Another GT appears

General Discussions about The Vauxhall Viva Owners Club, do you require something from the club we dont offer? What the club is doing for you. NOT for slagging people off, all such comments will be deleted.
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Re: Another GT appears

Postby Colin » Fri Apr 10, 2020 7:28 pm

They don't have IVA in Canada. And we're not talking about any old chop and hack customised 1256 Viva. This is one of only three or four(?) known surviving 1970 Canadian Viva GTs.

I appreciate that for most people it's just another old Viva that can be hacked around to suit the current owner's tastes. And I appreciate that I probably care too much about it - because for me it's all a bit too personal. My Dad was involved in the design and engineering of these cars.

I remember as a young kid in my school blazer being taken out for a spin in a brand new bright orange Viva GT one summer evening in Bedfordshire in 1969 or 70. I remember the new orange car's stripes and matt black bonnet - with scoops! and rally wheels! and not really understanding when my Dad tried to explain why the steering wheel was on the left and how you couldn't buy one here. In a dead sea of dull grey Austin Cambridges and Morris Minors, this car was impossibly glamourous - being meant for 'North Americans' and not for us.

Would I care if someone wanted to put a modern engine in the last Austin Allegro? Or for that matter the last Briggs & Stratton lawnmower? Or Hotpoint washing machine? Not really. Because they don't mean much to me. Sadly that seems to be the prevailing attitude with our now rare Vivas.

So why I should care so much about the preservation of the last of these rare Viva GTs? After all about 4550 of the 4606 Viva GTs ever built have already been crashed, crushed and pulverised over the last 50 years, so why should we bother about saving the last three or four surviving Canadian GTs unmolested?

I know that most people probably won't understand but, for me, this is like taking the Rolls Royce Merlin engine out of the last Spitfire fighter plane and replacing it with a modern Nissan engine and painting the thing metal flake purple. Sure it will be more efficient, it will be a lot flashier and will no doubt go a lot faster. But its soul will be gone for ever.

JDC1, if you must replace the engine and whatever else in this rare car with something modern, soulless and electronic, then please do the car the kindness of saving the original parts you remove - and try to make your alterations reversible for the next owner? Thank you.
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Re: Another GT appears

Postby rizzo » Fri Apr 10, 2020 7:56 pm

Personally i think this has gone far enough, and i'm surprised the club is letting this run, ref the forum rules stated above, this is clearly becoming personal issue! this guy has a rare car, and is planning some changes which will secure its future on the road, if its classic or modern does it really matter on the grand scheme of things, seriously people are dying in the world, can we move on now?
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Re: Another GT appears

Postby Fred Dukes » Fri Apr 10, 2020 9:21 pm

As Rizzo says it is all getting a bit heated and emotive - lets concentrate on getting through the pandemic and hope we all get back to our cars we all love to drive and love. I have asked the webmaster to lock this thread off.
All keep safe which ever part of the world you are in.
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