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May 11, 2006 10:45:05 GMT
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Fascinating stuff. I don't really need to know any of this, but I'll probably remember it forever now and it makes me happy to know I'm not the only one.
Perhaps in 30-40 years' time we'll all be in an automotive care home spouting off these stories to each other with great historical accuracy but unable to make a cup of tea, tie laces, remember what day it is etc.
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May 11, 2006 10:48:17 GMT
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Thank you Alistark,
much appreciated,
I too am fascinated about motoring history such as this
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May 11, 2006 11:10:47 GMT
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I was? an obsessive about Vauxhall for a while. I nearly bought a factory built special one-off FD Ventora a while ago. One of two or three believed to have been built (more about the numbers later). These are reffered to as the "Styling Department Cars" as thats where they were built, although they were actually done for executives in the company at the time. Their main features are colour matched vinyl roof, colour matched leather interior, special tuned 3.3 engine, unique alloys (they were a prototype alloy for the HC Firenza but never introduced into production) The other Styling department cars may have had different alloys to the one I know of. Luxury features such as power sunroof, PAS, electric windows, real walnut trim, etc. not seen on production cars were fitted. The unique alloys can be seen fitted to a pre-production Firenza on the very first edition brochure. Later Firenza/Viva brochures feature a production car on the "correct" wheels.
The known survivor is a pale metallic green, not a Vauxhall production colour, and was used originally by (IIRC) eiitheer the Marketting Director or the Head of Vehicle Styling.
There was a second car built, everybody agrees on that, but opinion is so divided on what colour it was that in my eyes that must mean three cars were done. One car was apparently fiished in a blush rouge metallic (thats pink to you and me) and I was told by an elderly Vauxhall employee that this car was delivered to the wife of one of the board. The third car (and the one most people agree was built as it was done at the same time as the green one) was in blue, probably metallic, possibly a darker shade. No idea who this car was built for.
The most tantilising thing is I met someone who claimed to have seen it gathering dust in an old guy's garage somewhere in Milton Keynes area. No idea about the factuality of this claim. I tried to raise interest in the club at the time about finding the car but this just provoked an arguement about what colour the second car really was and so forth....
I have also heard a story that the "Department S" TV show Ventora is stashed away in a private garage in Luton. Maybe....
The "Randal & Hopkirk (Deceased)" TV show FD Victor is known to have been scrapped in the late 1970s. Although interestingly 6 different cars were actually supplied by the Vauxhall publicity department to work on that show.
Anyway thats about all the Vauxhall FD trivia I have for now.
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Last Edit: May 11, 2006 11:14:36 GMT by akku
1937 Austin Street Rod - 1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1976 Rover V8 - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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May 11, 2006 13:12:20 GMT
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great idea alisairk, i fancy a 350 /tremec combo for the carlton wagon.it will go in using holden vk commadore engine mounts, unfortunatly I'm several grand short ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/wink.png) *cough* better yet, get VL Commodore RBengine mounts and put in an RB20DET, or RB25DET.
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Skyline: 1963 - 1973 - 1983 Sunny: 1982 450SLC: 1973 Navara: 1992 Gloria: 1992
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May 11, 2006 20:02:28 GMT
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tell me more about this beasty kyteler, never heard of a nissan powered holden before?
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"quote hairnet"
I'm not paying nine pound for a pi$$!
[/quote]
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bryn
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Posts: 3,913
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'Styling Department' - Is that like Jason King meets UFO? That'd be ace, again thanks for the wealth of knowledge, it must be good to off load once in a while. ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png)
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Volvo, Buggy, Discovery and an old tractor.
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Saru
Part of things
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No Brand Loyalty
Posts: 460
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tell me more about this beasty kyteler, never heard of a nissan powered holden before? Twas the VL series. I'm not 100% sure why they used the Nissan engines. Twas around the time of our leaded/unleaded change over so that could be it. ![:-/](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/undecided.png)
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1974 Saab 99 EMSI bought a new car. It's 35 years old. My friends said I was mad. We'll see.
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The "Randal & Hopkirk (Deceased)" TV show FD Victor is known to have been scrapped in the late 1970s. Although interestingly 6 different cars were actually supplied by the Vauxhall publicity department to work on that show. Anyway thats about all the Vauxhall FD trivia I have for now. The Randal & Hopkirk car allegedly ended its life in a scrap-yard in Llansamlet, about 15 miles away from where I live.
