1975 FE Victor!

[Angrydicky]

This was a bit of an impulse purchase really! I had the cash from the Atlantic burning a hole in my pocket, and was sort of half-arsedly looking out for a pre facelift MK1 Carlton, as I've always liked the look of them and fancied a big old Vauxhall barge from the 70s or early 80s. A friend of mine had this FE, that he bought last year from the family of the original owner. I had driven it and knew it was a good 'un, so asked for first refusal on it. Anyway, he decided to sell, so I went over to Oxfordshire yesterday, picked up the car, got petrol and drove it straight back!

 

Upon getting home, the first thing I did was give it a good wash as it had been standing around all winter and was absolutely filthy. Then I investigated the misfire. Took the distributor cap off and noticed the problem straight away. The car had recently been serviced and whoever fitted the new condenser hadn't plugged it in properly, it was barely making contact and the wire came loose as soon as I touched it. Plugged that in properly and it ran like a dream! Just been out to fit the new tyres it came with, as the ones on the car were all about 30 years old.

 

Jobs to do: Replace broken foglight (has anyone got a spare, square Wipac?), change the leaking rocker cover gasket, themostat, temp sender, and sort out the knocking exhaust.

 

Oh, and it's not actually a 'Victor', it's simply a Vauxhall 2300S. A runout model in which Vauxhall dropped the Victor name, and they made 500 of them. It's pretty basic inside with no clock or fag lighter, but you got the 2300 engine, metallic paint in either blue or green with a nice pinstripe, and a radio cassette.

 

Have some pictures! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty chuffed with it so far! 

 

Oh, and this car is very much Dollywobbler Approved*

 

[dollywobbler]

Excellent. I think you're the perfect next owner for this. Will be a lot better with some Angry Dicky TLC!

[Bren]

My dad had one the same vintage - GDM850N. Yellow with black vinyl roof.

 

Written off by a myopic twat in a skoda in early 1985. Replaced with an SD1 with the same engine capacity. The SD1 was more grief than the victor ever was, although the rover was more economical.

 

I was told that certain parts like timing belts were becoming nigh on impossible to get hold of.

[HillmanImp]

THOSE SEATS!

 

WOW!

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Transcontinental!! 

 

I was only thinking about these the other day and how horribly undervalued Vauxhall stuff is. That's lovely. The BVR gives it a Ventora look from the rear three quarter aspect.

[HillmanImp]

I was told that certain parts like timing belts were becoming nigh on impossible to get hold of.

 

I seem to remember there being lots of service parts for these at Huddersfield autojumble. It stuck in my mind as it seemed odd that there was so much Vauxhall stuff considering the small amount of old Vauxhalls I see compared to more mainstream classics.

[eddyramrod]

No pic because I'm on the laptop, but I had one of these 29 years ago, a white 1.8 with a black vinyl roof: OBA 243M.  I'm seriously jealous of you with this one!

[DVee8]

Are these any good to you?

 

In the free to a good home page 14

 

http://autoshite.com/topic/10525-shitecycle-free-to-a-new-home/page-14

[RoadworkUK]

Look out for sections of Gold Block tobacco tin welded into the front wings and headlamp surrounds. This was the method of rust repair my Dad taught me was the way to look after FE's when I was about five years old. They're FErrous. But otherwise lovely.

 

Loads of memories being ignited here actually. A 2300 Victor was the first car I ever travelled in.

[EssDeeWon]

It looked in lovely nik when I briefly saw it earlier following me up the Ashingdon Road 

 

Well bought m8!

[HMC]

Brilliant! Rare machine in a great colour, and approved not only by DW but if memory serves James hunt too!

[junkyarddog]

Ooooh thats lovely,

love these old FE's tough as old boots.

The slant 4 can be a pain to get running smoothly,the 2.3's are always a bit on the lumpy side,

but virtually unburstable.

Oil leaks came as standard.

 

Well bought

 

I finally managed to cure the oil leaks on my FE,

I lobbed in a diesel lump

[Asimo]

That is lovely! N reg., like my driving licence.

 

My favourite bit of these Vauxhalls is that lovely, chunky chrome gearlever. 

[danthecapriman]

That is lovely. Vauxhalls of this era were great looking things. Like little yanks! It's a shame there's not many around now.

[mercrocker]

Beautiful things, FEs....A lovely thing to have.   Is it a run out or a limited edition?   I recalled the Victors going on a bit longer until they were all called VXs by which time the Cavalier had come along and these had different grilles.  There was a limited edition Transcontinental ES as well, I think.  

[I_am_Diesel]

That's a lovely car that is.

[willswitchengage]

Loving the 60s OHLE in the background

 

WCML?

