1965 VAUXHALL VX 4/90

1965 VAUXHALL VX 4/90.
The Vauxhall Victor is a large family car which was produced by Vauxhall from 1957 to 1976. The Victor was introduced to replace the outgoing Wyvern model. It was renamed to Vauxhall VX Series in 1976 and continued in production until 1978, by which time it had grown significantly and was viewed, at least in its home market, as a larger-than-average family car.

The VX Series was replaced by the Carlton (which was itself based on the German Opel Rekord Series E). The last Victor, the Victor FE, was also manufactured under licence by Hindustan Motors in India as the Hindustan Contessa, during the 1980s and early '90s, with an Isuzu engine.

The Victor briefly became Britain's most exported car, with sales in markets as far flung as the United States (sold by Pontiac dealers, as Vauxhall had been part of GM since 1925), Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Asian right-hand drive markets such as Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore.

FC Series Victor and VX4/90
The FC (1963–67) was the first Vauxhall to use curved side-window glass, allowing greater internal width: the Estate derivative was noted as being especially capacious for its class.

Nevertheless, the public at the time regarded it as a qualitative downgrade after the pleasantly styled, conservative FB. As a countermeasure the FC Victor was marketed as the Victor 101, the name arising from the claim that there were '101 improvements' over the FB. Bench or separate front seating was offered, with three-speed column-change gearbox or the optional four-speed floor change. A 'Powerglide' two-speed automatic transmission was also available. Another US feature was that the optional radio was incorporated into the bright-metal dashboard trim. An innovative styling cue, which was adopted four years later by the Audi 100, was the incorporation of the side and indicator lamps in the front bumper, as had been common practice in the US for many years. The sculpted bumpers were, for the first time in the UK, contiguous with the body styling. The overall look of the car was unique in GM, with its slab sides outlined with brightwork seam covers incorporating the door handles. This, with the full width grille incorporating the headlights, was more reminiscent of the Lincoln Continental.

The FC (101) was the last Victor to have an engine with push rods and rockers operating the overhead valves. Victor FC models had racked up 238,000 sales by late 1967 when the 'Coke bottle'-shaped FD replaced it.

As with the rest of the running gear, the sporting VX 4/90 was developed from the FB series and offered an alloy head, higher compression ratio, twin-Zenith 34IV carburetors, stiffer suspension and additional instruments. Vauxhall took the VX4/90 seriously enough to offer an optional limited-slip differential, but few cars were ordered with it: the VX4/90 was, by this time, largely overshadowed by the less expensive Ford Cortina GT, which also had a higher profile in race and rally competitions.

Overall, FC survival numbers appear to be less than the F, FB and even FD series, due to bad rust problems, so examples are rare, unfairly forgotten, and undervalued.

All Victors sported a different grille treatment for 1967, a final-year facelift that was standard Vauxhall practice at the time. This had a more finished and upmarket look with sturdier bars rather than the cheaper looking criss-cross element on earlier cars. The waistline chrome strip was also thinner.

New Zealand assembly continued again with the Super with three-speed manual column-shift transmission though some base models - minus the distinctive waistline chrome strips - were also built for government fleet business. Powerglide two-speed automatic became an option in 1966. The model was facelifted for 1967 and, near the end of the run, a four-speed manual gearbox with floor shift and twin front seats replaced the three-speeder with bench seat. Some Deluxe models, wagons and VX4/90s were imported fully assembled from the UK but were quite rare.

CC rating: 1,594cc 97 ci (1.6L) Straight-4 ohv

NZ First Registration: 28-Sep-1965

[richardmarsh]

I had one of these in cars in this colour for many years. This is what's known as the FC version of the VX490 with the 1600 (1598 if I remember correctly) engine. The previous model was referred to as the FB variant the latter models of the FB also had the same engine (1600). This was Vauxhalls answer to the Ford Cortina GT. Whilst the original carburation set up was a pair of downdraft carburetors a modification was available on a new alloy inlet manifold using a 28/36 DCD Webber which worked a treat. I also changed the road wheels to take the 5 and a half J Ford Cortina GT wheels. Happy days.

[sandwormgod]

My dad had one of these. It was his first car for the family. He bought it off his uncle. His next car was a measly, 1969, Morris 1100.

[vincentbyron]

My father had an estate version and used it to transport heavy injection moulds and press tools.The seats were folded down and a long wooden box was popped inside to protect the lovely red interior.For some reason I always thought it was a Cresta.

[jasoncarpp]

Lovely looking car. I've heard of the Vauxhall Victor, but although I've visited England, I never saw any.

[terryjacob]

FC Victor; I believe the majority went to the great scrapyard in the sky due to rust in the rear spring hanger sheet metal.