respectively. A coupé version called the Firenza was introduced in early 1971 to compete with the Ford Capri and forthcoming Morris Marina Coupé. The body was fibreglass; some original Vauxhalls were imported to serve as moulds. [26] Automatics received a Rochester carburettor and more torque-oriented tuning; max power for this version is 78 kW (106 PS; 105 hp). [29], The car was mentioned in a song by Elvis Costello. [27] The failure of the Firenza hurt Vauxhall, which considered Canada an important export market but was forced to withdraw from as a result.

In the event of a claim, the guaranteed value(s) on your policy declarations page is the amount your vehicle(s) is covered for, even if the value displayed here is different. Later GTs came in different colours. [15], 566,391 Viva HBs were produced. The HA, however, suffered severely from corrosion problems[citation needed] along with other Vauxhall models of the time and very few of this model remain – one of the main problem areas being the cappings along the top side edges of the luggage compartment badly corroding and allowing water to enter, consequently leading to severe structural corrosion in the luggage-compartment floor area.

The brakes were problematic: a 1971 survey of passenger cars registered in Sweden during 1967 place the HB Viva at the top of a list of cars identified as having faulty brakes as part of an annual testing procedure.

The third generation HC series was the last solely Vauxhall designed passenger car when it ceased production in 1979, since all future Vauxhalls would be badge engineered Opel models. Vauxhall is the third British manufacturer to secure the name of a champion grand prix marque for a production car but the first to have a model associated with the world champion racing driver, so if the kudos pays off in terms of production their new Viva kit should enjoy unrivalled success. Production ceased at a time when European manufacturers were making the transition from rear-wheel-drive saloons to front-wheel-drive hatchbacks in the family car market. During its first ten months, over 100,000 HA Vivas were made,[4] and by 1966 the HA had chalked up over 306,000 sales, proving that Vauxhall had made a successful return to the small-car market, which they had abandoned following the Second World War.

In 2004, in cooperation with Lada manufacturer AutoVAZ, General Motors launched the GM-AvtoVAZ Chevrolet Viva in Russia. *Please note: All prices shown here are based on various data sources, as detailed in About Our Prices. The domestic market launch of the Viva HC coincided with one of the UK's periodic surges of debt fueled economic growth, and the latest Viva became Vauxhall's fastest selling new model of all time, chalking up its first 100,000 units in just ​7 1⁄2 months.

The HC Viva had been the penultimate car to be completely designed by the Luton-based company, the 1972 Victor FE range being the last UK designed Vauxhall. Canadian Chevrolet/Oldsmobile dealers continued to sell a rebadged HB as the Envoy Epic through 1970 while Pontiac/Buick dealers kept selling the car under its original name. Safety belts, reclining front seats, two-speed windshield wipers, and undercoating were also made standard across the board. Here we have an old classic Vauxhall Viva GT that I am selling for a friend who has owned it for about 30 years and has spent the last 10 years stood in a garage un touched.

It featured the same basic engine as the HA, but enlarged to 1,159 cc, but with the added weight of the larger body the final drive gearing was reduced from 3.9 to 1 to 4.1 to keep the nippy performance (except the SL90 which retained the 3.9 diff having the power to cope with the higher ratio).

While the HB used the Viva nameplate in Canada, the HC was renamed the "Firenza" in response to quality problems the previous generation Viva had, as well as to hide its British origins. [27] The Firenza was plagued with significant quality problems which were made worse with the lack of availability of spare parts due to the frequent labour strikes in the UK at the time. Although no factory built estate versions of the HA Viva were offered, a limited-production estate conversion by Martin Walter Ltd. of Folkestone, based on the Bedford HA van, was marketed as the Bedford Beagle. They are also visually similar, however few components are interchangeable and the cars are thus not "sister models" or versions of one another. [28] The Viva was discontinued in 2019. Another problem, common to all 1300/1900s, was the absence of a universal key - period road testers offered many complaints about requiring no less than four hard-to-tell keys.

The HA Viva, announced in September 1963, and replaced in September 1966,[4] was Vauxhall's first serious step into the compact car market after the Second World War. This had the four headlight nose and improved trim and equipment, such as a two-dial instrument pack and heated rear window, in a bid to overcome the Viva's basic car image – its original place in the GM range now taken by a newly launched, wide range of locally-made 1.3-litre Chevettes – and slowing sales. No 2.0 GT version was offered with the new range, although the 2.0 became the sole engine offering for Canada, where the HC became the Firenza, marketed by Pontiac/Buick dealers without the Vauxhall name. The Viva and Kadett were sold alongside each other in many markets. The Viva HB inherited engines, but little else, from the HA. The Hagerty classic car valuation tool® is designed to help you learn how to value your 1967 Vauxhall Viva HB and assess the current state of the classic car market. [31][32]. Lateral location and anti-squat of the rear axle was achieved using upper trailing arms mounted at approximately 45° fixed to lugs at the top of the differential. The front crossmember (steering, suspension and engine mounting) assembly from the HA became a very popular item for DIY hot rod builders in the UK, due to its simple self-contained mechanics, similar to older designs such as those from the 1930s, and ability to accommodate much larger engines within its span.

