1975 HC Viva

[HCviva]

Hi guys, first time posting here Thought I'd show you my Vauxhall Viva. It's a 1256cc 4 door original County Down car purchased from a dealership in Newtownards in October 1975.

I bought it as my first car when I was 14. Will have had her 10 years on boxing day. Underwent some restoration over a few years and went onto the road when I passed my test in 2017. Daily drove it for almost a year and a half absolutely everywhere until I started a new job which was going to rack up too many miles.

Pictured coming home from Kilbroney June 2022

 

[Rocko]

Fantastic!

 

[m00k]

Very tidy example… not many about

 

[WSK]

Cracking little motor.

 

[FM155]

Mega rare now, always liked the shape of them. My dad had one as a company / family car which was probably '74 to '77 or so. I remember changing the water pump on it (no idea why, because it was a company car, usually because it hadn't been done right at the dealership) with him telling me which bolts to undo etc. Edit to say I would have been around 9 or 10 at this point lol. Ours was a 4 door also but a dark green.

 

[seanmooney]

Lethal.. looks beautiful

 

[southsky sunrise]

That’s lovely

 

[NickR]

Love that. Welcome to RMS too.

 

[carmad.]

hope to see you about this year mate

 

[HCviva]

Thanks all for the warm welcome and comments on the car

hope to see you about this year mate

Hope so too. Haven't had the Viva out much this year unfortunately. Planning on getting her sorted out again over the winter so she is ready come April or May

 

[HCviva]

Mega rare now, always liked the shape of them. My dad had one as a company / family car which was probably '74 to '77 or so. I remember changing the water pump on it (no idea why, because it was a company car, usually because it hadn't been done right at the dealership) with him telling me which bolts to undo etc. Edit to say I would have been around 9 or 10 at this point lol. Ours was a 4 door also but a dark green.

The original engine was leaking a lot of oil. Lying up for 20 years a lot of seals had dried out, cracked or perished. About 6 months into daily driving I swapped the engine out with a rebuilt 1256 from a chevette. Brand new water pump gave up after a few months coming home from a wedding in Enniskillen at 2am. Got the length of Portadown and she gave out with a bang. That turned into an interesting night.....

Got her home a few days later and stuck the old water pump from the original engine on as a "short term fix" to get me going again. That was 5 years ago......

I'm just glad it went when it did and not two weeks earlier when I was driving around Athlone

 

[purplea4T]

Love the shape of the Viva - you can see where GM Europe where looking to at the time, far nicer than anything Ford were pumping out. My oil boy inherited a bronze coloured one from his dad and hated it. Ended up getting blown up!

 

[HCviva]

Some photos of the car in original guise.

So yeah the story goes I heard about this car called a Vauxhall Viva in a neighbours shed about 2 miles away. I was 14 and didn't even know what a Viva looked like but I took a notion and hopped on my bike to go see it. This was about August time so off school for the holidays. Neighbour was an elderly man perhaps late 70's then and he was more than happy to show me the car, let me sit in it, ask silly questions etc. He had worked with the original owner who drove the car from 1975 but in 1996 he lost his licence, Dr took it off him as he was getting too old to drive which forced the sale. He bought it off the original owner in 1996, parked it in the corner of the shed and it never moved until l I came along in 2014. 1996 tax disc was still in the windscreen too!

The price was £650. Unfortunately I hadn't £650 but was doing a bit of weekend work on a neighbouring farm so onto my bike and away to earn ££

Early December rolled round and I was contacted by the neighbour to tell me someone had come down from Belfast to see the Viva and offered him £500. I was gutted thinking I had missed out only for him to tell me he turned the offer down. When he told his wife of the £500 offer she said he may as well sell it to me for £500 so I have her to thank !

Collected boxing day much to my delight. I originally thought it was a 26,000 mile car. Apparently the original owner didn't go far in it. There was a lot of stuff in the glovebox and boot and I found a small diary full of dates and mileages. It quickly became clear it had 126,000 on it and had rolled round the clock although this didn't bother me one bit.

