Aussie Vauxhalls offered style on a budget

Back in the early 1950s, if you wanted a reasonably powerful family sized car with a bit more “luxury”, status and style than a Holden — and your budget did not stretch to a Chevrolet Bel Air or Ford Customline — your choice was limited.

Basically, it was either the Mark I Ford Consul/Zephyr/Zodiac or E-series Vauxhall Wyvern/Velox.

Both were assembled from kits sourced from the UK.

These cars also appealed to those Australians who believed that “buying British” was a form of allegiance to the “mother country.”

The Vauxhall was as modern looking as the Ford, which I’ve written about in a previous stories.

In fact, the Vauxhall was a scaled down version of the 1949-50 Chevrolet.

Press button door handles added to its aura of modernity.

By comparison, the Holden’s early 1940s styling ensured it appeared old fashioned.

The Vauxhall was offered with four and six cylinder engines in the same body.

The 1.5-litre four was called the Wyvern and sold for around the same price as 48-215 Holden.

The Velox, with a 2.25-litre six cylinder engine, was the “luxury” model, with arm rests on all doors and in the centre of the rear seat.

It was priced about 10 per cent above the Holden and filled the role of a Holden Premier long before that model was introduced.

One novel feature of the E Series cars was their side opening bonnet.

This arrangement was supposed to ease access to the engine bay, but proved to be just the opposite.

A conventional rear hinged bonnet appeared in 1955.

Unique to Australia were the utility and Vagabond convertible.

Sold in Wyvern and Velox guises, the ute used roof panels and glass from the Holden ute to save costs.

The Vagabond was built on the ute’s frame and is one of the few factory-built five seate convertibles sold in Australia.

Despite its American inspired appearance, it had cumbersome side curtains rather than wind-up windows.

So, it is not surprising that only 1150 Australians were enticed to part with their money and put a Vagabond in the driveway.

It was discontinued in 1955, as was the Wyvern ute.

The car that put Honda on the map

Holden’s cheaper six cylinder ute meant no one was interested in the four cylinder Wyvern.

The Velox ute was discontinued in 1957 because Holden wanted to focus on selling as many of their own utes as possible.

The E-series Velox was replaced in 1958 by the flashy PA range.

Wyvern’s successor was the smaller Victor, which I’ve also written about.

Sales of the large Vauxhalls in Australia declined rapidly when the 1960 Falcon arrived.

The release of the Valiant, Holden Premier, Ford Falcon Futura and “compact” Ford Fairlane in 1962 sealed their fate, and that of Ford’s Zephyr/Zodiac.

Family car buyers now had a much wider choice and the “buy British” mantra was quicky being replaced by the desire for local and American luxury at an affordable price.

David Burrell is the editor of retroautos