I'
Always an aristocrat
NOW THE NEWEST
AND FINEST
OF THE LINE
TT is big news when a car comes out with a specification written by the car-owning public all over the world. It is even bigger news' when the new model is a replacement of a range that sold nearly 400,000 in four and a half years.
And that sums up the introduction last month of the new Vauxhall Victor, a car that has a brilliantly different approach to styling, struc- ture, and space.
I have been to mid-Wales for three days, testing this new 1- re-dour saloon, in company with Yorkshire-born Di Swal- low, the recently appointed boss
of Vauxhally.
Mr Swallow said; "The old Vietors have had a pretty good Iun. The time has come for something new,
"Our Jatest car has been based on reports from owners and dealers in every part of suc large-selling empire. I hope you have liked it.”
INSPIRED
Or
I liked . All room, COUTSL fussiness has disappeared in one inspired swoop. All the sharp edges and protuberances are absent
The car Is transforined.
now elegantly
Three years of hard work in research, and the production of
more than 50 protolypes, have For the mechanically minded Hiven the cur a clean, crisp, let me first say that the 1,508.0. functional appearance that I engine the well-known over- could not fault.
by BASIL CARDEW
THE MOST CLOSELY FOLLOW- ED MOTORING WRITER IN BIUTAIN TODAY MAKES HIS ESTIMATE
PEIONALLY
TESTEN, OF COURSE — OF A BIG NEWCOMER WITH A BIG NAME,
moru
THE FIRST VAUXHALL 1903
IMPERIAL LIMOUSINE 1908
PRINCE HEN
PRINCETOWN TOURER 1925
30 I found that the
engine
now makes fewer revolutions per mile, as the axle ratio has been changed from 4.12 to 1 to 3.0 to 1.
And the frontal area of the car is now one square foot less than that of the old model. which really helps the car to get along.
Optional at extra cost on all
CADET 1932
A CIGARETTE-CARD HISTORY OF A GREAT MARQUE
Vouxhalls oro voterans: they've been with us through all the agos of the motor-car, through all the shapes and silhouettes, through all the roof-on, roof-off phosos...
the new Victors is a four-speed a horn ring, an extra sun visor, georbox, controlled by a short, front armrests, and more car- handy, floor-mounted lever,
This gearbox hus a synchro- mesh on all four forward speeds the first, I think, ever on a
The engine is a good deal populur-prived British car.
and lighter
there pluminium in it.
HELP
pels.
SEATS
This comes at the same price as the old model. But if you pay a lttle more you can have in dividual front seats instead of the bench type.
a
this
14 H.P. 'SALOON 1939
Now what new has gone into tive, corrosion-resisting mater
brilliant
1002 jals. So there array of
is no worry of British challengers to the world rusting. market?
Here are some examples:→→→ Vauxhalls have made a major break throughs In methods to of routine reduce the amount maintenance. The car has only four grensing points in nll.
GREASING
And
the makers claim that
Other fascinating characterise tics of the new car Involve its shape, styling, and size.
}
They had suitcases, of course, and they found that the Victor had a voluminous boot the biggest available in any car of its cings, with more than 21 guble feet of space.
And safety measures aro abundant on the new Victors visibility is helped by, thin body pillars; there is a safety glass "one" Just in front of the driver; and other points which struck me included: built-in safety belt Axing mounts; windscreen wipers that cover on area two-thirds greater than before; and anti-burst devices in the special locks on all doors.
The doors are also "child-
Standing back and taking a good critical look at It, it struck proof."
that the line of the new me Victor is now lower, wide, and 1 found Control
of the car long. From the low roof line, the caster, with better pedal, dash silhouette drops gently at the board, and switch layout; front to a sloping bonnet that ends in a wide, simple grille into which the headlamps are merged.
There is much more head- Inore hip and shoulder
Standard equipment is the room, and the doors were wider.
three-speed all synchromesh So the Victor had plenty There new Victors, in fact,
of transmission with steering col- have more headroom and more timely roads
arge and we cruised or those unn change, and a much-im- of mid-Wales al proved control mechanism. On total leg room than any cars an effortless 65 miles an hour, test I found, of course, that in their priec class.
Four and when the road was straight the four-speed version was more people can really spread out; 1 touched 80 with, I am sure, exclung to handle.
3. Victor do luxe. This is the Ove or six can travel in com- something to spurs. And it is
queen of the Victor range. fort.
