(first posted 1/4/2012) Quick; what’s the first thing that comes to mind? An early sixties Tempest or Buick Special? Chevy II? Once again we’ve fallen down that GM global design rabbit hole that ends either with Opel, Holden or Vauxhall. And the UK it is , this time around, with the this Velox that Bryce shot for the CC Cohort. Let’s see which angle looks most or least like an American GM-mobile.
The front of the Vauxhall must have slipped by Bill Mitchell. Hmm. Behind that well-louvered grille sits a six, either in 2.6 or 3.2 L form. The 3.2 put out some 115 hp, which made this one of the faster ‘saloons’ of its time. Where’s the ‘SS’ badging?
It’s looking a cross between a Chevy II and ’63 Rambler American from this side. The PB series of Cresta and Velox were definitely toned down from the flamboyant PA Series we took a look at a while back. We called that a British Olds. So how does Chevelle sound? Or maybe we should just stop trying to equate these cars with American counterparts. That sounds even better.
Wow, I thought I am reasonably knowledgeable about cars, but I’ve never heard of this thing! Good stuff! I agree there are hints of early 60s Buicks in the rear end. The Holden version is the HD/HR, right?
EJ/EH Holdens were 62/63 release years and the styling is similar the HD was US styled and did not sell well new it was an early ruster and after the runaway success of the EH a bit of a lemon. The HR was an improvement but not a patch on these big Vauxhalls.My dad had both new and Ive owned well used examples of each the 3.3 PB of 65 was the shit
The Holdens are a completely separate car, they are a size larger
The PB Velox is wider, longer and heavier than the HD Holden. The engines are even larger. The HD styling is based on the Opel Kapitan A, but applied to the smaller EH platform whose wheelbase is 6 inches shorter than the Opel.
The Holden six did get that big, but not till the ’71 202/3300. The earlier 179 and 186 were IMHO better engines though. The 202 always sounds strained and breathless.
Those Vauxhalls weren’t particularly common in Australia. This one is improved by the silver paint on the headlight panel at the sides of the grille; I only ever saw that in body colour.
Here’s an EJ Holden, out at the same time as this Vauxhall, but still using the old 1948-vintage engine.
The PB Velox/Cresta was little more than a stretched version of the 4 cylinder FB Victor – I’m sure it kept the same doors. The styling of the Victor was better resolved, so I presume the Cresta was an afterthought. The later PC series Velox looked much more like an authentic American car.
Correct, I read a Vauxhall history book last year, and it said the doors were the same.
Awesome to see another Kiwi car – thanks Bryce/Paul! Such a coincidence that you’ve posted on the PB Velox, as I was driving past the world-famous-in-New-Zealand “Smash Palace” wrecking yard ( http://www.horopitomotors.co.nz ), and took my time to stop and peer through the fence – and a PB Velox was closest to the road. Intact too, but far from the gorgeous conditon of the one you’ve photographed above Bryce.
MrWhopee, the HD/HR Holden came out in 1965, 3yrs after the PB Velox, so isn’t a version of it. The EJ/EH Holden was concurrent to the PB, but stylistically they aren’t similar. But, the PB Vauxhall Velox’s successor was the PC Vauxhall Cresta (the lower-spec Velox badge was dropped, the car was now known only by the previously-higher-spec Cresta badge); and the PC Cresta and HD/HR Holdens are very similar in design – mechanically and stylistically. Hope that wasn’t too boring an explanation lol! Here’s some Holden trivia: Australia’s Wheels car magazine joked that the HD Holden stood for “Holden’s Disaster”, and the HR was “Holden’s Remedy”…!
For a small donation you can walk thru Horopito itts one of the most scenic spots around LOL. Im going there soon on a parts quest they have a huge amount of Hillman Minxes/Humber 80s including speed equipment.
Sadly it was the January 2nd stat day this week when I was there so they weren’t open. But I did spot the rows of Minxes/80s! (just along from the dozen or so Wolseley 6/110s and the Humber Super Snipes). It’s the third time I’ve travelled past on a weekend/stat holiday when they’re closed, so I’m going to have to make a pilgrimmage there during a normal week – with a camera!
