RESTORATION IN ACTION
It’s the 50th anniversary of Vauxhall’s hot Viva, so what what better car to drive to this weekend’s Practical Classics Classic Car & Restoration Show than one restored by Vauxhall’s in-house team?
If you can’t help feeling that you recognise this car, it’s because you almost certainly do.
The Vauxhall Heritage Centre celebrated the Viva HB’s 50th anniversary by presenting this very same car in an impressive ten-car NEC display at the 2016 Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show. It represented the culmination of two years’ hard graft for the Heritage Centre’s team of three specialists, who maintain the manufacturer’s collection of 70 official heritage vehicles.
Looking at the car in 2018, it’s easy to appreciate that the GT has been a labour of love for Andrew Boddy, Terry Forder and apprentice Chris Smith – it still looks freshly restored. Although this Viva left the factory in Sebring Silver, the decision to repaint it Monza Red was the correct one, allowing the hand-painted Tasman Orange side flashes that accentuate its ‘Coke bottle’ hips to really pop. There’s no denying that the Viva HB is a handsome machine, but it really looks the business with those GT-spec bonnet scoops and 13-inch Rostyle wheels.
There’s only a hint of baby muscle car from the outside, but once inside the sculpted seats and inward-sloping dashboard suggest that you really are in a scaled-down Chevrolet Camaro. The functional layout of the controls differs from the standard HB, but six unobstructed gauges mean that the driver has all the necessary info within quick glance. The only column stalk is for the indicators, everything else in on the dash in a central panel, with a clock and oil temperature gauge housed in the console underneath.
Does the drive match the macho styling? You certainly won’t be disappointed when the hemi-head overhead-cam engine erupts into life. Fed by twin variable-choke Zenith 175 CD-2 carburettors, there’s a meaty, almost agricultural rumble to this two-litre engine at idle. There’s a fair amount of take up on the throttle before anything happens, but when it does the engine note builds quickly, accompanied by plenty of induction roar. If anything, the Viva GT’s aural theatre exceeds its visual drama.
The GT is well-behaved in traffic; being originally intended for the larger Victor FD, the slant-four has ample torque, allowing you to exit junctions in second gear with ease. The rack-and-pinion steering responds well to minimal inputs, and while there’s an almost comical amount of take-up before you feel any braking action, servo assistance at least means that the front discs and rear drums don’t require a huge amount of effort when they do finally begin to bite.
Leaving the hustle and bustle of the city centre behind, you discover that the GT rides well, too. Although Vauxhall’s baby is certainly lacking in refinement, you might anticipate that it would have a tinny, almost flimsy quality, but it doesn’t. There’s a constant buzz through the controls and seat squab, but it soaks up lumps in the road well, sufficiently cosseting you from the worst bits.
There’s a positive action to gearchange, ratios are easy to find and the clutch is light in operation. The Viva GT uses the fourspeed gearbox from the Victor FD, with quite close ratios, and although it is possible to outwit the synchromesh, particularly during downchanges from fourth to third, you can still make quick changes to get the engine back into its 2000-3000rpm sweet spot. Most certainly, it’s here where acceleration is at its strongest. This car’s slant-four was overhauled during its restoration and the benefits are definitely tangible. The drive to CCW’s photo spot involves a short spell on the M1 and it’s here that a lack of overdrive becomes evident. Spinning above 3000rpm in fourth at a steady cruising pace, the four-pot is loud to the point of being tiresome. The noise isn’t bad enough as to make you readjust your mechanical sympathy, but is constant and teamed with over-generous wind noise. It does make you question whether Vauxhall had a somewhat different interpretation from the established definition of ‘GT’ when conceiving this particular car.
That said, that torque does come into its own on the motorway. Strong acceleration allows for quick overtaking; you can push on from 60mph to 70mph in a very short space of time, with surprisingly little effort. Straight line stability remains impressive, too. There’s plenty of road roar, but an almost complete absence of bouncing or crashing.
Back on minor roads, you can at last consider this Vauxhall’s sporting credentials, of which it has plenty. The GT has stiffer springs and stronger dampers than the standard Viva HB, in addition to anti-roll bars front and rear, which all help to ensure that it corners flatly. Only when negotiating small, tight roundabouts will you manage to induce any sort of roll. These roads also allow you to appreciate the steering’s precision; it’s feelsome throughout and ensures the GT is really easy to place on the road. That the two-litre Victor engine places a fair amount of weight over the front wheels almost certainly helps, too.
Without doubt, though, it’s an honour to be able to enjoy this stunning Viva GT at its finest, thanks to the Vauxhall Heritage Centre’s considerable efforts.