Thats a trip down memory lane. Dick Von Der Heyde and I used to make all the valves for Bill Blydenstein, for the DTV cars and for the big valve head he sold to customers. our little shop in Hove was called Dove Developments. I've just looked out an inlet valve, there big valves, the head is 1.650", Bill never ground the valves in, he just let them hammer in! In 1973 there was a 4 day working week in the UK, I rang our forging supplier and was told to ring in 18 months. Bill could get his forgings from Vauxhall so he bought all our kit and I spent a week showing Bill's machinist how we made the valves. We also used to make sets of valves for the BRM H16 engine, 64 valves a set!
Amongst other franchises my dad was a Vauxhall dealer in Wellingborough. As a youngster born in 1951 I was excited with the American styling of the PA Crestas and loved how the corners of the windscreen came back into the car. The second series of the Viva was a pretty little car and before I could drive I’d sit in the showroom playing with the short gear lever. Quiet in the back please. Then they got sporty. VX4/90, Brabham Viva, Ventora. Soon as I passed my test I was driving them all as a holiday job delivery driver. He also had Rover, Morris, Wolsey, Vanden Plas and MG as franchises. He had two garage sites twenty miles apart and I’d often have a reason why a car on one site needed to be at the other. Happy days and a lot of fun with new car launches. He also had a contract supplying Bedfords to Silverstone Circuit so Pits tickets were supplied for big meetings. I remember sitting above Betty Hill as she was lap timing. Met Gerry Marshall several times and bought a Jenson Healey from him when he had his showroom in Golders Green. Drank a few beers with him and Lanfranky (?) at Mallory Park and Silverstone.
Iv'e watched that Crystal Palace race many times , the first time , I was thinking/hoping that the Camaro would win . A while back I got into a You Tube comments section conversation with Gregor Marshall, he was very forthcoming with bits of information about his father and his cars , one thing he said was that Gerry actually ended up winning that Crystal Palace race , because the Escort was penalized for a jump start off start line. 👍
Glad i was forthcoming ;) Yes, Dad did win the race, that's why he has his arm out when crossing the line, as he knew Mike Crabtree would get a 10 second penalty, so he just needed to stay in touching distance for the win :)
@@GregorMarshall96 Your dad knew even before the race ended ? , from pit boards I suppose? .I rewatched the video again a few hours ago, and it sure looked like the Escort driver got a bit excited, but you couldn't see the start flag guy to be sure. Nice to catch up again. 🙂👍
@@barrycuda3769 Dad could see the false start from where he was - back then it was all flags, no lights. Dad was always known as a good starter too, so if someone got away from him he laso knew. If you watch the video again, you'll see a couple of times as Dad goes past the pits he gesticulates out of the window, making sure the jump start has been seen. Dad definitely ended up with the trophy ;) No problem, I hope all is well with you 👍
@@GregorMarshall96I was a big fan of your dad and watched him at Lydden hill in Kent many times when I was a young lad and even met him and got his autograph on a program , I met him many many years later at the Goodwood Revival and mentioned that I have been a fan in the early 70s at Lydden , we had a great chat , he is missed by many as he bought so much happiness to his many fans , one of the true British racing legends
As a young boy I was fortunate enough to watch Gerry Marshall race a few times and to actually meet him at Thruxton once 🙂 Gerry and another Vauxhall, Big Bertha, were a iconic part of my motorsport viewing as a boy and the start my love of Vauxhall/Opel cars. 🙂👍🏻
It is said that Gerry Marshall was good enough to be an F1 driver except he didn't have the diminutive physique for a seat, hence why he concentrated on saloon cars.
One of the DTV mechanics lives next to my partners mum in Hayling island UK, I was chatting to him about the DTV team and Gerry Marshell when I was visiting last. Maybe he can shed some light on your can...
It is great to see this car in as good condition and hopefully will again take part in what will now be historic car racing! DTV had a Scottish base in the Perth branch of the SMT GROUP. It was overseen by the legendary Walter "Watty" Grey. They prepared both race and rally cars for DTV and also privateers! Big Gerry was a total Legend, he drove the socks off most of the cars he raced! Even with his weight acting as a handicap he still out classed the vast majority of his rivals!
Memories of the Sports Tune RS2000 V DTV Firenza V Ecurie Ecosse HSR Chevette. I worked beside the Ecurie driver , John something or other, he had a very sublime turn of speed .