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Great purchase, I really like these and think the whole FE range represent amazing bargains compared to Cortina's and Granadas. I'd love a 3.3 estate even though they're slower than an 1800 Victor and use more fuel than a4.2 Jag ,there's something about that lazy old lorry engine in a,relatively, small shell

 

I seem to remember that the 2300S was the first Vauxhall ever to have a standard cassette.

 

DW's comments about low gearing would have been addressed by the Getrag 5 speed fitted to the very last VX 4/90 s if it had been available across the range, I don't think even the GLS ,which was basically a 4 cylinder Ventora got that though.

 

Oh, chicks love em

[forddeliveryboy]

Brilliant! Rare machine in a great colour, and approved not only by DW but if memory serves James hunt too!

 

What an odd juxtaposition!!

 

I used to get taken to school in a VX2300 some days, I seem to remember it feeling as strong and dependable as a Cortina felt the opposite. Think the handling was a little woolly, but the Dad who drive it loved them. Seats were ace, it felt a little different from all the other stuff I travelled in (early SD1, 120Y, Triumph 2000, Cortina 1.6, Golf 1.5, Princess) and perhaps most similar to the 2000 in its feel of honesty and toughness.

 

This blue one looks very tidy AngryDicky. Good purchase!

[trigger]

I really do like this, Hopefully you'll be bringing it to one of our car meets over the summer?.

 

 

 

[inconsistant]

Oh Wow, nice buy Dicky! Much nicer than your description of it the other week. Looking forward to see it in the metal.

[garethj]

I can't believe it had a radio cassette as standard, talk about opulence!

 

Nice purchase, looks like it's not been messed with.

[vulgalour]

It's not just me that thinks they look boz-eyed is it?  Apart from that observation it's a lovely looking thing and I imagine a very nice place to be surrounded by all that blue.

[Angrydicky]

Went out to the long established motor factors in Rochford earlier (where I saw EssDeeWon in his Rover), and managed to get a rocker cover gasket, temp sender and thermostat, all on the shelf!

 

All are now fitted, the only thing that put up a bit of a fight was the dead temp sender which appeared to be the original, but it came out with a big socket and a torque wrench (and loads of penetrating oil). That, combined with swapping the faulty, recently replaced thermostat with a new one, resulted in an engine that gets properly up to temperature, and a working gauge!

The rocker cover gasket was pissing oil out, down the back of the engine and onto the exhaust, where it was burning off. When I got it off, it looked knackered, I suspect it was the original that had been reused a couple of times before. Fitted the new one and took it for a good run, no sign of any more leaks. There's still a bit of residual oil burning off, but I've cleaned as much as I can off the engine, so that should stop soon.

The exhaust knocked like a bastard on acceleration and moving off, DW even commented on it in his video. The PO took it to a garage, who pronounced it "fixed", but apparently within a few hundred yards it was knocking again. I suspected it might be tired engine mountings, or perhaps a very poor fitting aftermarket exhaust (exhausts haven't been available for years). Up on the ramps!

Once we got it up in the air, my dad noticed a piece of rubber jammed between the exhaust and the floor, which wasn't really doing anything. Some fix! Then we realised the front clamp had worked loose, so the exhaust had swung around under the weight of the silencer, bringing the bit that was knocking too close to the floor. Spent five minutes swinging the exhaust back round to the correct position, before tightening up the clamp, and it now no longer knocks!

 

So, quite a lot achieved today really

[Dippy]

These are just great and as mentioned completely undervalued cars, I've had one for just over a year as a daily driver and love it.

Parts are cheap if you can find them but some parts are difficult or non existent.

 

The temp sender problem could just be an airlock I replaced mine but found the problem to be an airlock where the sender fits and I tried everything to no avail to get rid of it and eventually it just sorted itself out. use an IR temp gauge to check next to sender unit.

 

Here's mine in the same colour as yours

 

 

IMG

[Skizzer]

This is an excellent purchase.  Very classy indeed (in a shite sort of way, obviously).

[Uncle Jimmy]

Yum, very tidy. These appeal to me much more than the earlier Victors. They were rather slavish attempts to be American where as these have a personality of their own.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

The FD was a good idea but had too many issues, and sold less than the 101FC. The FE had (Ibuleve) an Opel floorpan and suspension. LJK Setright was a fan of the FE - so it must be okay.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I absolutely love these. I've got a pair of new front wings for one stashed away for when a rotten old knackered one inevitably comes my way

[DVee8]

All you need now is this

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vauxhall-Victor-FE-2300S-Limited-Edition-1974-Original-UK-Sales-Brochure-V2242-/231399383238?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item35e07a60c6