The Viva Lives...the Art of Starters

[fotorabia]

Vague attempts at 71 Viva HC art we re created today..no images until Photobucket gets there money..so i fibreglassed messily over welds...and removed the sun rotten vinyl on the back seat...manic with box cutter..one sliced hand...covered with a 70s curtain and a staple gun..its going to have a cosmic rat look..Research in anoraks: English HC production was blighted by strikes in 71..the millonth Viva was a Gold HC assembled in August...and was the same time assembly began in NZ..mines September naturally making it a real early NZ example...wipes down anorak..and You know its a small town car when its only travelled 40000 miles since 1976.will get my exhaust parts this week...

[pbottomley]

OHHH fellow retro shite owner.... Hello....

 

I was at Luton Library last week and was looking at the press cuttings from the local papers 1971 - 1978 and yep your right was full of crap about strikes.... those were the days of quality built cars !!

 

I did find one funny article mind, about the top quality dogging mobile... the Vauxhall Beeva!

 

http://www.annteak.com/viva/?p=1395

[andrew e]

Class! BWA alloys for the win!

[pogweasel]

"Nice Beeva""Thankyou, I just had it stuffed"etc.

[seth]

I don't want no dumpy little Beeva growing on me!

[Pillock]

Ford went for 'Ghia', Austin chose 'Vanden Plas' for their top spec models. Vauxhall? 'Super Duper'......Shame it wasn't Isuzu. I'd have a Super Duper Trooper.

[MrRegieRitmo]

Shame it wasn't Isuzu. I'd have a Super Duper Trooper.

[fotorabia]

Viva went off to the Exhaust Centre this morning for a whole 'new' system which includes a new lower exhaust flange made from scratch...this as we left it..we left him our spare shit camera so he can photograph the underneath...then ive got a wee bit of welding to do on the firewall...tidy up interior..relocate drivers window...then she needs all new door-boot rubbers..et al!

 

and whilst securing battery with an old loading strap..i checked out the tag plate..its a 1971 Knock Down Crate..meaning built in England but assembled in NZ..and guess what number?

No.1 !

 

so unless my anorak is to big..i do believe ive got the 1st HC built in NZ..

[whitevanman]

'kin 'ell thats a result and three quarters.....................nice one

[Rusty Pelican]

Nice surprise , didnt know general motors did CKD imports

[VWPowered]

awesome rab about time spa

[fotorabia]

Nice surprise , didnt know general motors did CKD imports

Yep..the plant nr Wellington opened in 1967..Todd Motors..it was massive..so any Anglophile General Motors models up until early 80s was built there...then it was closed down.. which laid off a major workforce..the last remaining plant in Porirua was bought by Mitsubishi..then that closed 1990..so..the end of a major engineering history..hail the Japanese import...and then the lowering of the 2nd hand import tariffs when i arrived in 1997..so since then we ve been flooded with dangerous shitters...its killed the classic car scene price....its buyers market just now...

[Volksy]

The Bedford CF I had when I was over there was a CKD kit.Come to think of it, the Beetle we had was the same, but built in Oz, on the parts the locally sourced/produced ones had a pair of Kangaroos flanking the VW sign on each bit.

[r.welfare]

Blimey, Todd Motors did GM products too? I thought they were predominantly Rootes/Chrysler/Mitsubishi.There was a lot of local production (starting with CKD, then upping the local content to get around taxes) in Australasia from what I have read from Wheels and on t'internet...VW came and went in Oz but made the early Passat and Golf out there; Renault had a factory in Heidelberg that also assembled the Mk4/Mk5 Cortina estate, as Ford Aus lacked capacity; Leyland Australia ended up as the builders of the Pug 505; and the big Japanese makers each had a plant at one time - I think only Toyota remain with a plant in Australia (making the Aurion, an enlarged Camry to compete with the Falcon/Commodore) - the Corolla (Australia's top seller) is now fully imported.The NZ scene was similar - early 80's Wheels indicates that even Subaru assembled cars locally - but, as Fotorabia says, most shut down in the late 80's/early 90's after an accord was reached to reduce the tax on Oz-assembled stuff, and then the JDM importation boom following the '97 tax change.