Actually quieter than the old car.
there are four new cars in the range and a hush- They are producing in
rich choice of colours and there hush lifth. They are:-
and in- It will take only five minutes is leather upholstery I. Victor Standard, identical dividual front seats.
a year for them to be greased, with the other models, minus a Stl on the technical trend. I fow luxury
Only two greasing points are fouches, and its The price of the de luxe mo- found petrol consumption price remains the same.
del £22
n the ball joints of the near- and the more, but now a than the old model: it was an inervure
But on my tests I found that around 30 to 35 miles to the
beater and screen washers are side front suspension unit, and in the compression gallon, which 1in wider outside, and 21⁄2in ratio froin 7.8 to 1 to 8 to 1 and for a car of this size.
was pretty good
2. Victor Super. little more
two Included in the basic price.
on the offside unit. They pleasantly doffed up on the out-
will need attention only every wider inside.
a redesigned Inlet manifold put
side, with some extra touches
4. Victor Estate Car, which 12,000 miles, or once a year. Jus! as the fussiness has within to comfort_convenience, combines 45 cubic feet of goods- Beer faken uut of the body, and appearance. These Include carrying capacity with the first that the recommended interval Another time saver is the fact class styling and functional between normal routine jobs, motoring qualities of the saloons. like engine oll changes, has extended from 2,000 to miles (or afier three
square engine is basically unchanged. that
Before my tests I noted the new Victor was 51⁄2 in. longer
It was also lower and-most up horse-power and pick-up In important-roomler.
the gears.
GALE'S PS-POUNDER
THE £46 reel screamed.
STANLEY GALE
IN THE
MILLIONAIRE'S SEAT
Sharks have such pretty teeth
You feel less of a man when he says that most of the record Loor Ash, three mer or more the weight of yours, have been
Sixty yards of line ripped out. Seven feet six of steel-blue, sleek, and furious shark was on one end of the line -and I was on the other. For 28 years I'd been dangling worms in front of roach and perch and catching nothing bigger than 3lb. Now caught by a middle-aged woman, this was it: Big Game.
For £11, down at Looe, Cornwall, you get a day's hire of a boat, all found, including the skipper. Fishing tackle, and three stone of pil. chards, and lots of blarney. And a shark. Perhaps.
Not that just "catching a shark
is enough. To became a mem
But this you try to forget when you make your trium- nhout entry back into Looe. A
ne of yellow flags flutter from the masthead one for every
shark.caught.
On our boat one yellow flag Alca above a blue one. This ber of the Shark Angling Asso of them like string shopping but you can't see a darn thing.
But each shark boat has two bourd knows what's happening, means a big one aboard — MY eintion of Great Brilain, you brekets, packed
SHARK. The holidaymakers have to catch a chack of 7815. raught pichards, dangling In with fresh-
hustle along the quay keeping Soon your shoulders are ach- pace as you draw nearer to the the water, They leave ing, and your left arm is
weighing-in point. They get
· And any Lone
stream of pllehard pieces and numb that you begin to wonder their cameras ready and you try sharking skipper will tell you of the pilchard oil for miles serost the whether the shark isn't enjoy to appear nonchalant.
ocean as the boats drift south- ing this more than you. unfortunate fellow who hom bren 4shing for years. caught west of Eddystone Lighthouse.
or mere,
140 sharks—all of them tiddlers.
That's where the blarney comes in; the stories told by the skippers on the two-hour trip 18 miles out, and on the way back.
They toll of the crewman, nipped in the seat of his pants. Of singslied equipment, of heat ing gear wrecked when monalera are holsted Inboord,
BO
Whopper 71
The sharks hit the stream, follow
I they reach the
the scale it goes. And then out come two huge the biggen! fish of the day. And Ninety-eight pounds, a lie for hooks lashed to pules (they call even if it is not all that them gaffs), and though I've got for a shark, to me it was 2 a small one in my own Ashing whopper. gear I've never used it.
Extra
Into the sharic they are bual. Then they take your hook plunged and over the side it bait. Except that some, more comes. Then you get a bit more enterprising than most, take blarney, Watch your ankles," the rubble-dubble bag instead.
But my final encounter with yells the skipper, "Keep away parks come with n man I met from But back to MY shark, the teeth!
la lepih." Such pretty in a pub. He helps to cut them My favourite place of blamey first I ever caught, and, to me at
up for sale ns cent bait. goes like this: "See those markts least, a whopper.
