(First posted at CC on 2/23/2013) This article by David Saunders first ran in 2010 at the old site and was the first guest submission for a Curbside Classic. As such, it opened the doors to what has become an essential part of the current site. David, like others that followed him, had never written for publication before, and went on to be become one of our most prolific and accomplished writer/historians, covering a wide array of unusual cars that he has found in Alberta, Canada, most of which were either not imported into the U.S. or are exceedingly rare here. David’s contributions, including taking over our tech supervision, have been instrumental in expanding our scope of coverage, and for that we owe him an epic “Thank you”! And we always encourage new submissions. PN
The Canadian car market has always been dominated by U.S. makes, but that “special relationship” has also produced some curious efforts to maintain a sense of unique Canadian identity, and/or respond to the distinctive characteristics of our market. We had our Plodges (mixed styling of Dodge and Plymouth models); Beaumonts (sold at Pontiac dealerships with Chevrolet engines and Pontiac-style trim); Meteors; Mercury and Fargo trucks, etc.; as well as various European makes, including Vauxhall. In addition to selling its models under the Vauxhall brand, GM’s British subsidiary created the Canada-specific Envoy name: Vauxhalls were sold by Pontiac/Buick dealers, and Chevrolet/Oldsmobile dealers, so as not to be left out, received Envoy-badged versions like this Epic.
For a time, Vauxhall, like their American Opel cousin, was second in sales of imported sedans, just behind Volkswagen.. Sadly, Vauxhalls of the 1960s were particularly enthusiastic rusters, even by the standards of the day; that, combined with a limited parts supply after Vauxhall pulled out of Canada, means there aren’t very many in driveable condition still around. The examples that still exist are various Vauxhalls and Envoys languishing in mostly rural settings. I’ve even come across a couple in scrapyards and storage yards, but the more common finds seem to be the larger Victors.
What I’ve found here is a Envoy Epic, which is a badge-engineered version of the Vauxhall Viva HA. Actually, it’s more than that: While the normal Viva/Epic had to make do with a 44 hp, 1,057 cc four-cylinder engine, this one has the name-worthy epic “hot” high compression engine with 60 hp, as did the confusingly-named Viva 90. Less than 12,000 Viva SLs (in both Viva and Epic forms) were produced, an unspecified (but undoubtly low) number of them as the hot 90. That makes this one–having both the 90 and SL equipment and being a Canadian variant–a rare survivor indeed. [For you Yanks struggling to relate, think ’69 Pontiac GTO “The Judge” with Ram Air IV. PN]
Engineering-wise, the Viva/Epic was a highly conventional and straightforward RWD machine whose role in life was to compete against the likes of the Austin A35, Morris Minor and Ford Anglia. Some pieces where shared with the very similar Opel Kadett A, but the engine, styling and interior were unique. The front suspension used a front transverse leaf spring, just like the Opel and not totally unlike what a modern Corvette uses at the rear. The front cross-member easily unbolted with the rack and pinion steering rack and suspension as an entire unit, which made it popular with hot rodders. The rear had a solid rear axle with more leaf springs, but not transverse this time. The basic car came with drum brakes all around, while the upper trim levels featured front disc brakes.
I mentioned the 60 hp engine and disc brakes of the 90, but there were also a few other upgrades from the basic model; after all, the SL moniker stood for “Super Luxury.” Some additional exterior trim comprised part of that lofty definition, most noticeably the grille and the rear tail light cluster, which featured triple round lights that were considered quite sporty for the day. [OK, Yanks, now think Impala. ED]
Back to this particular example: I actually spotted it a couple years ago at a tow company storage yard, but now it’s been moved to a muffler shop, which gives me hope that someone is preparing it to get back on the road. While it may not be its most stellar car, the automotive world’s diversity is better for its continued existence.
Epic find.
Sorry, somebody had to say it.
Takes a lot of self confidence and guts (or merely delusions) to name something like that “Epic”.
As fellow Canuck residing in the prairie provinces, I tip my hat to you David for bringing us all up to speed on our unique ‘Canadian’ only vehicles, and your well written articles.
Good on ya, eh.
Long time since I saw one of these, my Dad had a white one briefly and Mrs Grey my history teacher had a grey one of course.Girderworm and harsh climate saw most of them off on both sides of the pond many years ago.
The Winnipeg Free Press agent in the town I grew up in used one of these to haul bundles of newspapers to various drop off points around town. It was a total POS made worse by his abuse!