I owned a 1970 Viva GT in red with the black bonnet and orange side stripes. This would have been the mk11 version. It ran a lot of trick parts for the day including a 2.6 litre stroker engine which if I remember correctly came with lots of other tuning parts from a company named Magard engineering. Interesting about the Ford Axle as mine ran a Victor 101 axle fitted with an lsd. All the build info for the racing vauxhalls can be found in the Vauxhall Sportpart manual which is a big red folder with everything you need to know to build a DTV chevette but covers the Viva as well. Uk reg No was PRJ 3H and was written off
Thank you, many memories. The HB viva had double front wishbone and five link rear suspension which was ideal for tarmac. Front wishbones limited suspension travel for rough rallies though. The engines were moved rearwards as far as regs allowed sometimes only a few millimetres. The HB vivas apart from small engines had the slanted 1600 or 2000 engines the HC vivas had the slanted 1800 or 2300 engines. Blydenstein offered a stroker kit to make the 2300 to 2500. The Firenza and droop snoot were based on the HC floorpan. The 2300 engines could simply tuned 190 - 200 bhp but the twin cam would be 240+ bhp. Many used the modified Atlas rear axle as Fords were using them and offered various ratios but also disc brakes. The front bulkhead chassis legs, we called swan necks had to be strengthened as the front suspension was mounted to them, unlike those using macpherson struts. Many homologated Escorts had to use leaf rear suspension although today many have converted to five link rear suspension with coil over struts. After the Vivas and Firenzas Gerry had the Berthas. In rallying we then had the Chevette HS and HSR. As I say, thank you many memories.
The HB Viva was the GM competitor to the Escort but it did not fare at all well against them in rallying and rarely featured. Part of the problem also was that the 2.6ltr engine was both fragile unless meticulously run-in and overall the SOHC engine was heavy. It all changed when the Viva was pensioned off in favour of the Chevette.
@@clivewilliams3661 one has to remember Vauxhall motors and GM did not finance any motor sport development of Vauxhall cars, unlike the £millions Ford bank rolled the Escort. The Viva was built to compete with the Ford Anglia sales. Bill Blydenstein was a brilliant engineer and engine tuner with remarkable success in his own rights. Dealer team Vauxhall 1971 was set up by dealers in London and Bill Blydenstein with Chris Coburn ran a joint racing rally program. 1976 Chris dropped out so Bill ran both. It was not untill 1978 it concentrated on a rally program. The Vauxhall slant four engine was the first to have a belt driven overhead cam. When race built it gave great torque but was heavy. The design was used by Lotus. The Escort twin overhead cam and BDA engine was good but maintenance of engines was high due to reliability issues, these were the reasons they used a modified Kent engine for the World Cup rallies where there were restrictions with changing parts over the 15000 miles. Before Dealer Team Vauxhall started, the only help in late 60s early 70s from Vauxhall was they gave us details of the carburettor jet settings and ignition settings for different altitudes! Memories are great and I enjoyed my time competing in mainly Vauxhalls and meeting many great people. Winning was also brilliant as many modifications could not just be purchased but had to be designed in a home workshop. Homologation was a huge limiting factor, but where there was cash there were ways. Some manufacturers bought results, others earned them. Great times and very interesting with great characters, not the precious commodity they have become today.
@@Judith-c6r The HA Viva may have been a competitor to the Ford Anglia but the Anglia evolved into the Escort and the HA Viva into the HB Viva so that the HB/HC Vivas and Escort were direct competitors. Back in 1972 we had a 1600 Firenza that was a dealer (Marshalls) demonstrator. It was somewhat of a handful, wanting to swap ends at the slightest provocation. Marshalls had actually reduced the tyre width on the front to induce a bit more understeer, remember this was a nearly new car so they saw it as a serious problem. We had it for about a year before my father cartwheeled it into a ditch on a stretch of road he knew intimately, he couldn't remember what caused the accident, maybe because it nearly killed him.
I remember spectating at Crystal Palace during this period, and I was involved as a helper on another front running Super Saloon team in the mid 70's racing against Marshall in DTV cars specifically Big Bertha and Baby Bertha. Great times, that allowed me as an ordinary enthusiast to get involved in Motor Racing in this great period and later in other classes.
Fantastic footage of a long gone golden era of what we in Oz call sedan racing, as opposed to saloon racing in the old Dart. The Vauxhall Viva was sold here in Oz as a Holden Torana,at least until Holden developed what became the LC Torana, complete with a shoehorned inline ohv 6. Here they raced in what was called Series Production, with the modified category called Improved Touring. Seeing big V8's battling smaller 6,or 4 cylinder car's made for great racing, and great entertainment. So much more interesting than what has become unaffordable and generic, homogeneous product. Thanks for the great upload 😁👍
@@barrycuda3769 Sorry for the confusion. We in Australia sometimes call England the "old Dart". We didn't have an equivalent Dodge Dart,the closest was Chrysler Australia's Valiant 2 door, which was sold in VF and VG series,'69-'71. Hopefully this makes some sense to you 😁
@@nealenewton4193 Oh, I see , I'm not familiar with that dart thing in NZ . I actually used to own a Hemi Orange VG Valiant 2 door pacer hardtop, I bought it in Brisbane in 1988 , and brought it back to NZ .Actually those Valiant coupes /hardtops , were imported Dodge Dart bodies and were Australianized with the local Valiant front end panels , and appropriate RHD dash , steering box etc. But you probably knew that .🙂
XU1s were very handy littel beasts in Series Production and then later GpC Improved Production had the Bob Jane Repco powered GTR and later Thommos Chev powered one plus a few 'normal' 6 ctyl ones with modded engines. Most became Sports Sedans
@@ldnwholesale8552 Bob Jane's Repco v8 Torana was featured in Australian Muscle Car magazine, it was obviously a very impressive race car, super lightweight, very powerful, with plenty of downforce . I've never seen a video of it racing . It would be a good topic for "The Roaring Season ".
