The Vauxhall FEThe Vauxhall FEThere's one British car which I have always liked, always been crazy about owning. It's not a Jaguar, or Austin, or MG. It's not even a Mini.
It's the Vauxhall Victor. Not even the classic F-Type, or the art-deco FB, or the coke-bottle styled FD, but the last of the line, obscure, forgotten, FE series.
Why? Why this strange and forgotten repmobile? It isn't even as offensively bad as an Austin Allegro, which has a strong following because it was so dire¹. It was a competent, slightly expensive and large Cortina rival that should have been pitched against the Granada, but was killed off by rust, banger racers, frankly light years ahead European cars, and changing fashions.
The FE series Victor was released in 1972, replacing the FD series
(left) Victor
that ran from 1968-72, and carrying over the performance VX4/90 model - the best
known variant - and the strangely misplaced Ventora, which wasn't quite scary
enough to be a performance car, and wasn't refined enough to be a luxury car.
Most people recall the FE as the Transcontinental - referring to the British
engineering, and pseudo American styling.
The main model range was powered by 1.8 and 2.3 versions of Vauxhall's slant-four OHC engine, which is also the basis for the Lotus Esprit engine, the Jensen-Healey, and the twin-cam Chevette HS/R engines. The most notable styling feature on the FE, apart from the lack of styling in the 70s sense and an actually very clean and modern profile, was the pointed grille and a return of the Vauxhall 'flutes' on the bonnet. The FE was the last car Vauxhall designed and built themselves, all subsequent cars being developments of Opel models. I've recently found out the nefarious Germans had already had a small influence on the FE - the floorpan from the bulkhead rearwards is Opel Rekord B.
The facts on this page are thin. Why? Because there's very little information available about Vauxhall's 1970s cars, mainly because General Motors don't like reminding the British that Vauxhall is merely a badge on a German car now, and partly because no-one really knows what this model of Victor is - usually thinking of the older cars. No doubt as I continue to work on this site, more information will appear.
We already know the FE was released in 1972. Back then, it came as a saloon,
or a very stylish estate which predated the Audi Avant's sloping rear - still,
hey-ho, I'm not one to grudge Audi their kudos for thinking of an estate car
with a sloping back. As I've said before, it had 1.8 and 2.3 four cylinder
engines, and a couple of trim levels which barely brushed the standards modern
cars have as basic. This elegant green Victor 3300SL estate belongs to Marko Patsikka
- he has his own website (see the links page). It's a rare car, as less than 700
were built!
The VX4/90 carried a performance heritage from the FB Victor, where 90bhp meant something, even though this final version had 123bhp, it still barely touched 100mph. The final, rarest version was the Ventora, which (barely) carried the 3.3 litre straight six engine from the upmarket Cresta - which was dropped in 1972 because the FE matched it for size and was essentially competing. As it was, the Suez crisis would have killed off the Cresta/Viscount models anyway, as surely as it has probably contributed to the rarity of FE Ventoras - given the FD Automatic model returned 18mpg, I doubt the FE does much better - hardly welcome during petrol rationing!
Another casualty
of petrol rationing was the V8 Ventora. The slant four engine used in Vauxhalls
from the HB Viva to the VX was actually half a V8 - even a diesel version was
planned - and this was to power a Vauxhall equivalent of the Rover 3500S, or the
Opel Diplomat.
The is the FE 'Viscount' - a stretched version of the FE produced as a design study
by Vauxhall and Panther Cars Ltd that is still floating around the VX4/90 Drivers Club somewhere, having been
badged Viscount by a later owner (it was originally intended to be badged as a 2800S, or
something like that, but was never formally named) as well as being painted white - as was acceptable in the
80s. Compare this to the standard FE - quite an attractive car by anyone's
standards!
In 1976, the Victor name was killed off and the Ventora - one of Vauxhall's
shortest lived models - also disappeared, to be replaced in spirit by the German
built Royale and even shorter lived Viceroy (the last of the 'white-cross'
Vauxhalls, named because the performance models feature a white cross on the
grille - duh!). These were truly Opel Rekord/Senators, the only changes being
to badging - the
Royale coupe being an Opel Monza. The FE body was remarketed as the VX1800 and
2300, the 4/90 being replaced by the 2300GLS - a car which offered a true
advance over the previous model in that it had a five-speed gearbox with dog-leg
first, as well as much improved interior trim. The VX is a much better car than
a Victor, with a remarkable investment being involved to update the car (some
would say, debug the car, the original FE being launched in a bit of a rush). 1978 saw the Mk 1 Cavalier
first released to the UK in 1976 (yes,
an Opel again - this time the Ascona with a Manta-style nose) take over from the
smaller engined FEs, and the range was gone for good. In some ways, the FE
Vauxhall really was the last car to show any degree of freedom for the designers
and manufacturers - General Motors had already got Australia pinned down firmly,
keeping the styling within corporate guidelines despite the substantial changes
to the chassis, and cars like the Chevette/Kadette served in 'local markets'
with minimal changes - from Germany, to Colombia, the evidence of the General's
cost cutting was right there, in an inoffensive saloon car. Ford may have made a
big fuss about the Mondeo/Contour being a 'world car', but the Chevette and FWD
Cavalier (GM J-body) passed off the trick far more convincingly, and with each
local market being led to believe that this was their baby. I still don't know
who was initially responsible for the J-body, since it formed the basis of many
USA cars including the Cadillac Cimarron, as well as our own Cavalier and the
German Ascona.
It seems that unlike Britain, the Indians know a good car when they see it. Having been suffering the 1950s Morris Oxford in Hindustan Ambassador guise since they first started making cars, General Motors decided it was time to get a foot in the door in this emerging marketplace, and so the still fairly modern FE range was transplanted to India. Marketed as the Hindustan Contessa, the last models made in 1999 featured modern Isuzu (another General Motors subsidiary) engines, air conditioning and electric windows - and apart from larger bumpers, look identical to those final VX1800 models. Production may have ended sooner, but Hindustan ceased marketing the car in December 1999, having formed a new alliance with Mitsubishi (which will have pleased the General no end, as Mitsu are best friends with DaimlerChrysler) and marketing the Lancer - costing twice as much - in India.
No plans are in place to import panels from Hindustan, something which will irk FE restorers everywhere. Both of us. And yet some nutcases imported the Ambassador in the early 90s... what were they thinking?
General Motors' presence is maintained by Maruti, making the previous generation Suzuki Alto and SJ vehicles. Bah!
And now, for some further information on the FE series - I'll be adding sections as I find out more, and perhaps this will become the only site to actually have detailed info on the FE!
¹ I don't consider the Allegro to be a dire car, though the build quality was awful. However, I'm sure just as many people like them because it was the focus of many jokes in the 70s and 80s, as appreciate the car for the original design concept (before BL wrecked it, at least).