A friend of mine had one of these back in the 70’s…his was pretty reliable actually even with him driving the hell out of it! I remember he drove it from Vancouver to Kelowna several times up the Hope-Princeton highway! That must have been some sort of torture test for him and the Epic!!
I understand Austin Minis & Lada 1500s were also available in Canada once. Has any other country offered car buyers such a range of choices? I should think car collectors would have a field day there.
We Americans better be nice to Canada: It seems a well-kept secret that they are our largest trading partner, & no other country exports more oil here. Look it up: http://www.eia.gov/petroleum/imports/companylevel
Minis were available here until sometime in the ’70s, and Ladas were sold until the early ’80s at least. Survival rates are very low for both. The Mini wasn’t well suited to harsh winter conditions and long distance driving, but they were popular in some urban areas. Lada sold thier Fiat clone and a small 4×4 utility vehicle, but poor quality and spotty dealer service doomed both.
Quite a few attempts were made to sell various small vehicles designed for European conditions here in the 25 years or so after the war. Only VW really fared well though. You still see some interesting examples of these cars in places like Victoria, BC (mild climate, lots of ex-pat brits at the time these cars were new), but most of them are long gone.
The Mini was available until 1978 but there weren’t many of them sold at all. They were rare even then. Around 1984 I was looking for one but all the ones available were rough as the BL construction wasn’t the greatest.
The Lada sedan sold quite well on Vancouver Island in the early 1980’s, especially in the anti-capitalist hippie-granola set. While they many have helped sustain world socialism a bit longer, their cars rusted to pieces even in a place where it rarely snows. Most ended up behind hippie-shacks. I recall loads of such cars abandoned all over the Nanaimo area.
We had garage in Victoria for many years and we saw lots of cool old stuff that had been lovingly cared for. The Epic is really easy to work on but parts were not easy or cheap.
There was at one time a neighborhood garage somewhere out on the north end of Quadra Street in Victoria that specialized in “esoteric” foreign cars. Was that you? I left the Island almost a decade ago now, but I remember that place and the Volvo Valhalla up-Island quite well.
I once owned a rental house in Nanaimo, along with our residence a little further north. No one ever left a Lada behind, but I know exactly the type of place you mean. They don’t call it Fantasy Island for nothing!
I did the the first year of my undergrad work at Malaspina College in Nanaimo, circa 1983. Getting there meant a drive through Harewood, which was not the best neighbourhood around. There were plenty of dead Ladas scattered in various places!
I don’t recall the place on Quadra but the Volvo place is Chapman Motors in Cobble Hill and after all these years, it’s still there; a real trove of Volvodom!
http://www.chapmanmotors.ca/
Thanks for the info. Pity about the Ladas, since in theory one might think a car designed for Russians would work as well for many Canadians, given their similar latitude & distances.
I had a feeling rust would get mentioned. I hear a lot on these threads about how badly certain cars rusted, but I’d like to know if any steel cars had *decent* corrosion resistance. I’m from the Sun Belt & thus ignorant of such things. Here, soft parts wear out instead.
BTW, I have a theory about why rural residents tend to accumulate junk cars: Scrap yards too far away, so haulage too expensive.
Ladas had cold-rolled steel that rusted even faster than the other cheap steel that was around in those days.
Where does a person find parts for them
Ladas were sold until 1998 – just the Niva at the end. We also got Skodas and Dacias. ARO trucks too. I saw a Moskvitch for sale a number of years ago but not sure if it was officially sold here. We got a lot more British stuff of course.
I see more than a bit of 62 Chevy II in this car, particularly in the front.
Before today, if someone had offered to bet me $5 that there was a brand of car called an Epic sold in North America in the 1960s, I would have lost 5 bucks. I love reading about these little dead ends on the automotive road map.
And kudos to David on his invaluable contribution to CC!
Not quite a dead end these little suckers were built until the Vauxhall Chevette arrived mid 70s and the Vauxhall Chevettes used the Viva powertrain, though the hotrod models used the OHC engine and trans from the CF Bedford van
Well, the first bodystyle as pictured only lasted for 3-4 years. There were two more Viva stylings after that, both picking up GM trends from a couple of years previous to introduction; the second version was a very small Coke Bottle – http://www.classicandperformancecar.com/front_website/octane_interact/modelpicture.php?id=3571
and the final version more squared-off: http://www.classicandperformancecar.com/front_website/octane_interact/modelpicture.php?id=3569
Then the Chevette flipped things forward, and can I think justifiably be regarded as the first Vauxhall of the modern, pan-European era:
Well Epic was the model name. The make was Envoy.