[fotorabia]

This has cropped up...in the local area...IM SERIOUSLY tempted..

 

1972 Viva..ol giffer 1 owner..its No.581 up the assembly line from my HC...

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... =260715545

[VWPowered]

2dr and a 4dr FTW do it....

[fotorabia]

Partner here has a gun to my head saying ciao if i dont buy it...everything is now on the market..the Raleigh 20s my kidney...The Vivas a pearler...see how auction runs..

[VWPowered]

i wish you luck my friend, why sell a kidney just put the misses on the market instead

[fotorabia]

Missus wont go on the game as I need her to wash the car.Ill get a dialysis machine for the Viva..

[VWPowered]

 

you'll just have to put yourself on the game instead

 

want me to come over in the pimp mobile

 

 

[fotorabia]

Im a 2nd Hand Sex Symbol...but was always a bit of a Squat Boy than a rent version..but im rather burnt out these days..

 

Pimp my Holiday...

[VWPowered]

so you gonna view it then spa

[fotorabia]

we l go thru on Friday and have a look..but with warrant and reg...one owner giffer stylee..we l drop our pants for a potential $1000 asking price..

[VWPowered]

if its a minter, defo you never know try a lower offer first, see what they say, it is going to an enthusiast afterall, not a local chav do they know you already have one..p.s. you now need a firenza, magnum and a estate to complete your collection

[fotorabia]

We re banking [gun now pointed at my overdraft] on him taking a cash offer due to it being Xmas..and we'l sell him the enthusiasts line....may even go today ands see what he sez..pay for Viva exhaust 1st tho!

[fotorabia]

Todays fine tally of cash outlay ed towards VIVA[s} was immense tho not having spent nada on the machine for two years ..i just paid $382 for a whole new exhaust..and prior to paying that bill just went and bought a fore mentioned white 1972 HC. We bypassed the auction..offered him what he wanted..$800..so its mine..the guy was a very friendly and very straight Salvation Army officer!..his wife referred to Viva as the bomb..and wanted rid of it!..some people..eh..

 

Mechanically shes sweet..interior real tidy apart from stained headlining..body has a wee bit of surface rust and theres a ding in the front bumper..which we can easily replace..

 

We go back to collect her tomorrow

 

then picked up our 71 from Exhaust Centre..think mebbe the points need a clean up as shes doing the ol kangaroo stutter..brakes need bled me thinks..oh hum...so nice we have a new one where everything works and is all legal.

[barrett]

Good work fella! quick calculation tells me that it cost £350, which is a bloody bargin if you ask me! Looks a good 'un, hopefully this is an excuse to get the both together for some quality photozz....Rab, and anyone else with experience of these things, what are they like to run as a daily motor for someone not mechanically inclined? I think they are just in budget and if i could find a solid one i reckon it'd be prime First Car material.... but i might be totally wrong! reliable or not? cheap to fix? insurance? I see lots of 1300/1500/dollys in use but not so many Vivas anymore....

[VWPowered]

his wife referred to Viva as the bomb.

say that in the uk and its means its looks boss, ace, champion new one looks fuc*ing awesome rab... what a save for what is it £400

[michiel]

Very nice!

[fotorabia]

Vivas are the classic car quandry..they were as common as all other cult marques of today..Mini ,Escort ,Cortinas but yet have never earnt the incredible scene tax all the others have done...i see them as a mini-Impala GM styled beast but with the performance of a paralyzed cow..their built like tanks..its the 1st car ive really learnt to understand...but we still rely on the Toyota as our daily...so...if i can still find pearlers for under $1000 im going to buy them..my 71 HC originally cost $500..a piece of shite that looked great...

 

and this is what a 39 yr old Viva HC NZ car looks like underneath...gimme a wire brush before a welder anyday.....my new exhaust system