with heavily curved windscreen and rear window. Following American styling trends then current, the windscreen pillars (A-pillars) sloped forwards. In fact, the body style was derived directly from the classic ′55 Chevrolet Bel Air. Bench seats were fitted front and rear trimmed in Rayon and "Elastofab", and two-colour interior trim was standard. The Super model had extra chrome trim, notably around the windows; remnants of the signature Vauxhall bonnet flutes ran along the front flanks and the exhaust pipe exited through the rear bumper. The car was equipped with arm rests on the doors, door-operated courtesy lights, a two-spoke steering wheel, and twin sun visors. It was designed to compete with the Ford Consul Mk2, Austin A55 Cambridge, and the Morris Oxford Series III.
left|thumb|Vauxhall Victor F (1958) rear view treatment. On the early cars the exhaust gases emerged through a hole on the right side of the bumper.
left|thumb|1961 model year Vauxhall Victor F Estate, featuring the simplified grille new that year and also showing the less sculpted rear doors and restyled bumpers introduced with the 1959 model year Series 2
left|thumb|At the request of Canadian Chevrolet-Oldsmobile dealers, restyled [[Envoy (automobile)|"Envoy" variants were developed and sold in competition with the Vauxhall Victor sold through Pontiac-Buick dealers]]
left|thumb|A Swiss-made 1960 Victor Super, "Montage Suisse" badge rightmost in the grille.
An estate variant was launched in 1958. When restyled, as the Series 2, the car lost all its '57 Buick styled bumper pods and the teardrop shaped Vauxhall flutes were replaced by a single chrome side-stripe running nose to tail. The sculpted "porthole" rear bumper tips, which rusted badly due to exhaust residue, were replaced by plain, straight ones. The old bumper ends continued to be used for many years on a variety of motor coaches and ice-cream vans.
Although the engine was of similar size to that of the outgoing Wyvern it was in critical respects new. Fitted with a single Zenith carburettor it had an output of at 4200 rpm and gained a reputation of giving a long trouble free life. This was also the year when Vauxhall standardized on "premium" grade petrol/gasoline, permitting an increase in the compression ratio from the Wyvern's 6.8:1 to 7.8:1. Premium grade petrol had become available in the UK at the end of 1953, following an end to post-war fuel rationing, and at that time offered average octane level of 93, but in the ensuing four years this had crept up to 95 (RON).
The Victor's three-speed gearbox had synchromesh on all forward ratios and was operated by a column-mounted lever. In early 1958 Newtondrive two-pedal control was available as an option.
Suspension was independent at the front by coil springs and an anti-roll bar was fitted on a rubber-mounted cross member. The rear suspension used a live axle and semi elliptic leaf springs. Steering was of the recirculating ball type. Lockheed hydraulic drum brakes were used.
A "Super" version tested by The Motor magazine in 1957 had a top speed of and could accelerate from 0- in 28.1 seconds. A fuel consumption of was recorded. The test car cost £758 including taxes. The estate costs £931.
A Series II model was announced in 1959 with simplified styling. The new car was available in three versions with a Deluxe as the top model featuring leather trim and separate front seats.
F Series Victor sedans were assembled at General Motors New Zealand plant in Petone. Most were Supers with column shift and three-speed manual transmission, though some base models were made for government fleet contracts. Wagons were imported.
F type Victors were available in the United States and Canada through the Pontiac dealer network. They are the only Vauxhall-brand car ever offered in the US, however Vauxhalls continued to be available from Buick-Pontiac-GMC dealers in Canada (along with their unique Envoy-branded variants sold at Chevrolet-Oldsmobile dealers) until 1971.
FB Series Victor and VX4/90
The more cleanly styled FB announced 14 September 1960 ran until 1964 with a substantial improvement regarding rust protection. It was widely exported, although sales in the US ended after 1961 when Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick came up with home-grown compact models of their own, with the all-new GM "Y" platform (North America). Consequently, the FB only achieved sales of 328,000 vehicles by the time it was replaced in 1964. The body styling owed nothing to any US GM influence, the flat front and turtle-deck rear resembling some older US Fords. Mechanically, the main change was the option of a 4-speed all-synchromesh transmission with floor change but the previously used 3-speed all-synchro column change unit was still fitted as standard. The base (FBY) engine was also revised with higher compression ratio and revised manifolding increasing the power output to . In September 1963 the engine was enlarged from 1508 to 1594 cc, identified as the FB30. The increased capacity coincided with a further increase in the compression ratio of the standard engine from 8.1:1 to 8.5:1, reflecting the continuing increase of the average octane level of "premium grade" fuel (on which the Victor unit had by now standardised) offered in the UK, now to 97 (RON).
A sporty derivative, the VX4/90, announced separately in mid-October 1961 was also available. It was fitted with a twin-carburettor, a taller alloy head, high-compression expansion controlled pistons, and a nitrided EN19B steel crankshaft engine giving and servo-assisted disc brakes (same as Cresta brakes) on the front wheels. Externally the car was distinguished from the standard car by a coloured stripe down the side, revised grille and larger tail-light clusters. These cosmetic features were essentially similar to the Canadian-market-only Envoy models.
The VX4/90 was available only in saloon form with 4-speed (GM Opel) all-synchro gearbox, Lockheed front disc brakes, 14 inch wheels, front individual / bucket seats, full instrumentation including mechanically driven (from the distributor) tachometer and heater. The VX4/90 FBX engine also was upgraded to the 31FB, the larger bore size giving 1595 cc (97 cubic inches). With a change in rear axle ratio from 4.125 to 3.9, the VX 4/90 could now easily exceed 90 mph.