Doh! Still, I would say the same thing with Envoy. You just missed the chance to win another $5 bet. 🙂
Born in 1959 in Canada I grew up surrounded by these little GM cars. The “Epic” and “Envoy” monikers conditioned my understanding of what these terms meant in other contexts. Etymologically I understand the definitions of each term yet, because of contextual usage as names for these particular automobiles, Epic for me means “feeble” and Envoy means something like “wimpish.” Thanks GM for impacting the English language so well! You have influenced me in incredible ways.
Aha a HA Viva, I had one many years ago a standard model but fitted with a 1256cc 1975 HC Viva engine & box a homemade SL90 it went like a blur very light cars early Vivas having a crash in one isnt something you want to happen especially at the 95mph indicated mine could get to on a flat road, The upside being if you drove it sensibly 46mpg was possible.
Just a small Question in the 70s NZ got its Vivas from UK as usual except for a shipment of Canadian spec sedans which according to my Dad drove better than the normal versions so there must have been exports planned by GM even if the cars never turned up and the CKD packs were sent to NZ.
The HC Viva was sold in Canada as the “Firenza” in 1971-72 – it was very abruptly dropped due to serious reliability and rust problems and corresponding customer complaints. This led to Canada’s first-ever class action suit launched by Firenza owners against GM.
http://www.vivaoutlaws.co.uk/gallery/other/can.html
A “hot-rod” Epic! Somehow reassuring to know that guys are guys, the world over.
There was a factory hot rod in South Africa called the Chevrolet Canam.A Chevy V8 was nailed into the Firenza,it was a homologation special for racing built in small numbers.Like the Sierra XR8 most had a short and brutal life and survivors are thin on the ground and go for big bucks(or is it Rands?)
I like this car a lot. It’s such an unpretentious little econobox, except perhaps for the Impala tail lights. This car is 99.44 % brougham free.
In South Africa it was called the Vauxhall Viva and I remember the more powerful “90” model. Not regarded as very advanced.
The Vivas were raced here in Australia – achieving class wins in production car races.
Here’s one. Credits below.
Spencer Martin & Bill Brown, Vauxhall Viva – Armstrong 500 Bathurst 1964 – Photographer Bruce Wells
In the mid 70’s I drove one of these from Glasgow to London and back – twice !!
It seemed like a good idea at the time…
Epic? as a classic movie lover, “low budget” seems like a better name for it.
I have an unmolested, original condition 1960 Envoy Special with 17000 original miles. I learned to drive on an identical car and found this one a couple of years ago. Back to my youth…. !
In Britain where the Envoy Epic was known as the Vauxhall Viva, we even had a panel van version, the basic design which were manufactured for almost 20 years ! (approx.1964/early 1980,s)Some of these were converted into “micro” camper vans known as the Bedford Beagle, complete with a pop up roof, stove & sink. (Others had just side windows and rear seats.) But the basic panel van version was to be seen on British roads in large numbers.
The HA van was kept alive by utility companies untill 83.”..
My uncle was surprised when he woke up to find an empty parking space where his yellow 60 Victor should have been. . Cops said the taker properly didnt have the cab fare home.
The grille reminds me of a 1963 Chevrolet pickup truck.
Hello there,
I have a 1966 epic envoy. I’m having a hard time finding an oil filter. Do you have any helpful information? Thank you.
If you don’t mind sourcing bits from the UK or Australia/New Zealand, there is a Ryco item R2196P that does the job.
My mom drove a red epic like this in Halifax N.S. during the mid-late 60’s right around the time she met my father.. She later drove a deep purple beetle…. thank you for the article!
And here was me thinking the Envoy name replaced Vauxhall, because Vauxhall had got such a bad reputation. I was wrong. So it was like a separate dealer chain. Thanks for putting me straight.
I think the 90 might have referred to 90mph performance. Not that I’d want to do 90 in one of these. The bigger Victor had a high-performance model called VX4/90, so Vauxhall seemed have a history of using 90 to denote the performance model.
