1961 Vauxhall Victor FA Goes For a Drive

hello and today i'm at the wheel of something very american that rolled out of luton yes i'm driving a 1961 vauxhall victor model f and if you like watching interesting and unusual cars like this then please do hit the like and subscribe buttons and the bell notification to find out when i'm out again in another unusual vehicle and this car is currently for sale by auction on car and classic if you would like to add this very vehicle to your collection then check the link in the description below and maybe you can put a bid in and be driving at home in a couple of days time hello welcome to furious driving and today we're going back to the mid 50s when voxel went all mid-atlantic with their styling yes today we're looking at a voxel victor model f now today these things are known as a victor fa because the model that came after it was called the fb when it first came out of course it was just a model f up until this car came out vauxhall had a fairly convoluted model range with a lot of cars covering a lot of the same bases but in 1957 they rationalized everything replacing the e-series the wyvern the crest of the velox with just two models the pa and the victor now the styling of this car is incredibly of its time it is so mid-50s it hurts it's actually got a da haircut on this car we had to shave it off especially for this photo shoot it was started by a guy called david jones and voxel was owned by gm and at the time the american styling influence was huge so fins chrome that kind of stuff was evident on anything you bought even toasters put this car next to a 55 chevy bella and you will see precisely where the influence and styling of it came from from the heavy chrome bumpers at the front to the fins at the back and very evidently in this rear raked windscreen a post this is an interesting and attractive styling queue however it is something of an encumbrance when you try and get into the car the car was released in 1957 and it was mildly refreshed two years later in 59 so that was a serious one this car being a 61 is a late model series 2. in the refresh they really just tidied and cleaned the lines up a little bit it was perhaps a little fussy when it first came out uh the bonnets of the series one it had a pair of flutes up the front of the bonnet which is a vestigial bit of voxel styling that had been toned down in the series two it was gone completely this car still does have some creases protruding down the side starting in the rear door and going over the top of the rear arches they were more evident in the series ones and as we move around the back even though there are still fins things have been cleaned up a little bit around here as well these tail lights are absolutely fantastic enormous chrome surrounds with curved banana shape rear lights little round separate indicators and in between even the boot lid is festooned with styling details as well as the name plate in the center which has got the lockable release in it we've got these little flutes indented either side in fact behind as well the number plates giving extra detail to this panel but below that was the rear bumper a huge piece was a three-piece lump of chrome on this car on the series one cars it was more convoluted than this with the exhaust actually exiting through a porthole through the chrome uh meant to look like a jet nacelle on the back of the car unfortunately this did promote rust because condensation from the exhaust just gathered in there and rotted the chrome out and the heat of it uh discolored the chrome as well so in the series two facelifts they simplified things and added a bit of longevity the styling really was i love it or hate it exercise because compared with the more stayed offerings from the companies like austin and morris it was extremely extravagant all these extra creases and folds all the chrome the stainless steel the trim everywhere it was a very flash motor maybe for people dreaming of living in california despite being stuck in croydon it was selling the american dream to ackerington and although the american styling may look a little squished on the british proportions you could be forgiven for thinking you're squinting at a 50s ford or pontiac in fact it is clearly all vauxhall despite them being part of the gm group but they did carry over one american styling queue and that is the bonnet release being through the grill rather than a tag under the dashboard to pull but don't tell anyone this is where americana gives way to britishness instead of a thumping v8 under here we've got at 1.5 in fact it's a 1508 cc4 in line it's an overhead valve engine has a cast iron block and a cast iron head with a cam chain on it with a reputation for longevity and toughness now climbing in you notice how the door handle this big chrome molding is actually on a fairly heavily angled section of the door panel there's no definitive crease in the front of the door where the door top starts and the door side begins just rolls it from one to the other moving back into the rear door it does become more defined and the car actually it's a whole smorgasbord of bends as the curve of the top of the wing rolls into the side of the wing there are more curves down here actually rather bulbous and sticking out around the front of the wheel arch unfortunately this does mean it is something of a rust trap in pretty much everywhere and most areas of these cars will have rusted in the old days they find a good car now it means it's been well stored or probably restored now this is very much pure jukebox americana inside the car you'll notice we've got the big bench seat so this is basically a six seater because there are no seat belts to worry about just clamber in slide along the bench watch yourself on this bit here because you will lose body parts on this if you're not careful earlier cars did have more of a pod area for the uh instrument cluster but the later cars like this one moved into a well no it looks like it's gonna be a strip speeder but it is actually a needle moving across that strip dial that's quite interesting a little bit of dashboard decoration across the top of the dash it's all body color metal no t-shelf you'll notice just hard metal which runs down to the windscreen and looking at the dashboard itself and the shape of it we've got the full wrap around windscreen in front of us which wraps around into the corner and then the