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1953 Minor (Long term project) PT Cruiser
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As the man said, VL Commodore, the one after the VK basically the asme shape, with a different nose and a slight flick to the ![](http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/underwire/2009/11/fox_60.jpg) end, otherwise it's pretty much identical. Instead of using the old Holden 6, they replaced it with the more fuel efficient Nissan engine. I would assume because the Holden 6 had been in use since the 60's ish, in "Grey" form, from Grey to Red to Blue to Black, to Nissan RB! It was their best engine yet. There's a VL 2.0 and a VL 3.0 in the shed at the moment, I could probably suss you out something from here or someone from Aus could for buggerall because they're nothing cars really, old Commodores are common and boring and a dime a dozen. Don't get me wrong, I owned a VK with a 3.3, 350 Holley carb, 5spd etc. It was great as destroying fuel but, that's really about it. I wouldn't mind another but I'd put an RB or a 350 Chev in one if I got it. There's a picture on zep's Summernats thread of a VL with RB, I'll have a flick back through to find it for you. ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/wink.png)
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Skyline: 1963 - 1973 - 1983 Sunny: 1982 450SLC: 1973 Navara: 1992 Gloria: 1992
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VL, but with a V8, obviously ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/wink.png) ![](http://www.oldschool.co.nz/images/leon/Summernats06/DSCN0886.JPG) VL, with Nissan RB30ET, not a factory turbo size. ![](http://www.oldschool.co.nz/images/leon/Summernats06/DSCN0875.JPG)
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Skyline: 1963 - 1973 - 1983 Sunny: 1982 450SLC: 1973 Navara: 1992 Gloria: 1992
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tell me more about this beasty kyteler, never heard of a nissan powered holden before? In 1980's Oz I think the government did a lot of meddling with their car industry, "Button Plan" IIRC, and they dicated who could build what. As a result you find all sorts of weird cross-breeds and rebadged models - Nissan sold a grim-looking version of the Ford Ute of the time, with a 4.1 straight-six. Don't know if that's why GM had to use the Nissan RB engine, or whether it just suited local conditions better than anything similar GM produced elsewhere.
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May 12, 2006 18:50:57 GMT
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The "Randal & Hopkirk (Deceased)" TV show FD Victor is known to have been scrapped in the late 1970s. Although interestingly 6 different cars were actually supplied by the Vauxhall publicity department to work on that show. Anyway thats about all the Vauxhall FD trivia I have for now. The Randal & Hopkirk car allegedly ended its life in a scrap-yard in Llansamlet, about 15 miles away from where I live. I knew it was Wales but wasn't sure exactly where.
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1937 Austin Street Rod - 1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1976 Rover V8 - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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mercmad
Posted a lot
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Posts: 1,740
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May 13, 2006 14:55:12 GMT
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Yep, stick a Rover V8 in, they are cheep, everywhere and I believe easy to mount in because the vauxhall 4cyl was 'half' a buick V8 so to speak, yes? I am not so sure about that.I think you will find it was half a proposed OHC Vuaxhall V8, that was never built. In Oz the solution would be a Nissan Six with Turbo,Cheap as chips and most are sold ex Japan with the half cut from the donor car.
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Many years ago I changed my driving style to cope with rising fuel prices; I have now reached the stage where I am contemplating keeping my eyes shut in order to lower wind resistance.
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mercmad
Posted a lot
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Flush Hard,it's a long way to McDonalds.
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May 13, 2006 15:14:07 GMT
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tell me more about this beasty kyteler, never heard of a nissan powered holden before? Twas the VL series. I'm not 100% sure why they used the Nissan engines. Twas around the time of our leaded/unleaded change over so that could be it. ![:-/](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/undecided.png) I bought a new VK Group A ( Brock) in 1984 with the Group 3 roller rocker engine and Aussie four speed ( ugh!!!) ,when the VL came out the local dealer had one of the Turbo Brock cars on the showroom floor,with the Brock ioniser device and The whole deal made my car feel just what is was ...a mechanical dinosaur.... The turbo VL was a smoother running car than mine and probably faster if the truth be known .The nissan Six was a stop gap engine because Holden's ancient 'black' motor was seriously underpowered when asked to run powersteer and aircon and cope with an Auto trans on top of that. The V6 was still being developed in the early 80's and wasn't ready . Today the VL Turbo six is hugely popular with younger retro enthusiasts who veiw it as an old car with lots of tuning potential.Plus our laws are designed to prevent the hotting up of cars, so if you have a Nissan Powered car, the world is your RB30DET powered oyster. Swapping in a "standard " engine is seen as just a simple repower.... ![::)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/eyesroll.png) ![](http://thrashcar.com/articles/data/116/IM000171.JPG) ![](http://thrashcar.com/articles/data/116/DCP_0007.JPG) ![](http://thrashcar.com/articles/data/116/DCP_0046.JPG)
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Last Edit: May 13, 2006 15:18:02 GMT by mercmad
Many years ago I changed my driving style to cope with rising fuel prices; I have now reached the stage where I am contemplating keeping my eyes shut in order to lower wind resistance.
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