Here in Australia the Viva was a bargain-basement car, the sort of thing you’d buy if you didn’t like the Anglia’s back window styling, the Mini’s complexity or the Imps’ rear engine. While Vivas were fairly common, I don’t remember any SL or 90 models here; I’ve certainly never seen any. And then it became the Holden Torana, and we know where that led!
Oh, and they even rusted in hot, dry, Australia, so life in a Canadian winter must have been sheer hell for the poor things. Even as a kid I knew Vauxhall had a bad name for rust, but then so did Holden. Don next door had a PA Velox, and replaced it after four years with a Falcon in ’62; kept that through till ’71.
That little car looks to be shuddering in minus 15C temperatures, or whatever it was that day. It is thinking, “Please take me back to the milder temps in Somerset or the Cotswolds, I promise to be good!”
Late to the party, and my memory is weak as ever, but I seem to recall that since Canada was part of the Commonwealth, there was far less (or no) import duty on a British-built car versus, say, an Opel.
I think that was the same reason that “American” cars exported to NZ and AU were usually Canadian-built as well.
Oh, the memories!
In 1965, we took the train halfway across Canada to visit my aunt and family in Montreal. They had a cottage in the Laurentians, and their car could not fit the two families, so Dad rented a car over the phone, sight unseen. They likely told him what it was, but he was not a car guy, so imagine his dismay when he saw the 1st-gen (HA) Vauxhall or Epic. (Epic, I think – not sure why, but I’ve always remembered it as an Epic.)
Anyway, Dad’s angst jumped up to another level when he opened the door and said “(Bad swear), it’s standard shift!” Young me had no idea what “standard shift” meant, but appreciated the clean styling very much. (I thought Dad’s ’61 Tempest, bought used the year before, was starting to look dated.) If I recall correctly, the Epic got us to and from the cottage fine.
As said in the article, the Envoy Epic was an English import, sold by Chev/Olds/Cadillac dealers, while the Viva was sold by Pontiac/Buick/GMC dealers.
Fast forward nine years, to 1974. I was now a teen with a newly-minted driver’s licence, and had grown tired of the rusty ’63 Biscayne wagon that Dad had been unable to trade in two years before. My parents were very strong Anglophiles, and I think they thought that a nimble little English car would be a good choice for me. Plus, to the south the US was feeling the shock of the OPEC embargo, and gas mileage angst hit us here in Canada too.
Dad and I went looking at cars, in the dark, and I committed to buy a ’68 Vauxhall Viva. I liked the styling, and, having been told in school that Canada would be going metric in the near future, was impressed by the dual speedometer, which had MPH and KPH markings. (Clearly I was optimistic about how long the car would last.)
Of course shortly I bought the car, a well-meaning car-savvy coworker told me that Epics were nicknamed “Epidemics”, rightly so, and that Vivas were sister cars (and no better). Anyway, the car was a disaster. I paid $500, dumped hundreds more into it, drove it some 900 miles over two months, and sold it for $25. At that point it needed a transmission, ball joints, and likely a new rear end, and I’d had an expensive valve job done on the engine. I could (should) write a COAL about my early car disasters.
We moved to a smaller city in another province, and one of the fellows in my nerdy group of high-school friends was a French-Canadian, with a fairly strong accent. He pronounced “Epic” as “Hay Pig”, and it seemed to fit.
The next (and final, for Canada) Vauxhall was the Firenza. These were quite nicely styled, but had an incredibly bad reputation. Anecdotal data indicate that they made the HA and HB Epics and Vivas look like paragons of reliability. Phil Edmonston (sort of a kinder and gentler Canadian Ralph Nader) used to publish a book called Lemon-Aid. His memorable quote about the Firenza was that it was GM’s first non-polluting car – it so seldom ran that it essentially didn’t pollute. He also claimed that they started running spontaneously on dealer lots, due to shorts in the wiring, but often failed to start when they were supposed to. GM finally offered a lifetime warranty to the original buyer. I have not seen one in many years.
Years later, I learned that back in the day my wife’s kindly parents had bought a used Epic from a needy soul, and had enjoyed the same mechanical reliability I had.
I was quite surprised when GM resurrected the Firenza name to use on an Olds some years ago. To me that would be like reusing the name Titanic on a new ocean liner.
“I was quite surprised when GM resurrected the Firenza name to use on an Olds some years ago. To me that would be like reusing the name Titanic on a new ocean liner.”