Wow great video. My first car was a vauxhall viva. A car that gave me so much freedom and fun. Fond memories of the Viva, long gone but never forgotten.
I remember all this very well and the follow up car the V8 Droop Snoot Firenza by Blydenstein driven by Gerry Marshall . The series and cars did enormously well in popularising Vauxhalls even in Ford dominated sales areas like East London/Essex . The TJ ( Tecalamit Jackson) fuel injection system became a popular alternative to the Lucas Kugelfischer system introduced with the 60s BMW race cars .
I bought an HB 4dr Viva in NZ in 1983 & turned ut into a Brabham Viva, I broke a few gearbox output shafts but it was a damn fast little car. The one in the clip is unreal, I actually remember the clip. It should be noted that Vauxhal was Avery old company that was destroyed by becoming part of GM
Thank you for a very interesting video. As a twenty year old I worked for Spurlings In Shorditch, London UK. A large Vauxhall dealer in 1970. I remember road testing A new Viva GT in Lamb Street Spittlefields & getting nicked for speeding in it. Many years later I painted the bonnet of my Land Rover Satin Black in tribute to the Viva GT.
The Viva’s were original Vauxhall HB Viva bodyshell, which was then heavily modified from the factory original 1159cc engine. The HB was my very first car, and having grown up in the 70’s in Luton with most of the family working at Vauxhall, I was a DTV fan :)
Great find for what is a very rare car these days. I had a Monaco Blue with black bonnet 1969 Viva GT when I was a GM apprentice from 1972-76 (Stag Lane, London, England factory where Frigidaire, AC Delco & Opel were based). My Dad worked there too so Vauxhalls were sort of in the blood. Watching Gerry Marshall race Viva's is what made me want to get one & of course I modified it with Blydenstein parts. It was a stretch on apprentice money but what else is money for when you are 17! That Crystal Palace race is legendary. David & Goliath stuff which is a far cry from the formula racing you see most the time these days.
The HB viva was so close to being better than the escort in all forms it was prettier and drove better with coil over link at the back ,with the 2litre slant four it was there , I learnt all my early stuff on my mums HB two door,it’s only just come out of being 37 years in in my aunties garage to be sold and restored, cracking little cars.
I was nearly killed by John Pope at Silverstone in an open practice session when he spun that bloody Magnum turning on to the club straight and ended up coming towards me, bless his heart.
@markholroyde9412 So compared to Ray, what have you achieved in your life, besides making bitchy comments against people on UA-cam...? Not alot I would guess...🙄
At 1.44 the chap with the suit and bald patch is Gordon Goddard who was my father in law. He was publicity manager at Shaw and Kilburn Vauxhall and set up the sponsorship and, as an ex lettering artist in the film industry, may have signwritten the cars. There was an article about running in the car in Motor Sport at the time. At Silverstone they put a helmet on him and sent him out to do a few laps. He enjoyed it mightily until Mrs Goddard told him he didn't
Lot of incorrect comments on here. My Dad worked for Blydensteins at Shepreth and was one of the 3 main mechanics for this car and the future cars until they changed to rallying. Spent many hours at the workshop as a child myself. Unfortunately my dad is no longer with us but he could have supplied more information. Gerry Johnstone the chief engineer is still going strong and has written a book so may be good to contact him.
I remember watching motor racing on television in the 60s here in the UK. It seems as if a lot was shown on Saturday afternoons. A memorable race I saw on the box was Shaun Jackson in a Cobra in terrible weather just going past everyone. Defying belief in atrocious weather. But likewise going to circuits to see racing from vintage to historics to national to international was so easy then and walking around the pits was expected. I don’t bother these days because unless you are one of the favoured you are behind barriers.
The old man had a mate who had that model Viva GT who was having trouble with it when visiting as it was running too rich. It had two big SUs hanging off the side of the engine and they couldn't get it running any better.
Nice to see a good interest in your car which should look good once again in the future . In my opinion the Viva G.T. and Droop Snoot Firenza are the best cars at that time and now. Tony Davies over here in England " Firenzaman " on youtube still races his Blydenstein Droop Snoot .... I met him recently at Cadwell Park. Good luck re-building this important race car.
I 'm guessing but I think One of those blanks in the Vivas history could have been when the Woolford twins from Hamilton owned it and built it into a gas class drag car . That could explain the roll cage and four link rear end mounts .The last time I spoke with them was 55 years ago ,but they'd had engine problems ,a Chev 427, and they possibly only raced it for a short time like that.
Awesome video and great find. Lydden is pronounced Lid en. Bill Dryden was tge main driver for the Edinburgh based SMT racing team, the Scottish branch of DTV essentially. The cars were never quite as fast as the DTV ones. Often running the cast off so from DTV. Often racing in a white livery.