The other versions I have heard are “Highly Dangerous” (referring to the sharp protruding front fenders) and “Hastily Revised” – the HD did have a shorter model run than most…
+1 for Highly Dangerous. Holden created a wider body for the HD and plonked it on the narrow track of the previous model. Body roll was excessive. They repeated the excercise with the VN Commodore, placing their new wider body on the VL platform. Holden was close to bankrupt at the time.
Australians normally refer to the HD as “horribly designed” and the HR as “hastily rectified”. IMO they are some of the many Australian cars with handling competence not much better than a horse drawn wagon.
The rear view of this Vauxhall reminds me of a 62 U. S. Chevrolet, other than the taillights, of course. The front is, to me, a little reminiscent of the final Canadian Studebaker. All in all, an interesting design that seems made up of many details that do not quite coalesce into a unified whole. But a cool car, nonetheless.
That’s what I was reminded of too. Looks like a mid-cycle refresh, tacked on, to disguise the convex tail light panel.
This was a new body for this model the refresh got a full width grille twin exhausts reversing lamps and the tailamps were flipped with indicators on the innermost.
To me it is renimiscent of the 1961-62 Pontiac Tempest, but with a less-prominent upper “brow.”
Never saw or heard of these, but being from the St. Louis area, besides British sports cars and Mercedes, along with a few Cortinas and Citroens and of course, VWs, I never noticed any if any were around.
In our working-class community, Ford, Chevy and Chryslers ruled the roost, but I wish I could have gotten to know more of these European and British cars for their uniqueness!
Part of the problem was that 50’s Vauxhall’s had incredible rust problems (making the later Vega seem incredibly well-built), so by 1962 Vauxhall was gone from the US (in consciousness, if not in fact). So Americans have a much better chance of remembering English Fords, Rootes or British Leyland (especially the latter, such are the benefits of infamy) – at least they survived, in some small measure, into the early 70’s.
From what I understand, GM imported Vauxhalls to the U.S. from roughly the 1958 to 1962 model years, selling them through Pontiac dealers. (Around the same time they began importing Vauxhalls, GM also began importing Opels and selling them through Buick dealers.) The smaller Victor was apparently the primary Vauxhall model in the U.S. I’ve seen some evidence that the senior Vauxhalls like the Velox were also available, at least initially, but they could not have sold well, and assuming they were ever available they may have been dropped at some point. The Victor was probably more in line with what Americans thought of as a “compact” in that era.
By 1962, the U.S. economy was improving and the mania for small European imports had passed, with the notable exception of VW. In addition, GM’s B-O-P divisions now had their own domestic “senior compacts” to sell (Tempest/F-85/Special) which were small enough for most American consumers in the current economy. While I don’t have any sales figures, I also suspect that the Vauxhall had never really been that successful in the U.S., even when the import market was at its peak. In light of all that, GM axed the make from its U.S. lineup. Note that Opel managed to survive in the U.S.; I presume it had sold better and/or was seen as more suitable for the American market.
In Canada, meanwhile, Vauxhall seems to have done much better. Pontiac dealers continued to sell Vauxhall products there until the early ’70s, finally dropping them when the domestic Pontiac Astre was introduced (a few years before it apepared in the U.S.). When Vauxhall introduced the smaller Viva, it was also sold in Canada. There were even badge-engineered versions of the Victor and Viva sold by Chevrolet dealers under the Envoy name, which lasted until the introduction of the Vega.
Aside from the general principle that the Canadian market is a bit more slanted towards smaller/downmarket cars, was there any reason why Vauxhall did so much better there than in the U.S.? Given that Pontiac and Buick shared a dealer network in Canada, were Opels also sold there, or did Vauxhall have the GM import market all to itself?
The best that I can tell from my Catalog of Import Cars and memory, is that only the smaller four-cylinder Victor was imported by Pontiac dealers. One could occasionally see them, most likely in SoCal, where during the seventies one could see everything imported during the late fifties boom years, running or not.