I recall a contemporary story that GM Canada requested that the Starfire name be used for the J-body Olds in Canada, but that it was rejected by Detroit.
Yes, the entire Canadian Pontiac thing is a wonderful but very confusing rabbit hole.
I still like the Strato Chief name the best.
Mr Saunders, as you’re Canadian, a free knighthood to you. On the house (on the Windor’s house, ofcourse).
You have the honor of starting a cascading tumble of completely wonderful nonsense – nonsense in the sense of it all being nostalgic and irrelevant facts for car nuts – that have made CC, CC. Maybe a Lordship should be considered (and then, as a good republican, entirely disdained, but I presume, and anyway, digress).
Hard to believe that this unspeakable unflushable survived into 2010, as the little nasties dissolved even in Australia, where there’s not much rain and salt only on food. I know them only from experience of the next-gen Viva, when they were still horrid, though prettier.
Arise, Sir David.
Haha. Thank you. To continue the crazy I actually owned one a few years later. https://www.curbsideclassic.com/cars-of-a-lifetime/cars-of-a-lifetime-1965-envoy-epic-deluxe/
Amazingly the “firewall” on these is some kind of particle board cardboard!
Canadians cannot take British titles.
I am good with that.
There’s an extraordinarily detailed and, to me, interesting 2-part history of these and other Vauxhall models at the vauxpedia website.
http://vauxpedianet.uk2sitebuilder.com/vauxhall-ha—viva-part-1
http://vauxpedianet.uk2sitebuilder.com/vauxhall-ha—viva-part-2
The FB Victor and Envoy are covered, too.
I owned a 1969 Vauxhall Viva station wagon (estate) for a couple of years. It was the HB series which followed the HA series of the subject car and was a much sleeker design. I particularly liked the wagon with the single side window although it did mean there was not much fresh air in the back seat. Now the window treatment seems a bit like the Volvo 1800ES from a few years later. It also had the new optional 1600cc slant 4 which seemed very up to date, with a belt driven OHC and 83 hp. It was a good design let down by abysmal build quality.
I bought it from my mother, who really wanted to get rid of it. She had bought it new about 3 years earlier and had had nothing but trouble with it. First there were at least 3 instances where it would not start, and it ended up having to be towed. There was never a solid explanation of what the problem was, so she never trusted the car. Once when I was home I looked at it and noticed that 2 exhaust manifold nuts were missing and appeared to never have been installed. Not the cause of a no-start, but makes you wonder.
The next problem was that the tires were larger with the optional engine, but when she went to get snow tires, none were available in the right size. The first set she got were OK until you got to highway speed, where they started to rub.
One other problem I remember was the alternator failing when it was less than 3 years old. This was at this point when she bought a 72 Plymouth Duster that turned out to be absolutely reliable and trouble free. I was still at university and my first car, an Austin 1800, had dissolved in rust and I was in need of transportation so my mother sold me the Viva.
It actually was not a bad car for me. It did not strand me in the 2 and a half years I owned it. There were a couple of minor hiccups, like the shift getting stuck in the 3-4 gate. I discovered that the linkage was above the transmission, but in the open, exposed to snow and salt in the winter. It would get stiff and then stick in the 3-4 gate. I figured out that if you got an oil can and stuck the nozzle down the shift boot you could lubricate the linkage and get it working again.
Once when driving on a country road my headlights went out and then came back on. There was no obvious problem, so I added a driving light which was on a completely separate circuit as back-up, but I never needed it.
The muffler went on it, and I could not get a stock replacement, so I ended up with a loud Thrush muffler, as it was all that would fit. The pollution control on the car included an air pump, and in combination with the new muffler, there were some impressive back-fires on overrun. If you were in the country at night you could actually see the flash. The interior trim kept falling off, and the panel on the tailgate was particularly annoying. The good news was that it did not actually rust much, but it was only 5 years old when I got rid of it.
I thought those 2-door HB wagons looked really sharp. The mutant window from the door back to the C-pillar grabbed me.
Haven’t seen one in many years, even during our year in New Zealand in 2003/04.
A little late on this, and a comment more specific to the Editor’s at the beginning. Dave Saunders is the reason I found CC. He posts on a Canadian automotive forum and suggested people check out CC for some great info. Thanks to Mr. Saunders for his excellent articles, his entertaining exploits on the Great Beater Challenge, and his technical support to help keep CC running as well as it does.