Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) The one car that influenced me more than another

In my case it may well be because I was in my early teens and perhaps more open to being influenced and it did have a certain look to it and it was one of the lesser known variants of a family car, but quite successful in it's day in any racing events it was entered for. It was before the days of the small hatchback GTIs with their front wheel drive, it was a traditional rear wheel beast of a machine ( well seemed so at the time). I had lusted after it when my neighbour bought it new from the local Vauxhall dealer in 1970.it was also in blue my favourite colour and had a mean look to it with the painted black bonnet with scoops and an instrument panel to die for back then.

Imagine my surprise when a couple of years later my neighbour lost his job and had to sell it, he came round to our house and offered it to me, I bite his hand off. I had to sell my Honda S800 another great little traditional sportscar and a few of my bikes to get it, so it wasn't cheap, So what was the apple of my eye and I still to this day think back fondly on the fun I had with it. It was the Vauxhall Viva GT.

Typical of the lack of rustproofing back then , I had to get the inner front wings around the bonnet hinges plated to pass its first MOT at just 3 years old. I kept it for over 10 years, not used so much in the later years as I was more into my open top motoring with Midgets and TR7's and eventually sold it to chap who owned a Vitesse 6, (which was a quick car in its day). I had modified the GT a bit and after blowing the original 2L engine, I had a 2.5L engine transplanted in it , it was quite quick for the time with 0-50mph in 8.9 seconds , with only 112BHP and excellent handling and at under tonne laden. And so after a quick drive round the block, the chap couldn't get the money out of his pocket fast enough to buy it and it was gone,.

They only made them from 1968 to1970 of the 4606 produced only about 60 are known to still exist and only 25 are on the road, so quite a rare car from the outset. I certainly would like to own one again, it was great fun, handled amazingly well for a rear wheel drive car but suffered terribly from the lack of effective rust protection back then and living in the Midlands with salt laden roads, didn't help its cause. It was always loaded with paving slabs in the boot in winter to keep the very light back end in contact with the road, after I spun it a few times on the icy roads, the front of the closed Wednesbury Train Station had a massive curvet/bend in the road in front of it plus a wide unloading area to the front, that was always a challenge to navigate (fun) when icy. The things we look back on as to what we did in our youth, and then cuss today's youngsters when they get upto mischief for doing very much what we did back then





https://motor-car.net/vauxhall/item/27375-vauxhall-viva-hb-gt

Between 1966 and 1969 I was a student at Manchester College of Art situated in All Saints Square on Oxford Road. One day I set off to walk into town. Across the road I spotted an amazing blue car parked outside Junky Clark's shop (yes, a junk shop). It was a Marcos coupe and looked just stunning and so different for that period. Some evenings when returning on the bus to my shared flat in Fallowfield I would see another one - yellow this time. As it passed the bus I got a great view from the upstairs window of the long bonnet, sloping back and cam tail - I just loved it but never dreamt I could own one.
A few years later my then wife and I were on our way to a wedding but had to make a stop in Buxton to get confetti. As I stepped on to a Zebra crossing a red Marcos made a hasty stop to allow me to cross. After the ceremony and at the reception venue we were seated at a table with a young GP and his girlfriend - turned out he owned the Marcos AND he was selling it. He said it was not very good for his back when doing his rounds and getting in and out from such a low car was a bit too much. Of course, after selling our Escort and somehow managing to find the extra money, we bought it. It had a broken rear window (an up and over garage door had fallen on it) and one of the brake pad retaining pins was missing - and a few other things including an interior full of different coloured pills dropped and not retrieved.
It stayed with me for over 30 years and when a house move was planned, it was sold to Rory MacMath of Marcos Heritage. He did a restoration and sold it to a chap who came over from Lithuania and drove it back there. The picture is Rory taking it away on the last day of my ownership.

What a great car the Marcos and 30 years ownership demonstrated dedication and commitment. The car I had to sell to get my Viva Gt was a Honda S800 another great car I would love to own again

I think Richard Thorne has a honda s800 for sale if you want to relive your yoof...


Here's the page
https://www.rtcc.co.uk/car-sales/car/1968-honda-s800/

John a quick Viva GT for sale !
https://www.carandclassic.com/l/C1824508

Thanks guys, I had seen both of them advertised. The rally spec Viva GT is a bit specialised for my liking, but the Honda S800 might be of greater interest. It requires paint so that may be hiding all sorts, mint examples go for over £40k this days. Got to talk the wife's car out of the double garage first.

Peter H. I lived in South Manchester - Northenden through the 50 & 60s. My two friends migrated from Minis to Marcos 1800s in 1969, one yellow, one green - Jonty and Richard (Oli) , both based in Northenden. There were two guys we knew at Manchester Uni, Persian, at least one had a Marcos, he used to bolt a spare wheel onto the roof and drive back to Tehran. Oli still has one, a Mantula.

And I learnt to drive in a Viva in 1968, but not the GT. Reversing it around a corner was a doddle you looked over your shoulder and line up the kerb with the bottom corner of the rear window.

I recall Vauxhall engineers raving about "mileage tuning". This marque in particular seemed to benefit more than most.

Ah happy memories. My best man drive me to our wedding in 1974 in his. That was white with the Ford V6 engine and it went like crazy. I recall the seats were fixed but there was a knob under the dash which when rotated would move the pedal box back and forth to suit the driver. Prior to that he had the Twin Cam Escort, a real wolf in sheep's clothing.

Great cars the Marcos, now they actually had a wooden chassis. I never owned one myself but in the early 70's my father's secretary's son had a big thing for them and I think was a founder of the owners club.