In the 1960s Britian still had a free trade agreement with the old ‘dominions’ (such as Canada, Australia, NZ, South Africa etc) so British cars sold to Canada had much lower import taxes than, say, German cars sold to Canada, for example.
On the other way round, virtually every ‘American’ car officially sold in the UK was actually assembled in Canada, for the same reason.
The free trade agreement with Britain and lower taxes is why so many old British cars (meaning fifties and sixties) can still be found in Canada.
The smaller Vauxhall Viva was certainly popular for a time until Japanese cars got better. I learned to drive in a basic Viva. Not an exciting car behind the wheel or in terms of styling, but cheap on gas.
Some folks at my church had a ’58 or ’59 light green Victor. I remember thinking it needed to be stretched out a bit for the American Styling Cues to work. As with contemporary Opels (and later ones) the bodies seemed to sit high over the wheels. But as an 8-year old, it also had the appeal of something “I’m almost big enough to drive!”.
That family was always into smaller Euro cars. I think they replaced the Vauxhall with a Saab 95.
Can’t think of seeing any Vauxhall car growing up in the S.F. Bay Area save for those in my Matchbox car collection. This Velox has styling cues (roofline) of early sixties American GM “A” and “B” body sedans.
I remember the yellow Matchbox Vauxhall station wagon from the 1960s. The rear tailgate opened.
You are right! I thought I remembered one of these, but was not sure.
I love these cars and I ignored some more storied vehicles to get soaked shooting this one Thanks Paul This car is a drect follow on from the PASX of 62 and share floorpan suspension etc but the PB has a longer diff ratio and these sucker haul ass the later 3.3 version will happily see off V8s of the era and in Australia where GM was building the Holden as a direct rival they stopped Vauxhall 6s at this model and just kept building it. The later V8 Monaro was no match for a well tuned 3.3 Vauxhall but could hold it till 80mph or so the Vauxhalls were designed with unlimited motorways in mind and were capable of 100mph cruising speed My dad had one of the 64 Veloxes new tan with red and white upholstery he traded it on a new 66 HR Holden wagon which was quite a let down for him but he wanted a wagon with 6 and Vauxhall wagons were only available as special order in Victor bodies and very expensive. Not many PBs left now leadfooted boy racers and rust has removed them but they were a well loved KIWI icon.
There are still a few Vauxhalls of this era left in the UK, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the survival rate was better in New Zealand!
Despite the later model’s better rust resistance, the really ‘out-there’ styling of the first Victors and Crestas encouraged more preservations and restorations.
But over here, the equivalent Fords and ‘British’ (BMC, Triumph, Rover etc) cars have survived in much higher numbers. They were much more popular back in the day and in some cases better built. Late 1950s UK Fords, for example, were over engineered and were more durable than most from that era.
Anthony: I tried to reply to your e-mail, but it kept getting kicked back. Spam filter? Anyway, I would love to find a Cricket, the closest we’ve gotten was an Avenger sent in by Bryce, who also found this Vauxhall. It’s in this post: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/from-the-cc-cohort-not-forgotten/
Anyway, welcome to CC!
The UK Ford Zephyr was well made its another KIWI icon car though rare to see now most are restored and not in daily use here. There were several daily driven MK2 Zephyrs including 2 wagons in the Huon valley in Tasmania as late as 2003 when I left They were such a better car than the Falcon.
Bryce- someone I knew in the Huon Valley in Tasmania drove a blue MK2 and his brother owned a collection of them,utes,sedans and even a very nice Zodiac.Great handling and suspension and remained almost level when cornering yet was able to soak up bumps in the road easily.I drove the MK2 ute a few times and was impressed with its abilities,loaded and unloaded.I couldn’t decide if I liked the Zephyr more than my Peugeot 404 utes,they were equally fine motor vehicles.
I also remembered I regularly see a really nice restored one of these in morning commuter traffic, it does have a slightly different grille and tail lights. It’s good to see the older cars still on the roads, it is very rare these days.
I have a couple of those Matchbox Victor wagons, one was originally my dad’s. The Victor/Velox remind me of the AMC Matador and Ambassador, with the fancier model having all the extra wheelbase forward of the windshield, resulting in a longer nose.