dashboard lower this also wraps around following that shape curving into the doors on the upper section there's nothing on the passenger side into the speedometer temperature readout and fuel gauge and headlight main beam warning that's really our extent to our instruments just here and a couple of little warning lights on the end and below that we've got a glove box on the left hand side here is our minuscule t-shelf area for putting our cups of tea for a picnic goes back a long way at that uh glove box it's very very deep indeed in the center we have got a little medium wave uh radio and there's a space to so if you wanted to update that with something retro looking you probably could we have a slide-out ashtray i always say the japanese took their ideas from british cars and look at many japanese cars from the 60s and 70s they've also got that same idea of an ash tray and over to the right hand side back in front of the driver again we've got our odometer which is separate from the speedo which is quite unusual in its own little window into the metal dashboard and below that we've got some textured i'm not sure if this is plastic coated silver or actual metal with texture in it there we have our ignition choke not sure what the red warning light is that's later in the car and a couple more buttons down here the w and the l obviously that's very important let's go with wipers and lights as a fairly safe guess and finally we've got a little bit of control for our heating and ventilation unmarked of course because who would want to know what they were doing with controls in a moving vehicle then we have this the steering wheel itself this is a beautiful piece of very very very 1950s architecture a big shiny slim rimmed wheel glossy and smooth and the center ring for the horn with a beautiful cast crest with the word vauxhall in front this is just absolute sculpture and something we are missing in cars of today and behind the steering wheel we will notice two control stalls the one on the right fairly self-explanatory if you can even see it it's absolutely tiny and hidden by the stalk of the wheel or spoke of the wheel is the indicator very metallic and solid feeling and on the left-hand side this huge stalk here is not massive windscreen europa controls this is a column shift a three-speed manual column shifts which i actually quite like and it does of course mean that being a bench seat with room for middle passengers we've got loads of room here on the floor so we've got lots of carpet area just a small hump in the center for the person in the middle to put their feet on over on the left hand side there's a little under tray handy for bashing your shins on if you really want to and a bit more control for your heater glancing back across to the door we have a lot of pressed styling and detail in this big vinyl covered card so lots of patterns and interest happening to keep it all funky and exciting and rock and roll and keeping it up with the rock and roll feel we've got these jet age styled door handles with a center point and lots of extra little detailing same on the boot actually this carries over to that bit of style just there and likewise on the wind on the door release and of course we have no pop-up headlights but we do have quarter lights quarter lights are of course fantastic lovely now climbing into the rear of the car we will become aware of something which was what the car was really well known for at the time is that it has tons and tons of space i've got lots of leg room i've got lots of headroom lots of elbow room and arm room it's an enormous cavernous space in here and the boot is enormous as well so if you're carrying a family of eight you can easily squeeze them all in here if you're smallish kids there's bench seat in the back again again no seat belts do have an ash tray which can't open there we go an ashtray in the back so if you're starting the kids smoking young they are catered for this same pattern this grooved pattern is everywhere in the door cards and the backs of the doors in the seat fabric and it's all in quite a nice condition as well considering this car is now over half a century old which is quite phenomenal to think that there's not much that gives it away apart from the styling being very 1950s and you look at some bits of plastic like this creamy semi-opaque interior line you think okay that's very much 1950s now before we head out on the road let's have a quick look in the boot because again that was a big selling point of these twisted little handle and this huge boot lid opens up giving you lots of access to an enormous trunk very weird and annoying thing like made vaguely annoying is the position of the spare wheel look how far away it is from the edge of the boot that's a really random position to put it but that aside it's only a 13-inch wheel and it's quite narrow so you've got plenty of other room around it it's an absolutely huge space ideal for going to the seaside with all the deck chairs underneath the carpet we have got the fuel tank and so that's well away well far enough away from the back of the car that we should be okay it's pretty the era of folding rear seats by by quite a few years to be honest so this is really all your luggage storage area [Applause] [Music] there's always someone showing off in the mark too jag now the car starts remarkably easily just flicks into life no problem at all and it's a column change as i said so it's uh basically an h pattern but on its side and it's only three speed manual but there is synchro on all three forward speeds so just get into first towards me and down and away we go and away and up into second lovely and for third pushing away from us and down in the bottom easy peasy and it's so smooth i'm amazed at how smooth it actually is because sometimes these column chains can have really quite wonky linkages that are very unpleasant but this is actually really fine tuned and very nice indeed that 1508 cc four cylinder gives us a grand total of 55 horsepower which is not really a huge amount but the car wasn't competing with other cars that were massively quick either so in terms of what it was up against it was quite favorably comparable in the deep end oh a rover tomcat race car wow i was not expecting to see that today now despite as a sign having 55 horsepower sucking the power through that little single zenith carburetor it actually feels relatively peppy on the road i'm