advertisement


Holden out no longer...

Barrymagrec said:
It`s a bit of a mixed blessing having a British built vehicle - if Morris Marinas had been built in Germany would they have been rugged and reliable?
Click to expand...

The design budget would have likely been more than a shoestring and there wouldn't have been the labour relations issues that plagued BL in the 1970s. So probably, yes
 
I wonder why they would badge a car "Vauxhall". It is not as if the marque ever had any positive "cachet". (Or maybe in the UK it did/does?) My father had a 1955 "Velox", which wasn't in the least "velox."
 
PaulMB said:
I wonder why they would badge a car "Vauxhall". It is not as if the marque ever had any positive "cachet". (Or maybe in the UK it did/does?) My father had a 1955 "Velox", which wasn't in the least "velox."
Click to expand...
It was actually a luxury brand until it was acquired by GM in the 1920s, and GM pushed it downmarket.

The name has an interesting origin, to quote Wikipedia:

The griffin emblem, which is still in use, is derived from the coat of arms of Falkes de Breauté, a mercenary soldier who was granted the Manor of Luton for services to King John in the thirteenth century. By marriage, he also gained the rights to an area near London, south of the Thames. The house he built, Fulk's Hall, became known in time as Vauxhall. Vauxhall Iron Works adopted this emblem from the coat of arms to emphasise its links to the local area. When Vauxhall Iron Works moved to Luton in 1905, the griffin emblem coincidentally returned to its ancestral home.
 
Fascinating story! Almost like a Monty Python plot. I had no idea it was a luxury brand, or that it was bought by GM as early as the 1920s. When my dad had one I wished he would buy a Wolsley or a Rover instead. But it was big, and might even have had leather seats.
 
PaulMB said:
Fascinating story! Almost like a Monty Python plot. I had no idea it was a luxury brand, or that it was bought by GM as early as the 1920s. When my dad had one I wished he would buy a Wolsley or a Rover instead. But it was big, and might even have had leather seats.
Click to expand...

This is the kind of stuff they used to make, the 20/60:

image


457_1312581496_resized_MO11_r185_01.jpg
 
PaulMB said:
I wonder why they would badge a car "Vauxhall". It is not as if the marque ever had any positive "cachet". (Or maybe in the UK it did/does?) My father had a 1955 "Velox", which wasn't in the least "velox."
Click to expand...

Remember ours well, black with brown rust spots and red leather interior, 834 BNO.

Only had three gears but 3rd was far too highly geared for Essex hills!

I guess it was about a 1954 car; died 1964 iirc.
 
PaulMB said:
Fascinating story! Almost like a Monty Python plot. I had no idea it was a luxury brand, or that it was bought by GM as early as the 1920s. When my dad had one I wished he would buy a Wolsley or a Rover instead. But it was big, and might even have had leather seats.
Click to expand...

They were so good that they had a bridge, gardens and a whole area of London named after them.
 
Growing up in Australia, Holden did have an iconic status. I think this was mainly due to excellent marketing more than anything else. Few in Australia realised that these cars were only mildly tweaked designs from the US or Europe. Of course everyone likes to believe that their own countries conditions are more extreme than any other country, and fall for the marketing fluff that a locally built car is the best solution, despite the awful quality. The heavily potholed condition of the underfunded UK suburban roads is likely to be just as demanding to a cars suspension system as the Oodnadatta track.
 
andrewd said:
Growing up in Australia, Holden did have an iconic status. I think this was mainly due to excellent marketing more than anything else. Few in Australia realised that these cars were only mildly tweaked designs from the US or Europe. Of course everyone likes to believe that their own countries conditions are more extreme than any other country, and fall for the marketing fluff that a locally built car is the best solution, despite the awful quality. The heavily potholed condition of the underfunded UK suburban roads is likely to be just as demanding to a cars suspension system as the Oodnadatta track.
Click to expand...
Not so sure about that, Andrew. While some models were brought in (e.g. the first Torana was the Vauxhall Viva), there was no equivalent of e.g. the Holden Kingswood anywhere else. They were basic, indeed crude, designs, with their cart leaf spring rear ends and their large agricultural six-cylinder engines, but easy to repair in Outback towns. Because of the poor design, inherently terrible rust buckets, but they got away with that in a climate that, apart from the seaside, was relatively kind to ferrous metals.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top