How the Vauxhall Cavalier Beat Ford at Their Own Game

For most of the '60s and '70s, Vauxhall had been resigned to Britain's third favourite car maker. Yet with the launch of the Chevette and Cavalier in 1975, GM's Luton-based arm finally had a convincing challenger to the might of the Ford Escort and Cortina. Based on the Opel Ascona, the Cavalier sowed the seeds for the Griffin's unprecedented success in the 1980s.

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[morgandude]

The best decade of my life was the 70's. Mum & Dad alive and strong with good jobs, lovely family life (all went down the pan in the 80's)....although school was utterly horrible.
Dad had a Rover 2000, Rover 3500 V8s and finally a majestic S1 XJ6 4.2...wow!

[eggy]

I think the shape of the mk1 still looks good today

[swanvictor]

my dad had one, bought used in the late 80s when it was about ten years old: it never broke down and lasted another decade or more. It was the first car I drove solo after passing my test and What a Great car to drive on twisty B-roads! The B4295, heading west out of Swansea, was a great road to drive this car on!

[davidhyoung]

One of my all time favourite cars, considered sharp handling in it's time with great visibility and clear instruments, features many modern cars struggle to match now.

[calbackk]

Your in dept analysis delivered in super eloquent English is a joy to listen to really.

[allDIYtrains]

This is what Opel used to stand for. Competent and affordable cars that simply did everything right. They did very well in that particular game until the mid 90s, when Detroit decided to cock it all up. I remember Opels being everywhere.

[davidbirrell]

I had a 1979 2.0GL, it was a fantastic car. About 10 years after I had sold it, I remember passing it in the dark on a dual carriageway towing a large caravan, so it must have had plenty of life. I firstly saw the number plate on the caravan and wondered if the Cavalier was towing it. My dad had a 1978 1.6GL (manufactured in UK) which rusted within a couple of years from new, even though it had been treated with Waxoyl. My uncle bought the same model (manufactured in Belgium) which lasted for many years longer and was passed on to my aunt. My parents and I had been to look at a Mk2 Cavalier and on the way home we were in a road accident when dad's one was written off. No one was seriously hurt and dad bought the new Cavalier that we had viewed and test driven.

[ANDREWPARKINSON-wh]

Really apprecaite the way you present your perspective from both a presentation perspective and quality of insights.

[simonscott]

Forty years on, it still looks great.

[davidw]

My Dad had a white 1600L, then progressed to a Jamaican yellow 1600GL, then a pastel blue 2000GL. Lovely memories and an excellent presentation as always!

[stevem]

A red two door Cavalier mk1 was my first car. The gear stick was like stirring a bowl of porridge. I loved this car. Thanks for the great video

[daijones]

I’m from Australia and Holden was our GM brand. In the fifties we got all of the British marques, as did NZ. The first Holden looked like a shrunken Chev. The Vauxhall Cresta won our first 500 mile race.

[peteredwards]

Bought a 1.6 GL in 1979-- loved it , manufactured in Belgium as I recall.

[Nimrod-kp]

My Father had a Blue Mk1 Cavalier in the early 80's, followed by a succession of Mk2's, a Mk3 Cav GSI, and then both shape Vectra's. When I was 17, I bought a 2.0 GLs, in beige (?!) as my first car, and loved it.

[SimonLloydGuitar]

This takes me back. Ive had 2, yes 2 Opel Manta GTE coupes in this shape. One was met black and the other was pure 80's white with white alloys. Ive loved them, smokey exhaust, leaky boot and all.

[grayfool]

My dad had a Hilman Hunter, very dull. Oh well, he did get a MkII Cavalier, so not too bad I 'spose. I drove a couple of MkIs in the early eighties and quite liked them, as I remember. I'm definitely more of a Vauxhall fan than Ford, never liked any Cortina and I never got the Capri fascination. Give me a Manta any day. Thanks for my weekly history lesson and trip down memory lane. Godd job.

[tonykeogh]

I was very fortunate to be a motor mechanic at a Vauxhall Main Dealer when the Mk 1 Cavalier was in its heyday. We had previously been a BL dealer so it was quite a change when we changed to Vauxhall. The FWD Nova, Astra and then the Mk2 Cavalier followed on but the Mk 1 RWD Cavalier was my favourite. Any more out there remember the challenge of setting the valve clearances on the 1.6 without needing to steam clean the engine or fine tuning the carburettor by first using a manometer ? Can’t be many of us lol.

[anpaul]

I think you are right about it being the main Cortina competitor but its success was probably not due to taking many conquest sales from Ford - Ford sales continued to grow throughout the late 70's and into the 80's. Instead, the Cavalier took sales from the rest of the opposition which by then was either hopelessly outdated (Allegro, Marina, Maxi, Dolomite, Hunter, Avenger were all still on sale but decade-old designs) or appallingly built (Horizon, Alpine). And of course the German and Japanese brands were just at the start of their inexorable rise as well.

[grabham]

Great review Ed. As a kid I can still remember these around (quite a few parents had them) - and they were really comfortable and didn't seem to rust (I can easily remember guys I was at school getting T reg models as first cars in sixth form)...so they definitely helped change that reputation that Vauxhall had had.

[PhansiKhongoloza]

In South Africa these were branded as the Chev Chevair. I owned the "Flagship" model called a Berlina. It was fitted with a 2.3 motor and 3 auto box.