Vauxhall as an English car maker goes back to 1903 - they only got bought out by GM in the mid 1920s. Even then they designed and built their own cars primarily for the UK and Commonwealth market.
You might get some missing information from an old racer from that era his name is Ivan Dutton and his Y/T channel is called Shed Racing get hold of you never know what he might remember.
Excellent history telling of an important car. But wouldn't the cars when raced in group 2 (1970 BSCC) be required to have a legitimate factory chassis plate/number?
They just had to comply with FIA Group 2 rules. Factory chassis tag wouldn't have been a requirement. Some of the cars competing during that era were former factory Trans-Am cars and they used 'bodies in white' plucked early off the assembly line
Stopped in 1972 or there abouts as I recall -the park is still a very popular destination for recreational leisure-Crystal Palace Park and what once was the track still exists as pathways around the perimeter of the grounds of the parkland but you can still make out the layout even today in small parts .but as pathways -In the 1970s an outdoor stadium running track and indoor swimming pool and sports complex was built and exists today . it was built for international and national Athletics and residential housing athletes . A lot of renovation has taken place since then throughout the years keeping the historical context of the actual parks place in history for what was the exhibition of the building in 1851 which was the Crystal Palace moved from Hyde Park. You can still see some of the imprints of the old racing advertisement in stone work Shell and Dunlop etc in the concrete walls as a reminder of the racing past .They used the location for some filming for the F1 James Hunt/ Niki Lauda film ‘Rush’ .
For the most part shell prep on the old racers wasn't that pretty. No point spending days on a disposable commodity. They look great from a distance of the width of a track
Most viva Hb GT went too Australia for police AUSSYS got twin round headlights I'd a bright orange GT with lotus twin cam cam top end twin 40s Webber's with big trumpets meshed at ends stop crap sucked in also fitted 5 speed zf dogleg gear 1st gears where 2nd gear usually is reverse above LSD from DTV car I'd satin black bonnet had 4 sets wheels I'd banded Vauxhall/Opel rostyles front was 7x13 and the rear was 8.5x13 I had chromed I enameled black insert bit 225/60/13 rears 205/60/13 Firestone Firehawk 660s raised white letters HB NICEST LOOKING STANDARD VIVA NICER THAN. OPEL KADETT A SERIES there was more HB-GTs sent to Australia than sold in UK. I swapped mine for genuine OPEL MANTA 400ti 2.4wide boxed bodykit similar too Vauxhall's chevette HSR built a MANSCONA USED MANTA B SERIES COUPE 1st one Fitted OPEL ASCONA FRONT END 1/4 bumpers with 4 CIBIE super Oscars square reg baked bean orange and400 rear manta kit front was ASCONA 400 had centaur cavalier conversion similar to triumphs stag ASCONA fronted cavalier sportshatch ASCONA front crazy money now I bought Opel manta gte 4months MOT /tax 2 door in 1989 R reg for £30
Thats a trip down memory lane. Dick Von Der Heyde and I used to make all the valves for Bill Blydenstein, for the DTV cars and for the big valve head he sold to customers. our little shop in Hove was called Dove Developments. I've just looked out an inlet valve, there big valves, the head is 1.650", Bill never ground the valves in, he just let them hammer in! In 1973 there was a 4 day working week in the UK, I rang our forging supplier and was told to ring in 18 months. Bill could get his forgings from Vauxhall so he bought all our kit and I spent a week showing Bill's machinist how we made the valves. We also used to make sets of valves for the BRM H16 engine, 64 valves a set!
Back in the days when motor racing was fun to watch.
Amongst other franchises my dad was a Vauxhall dealer in Wellingborough. As a youngster born in 1951 I was excited with the American styling of the PA Crestas and loved how the corners of the windscreen came back into the car. The second series of the Viva was a pretty little car and before I could drive I’d sit in the showroom playing with the short gear lever. Quiet in the back please. Then they got sporty. VX4/90, Brabham Viva, Ventora. Soon as I passed my test I was driving them all as a holiday job delivery driver. He also had Rover, Morris, Wolsey, Vanden Plas and MG as franchises. He had two garage sites twenty miles apart and I’d often have a reason why a car on one site needed to be at the other. Happy days and a lot of fun with new car launches. He also had a contract supplying Bedfords to Silverstone Circuit so Pits tickets were supplied for big meetings. I remember sitting above Betty Hill as she was lap timing. Met Gerry Marshall several times and bought a Jenson Healey from him when he had his showroom in Golders Green. Drank a few beers with him and Lanfranky (?) at Mallory Park and Silverstone.
