Vauxhall Ventora FD

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By the late 1960s everyone had to offer a large car in their range, Ford and Vauxhall (as part of GM) opting to use American styling cues, whilst the true Brits turned to European styling houses for inspiration.

Vauxhall had concentrated on the large car market from the end of hostilities in 1945, dropping the clever pre-war chassis-less 10hp soon after to concentrate on higher margin products. The Velox and Cresta were big and expensive and so the firm decided to offer a slightly smaller option in the form of the Victor. These were made in various guises from 1957 until 1976 when the model range was replaced by the Opel designed Carlton.

The FD series Victors were shown to the public for the first time in 1967 and ran until they were “squared off” post-1972. These models, especially the sporty VX4/90 and the top of the range Ventora had very clean and attractive lines. The Ventora used the well-tried 3.3-litre 123bhp 6-cylinder engine from the Cresta – usually with the GM Powerglide 3-speed automatic box but a manual with overdrive was also available although few were specified this way.

Good for 100mph and 0-60mph in 11.8 seconds, “luxuries” included a vinyl roof, a rev counter and bucket seats which reclined. Initially costing £1,102 including purchase tax, its attractive price, big smooth engine and sophisticated looks were well appreciated with around 7,300 finding buyers during its short production life.

This rare survivor is one of the last of the FD series and was ordered with the manual gearbox with overdrive. Purchased by the vendor several years ago through his local undertakers, it came with very little in the way of paperwork as is so often the case in these circumstances. It has had four previous owners and an MOT shows that in 2003 it had covered 59,000 miles. The odometer has crept up to just 60,500 today showing how little use it has had over the last 12 years.

MOTd until the end of May this year, it drives remarkably well for an early ‘70s Vauxhall and is one of just 34 Ventoras left registered on the DVLA database according to the website ‘How Many Left’.

These late square-fronted Vauxhalls have more than a touch of the '70s Chevrolet Chevelle in their styling – which can only be a good thing in our book.