Vauxhall Viva HA

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Launched in 1963, the Vauxhall Viva entered the highly competitive small-to-medium sector of the motor industry, set against the likes of the Mini and the BMC 1100 series as well as the well-established Ford Anglia and Morris Minor.

It even faced competition from its General Motors sister company Opel in Germany, with their ‘Kadet’ which had been launched the year before. The first variant, the HA, was Vauxhall's first serious step into the compact car market after the Second World War. The simple slim clean lines of the Viva were in stark contrast to the rather bulbous shapes of the previous decade and the design was considered quite modern compared to its contemporaries.

A simple self-contained unitary front steering and suspension system was used featuring a double wishbone arrangement with vertical telescopic dampers, in combination with a transverse leaf spring. At the rear things were more conventional, with conventional longitudinal semi-elliptic leaf springs and telescopic dampers. Despite this neat arrangement, the Viva did however suffer from some handling and stability problems.

The HA Viva was powered by a 44bhp 1,057cc overhead valve, four-cylinder, front-mounted engine driving via a 4-speed manual all-synchromesh gearbox to the rear wheels. Just two body styles were available initially, Standard and Deluxe versions, identifiable by their simple horizontal slatted metal grills, however Bedford used the basic structure of the Viva HA to create a light commercial van. By 1965 amore luxurious SL (Super Luxury) variant appeared, together with an enhanced-performance version, the 54bhp Viva 90.

Over 100,000 HA Vivas were built during its first ten months of production and by 1966 the HA had achieved a total of over 306,000 sales. As with many British cars of the period, the Viva did have some corrosion issues, particularly in the boot and rear floor areas, and many didn’t stand the test of time so Viva HAs are relatively rare today.

This nicely presented first series Viva was first registered in June 1964 and was purchased for the Stondon Collection in 1986 with the odometer reading some 16,000 miles. It is unclear whether this was the correct mileage at the time, its 16 old MOTs on file showing that a further 18,000 miles have been added over the last 28 years. Last on the road in 2006, it comes with several Viva Club newsletters, some photocopied articles, an old style V5 and a current V5C.