Viva, ride with a gentleman!

[niftynevins]

Great story and photos!
I love all of them.
The HA would be great fun in the snow. Nice to see some lurking about in Finland. I live in Stockholm at the moment I really miss my HA's. Are they the same spec as the Swedish cars trim wise? Any chance of a photo

[Jussi]

Thanks!

I assume the HAs had the same specs in Finland and in Sweden. The factory options included items like high capacity heater, HD wheels and rear axle, larger capacity battery and mud flaps (which were a legal requirement here at the time). The high capacity heater wasn't quite up to its name, the long uninsulated water hoses from the front of the engine to the heater ensured that even when the coolant was hot, it was cooled off by the freezing cold air flow by the time it reached the heater.

Handbrake turns and rally-style slides were normal winter-fun with the Viva, but being stuck with one rear wheel spinning was sometimes infuriating, and you certainly needed no uphill to find yourself in that situation.

Jussi

[niftynevins]

Yeah it is interesting to see what a car has to go through during a nordic winter. I will be fitting a motor warmer to my daily driver before winter sets in. I could imagine that hose creating a problem now you say. Im yet to see an HA here yet there have been lots for sale on Blocket but I have been good and controlled myself. Im still not sure whether to ship one of mine over or buy another here.

Do you know what the difference was with the rear axle?
Also im keen to see the interior trim in a photo if possible.

Its interesting regarding the rear wheels spinning in the snow. I was in Norway last month for their national event and my friend said they would carry a 20kg bag of grit in the centre of the boot. It would serve two purposes weigh the back down and if they got really stuck they could throw some under the back wheels

[Jussi]

Yes, a bagful of sand or rather gravel in the boot helped a lot.

I don't know the difference between the HD rear axle and the standard one. I do know the cross member, to which the torque tube is attached, had different and sturdier (round) bushes in my '66 car which had the HD axle, whereas my present '65 has smaller square bushes. Or maybe that was a modification that was made to all of them for '66?

I will post pictures of the interior next weekend when I go back to my summer house 160 kms away, the Viva is there at the moment.

[Jussi]

Some interior pictures:

[niftynevins]

Hi thanks for the photo's. Thats really interesting to see as the trim is the same as the UK vehicles. I have seen a few photo's of Swedish Viva's and they have had a fabric material.
Great looking little car. Enjoy!