Iv'e watched that Crystal Palace race many times , the first time , I was thinking/hoping that the Camaro would win . A while back I got into a You Tube comments section conversation with Gregor Marshall, he was very forthcoming with bits of information about his father and his cars , one thing he said was that Gerry actually ended up winning that Crystal Palace race , because the Escort was penalized for a jump start off start line. 👍
Glad i was forthcoming ;) Yes, Dad did win the race, that's why he has his arm out when crossing the line, as he knew Mike Crabtree would get a 10 second penalty, so he just needed to stay in touching distance for the win :)
@@GregorMarshall96 Your dad knew even before the race ended ? , from pit boards I suppose? .I rewatched the video again a few hours ago, and it sure looked like the Escort driver got a bit excited, but you couldn't see the start flag guy to be sure. Nice to catch up again. 🙂👍
@@barrycuda3769 Dad could see the false start from where he was - back then it was all flags, no lights. Dad was always known as a good starter too, so if someone got away from him he laso knew. If you watch the video again, you'll see a couple of times as Dad goes past the pits he gesticulates out of the window, making sure the jump start has been seen. Dad definitely ended up with the trophy ;)
No problem, I hope all is well with you 👍
@@GregorMarshall96 I'll have a closer look. Yep all is well, except I'm looking forward to swapping seasons with you , it's too bloody cold. 🙂
@@GregorMarshall96I was a big fan of your dad and watched him at Lydden hill in Kent many times when I was a young lad and even met him and got his autograph on a program , I met him many many years later at the Goodwood Revival and mentioned that I have been a fan in the early 70s at Lydden , we had a great chat , he is missed by many as he bought so much happiness to his many fans , one of the true British racing legends
As a young boy I was fortunate enough to watch Gerry Marshall race a few times and to actually meet him at Thruxton once 🙂
Gerry and another Vauxhall, Big Bertha, were a iconic part of my motorsport viewing as a boy and the start my love of Vauxhall/Opel cars. 🙂👍🏻
It is said that Gerry Marshall was good enough to be an F1 driver except he didn't have the diminutive physique for a seat, hence why he concentrated on saloon cars.
One of the DTV mechanics lives next to my partners mum in Hayling island UK, I was chatting to him about the DTV team and Gerry Marshell when I was visiting last. Maybe he can shed some light on your can...
...if you can ask him if he knows, which model car did the additional upper front anti roll bar come off (connected to top A arms...)
So pleasing to see the Viva come back into exsistance .Looking forward to seeing more.
It is great to see this car in as good condition and hopefully will again take part in what will now be historic car racing! DTV had a Scottish base in the Perth branch of the SMT GROUP. It was overseen by the legendary Walter "Watty" Grey. They prepared both race and rally cars for DTV and also privateers! Big Gerry was a total Legend, he drove the socks off most of the cars he raced! Even with his weight acting as a handicap he still out classed the vast majority of his rivals!
Memories of the Sports Tune RS2000 V DTV Firenza V Ecurie Ecosse HSR Chevette.
I worked beside the Ecurie driver , John something or other, he had a very sublime turn of speed .
Absolutely brilliant. Please keep us updated as to its progress.
I owned a 1970 Viva GT in red with the black bonnet and orange side stripes. This would have been the mk11 version. It ran a lot of trick parts for the day including a 2.6 litre stroker engine which if I remember correctly came with lots of other tuning parts from a company named Magard engineering. Interesting about the Ford Axle as mine ran a Victor 101 axle fitted with an lsd. All the build info for the racing vauxhalls can be found in the Vauxhall Sportpart manual which is a big red folder with everything you need to know to build a DTV chevette but covers the Viva as well. Uk reg No was PRJ 3H and was written off
Thank you, many memories. The HB viva had double front wishbone and five link rear suspension which was ideal for tarmac. Front wishbones limited suspension travel for rough rallies though. The engines were moved rearwards as far as regs allowed sometimes only a few millimetres. The HB vivas apart from small engines had the slanted 1600 or 2000 engines the HC vivas had the slanted 1800 or 2300 engines. Blydenstein offered a stroker kit to make the 2300 to 2500. The Firenza and droop snoot were based on the HC floorpan. The 2300 engines could simply tuned 190 - 200 bhp but the twin cam would be 240+ bhp. Many used the modified Atlas rear axle as Fords were using them and offered various ratios but also disc brakes. The front bulkhead chassis legs, we called swan necks had to be strengthened as the front suspension was mounted to them, unlike those using macpherson struts. Many homologated Escorts had to use leaf rear suspension although today many have converted to five link rear suspension with coil over struts. After the Vivas and Firenzas Gerry had the Berthas. In rallying we then had the Chevette HS and HSR. As I say, thank you many memories.
The HB Viva was the GM competitor to the Escort but it did not fare at all well against them in rallying and rarely featured. Part of the problem also was that the 2.6ltr engine was both fragile unless meticulously run-in and overall the SOHC engine was heavy. It all changed when the Viva was pensioned off in favour of the Chevette.
