Vauxhall cars: books - history and technology

Vauxhall : Britain's Oldest Car Maker

Vauxhall has been making cars in Britain for longer than anyone else. The name entered the UK industrial lexicon in 1897, when the Vauxhall Iron Works Company was formed to run the bankrupt engineering business founded by Alexander Wilson in 1859. The first Vauxhall car left the Thames side works in 1903.

The company moved to Luton in 1905, and the solely car-making company Vauxhall Motors Limited was formed in 1907. Famed as a maker of sporting and luxury cars, Vauxhall was bought by the American giant General Motors in 1925. GM took the company into a new era of mass production and turned it into one of the top five car companies in the UK.
After the Second World War, Vauxhall became the household name it is today, with models such as Viva, Astra, Cresta, Victor, Nova, and Cavalier.

The journey from the Thames to today's plants at Ellesmere Port and Luton is full of twists, turns, dramas, and triumphs. Ian Coomber worked at Vauxhall for thirty-eight years, progressing from apprentice to the boardroom.
He has told the Vauxhall story with the benefit of years of experience and a lifelong passion for the marque.

Vauxhall Cars

Vauxhall cars have been central to motoring in Britain for over a century. The company built a formidable reputation in its early years with notable machines like the Prince Henry, the 30/98 and the 1914 Grand Prix cars, and then moved into a more mainstream area of the market, remaining in the forefront of innovation during the 1930s.

The post-1945 years saw the company as one of the foremost in Britain, catering for family needs with cars like the Velox, the Cresta, and the Victor, and then building the highly successful Viva range of smaller models.
Closely aligned with its German cousin, Opel, Vauxhall relied increasingly on Opel's designs after the mid-1970s. Astra, Cavalier, Nova and Carlton were among the best-loved cars of their era, and no-one can forget the giant-killing 176mph Lotus Carlton.

This illustrated introduction explores the history of Vauxhall cars from its beginning in 1903 to the city cars and SUVs that have led the Vauxhall product lines, as the company continues to excel in the twenty-first century.

Vauxhall Cars 1945-1964 (Nostalgia Road)

Originally manufacturers of marine engines, the Vauxhall Iron Works were established on the South bank of the River Thames in 1867 and after troubled times at the end of the 19th-century, the firm commenced motor manufacturing in 1903. This was to be the start of the company's phenomenal success story, which was to expand rapidly two years later when the company moved to a new purpose-built factory at Luton in Bedfordshire.
In the two decades after World War II, as Britain began to rebuild itself, Vauxhall made some of their most classic models. By introducing the L-Type, E-Type, PA-Type, and HA Viva through to the FB Victor and PC Cresta, Vauxhall established itself as one of the world's most respected car manufacturers.

This book tells the story of Vauxhall's remarkable post-war years. It covers the models from the L-Type to the PC Cresta.

Vauxhall Cars 1965-1984 (Nostalgia Road)

This volume on Vauxhall continues the remarkable story of this British institution. This 20-year period in the make's long history saw the 'entry level' model progress from the basic HA Viva to the sporty little Nova and at the other end of the scale, to the PC Cresta. It was an era that saw the arrival of famous names like the Cavalier, the Astra and the Chevette, but also the demise of traditional models like the Victor and Viscount.

Vauxhall Cars of the 1960s and 1970s

Vauxhalls held a special place in the British motoring scene of the mid-twentieth century. Solid, reliable and respectable, they were carefully designed to meet the expectations of buyers and also to meet the global ambitions of General Motors in America, the company that owned the Vauxhall marque.

The book covers just over two decades of Vauxhall history, between the late 1950s and the late 1970s, that saw Vauxhall producing a succession of fondly remembered models, including some genuine classics. It features the styling, engineering and specification changes introduced over the lifetime of the Victor, Cresta and Viva ranges, and their offshoots. It gives full technical specifications of each model and includes a special examination of engine development in this period.
Finally, there is advice about buying each of these models.