1960 F Type Victor

1977 to 1979

I already owned a 50,000 mile F type that I purchased for £50 with a full MOT to go on honeymoon in 1976.

I chose a 125 BHP 1969 3.3 Ventora as the donor car, front and rear axles with all the brakes were adapted to fit

onto the original floor. Also cut the bulkhead to fit the 6 cylinder engine, which meant no heater. This was going

to be a fair weather car only!

To this day I can’t remember why I painted her brown, suppose I just couldn’t make up my mind and ended up

with something that looked awful, even for the 70’s. The white vinyl roof helped, which matched the seats,

which I trimmed myself; they looked worse close up!

I drove her for about 3 years, unfortunately the rust bug was a major headache and at that time I didn’t have the

knowledge or means to cure it. So made the decision to see what she looked like as a convertible. I made a separate

chassis that was then bolted to the floor, with a rollover bar between the doors and then I chopped the roof off. On the road the body flexing was terrible even with the extra chassis, the mistake was keeping it four doors. I should

have converted her to two.

Although I don’t have any photos as a convertible, I do remember that she looked good. I learnt a lot from that

conversion and promised myself to do another convertible one day, next time properly. (see ‘FINISHED CARS’)

She was featured in ‘Street Machine’ magazine in September 1980.  Due to costs involved in providing for a

family it wasn’t until 1990 that I was able to undertake another project.

This followed a similar format to the F Type, restoring the body, renewing the chrome etc etc.

This time I chose a damaged 110 bhp 1986 Carlton 2.2i as the donor car, a decision I was later going to regret.

Again a lot of time was spent adapting the mechanics to fit onto the Victor floor. Both axles, engine and auto box,

steering box, wiring loom and dials were all used. I drove her for about 2 years, but was never happy with the

performance or the vibrations at certain speeds. No one ever seemed to notice, but they bugged me so something

had to be done.

I began thinking that there must be an easier and more professional way of achieving the same aim. Now if I

could use a complete floor from a donor car and graft it onto the Victor, that surely would eliminate the need to

adapt the mechanics. Finding one with a similar track and wheelbase was a problem, the only one that seamed

suitable was a Cavalier, but it was front wheel drive.

As far as I was aware it had never been done and even though it would almost definitely be shunned by the hot

rodders, I went ahead with the second attempt anyway.

I acquired a 1994 Cavalier SRi (minus engine and gearbox), complete with all round disc brakes, wiring loom and the

ABS system. On the Victor I had already fitted new sills and used 3mm plate to replace the inners so the cut would be 5cm in. After removing all the mechanics and interior I built a jig to support the body, which was bolted onto the sills.

The whole floor and chassis, bulkhead, inner wings and rear wheel arches were cut out and thrown away, the same was done with the Cavalier, but this time the top half was disposed of. What remained of the Victor was lifted by the

jig 5 feet in the air, so the Cavalier could be slid underneath in position. After careful measuring and cutting,

the two halves were welded together above and below the joint. 

I then found a low mileage engine and gearbox from a 1991 Astra GTE 2.0i 16v, complete with engine loom and

drive shafts, having 150 BHP would be ideal.

Interior was part Victor and Cavalier, seats from an Astra, which bolted straight on the Cavalier floor. An inbuilt

electric slide and tilt sunroof with blue headlining, bespoke carpet and door trims finished the interior.

Fitting the mechanics was so easy compared to the F Type and my first attempt with the Victor, everything just bolted

on with no time consuming adapting. On the road she surpassed my expectations, no vibrations or rattles,

effortless performance and she drove just like a Cavalier.

Vauxhall spend millions of pounds in development of their chassis’s, so it made a lot of sense to make use of it.

Any future projects I do will use this method. The key will be finding the right donor car.

I sold the Victor in 2004, after many enjoyable miles.