@@clivewilliams3661 one has to remember Vauxhall motors and GM did not finance any motor sport development of Vauxhall cars, unlike the £millions Ford bank rolled the Escort. The Viva was built to compete with the Ford Anglia sales. Bill Blydenstein was a brilliant engineer and engine tuner with remarkable success in his own rights. Dealer team Vauxhall 1971 was set up by dealers in London and Bill Blydenstein with Chris Coburn ran a joint racing rally program. 1976 Chris dropped out so Bill ran both. It was not untill 1978 it concentrated on a rally program. The Vauxhall slant four engine was the first to have a belt driven overhead cam. When race built it gave great torque but was heavy. The design was used by Lotus. The Escort twin overhead cam and BDA engine was good but maintenance of engines was high due to reliability issues, these were the reasons they used a modified Kent engine for the World Cup rallies where there were restrictions with changing parts over the 15000 miles. Before Dealer Team Vauxhall started, the only help in late 60s early 70s from Vauxhall was they gave us details of the carburettor jet settings and ignition settings for different altitudes! Memories are great and I enjoyed my time competing in mainly Vauxhalls and meeting many great people. Winning was also brilliant as many modifications could not just be purchased but had to be designed in a home workshop. Homologation was a huge limiting factor, but where there was cash there were ways. Some manufacturers bought results, others earned them. Great times and very interesting with great characters, not the precious commodity they have become today.
@@Judith-c6r The HA Viva may have been a competitor to the Ford Anglia but the Anglia evolved into the Escort and the HA Viva into the HB Viva so that the HB/HC Vivas and Escort were direct competitors.
Back in 1972 we had a 1600 Firenza that was a dealer (Marshalls) demonstrator. It was somewhat of a handful, wanting to swap ends at the slightest provocation. Marshalls had actually reduced the tyre width on the front to induce a bit more understeer, remember this was a nearly new car so they saw it as a serious problem. We had it for about a year before my father cartwheeled it into a ditch on a stretch of road he knew intimately, he couldn't remember what caused the accident, maybe because it nearly killed him.
What a pearler of a car. General Motors Holden in Australia badge modelled these as the first generation of Torana. Good looking little cars these.
I bought one as my first car when I came to Aust from NZ in 78 HB Torana.
My Dad was a Vauxhall Dealer all his working life and drove DTV Magnum’s and Chevette’s
I remember spectating at Crystal Palace during this period, and I was involved as a helper on another front running Super Saloon team in the mid 70's racing against Marshall in DTV cars specifically Big Bertha and Baby Bertha. Great times, that allowed me as an ordinary enthusiast to get involved in Motor Racing in this great period and later in other classes.
Fantastic footage of a long gone golden era of what we in Oz call sedan racing, as opposed to saloon racing in the old Dart.
The Vauxhall Viva was sold here in Oz as a Holden Torana,at least until Holden developed what became the LC Torana, complete with a shoehorned inline ohv 6.
Here they raced in what was called Series Production, with the modified category called Improved Touring.
Seeing big V8's battling smaller 6,or 4 cylinder car's made for great racing, and great entertainment.
So much more interesting than what has become unaffordable and generic, homogeneous product.
Thanks for the great upload 😁👍
You've got the Muscle Car Masters though , which is fantastic. What Dart by the way , Dodge or Daimler?
@@barrycuda3769 Sorry for the confusion.
We in Australia sometimes call England the "old Dart".
We didn't have an equivalent Dodge Dart,the closest was Chrysler Australia's Valiant 2 door, which was sold in VF and VG series,'69-'71.
Hopefully this makes some sense to you 😁
@@nealenewton4193 Oh, I see , I'm not familiar with that dart thing in NZ . I actually used to own a Hemi Orange VG Valiant 2 door pacer hardtop, I bought it in Brisbane in 1988 , and brought it back to NZ .Actually those Valiant coupes /hardtops , were imported Dodge Dart bodies and were Australianized with the local Valiant front end panels , and appropriate RHD dash , steering box etc. But you probably knew that .🙂
XU1s were very handy littel beasts in Series Production and then later GpC
Improved Production had the Bob Jane Repco powered GTR and later Thommos Chev powered one plus a few 'normal' 6 ctyl ones with modded engines. Most became Sports Sedans
@@ldnwholesale8552 Bob Jane's Repco v8 Torana was featured in Australian Muscle Car magazine, it was obviously a very impressive race car, super lightweight, very powerful, with plenty of downforce . I've never seen a video of it racing . It would be a good topic for "The Roaring Season ".
Wow great video. My first car was a vauxhall viva. A car that gave me so much freedom and fun. Fond memories of the Viva, long gone but never forgotten.
I remember all this very well and the follow up car the V8 Droop Snoot Firenza by Blydenstein driven by Gerry Marshall . The series and cars did enormously well in popularising Vauxhalls even in Ford dominated sales areas like East London/Essex . The TJ ( Tecalamit Jackson) fuel injection system became a popular alternative to the Lucas Kugelfischer system introduced with the 60s BMW race cars .
I bought an HB 4dr Viva in NZ in 1983 & turned ut into a Brabham Viva, I broke a few gearbox output shafts but it was a damn fast little car. The one in the clip is unreal, I actually remember the clip.
It should be noted that Vauxhal was Avery old company that was destroyed by becoming part of GM
Thank you for a very interesting video. As a twenty year old I worked for Spurlings In Shorditch, London UK. A large Vauxhall dealer in 1970. I remember road testing A new Viva GT in Lamb Street Spittlefields & getting nicked for speeding in it. Many years later I painted the bonnet of my Land Rover Satin Black in tribute to the Viva GT.
