VAUXHALL’S FIRST PURPOSE-BUILT ESTATE CAR

One of the many joys of watching Talking Pictures Television is spotting various cars that are now less frequently encountered than Halley’s Comet. Calculated Risk is a rather good 1963 B-film, and the final reel boasts a guest appearance from a Victor F-Type Estate. Not only was it a very stylish machine, but it was also Vauxhall’s first factory-built station wagon.

Luton unveiled the F-Type saloon in 1957, but production issues delayed the Estate’s launch until late February 1958. The in-house conversion of the standard bodywork was quite elaborate, with five-leaf rear springs, a lower back axle ratio, and heavy-duty shock absorbers, with a weight increase of 30 lbs. ‘Super’ was the sole trim level, including twin sun visors and a rear ashtray – a 16s 10d extra on the Standard version.

A heater cost the owner another £14 15s and ‘Screen Clean’ washers a further £2 16 6s. The Estate was also the first F-Type available in a duotone paint finish – Charcoal Grey and Harvest Yellow were especially attractive. Vauxhall also listed “Fold Away Rear Seat” and Counterbalanced Tail Gate” as important sales features for those more practically minded.

Autocar believed “Much thought has gone into the Victor in order that the extra load capacity can be accommodated without upsetting the balance between appearance, comfort and performance. In this it succeeds admirably”. This appeared to be a more positive review than their 1957 test of the saloon – “It would appear further development work is required before the Victor may be recommended without reservation”.

The Victor Estate cost £931 7s and competed against the Ford Consul Mk. II Farnham (a conversion by E. D. Abbott Ltd of Farnham), the Audax-series Hillman Minx and the Morris Oxford Traveller Series IV. There was also the Austin A55 Cambridge Mk. I in ‘Utilecon’ form - i.e. a Martin Walter conversion of a van. However, none of the Vauxhall’s competitors possessed “the fresh new look of the future”. Plus, according to the ever-modest Luton press office, the Victor Estate was the “finest of them all”.

The FB replaced the F-Type in 1961, and surviving numbers of the Estate might be single figures in the UK, a casualty of the dreaded corrosion. As for its image, a few years ago, I wrote in Classic & Sports Car that the first purpose-built Vauxhall station wagon was:

perfectly suited to the motorist who needed a medium-sized Estate car to peddle his samples of tinned pilchards around the new supermarkets of the southern region, the better to pay the mortgage on that New Town semi.

And who could resist a car with such an incredible dashboard?