Cool find Bryce!
I have one for sale in w.a. !All original had one owner before me and she was a lady that live to 102! The car its self has only done 65,000 miles great car if any one is interested you can contacted me at dkplaird@gmail.com
In the mid to late 60’s I worked in Wellington, NZ for Ford’s finance company & our reps had Mk3 Zephyr 6’s (NZ assembled with local interior trim) while the boss had a Mk3 Zodiac. These were later changed for Mk4 Zephyrs & Mk2 Cortinas while the boss got an XR Fairmont. At the time the local Traffic cops had PB Crestas (Black with white roofs & large red Lights on top) as well as XR Falcons in the same livery. The Police had dull grey EH & HD Holdens while the local ambulances were (Aussie built) Chrysler Royals, Dodge Kingsways & International Harvesters..
haha, randomly i was searching for pb velox pics, and thought when i saw this, that it looked liked my car,
turns out it is, parked outside my mothers place in taupo, at the napia taupo hi way, over the xmas new years period 😀
great stuff 🙂
This car marked Vauxhall’s return to sanity after the excesses of the PA Cresta. Unfortunately the brand was already compromised by the over-slavish adherence to Detroit styling diktats of the 1950s, and GM’s approach to quality and rust issues in the 1950s. The PB was a bit dated in terms of driving experience – although the body shell was new, the guts of the car were essentially the PA. Oddly, I feel that when the 3.3 engine was fitted, the exterior of the car might have been made a bit more aggressive than it was, but on second thoughts, just think what they could have done … perhaps not.
Great to see such a nice, preserved 2.6-litre PB. THree on the tree manual or three on the tree Hydramatic auto. Probably NZ assembled at the old Petone GM plant. ’63s had bulb headlights; ’64s sealed beams and that one is a ’63 because of the little triangle metal insert in the front quarter lights at the bottom that was dropped for ’64. Dunno why. The ’65s, as someone notes, had the 3.3, twin rear pipes, new tail lights, new single-tone rather than two tone interior trim, 120mph speedo instead of 110, and full-width grille. The auto option was Hydramatic to start and then two-speed Powerglide as a running change. Four-speed floor shifty with bucket seats, the three-speeder with overdrive or Cresta trim was UK import only; mostly for rich bastard farmers with overseas funds for a fast ‘no remittance’ order. My dad had a ’64 new; the blue paint faded and it needed a repaint before its 3rd birthday. The 161 (2.3-litre) HR that replaced it was junk – painted interior trim, no rear armrests, no first gear synchro – I always wished he bought a PC instead. Thanks for the memories, gents.
Cresta fan here,very nice cars all of them.
Sweet looking car. I got to visit England several years ago, and I’ve heard of the Vauxhall Cresta and Velox, but I’ve never seen one in person.
Until the late 70s Vauxhalls were very rust prone,more than other English cars and the damp climate saw a lot of them off.Against the reputation I bought a 14 year old 70 PC Cresta which was spotless and I had it for 2 years before my ex bought it and he got another 4 years before a Dodge Dart took his fancy
That doesn’t make sense. If they know about the climate of the country, and the possible effects the weather has on a car’s finish, don’t you think they would make the body less prone to rust? By applying some form of rustproofing?
What a f-in ugly car. Or as we say fugly. It is a grocery car. Good for a sleeper to go street racing with.. Couldn’t pick up girls with it though
I think it looks quite attractive except for the grille.
It is an ugly box on wheels. I should say that there are a lot of ugly boxes on wheels including Darts, Falcons, Malibus, BMW’s (most of them) Mercedes (most of them) Fiats, and all of the Russian stuff. Now don’t get me wrong, the box is a fine shape for a family sedan, limo, or taxi.
I reckon some people would find it un-attractive. Still, I find it very attractive.
To each his own. I still like originality in street cars. These boxes are good sleepers.
Great body on this. It has a long bonnet with those forward-placed wheels and a nice rear. Like you said, Paul; shame about the face.
I’m looking at one in Aus to me it’s more like the Ausie Velaint ap5 or ap6 not a Chev or Holden thanx now I know what I’m looking at cool.