Automatic was not offered, nor was the SL trim. The Vauxhall Viva was a small family car produced by Vauxhall in a succession of three versions between 1963 and 1979. The redesigned bodyshell was 6.5 inches longer than it’s predecessor having … The HC was pulled from the Canadian market after two model years amidst consumer anger over corrosion and reliability issues.[17]. Front disc brakes came with the 90 and overhead cam engine models, while a larger 12 gallon fuel tank was also part of the 1600 and GT package. The GT could be told by slim black stripes down the sides and a strip across the bonnet, as well as four exhaust tip and black paint in the area between the taillights. [26], From 1971 to 1973, the Viva was sold in Canada as the "Firenza" through Pontiac dealers. [4] A more luxurious SL (for Super Luxury) variant appeared in June 1965. .The 1.8-litre engine and aic transmission later were added to CKD assembly and the entire range was renamed Magnum in 1976. The car was facelifted, with a new front design which mimicked that of the bigger Chevrolet 2500/3800/4100. With a maximum top speed of 90 mph (145 km/h), a curb weight of - lbs ( kgs), the Viva (HB) Brabham has a naturally-aspirated Inline 4 cylinder engine, Petrol motor.

the car has spent most of its life garaged or stored for long periods so body is very solid with no rot . It's not that the old car was particularly bad - just it lacked finesse and charisma, something that the Vauxhall designers worked very hard to inject ito the HB. [22] Although most Vivas were produced at Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port plant in northern England, the company's production lines were by the standards of the time flexible, and the millionth car was a product of the Luton factory. The HA Viva was powered by a 1,057 cc (64.5 cu in), overhead valve, four cylinder, front-mounted engine driving the rear wheels. Both cars were a result of the same General Motors project and share the same floorpan and engine constructions, but with one main difference being the use of metric measurements for the Opel and imperial ones for the Vauxhall. The aic Viva HB was offered from February 1967, and fitted with the ubiquitous Borg Warner Type 35 system. The Brabham model differed from the standard Viva SL/90 in having a different cam-shaft, uprated suspension with anti-roll bars, different exhaust manifolds, and a unique twin-carb manifold, as well as differing interior trim. It was available in deluxe and SL forms, with the latter sporting four headlights and finally resurrecting the missing 2.0 twin-carburettor engine from the HB Viva GT. At this time, the Viva 2300 SL and Firenza Sport SL did away with the letter-box speedometer and substituted a seven-dial instrument pack. [25], The 1300 has Vauxhall's 1256 cc engine, carried through from the Firenza, while the 1900 has a locally built 1960 cc Chevrolet cast-iron inline-four; a smaller version of the 2.5 seen earlier in the Firenza. Originally offered as just a two-door saloon, a three-door estate joined the HB range in June 1967,[9] but the advent of the four-door in October 1968 saw the HB breaking sales records worldwide. [11] Although it avoided the bottom spot in other individual categories, the poor score achieved by the brakes left the Viva with the highest overall rate of failure of the 34 passenger cars included in sufficient numbers to feature in the reports of the Swedish test results.[11]. As with a lot of other British cars of that period, many Vivas failed to survive long term. The split rear-seat folded down.

[11] Second on the list, with 24% of cars triggering brake fault reports, was the similarly configured Opel Kadett estate. The Viva name would not appear on a General Motors car for another 25 years.

The Viva nameplate was re-introduced on the Opel Karl (a rebadged GM Korea product) in 2015 but was discontinued again during 2019. In South Africa, it was assembled locally. As of the autumn of 1975 the 1800 engine was also upgraded, increasing power from 77 to 88 hp (57 to 66 kW; 78 to 89 PS).[19].

The Viva was introduced a year after Vauxhall's fellow GM company Opel launched the Opel Kadett A. With the new Chevrolet Chevair recently introduced, cost prohibitions made such a creation a better proposition than bringing in an all-new car.

New Zealand built only the Deluxe model and a few base versions for government fleet contracts. Several cars based on the Vauxhall Viva were produced from 1970 until 1976 by Grumett in Uruguay. [11] Problems were concentrated on uneven braking and dragging brakes, generally at the rear, and affected 26% of the cars tested.

For the Vauxhall Viva sold since 2015, see, Norm Darwin, 100 Years of GM in Australia, pages 274–275, "Vauxhall Viva (1963-1979) history, reviews and blogs", "Bedford History - Time-line of Light-Commercial Vehicles", "The Firenza might just be the worst car Canada ever saw", "Vauxhall Adam and Viva to be axed in 2019", "Beer & Sex & Chips & Gravy by Macc Lads", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vauxhall_Viva&oldid=981946747, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2010, Articles with unsourced statements from February 2014, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 5 October 2020, at 09:40. Also, the 57 L (15 US gal) was larger than one would expect from a car this size, to suit local road conditions and petrol sales restrictions. The other day we got it out of the garage for the Both front and rear could also be fitted with optional anti-roll bars.