Out comes at the rail Gharic bitesi
another piece of He tells me over a pint that There That's where a hundred-pounder
shark-nahing You sit, amidships, Bonker, This
armoury The be Ands all moria of things in
- is tho
Nuts and Krabbed hold. We only got it-millionaire-style, in swivel reat
toits, tron most sharky,
oranges distressing part of shark fish- bars,
And on Aboard after all its teeth complete with socket trying to ing. Certainly to me, and even occasion a quart beer bottle full One knopped off."
drag seven feet six inches of more certainly to the shark.
of water with the stopper an, whack back to the beat against. the drag of the tide.
Innocently I ask: "Thit da Crash!. The Bonker hits the sharks eat all those things?** shark clean between the eyes, Scornfully he sky, "Of course and ha la pul cold. (I sweat MY not, they're dropped ta coming,},
Now, as an experienced sharks Asher (ome ten hours'.oxupri enen) It seEMIN to me that the secret of success in the rubble- dabble bag.
I don't know why it's calles) n rubblo-dubble bag, And apparently neither does anyone olan.
And each tune you get back
50 yards of line the shark tips
did,
"
ปาก
off another 00. Well, MY shark ark linked when I saw it gizzards to get the weight up!
You also discover one great disadvantage to this millionaire soat lark. Everyuno olks oft
It inthen thai poti realise that You feel something of a cad there aro shorka... and when the skluper tells you your slærke, “
deh in a female,
-{London Express Vervlov),
The back seat drops down to glyo a low platform of Sft. Sin, long by 4ft. 84in. wide. The big door at the back is hinged at the top. This is a Arst-class utility
been 5,000 months).
An innovation Is that the wheel arches have been designed cor, and they have got to eliminate corners and pockets the price down by £22 com- which trap mud thrown up by
pared with its predecessor.
5. VX. Four-Ninety. This is
the hush-hush car. It is a brand-
new departure in Vauxhall mo-
dels.
the wheels.
FINISH
have
COMFORT
Vauxhalls Cleverly,
And the miles
rolled away maintained the same simplicity costly as the front seats could and restraint at the back which be set for height and slope, as takes in the boot lid treatment well as adjusted fore and aft. lighting units.
nent horizontal rear
Yes, Vauxhalls have really
I thought that the side view scored this time. They have put expensa of the car was easy on the eye enormous efftet und by the sculpture" of the body into producing a range of cars that runs at the waist almost them their owners all over the sides, including an integral line dictated by the people who use
from front to rear.
world.
L
Hundreds of miles of motoring in the new Victor made it plain that it gives a better ride" and holds the road more safely than the previous car.
GRAVITY
Vauxhall engineers told me this came from the functional advantages of the new designed hody, which now has a centre of
We are promised a Vauxhall Then there is the use of a gravity 14in. lower than before, that has extra performance and new deep Watre finish, Count along with suspension improve extra luxury that is not of the less testa in a score of countries ments. Victor range but that shares the have shown that the new
sarne basic
locks for a very long time.
one trip I carried four
a previous, model, and they were
Vauxhalls could not have done the job better.
Cd.
Prices:
Vauxhall Victor Saloon: £310 C234 103. Od. p.l.744 195
Vauxhall Victor Super: £535 ÷ £240 Bs. lid. p.t.: £781 05. 11d.
Vauxhall Victor do luxe: £680+ £207 Is. 5d. p.t. 2047 11, 5d.
Vauxhall Victor £801 13s. Id. £590+£271 135,
Estate car: Id. p.t.
On shape and styling Vauxhalls will keep their good heavy people who stepped from and the same engine size.
This fascinating newcomer to And it is a fact that every all Impressed with the really, Vouxhall V 4/90 Saloon! medium-sized "prestige" cars Victor body leaving the paint- significant Improvement in la- 2005+ £300 03. 7d. p.l.= £971 will go. into production close shop at Luton will be protected side space yet all my pas- 09. 78. behind the new Victors, but we by no fewer than aix and three- sengers were seated well within must wait for fuller details.
quarter gallons of paint-protec- the wheelbase.
London Express Servico.
Exclusive picture of Prezident de Gaulle (standing firm and upright, while at
the same time sitting down to negotiate without losing his hat, coât, - shirt-or" soul.
Longur" Azgrany zirza,