1973 Vauxhall Viva… untouched since ‘93 - worth it?

[sierraman]

14 minutes ago, JimH said:

^ That in spades. 

Turn up to make an offer cash in hand and the kit to move it there and then. Otherwise you find that when you return all excited like to collect your winnings someone new is there who threatens to set the dogs on you. 

Or cousin Alan, despite living eight floors up in a  tower block and working every day god sends, decides he will restore it when he retires at 78. Until then it will live on some wet grass under a tarp. 

[Six-cylinder]

1 hour ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

it's a shame there is no-one with storage and a weakness for shonky vauxhall/opel/bedfords😁

I only buy them 8 at a time when no prior inspection is allowed! 

[JimH]

19 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Or cousin Alan, despite living eight floors up in a  tower block and working every day god sends, decides he will restore it when he retires at 78. Until then it will live on some wet grass under a tarp. 

- My son is going to get a boiler made for it and sell it for much more

- We're going to restore it ourselves (forty years on and the waggon is still a pile of shite)

- Someone at work says it's worth more than that

- I've seen them advertised for more than that

- I've been told I'll get more if I send it to auction

- There was one on the Antiques Roadshow last week and the man said it was worth thousands (not a complete vehicle that one but the point stands) 

 

 

 

[barefoot]

My grandfather owned a very early 2 door HC with the 1159cc engine - VTV 7J. It was silver

[jakebullet]

Vauxhall viva covered in rust but you can't shag a bird on a 29 bus.

[High Jetter]

30 minutes ago, jakebullet said:

you can't shag a bird on a 29 bus.

No, it wasn't a 29. I don't think so, anyway. Had more urgent things to deal with, like how to get her home after we got caught after the act

[Dobloseven]

I suppose there's a very remote chance it could be an 16/1800,or even a 20/2300,if it's a '73.The Magnum moniker and trim didn't appear until late in the year. To me the HC is the 70s.Started in 1970 and practically lasted the decade out.Last fully British Vauxhall as well. Please let it be an SL, with the separate rear seats and the wheel trims. That lovely metallic green paint would be good too. Probably a powder blue 1256 deluxe though. 

[Six-cylinder]

According to my May 1976 Glass's guide1973 Viva's had:

2 door, 4door or estate bodies.

Engines: 1256cc, 1599cc,1759cc and 2279cc.

Gearboxes: manual and for the 1800cc Auto option.

Trims: Deluxe or SL 

[eddyramrod]

1 hour ago, Dobloseven said:

Probably a powder blue 1256 deluxe though. 

And that's a lesser thing because...?

Actually I think ours was the 1159 engine!  But it towed that little Thompson... not at any real speed, but felt like it would plod on all day.

[warren t claim]

1 hour ago, eddyramrod said:

And that's a lesser thing because...?

Actually I think ours was the 1159 engine!  But it towed that little Thompson... not at any real speed, but felt like it would plod on all day.

IIRC, 1159 had a 100 mph speedo and the wipers operated on a switch by the lights and the 1256 had a 120 mph speedo and the wipers controlled by a stalk. 1159 also had drums all round.

[garbaldy]

6 hours ago, warren t claim said:

IIRC, 1159 had a 100 mph speedo and the wipers operated on a switch by the lights and the 1256 had a 120 mph speedo and the wipers controlled by a stalk. 1159 also had drums all round.

Strange as mines  a 1256 with 100mph speedo, wipers on dash switch and drums all round 🤔 

Still can't post a pic though.

[junkyarddog]

9 hours ago, warren t claim said:

IIRC, 1159 had a 100 mph speedo and the wipers operated on a switch by the lights and the 1256 had a 120 mph speedo and the wipers controlled by a stalk. 1159 also had drums all round.

My 1975 1256 has dash operated wipers and front discs,no idea what the Speedo goes up to though😂

[garbaldy]

8 minutes ago, junkyarddog said:

My 1975 1256 has dash operated wipers and front discs,no idea what the Speedo goes up to though😂

Sell me your front disc set up 😉

[Dobloseven]

Think the 1159 was available in normal, or 90 flavours. 90 had discs and Stromberg carb. 1256s seemed to use downdraught and Stromberg. All got a bit confusing and suspect cars were built with whatever parts were available, as strikes were rife in the seventies. 

[junkyarddog]

1 hour ago, garbaldy said:

Sell me your front disc set up 😉

Sure thing, so long as you don't mind having the rest of the car attached. 

[Datsuncog]

10 hours ago, warren t claim said:

IIRC, 1159 had a 100 mph speedo and the wipers operated on a switch by the lights and the 1256 had a 120 mph speedo and the wipers controlled by a stalk. 1159 also had drums all round.

