Greg Wapling

Vauxhall Viva (UK)

The Viva was a small family car produced by Vauxhall Motors in a succession of three versions between 1963 and 1979. These were known as the HA, the HB and the HC series. The Viva appeared a year after Vauxhall's sister company Opel launched the Opel Kadett A: visually the two cars' kinship was obvious.

The HB Viva shares it's shape with the Holden HB & TA Torana.
The HC Viva shares it's shape with the Holden LC & LJ Torana.

The HB Viva was sold from September 1996 until 1970, featuring coke bottle styling, and was modelled after American General Motors (GM) models such as the Chevrolet Impala/Caprice of the period. It featured a 1159 cc 4cyl engine, with final drive gearing of 1 to 4.1 (except the SL90 which retained the 3.9 diff) to keep the nippy performance.
The automatic Viva HB was offered from February 1967, and fitted with the ubiquitous Borg Warner Type 35 system. Cars of this size featuring automatic transmission were still unusual owing to the amount of power the transmission systems absorbed: in a heartfelt if uncharacteristically blunt piece of criticism a major British motoring journal later described Viva HBs with automatic transmission as "among the slowest cars on the road".

The Viva HC (1970–1979) was mechanically the same as the HB but had more modern styling and greater interior space due to redesigned seating and positioning of bulkheads. It offered 2- and 4-door saloons and a fastback estate with the choice of either standard 1159 cc, 90 tuned 1159 cc or 1600 cc overhead cam power. No 2.0 GT version was offered with the new range, although the 2.0 became the sole engine offering for Canada, where the HC became the Firenza, marketed by Pontiac/Buick dealers without the Vauxhall name. The cloned Envoy Epic was dropped as Chevrolet dealers now carried the domestic Chevrolet Vega. The HC was pulled from the Canadian market after two model years amidst consumer anger over corrosion and reliability issues. A class action lawsuit launched against General Motors of Canada by dissatisfied owners was not settled until the early 1980s.
The American influence was still obvious on the design, with narrow horizontal rear lamp clusters, flat dashboard with a "letterbox" style speedometer, and a pronounced mid bonnet hump that was echoed in the front bumper.

Chevrolet Firenza (South Africa)
(no, it's not a Torana)

In South Africa, the Vauxhall Viva in coupe form was sold as the Chevrolet Firenza. And when GM’s South African arm wanted to take the Firenza racing, they stuffed a 302 from a Camaro Z/28 into it and homologated it, calling it the Firenza Can Am.

In particular, General Motors of South Africa was represented by the Chevrolet brand, and they received a little bit of American muscle in the process with the Firenza Can-Am.

If you are unfamiliar with General Motors’ presence in Europe, there were two main brands: Opel out of Germany, and Vauxhall out of the UK. Both were rather independent until the 1960s when certain models began to be merged. Specifically, the 1963 Vauxhall Viva shared similarities to the 1962 Opel Kadett.

Two generations later, in 1970, a new Viva was introduced with the same Coke-bottle styling that was popular with American General Motors offerings at the time. The coupe version of this car was dubbed “Firenza” and was available with a dual-carb 2.0-liter four-cylinder.

Two generations later, in 1970, a new Viva was introduced with the same Coke-bottle styling that was popular with American General Motors offerings at the time. The coupe version of this car was dubbed “Firenza” and was available with a dual-carb 2.0-liter four-cylinder.

Two generations later, in 1970, a new Viva was introduced with the same Coke-bottle styling that was popular with American General Motors offerings at the time. The coupe version of this car was dubbed “Firenza” and was available with a dual-carb 2.0-liter four-cylinder.

In South Africa, the Vauxhall Viva was marketed as the Chevrolet Firenza.

While the coupe was slightly smaller than America’s Chevrolet Vega, the folks of GM-SA managed to stuff a small-block Chevy between the frame rails to homologate it for the South African Argus Production Car series.

Rules specified that one hundred of the 1973 Firenza Can-Am were to be built to be legal for the series. All were white with blacked-out hoods, and under the hood was an honest-to-goodness 302 putting out 290 horsepower – the same motor found in the 1967-69 Camaro Z/28.

M21 four-speed with Hurst shifter, belt line stripe, alloy wheels, and an aluminum spoiler made by American Racing Equipment rounded out the basic package.

Performance for the little 2,500 lb. coupe was 0-to-60 in 5.4 seconds and a top speed of over 140 MPH, which is near the top of muscle-era American cars, not to mention that South Africa didn’t have the EPA breathing down everyone’s neck.

Today the Firenza Can-Am is a leading collectible in South Africa with enthusiasts in Australia and the UK, but little is known about them in North America.