The Viva’s were original Vauxhall HB Viva bodyshell, which was then heavily modified from the factory original 1159cc engine. The HB was my very first car, and having grown up in the 70’s in Luton with most of the family working at Vauxhall, I was a DTV fan :)
Great find for what is a very rare car these days. I had a Monaco Blue with black bonnet 1969 Viva GT when I was a GM apprentice from 1972-76 (Stag Lane, London, England factory where Frigidaire, AC Delco & Opel were based). My Dad worked there too so Vauxhalls were sort of in the blood. Watching Gerry Marshall race Viva's is what made me want to get one & of course I modified it with Blydenstein parts. It was a stretch on apprentice money but what else is money for when you are 17! That Crystal Palace race is legendary. David & Goliath stuff which is a far cry from the formula racing you see most the time these days.
My Rx2 back in 79 was welded at points similar to the Viva, obviously to add to its rigidity.
The HB viva was so close to being better than the escort in all forms it was prettier and drove better with coil over link at the back ,with the 2litre slant four it was there , I learnt all my early stuff on my mums HB two door,it’s only just come out of being 37 years in in my aunties garage to be sold and restored, cracking little cars.
I was nearly killed by John Pope at Silverstone in an open practice session when he spun that bloody Magnum turning on to the club straight and ended up coming towards me, bless his heart.
You dont know if you were "nearly killed" or not, you were simply just going to be in a crash, drama Queen. Cool car to vid OP
@markholroyde9412 So compared to Ray, what have you achieved in your life, besides making bitchy comments against people on UA-cam...? Not alot I would guess...🙄
@@markholroyde9412 Calm down Karen.
At 1.44 the chap with the suit and bald patch is Gordon Goddard who was my father in law. He was publicity manager at Shaw and Kilburn Vauxhall and set up the sponsorship and, as an ex lettering artist in the film industry, may have signwritten the cars. There was an article about running in the car in Motor Sport at the time. At Silverstone they put a helmet on him and sent him out to do a few laps. He enjoyed it mightily until Mrs Goddard told him he didn't
Lot of incorrect comments on here. My Dad worked for Blydensteins at Shepreth and was one of the 3 main mechanics for this car and the future cars until they changed to rallying. Spent many hours at the workshop as a child myself. Unfortunately my dad is no longer with us but he could have supplied more information. Gerry Johnstone the chief engineer is still going strong and has written a book so may be good to contact him.
Reminded me of my first car a light blue 1159cc HB Viva 2 door - marvellous little motor I still dream of today!
The great Gerry Marshall a very successful driver back then.You were much more likely to see Gerry in the Pub rather than the Gym,RIP GM
I remember watching motor racing on television in the 60s here in the UK. It seems as if a lot was shown on Saturday afternoons. A memorable race I saw on the box was Shaun Jackson in a Cobra in terrible weather just going past everyone. Defying belief in atrocious weather. But likewise going to circuits to see racing from vintage to historics to national to international was so easy then and walking around the pits was expected. I don’t bother these days because unless you are one of the favoured you are behind barriers.
From Aussie the Viva reminds me of our Torana sports Sedans we ran in the 70's n 80's mine being a 71 GTR😊
A great find. I hope you can do another video as the restoration progresses!
Probably your best ever video! Well done.
Great video :)
Great subject, looking forward to the rebuild. Subscribed :)
I bought an 052 Firenza axle from a chap called Paul Heritage,he had just sold the viva to a chap in new zealand,obviously the same car!
Great that the car survives on ,
I remember my mums first new car was a hb Torana white two door with red interior
Your car looks certainly very fast 👍👍🇦🇺
Great video! That racing looked sensational. Good luck with the re=build!
The old man had a mate who had that model Viva GT who was having trouble with it when visiting as it was running too rich. It had two big SUs hanging off the side of the engine and they couldn't get it running any better.
Nice to see a good interest in your car which should look good once again in the future . In my opinion the Viva G.T. and Droop Snoot Firenza are the best cars at that time and now. Tony Davies over here in England " Firenzaman " on youtube still races his Blydenstein Droop Snoot .... I met him recently at Cadwell Park. Good luck re-building this important race car.
Grandfather of the mighty SLR 5000 A9X 5.0 litre V8 Holden Torana.
I have few photos I found in my mums house. Not sure of the event but we lived in Luton and mum worked at the factory in the 60s/70s. 1:14
That bubble is from An holden Hq inner cuard.
I 'm guessing but I think One of those blanks in the Vivas history could have been when the Woolford twins from Hamilton owned it and built it into a gas class drag car . That could explain the roll cage and four link rear end mounts .The last time I spoke with them was 55 years ago ,but they'd had engine problems ,a Chev 427, and they possibly only raced it for a short time like that.
