Jims Viva

Jim found this car lying rotting in a stable in Morayshire a few years ago, couldn't stand the thought that this classic car was going to lie and rot away so he managed to persuade the owner to sell her to him.

The car is a 1968 two door Vauxhall Viva HB, with only two previous owners and 50,000 miles on the clock, and on close inspection the bodywork was in not too bad condition and weld free.

Restoration was made easier with the sound shell but it still took Jim a month to strip the shell and four years of on and off work to get her up to scratch. Original parts were real hard to find (hence the VW Phoenix red colour) and Jim wanted to use as many '60's and 70's parts as possible.

Jim had to replace the wheel arches, but didn't want obvious extensions so he used arches from a Ford Orion, handbrake cable and front indicators from a Daihatsu Fourtrak. The front valance could not be replaced so Jim fabricated a new one, adding twin air-intake slots.

Jim had a lot of Firenza parts in stock and used these to form the basis of the project. To produce the Firenza 203 litre slant straight-four single overhead cam engine, Vauxhall cut a GM V8 in half longitudinally. The standard unit developed about 130bhp, but the Ricky Gauld balanced engine has big valves, a highlift Kent cam and twin 45 Dellortos. A custom built Turriff Tyres big-bore exhaust is fed through a Janspeed manifold. A Firenza Getrag five speed box is fitted with Firenza back end that incorporates Corsa GSi springs and Spax dampers. Up front Firenza springs are fitted in conjunction with gas filled dampers. The front brakes are 2.3 Magnum.

Inside is as standard as possible, but the larger 5 speed box needed a bigger tunnel, and extra chassis bracing. The larger tunnel required narrower front seats and these came from a period Ford Mustang. The interior trim has all been replaced, with Jim's sister Linda (the secretary) doing all the machine stitching for him. The replacement window rubbers were made by Scotglass of Oldmeldrum.