MEET THE OWNER – ANDREW KENYON AND HIS VAUXHALL ROYALE

“I bought it from the original owner in Southport, and it has lots of history; I started selling Vauxhall and Bedford products in 1978 until 1994 and sold Royale models when new”. So today, Andrew Kenyon is the justifiably proud owner of the saloon Luton once described as “for discerning motorists who will settle for nothing but the best”.

The Royale made its bow in late 1978 as the belated heir to the 1966- 1972 PC Viscount. In essence, it was a Griffin-badged Senator A and Monza., built in Russheim rather than Luton. The Opel featured a 3-litre fuel-injected engine, but the Vauxhall had a 2.8-litre Solex carburettor unit. As for the list of standard equipment, Chevette E drivers could only look at the Royale in awe – electric windows, adjustable steering, central locking, alloy wheels, a multi-adjustable driver’s seat, a Philips’ 460 radio/cassette stereo sound system, and a sliding roof. Unfortunately, by the time they noted the headlamp washer/wipers, there was a genuine risk of their fainting on the showroom floor.

The only extras were air conditioning and manual transmission; the standard gearbox was a 3-speed automatic. And, from the perspective of a business motorist, the flagship Vauxhall may have been expensive at £8,354 but still cheaper than an Audi 100 CD 5E. Motor Sport believed “those who favour Vauxhalls will find the Royale very impressive indeed. Its appearance is certainly striking, with its double-skinned metallic paint finish, massive bumpers and vee droop snout”. Motor appeared even more impressed with the Royale. In their view, just as the Senator had wooed “many traditional BMW and Mercedes drivers in Europe’ the Vauxhall “fully deserves to have the same impact on the equivalent market in the UK”.

The later Royales were available with the 3-litre engine before the A2-series Senator and Monza replaced them in 1982, the former retaining its Opel badge in the UK until 1984. Barely any roadworthy examples of the Royale survive - making Andrew’s car a highly exclusive machine. But, as he remarks, “the car drives very well indeed, and all the equipment works. In fact, I recently won the ‘Most Original Car of the Day’, picked by Sarah from Bangers and Cash”.

The Vauxhall Royale was never a familiar sight when new, being a model for the managing director/barrister/senior accountant market sector, but its impact on the marque image nearly 45 years go cannot be underestimated. For the first time in over 40 years, the marque appeared in a European-style prestige saloon instead of a scaled-down Detroit-inspired design. Martin Buckley of Classic & Sports Car memorably wrote about the Coupe:

The Royale justified its existence as a Luton flagship until the early ’80s, selling in sufficient numbers to those sybaritic executives, publicans and amusement-arcade owners who wanted to be seen to be buying British. It’s an odd car, because it would be easy to dismiss it as a vulgar barge but its excellence in so many areas does not permit you those convenient and lazy put-downs.

Or, as the brochure modestly put it – “Very Very Occasionally A Great New car Is Launched… car of commanding authority designed and built to the highest standards”. And Mr. Kenyon could not agree more.