not sure we'll be bothering that 50 mile an hour limit too hard but at 40 miles an hour it seems quite happy the steering isn't too laundry it's relatively direct the sterling circle is absolutely phenomenal this the ride is a little bouncy it's it's got coil springs at the front with the wishbones apparently so it's the independent suspension on the rear it's uh semi elliptical springs on trailing arms with a live rear axle this road's got a bit of a thump and a bump to it but we're just drifting over quite nicely and there's not really any pull either side on the steering which is centering quite nicely and feeling quite happy all along those big wings that rhymes up over the sides of the bonnet do mean it's very very easy to position yourself on the road because you can see exactly where you're aiming down the center down that center line of the bonnet in fact you do feel like you've drifted back into the 1950s wafting down a country road like this in this particular car and this was an enormously popular car they sold around 390 000 vauxhall victors which is uh pretty good and uh at one point it was britain's most exported vehicle believe it or not but it's actually also built in a variety of other countries as well including new zealand they also sold it in america and canada via pontiac dealers making it the only vauxhall ever sold in america where of course it was competing with its gm stablemates which were much bigger and normally straight six or v8 powered now some people think that the styling of the saloon looks a little rear heavy too much overhang behind the back wheels in 1958 they released an estate version of the car which actually does maybe look a little more balanced because the uh the shape of the rear end works with that bigger overhang now hitting a few undulations and the thing is just bouncing a little more than it was previously a slowing before the bends we've only got drum brakes all around eight inch drums on each corner so it's a slightly soft feeling pedal not like a hard fight like if on a later all disc system it would have come out with cross-play tires those drum brakes would have worked well in that situation that level of grip a long open road like this a fourth gear probably wouldn't be uh a miss frankly now i'm not even going to think about trying for a naught to 60 acceleration challenge in this car top speed is only 74 miles an hour and then six more to 60 it's around 28 seconds it'll bimble up to around 40 miles an hour quite happily so indicated 40 on the dial now don't really know how accurate that is it's a very old dial obviously that didn't take too long and it felt quite comfortable doing it this kind of car is all about the show rather than the go if you want a car you can dress up in the 50s style clothes get the big hair obviously i can't do the big hair but i could get a big wig perhaps you could live the uh the 50s lifestyle quite happily in a thing like this the two-tone paint on it was added later on it was optional at the factory this is a super model which meant it came in a single tone of green all over this engine is notoriously tough all cast iron as i mentioned they were renowned for being reliable this was one of the car's greatest strengths really unfortunately its greatest weakness and the reason perhaps you barely see them anymore at all is the fact that they did rust it was unitary construction early days of unibody for vauxhall and that meant there were lots of rust traps and water traps all around the car around the wheel arches around the foot wells and around the rear bumpers where the exhaust exited on the series ones in the early days this really was an unfortunate case where the myth of british cars rusting while they were in the showroom was kind of true it means if you look at a car today and they are very rare and hard to come by it means it's been impeccably well kept which is unlikely or more likely it's been restored at some point in its past which given modern restoration techniques modern paints modern rust proofings that's probably a good thing because we can now rebuild cars better than they were built in the original half a century of progress has happened in the meantime driving this car is a slightly alien experience to the modern driver there are no seat belts you're on a bench seat you've got no power steering no power brakes and of course the three on the tree but you get used to all this kind of stuff very quickly indeed it takes almost no time at all to acclimatize and suddenly it's as if you've been doing it your whole life and so rust has killed the majority of these cars saloons are rare estates are even rarer at the last count there's maybe a dozen left in the uk the seating position is good though you're a little close to the wheel on the uh on the bench seat but the indicators well within fingertip reach i love that little clacky noise and the pedals are in a quite a nice position as well they're a little off to your right but not too far not massively offset like a like an alpha for example and despite the fact it's not got power steering the steering is actually fairly light it's very low geared in the turning circle i've got a nice little look to loop just here is incredibly tight we're losing everything on the passenger seat so i can go even tighter circle than that my word i can basically turn with the rear wheels pivoting in place almost remarkable there's a very easy car to drive the controls are all easily laid out you're a little close perhaps to the to the steering wheel on this bench seat which i think can move back a little bit if i could be bothered to move it a lot of 50s cars the controls are just scattered across the dashboard in a mad randomness way which can be very confusing indeed trying to find them for the first time but this is actually fairly logical well thank you for joining me today in this really rather wonderful slice of 1950s british americana if you've enjoyed this please do hit like and subscribe and join me again next time driving something completely different oh

Channel: furiousdriving

Views: 23,393

Rating: 4.95118 out of 5

Keywords: car, cars, blog, vlog, retro, classic, classic car, retro car, motoring, road test, test drive, car review, vauxhall, Vauxhall victor, Victor FA, series 2, FA, 1961, british car, 60s car, 50s car, 1960s

Id: fMVrlLR_Y2I

Length: 19min 54sec (1194 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 22 2021