Awesome video and great find. Lydden is pronounced Lid en. Bill Dryden was tge main driver for the Edinburgh based SMT racing team, the Scottish branch of DTV essentially. The cars were never quite as fast as the DTV ones. Often running the cast off so from DTV. Often racing in a white livery.
The Bill Dryden cars were optimised for Ingliston ♥️ which had a very different nature from circuits south of the border.
Very cool!
Vauxhall as an English car maker goes back to 1903 - they only got bought out by GM in the mid 1920s. Even then they designed and built their own cars primarily for the UK and Commonwealth market.
You might get some missing information from an old racer from that era his name is Ivan Dutton and his Y/T channel is called Shed Racing get hold of you never know what he might remember.
Nothing wrong with Ivan's memory
Ivan's channel is fantastic!.
He's an interesting ol boy and has a wealth of knowledge
Gerry Marshall was the first touring car legend
He was certainly the biggest.
Brilliant!
Only here for the beer. Essential reading.
Excellent history telling of an important car.
But wouldn't the cars when raced in group 2 (1970 BSCC) be required to have a legitimate factory chassis plate/number?
They just had to comply with FIA Group 2 rules. Factory chassis tag wouldn't have been a requirement. Some of the cars competing during that era were former factory Trans-Am cars and they used 'bodies in white' plucked early off the assembly line
@@theroaringseason380 OK, thanks for that update.
When did they stop racing at Crystal Palace ? I didn’t even know that they used to race there , live and learn !
Stopped in 1972 or there abouts as I recall -the park is still a very popular destination for recreational leisure-Crystal Palace Park and what once was the track still exists as pathways around the perimeter of the grounds of the parkland but you can still make out the layout even today in small parts .but as pathways -In the 1970s an outdoor stadium running track and indoor swimming pool and sports complex was built and exists today . it was built for international and national Athletics and residential housing athletes . A lot of renovation has taken place since then throughout the years keeping the historical context of the actual parks place in history for what was the exhibition of the building in 1851 which was the Crystal Palace moved from Hyde Park. You can still see some of the imprints of the old racing advertisement in stone work Shell and Dunlop etc in the concrete walls as a reminder of the racing past .They used the location for some filming for the F1 James Hunt/ Niki Lauda film ‘Rush’ .
@@bluesteel6612 , thanks for your info 👏
I have that piece that was cut away
ofcouse the LC toranas shared alot of the stampings even the doors
Dtv workshop was in banbury in the early 70s
racing was so much better back then for all are so called progress we have gone backwards in terms of excitement for the spectator
Gerry Marshall was a legend, i saw him race many times in the early 70's. i think he had 623 wins in his career.
Awsome video dude..
Why do kiwis get e and I mixed up ? Foriver? Gineral? Ripeared?
Very curious
The wheel housings were made by me to cheat the rules to allow a larger tyre.
Blydenstein - STINE, not STEEN.
The. HC Firenza body shell was significantly stiffer than the 2 door HB but nowhere near as pretty
For the most part shell prep on the old racers wasn't that pretty. No point spending days on a disposable commodity. They look great from a distance of the width of a track
this car maybe shaw & kilborn cars pre date dtv
"Lydden Hill" is pronounced "Lidden" (as in "hidden") Hill!!
ua-cam.com/video/HN-T8q4c_zk/v-deo.htmlsi=0OToPjC19ew4dY0G
"Vintage G &T" - Gerry Marshall and Tony Lanfranchi racing saloons in the 1980s.
Yikes not the dreaded VAUXHALL VIVA. By far the most horrendous car I ever had the misfortune to drive in the 1970s
When did racing car's become race car's, more American slang,
It's crept in gradually since the Tim Birkin era , I think.
Good racing - guy talks too much - just show the racing and talk over the video, don't cut away to your mug talking.
Great video… thank you…
Most viva Hb GT went too Australia for police AUSSYS got twin round headlights I'd a bright orange GT with lotus twin cam cam top end twin 40s Webber's with big trumpets meshed at ends stop crap sucked in also fitted 5 speed zf dogleg gear 1st gears where 2nd gear usually is reverse above LSD from DTV car I'd satin black bonnet had 4 sets wheels I'd banded Vauxhall/Opel rostyles front was 7x13 and the rear was 8.5x13 I had chromed I enameled black insert bit 225/60/13 rears 205/60/13 Firestone Firehawk 660s raised white letters HB NICEST LOOKING STANDARD VIVA NICER THAN. OPEL KADETT A SERIES there was more HB-GTs sent to Australia than sold in UK. I swapped mine for genuine OPEL MANTA 400ti 2.4wide boxed bodykit similar too Vauxhall's chevette HSR built a MANSCONA USED MANTA B SERIES COUPE 1st one Fitted OPEL ASCONA FRONT END 1/4 bumpers with 4 CIBIE super Oscars square reg baked bean orange and400 rear manta kit front was ASCONA 400 had centaur cavalier conversion similar to triumphs stag ASCONA fronted cavalier sportshatch ASCONA front crazy money now I bought Opel manta gte 4months MOT /tax 2 door in 1989 R reg for £30