General Motors New Zealand assembled the Victor FB sedan line in New Zealand, in Standard and Super form with three speed, column shift manual and bench front seat. Four speed floor shift, a factory option in England, was not available nor were disc brakes. Wagons, Deluxe sedans and the VX4/90 were rare imports, many under the no-remittance, no overseas exchange, deposit scheme available to consumers at the time. The Kiwi models were facelifted for 1964 but did not get the revised rear licence plate surround introduced in the UK market.
FC Series Victor and VX4/90
The FD was released at a time when the UK was undergoing a currency crisis as well as increasingly militant labour relations, resulting in rising prices and reduced quality. The FD Victor was inspired by the contemporary "Coke bottle styling" which had emanated from Detroit USA, five years before Ford's Cortina MK III. Fitted with all-new 1599 cc and 1975 cc engines that were the first British mass produced belt-driven overhead camshaft engines, the Slant Four was advanced for its time and application. The car also featured a bonded-in windscreen, the first for a mass produced car. The suspension design of the car was more sophisticated than most other British mass-produced efforts of the time, with a live axle located by trailing arms and a Panhard rod and sprung on coil springs instead of the traditional leaf springs, and a double wishbone front suspension assembly. The FD Victor was first shown at the October 1967 British Motor Show. where it was dubbed "Car of The Show" and also received the Don Safety Award.
The FD, however, departed from the traditional Victor family car bench front seat norm (there were still models with bench seats however) and could be ordered with comfortable contoured bucket seating front and rear. This was standard on the Victor 2000 (later 2000 SL with the facelift for 1970) and optional on the Victor 1600 (renamed Super with the 1970 facelift). Bucket seats were standard on the more sporty VX4/90 and six-cylinder Ventora versions, with the latter having reclining backrests as standard from 1969. All bucket seat models dispensed with the column shift and adopted a four-speed floor shift, with overdrive standard on manual VX4/90s and optional on the Ventora.
left|thumb|The Ventora combined the body of the Victor FD (from 1972 Victor FE) with the 3.3-litre engine from the [[Vauxhall Cresta.]]
left|thumb|Vauxhall Victor FD Estate
In February 1968, Vauxhall launched the Vauxhall Ventora, which was in effect a marriage of the Victor FD body with the 3.3-litre six-cylinder engine hitherto offered only in the larger Cresta and Viscount models. The Ventora offered a claimed of output compared with from the 2-litre 4-cylinder Victor, also featuring correspondingly larger front disc-brake calipers. The Ventora therefore differed most spectacularly from its siblings through its effortless performance: in that respect it had no obvious direct competitor at or near its price (£1,102 including taxes in February 1968) on the UK market. The estate, like the saloon, offered a choice of 1599 cc or 1975 cc four-cylinder engines and was also offered with the 3294 cc engine normally found in the Vauxhall Cresta. The lower numbers reflected the effects of a long strike Vauxhall underwent in 1970, as well as the closing off of some export markets — the FD was the last Victor to be sold in Canada as either a Vauxhall or Envoy, and the last to be officially imported (and assembled) into New Zealand.
As well as the 1.6 and 2.0 I4s, the FD series, the last Victor line to be sold there, was also available in New Zealand (sedans only; wagons were rare imports) with the larger Cresta PC's 3294 cc engine, badged as the Victor 3300, later 3300SL. These were manufactured with a choice of 4-speed manual gearbox or a 2-stage GM Powerglide automatic and most, apart from early cars, had the Ventora's grille. The new three speed GM Automatic (aka Holden Trimatic) gearbox was available for the update 1970 2.0 and 3.3 models. Bench (earlier 1.6 models with three-speed manual column shift only) or bucket front seats were available.
A one-off Ventora was the Black Prince. This high-profile modified car used components leftover after Gordon-Keeble went bust in the 1960s and was built in 1971, based on a modified Victor FD. The car featured a 5.4-litre V8 Chevrolet engine, ZF 5-speed gearbox and a limited-slip differential. Special features included a Sony 4-band radio that could be removed from the dashboard and used as a portable radio, auxiliary dials, Lucas Square 8 fog lights, matt black bonnet stripe, dash-mounted ice detector and map lights. The car was offered for sale in 1972 for approximately £3000, and was broken up in the late 1980s, with the owner using the running gear in a kit car. However, it is now known that one of the two cars built still exists in reasonable condition, but without the original engine/transmission, as it has been offered for sale in recent years. In reality, this car was merely a project to utilize the parts received from the administrators of the bankrupt Gordon-Keeble Car Co.
A 1972 Victor purchased at £60 and called Red Victor 2, has been heavily modified with around 2,000 hp to go 0-60mph in 1 second while still being street legal.
The earliest known surviving original FD series Victor 2000 is LRU 802F, a January 1968 registered car in Oyster Grey with a Casino Red interior. Known affectionately by The FD Register as 'Tom' after its first owner.
One earlier example in red survives which is extensively modified.
FE Series Victor, VX4/90, Ventora, VX1800 and VX2300
External links
- Publicity pictures for the Vauxhall F Victor Estate
- 1962 Envoy Sales Brochure Canada
- VX4/90 Drivers Club (Owners Club catering for FD, FE and VX series Victors, Ventoras and VX4/90's)