Top of the list was get it running and take her for a spin. Also decided Rostyles would look far nicer so I set about sourcing a set of them

 

[cormac81]

Brilliant. Love seeing local classic cars still on the road.

 

[HCviva]

Santa was good this year. Set of Allycats for the other viva project I have. A 2 door rolling shell getting mx5 running gear

 

[carmad.]

Santa was good this year. Set of Allycats for the other viva project I have. A 2 door rolling shell getting mx5 running gear
View attachment 420535

we need to see the other project 2

 

[mikey]

Just noticed this! Awesome. My dad had a 2300 Magnum that was GIJ 1255. Think my uncle has a Viva engine lying up in the lofts somewhere.
What was insurance like on the car as a first time driver? Would you get quotes from all the regular big names or did you have to go specialist?!

 

[HCviva]

Just noticed this! Awesome. My dad had a 2300 Magnum that was GIJ 1255. Think my uncle has a Viva engine lying up in the lofts somewhere.
What was insurance like on the car as a first time driver? Would you get quotes from all the regular big names or did you have to go specialist?!

Insurance was a funny one. I contacted a few in January 2017. The best I got was with Adrian Flux at about £1200. When I got the car on the road in June I I called them and they said sorry can't cover you because you're 17. When I reminded them that they quoted me in January they changed their tune and insured me for £1200???

 

[vw1500]

What sort of policy did flux give you? Is it an every day classic policy that doesn’t earn no claims?
Seriously cool first car, love the rostyles

 

[HCviva]

What sort of policy did flux give you? Is it an every day classic policy that doesn’t earn no claims?
Seriously cool first car, love the rostyles

They just gave me a standard policy limited to 5,000 miles which worked ok because I was still in 6th form and took the bus to school most days. Only really needed the car on nights and weekends. I did earn NCB because it technically wasn't a classic car insurance policy due to me being too young to qualify for one.

Some companies start classic insurance policies at 21 and some at 25. I've had the Viva with a few different companies over the last 7 years years just depending on price. Adrian Flux, Lancaster, and now on an Admiral Multi Car Policy with my Rover 620Ti and super exciting daily, a diesel Mondeo

Did have it insured with a crowd in England called HIC for a year as I won a competition they were running, but they weren't competitive enough the next year when it came to requote.

Thanks about the Rostyles, I always liked them on the Viva thought they suited really well. Got them off a guy in Dundrum cheap, the silver and black on them was painted the wrong way round when i got them but ran them like that for 3 years until they got really tatty. Resprayed them during lockdown 2020. It's amazing what a set of good tidy wheels can do to the look of a car.

 

[FM155]

Rover 620Ti

 

[vw1500]

My thoughts too!! We need pics, fantastic cars that were underadvertised and forgotten as too much competition for BMW

 

[FM155]

It's an itch I've always wanted to scratch as I have form for BL tat. There's also a tenuous link to Tony Ponds IOM TT record runs in the 820 Vitesse. I did a lap of the TT course in my MG Montego around midnight when we were there on holiday in 1996, only gave it beans on the mountain section but was great craic.

 

[HCviva]

It's an itch I've always wanted to scratch as I have form for BL tat. There's also a tenuous link to Tony Ponds IOM TT record runs in the 820 Vitesse. I did a lap of the TT course in my MG Montego around midnight when we were there on holiday in 1996, only gave it beans on the mountain section but was great craic.

Dare I mention the Montego Turbo sitting in the shed beside the 600.............

 

[FM155]

Class! I had monty turbo brakes and anti roll bars in a modified maestro in the mid 90s. They handled pretty well, not surprising because the layout had been very much copied from a mk1 golf. The early 1.3 and 1.6 cars had golf gearboxes too.

What's the plans for the monty?