Wipers operated from a dashboard rocker switch for my '73 1256cc - and I think the strip speedo ran to a (still) highly optimistic 100mph, though I can't put my hand to a photo of it now. Yup, discs up front though - and I recall it took the same pads as a BL Mini, even though the Viva was a rather larger and heavier beast.

22 minutes ago, Dobloseven said:

Think the 1159 was available in normal, or 90 flavours. 90 had discs and Stromberg carb. 1256s seemed to use downdraught and Stromberg. All got a bit confusing and suspect cars were built with whatever parts were available, as strikes were rife in the seventies. 

Mine was fitted with a Zenith carb - though after multiple head gasket issues I swapped it for a later Chevette block with a Stromberg.

Still had gasket issues...

They did seem to be a bit hit and miss, spec-wise; equally, I could never work out why some cars had separate V A U X H A L L letters affixed to the slam panel between the rear lights, some had an all-in-one Vauxhall badge, and some just had the Griffin emblem.

[Bradders59]

My memory is that the HB was 1159cc and it was "upgraded" to 1256cc when the HC was introduced.

Memories can trick us though.

Truth be told they were pretty crap engines. Even the late great Bill Blydenstein couldnt do much to improve them.

I could do a clutch change on my HB in under an hour. Those were the days. 😃

[HillmanImp]

18 hours ago, jakebullet said:

Vauxhall viva covered in rust but you can't shag a bird on a 29 bus.

Why not? I've shagged on a bus before or is there something specific to so with the number 29 that makes this difficult?

[goosey]

You might drop your chips and gravy 

[eddyramrod]

52 minutes ago, Bradders59 said:

My memory is that the HB was 1159cc and it was "upgraded" to 1256cc when the HC was introduced.

Not quite!  HC had been with us a couple of years before the upgrade; it happened when the 1600/2000 FD Victor became the 1800/2300 FE.   As these engines were used in higher-spec Vivas, the base engine grew at the same time.  The CF similarly had to wait for the bigger engines.  It started out with the brand-new-for-the-FD 1599 and 1975, and (after mine was built, naturally!) went to 1759/2279.  The FE Victor I had was the basic 1759...

[Matty]

4 hours ago, HillmanImp said:

Why not? I've shagged on a bus before or is there something specific to so with the number 29 that makes this difficult?

Macc lads song. Can't remember what it's called now. Thems the lyrics

[garbaldy]

9 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

Wipers operated from a dashboard rocker switch for my '73 1256cc - and I think the strip speedo ran to a (still) highly optimistic 100mph, though I can't put my hand to a photo of it now. 

Cool dash.

[meggersdog]

2 hours ago, Matty said:

Macc lads song. Can't remember what it's called now. Thems the lyrics

Beer and sex and chips n gravy

[Spottedlaurel]

20 hours ago, Datsuncog said:

They did seem to be a bit hit and miss, spec-wise; equally, I could never work out why some cars had separate V A U X H A L L letters affixed to the slam panel between the rear lights, some had an all-in-one Vauxhall badge, and some just had the Griffin emblem.

Hah, never noticed that before. Just had a look through photos of those I've seen, most have the separate letters but there are one or two of each of the other variations.

Rostyles transform the appearance of them.

Doesn't seem to be an age thing, as this early model had the separate letters yet so do the very latest ones.

The green one ended up in the USA and was for sale at the beginning of this year.

 

[Dobloseven]

They were nice looking cars weren't they. Wonder if the old boy I knew has still got the one he paid a lot for. That had been rather spoilt by a lot of extra lights and a massive towbar on the back. 

[garbaldy]

@Datsuncog all these years and only now have i noticed that 🙄 some car man i am.

mine is single letter as just had to check and wasn't sure as just thought they all where.

[Dobloseven]

Please stop posting these pictures. They're making me come over all unnecessary! 

[andyberg]

Got to say, maybe it's my age or something. But, the viva is a nice looking car. Back in the day I thought they were a bit naff, even if my mum's friend did have a magnum. Now, however, I could quite fancy one.

[junkyarddog]

If you squint the do look a little bit like a baby Pontiac 🤣

I always liked the boxy look of the Viva.

When I was a kid,a cousin of mine used to run a Chevette and bought a rotten HC as an engine doner, I think that's when I decided I would like one eventually. 

Never thought I'd end up with 3 of the things 🙄

[cobblers]

12 hours ago, garbaldy said:

Cool dash.

I dug one of those speedos out of my uncles allotment in 1993, and as I kept going we kept finding more and bits of viva including doors, seats, wheels and an engine. All just buried.

I hope this garage find viva is better than the one I found.