Vauxhall FB Envoy

[@wordsmith52]

Some people seem to be surprised that UK exported cars to USA - we did of course export all makes all over the world until about 40 years ago.

[@markhealey9409]

Minis,Jaguars,Land Rovers, Range Rovers,Bentleys,Rolls Royces,Aston Martins & Lotuses are still imported from UK to USA & Canada. Not many Vauxhalls were imported to the USA,but in the 60s British Vauxhalls were sold in Canada as Envoys & Epics....

[@husainzaidi1527]

Wow, loved the advert.

[@VauxhallGuy]

I still have a 1962 FB, with just over 40,000 miles. Still starts and runs great! Getting parts here in Canada is a problem though!

[@spencerallen5661]

My mom had one. Wonderful memories of bombing around with all the neighbourhood kids piled in the back. ( no seatbelts then ). I was so sad when she sold it because I wanted it for when I started to drive.

[@nygelmiller5293]

I sympathise - I had rides in one as a boy, because my friend's dad had one! I'd love to own one now, but my eyesight isn't sharp enough now.Why don't you buy one as a now-classic car?

[@dorkadezso5826]

Nice footage, especially the recordings from production site are interesting. Can't believe GM exported Vauxhalls to Stateside. The coach looks attractive to me, but from the footage it seems that road-handling in curves were troublesome.

[@nygelmiller5293]

The handling is great - if you don't drive like a demon! People DO, thes3 days, instead of "driving to the car".!

[@CaptHollister]

From the comments, it's obvious that many people commented without having read the description.

[@Merseysiderful]

It is amazing the massive changes in car design, fashion, pop culture, later psychedelia and culture in just seven years from 1962 - 1969. In 1962 most men still wore suits and women long skirts and beehive hairstyles. Look at a photo of a woman taken in 1962 and compare it to a woman in 1969 and it is as though there is a twenty years gap. Hard to explain but the culture changes between 1962 - 1969 have never been repeated.

[@nygelmiller5293]

Stevie G., you are INCREDIBILE! In just a few words, you have described it EXACTLY! Are you a writer, or a sociologist? And if so, what have you written? I would like to read it.

[@eddiejones.redvees]

I can remember my dad hired I victor in 60s to go on holiday to my mum sisters in Swindon I was very comfortable to ride in the bench seat was great for cramming me and my brother with five cousins in the car all girls

[@edwinholland6149]

I owned an FB VX490 in the 70s. Lovely car steered and handled relatively well for a car of the time although cross-ply tyres didn't help ! The 101 however was a different matter, horrendously underpowered and rolled and wallowed like a small boat on rough water ! You cannot of course judge these vehicles by today's standards of power output and handling. Shame they all suffered so badly from the 'metal moth' !!

[@tiplady44]

Did my apprenticeship on them ,happy days

[@timauger]

The FB Victor was a much better car than either its predecessor or its awful successor. Vauxhall had a gift for getting things just wrong in the 50s and 60s. If all their products had been as solid as the FB Victor and the PB Cresta their history might have been very different.

[@nygelmiller5293]

Oh, I don't know! I personally am an avid fan of ALL the Victors, as they were called in Britain!

[@captaccordion]

I owned for a time an FB VX 4/90 which was the warmed up and plush version of the Victor. It appears that the Canada Envoy version all came with the VX 4/90 exterior trim. Check where the LHD Envoy wagon shot is cut to the RHD very plain Victor shot for comparison. It sounds like internally the Envoy could be had from bog standard Victor specification all the way to VX 4/90 specification. I only liked my VX 4/90 up to a point. Even with twin carb 1.6 motor as used from 1963-ish, the car felt under-engined, mechanically spindly, and under-geared. If they'd had a 1.8 motor and beefier overdrive gearbox to put into them, they would have been an MG killer, as there was nothing wrong with VX 4/90 handling and (disc) braking. The clip was pretty laughable, trying to sell the Victor/Envoy as a big car with 6 people looking so cramped, and the weight of 6 people making the handling look so unstable.

[@arunparkin2552]

At 1:00 "It's beautiful because it's shape is symmetrical and functional, there is nothing unnecessary or in mass stuck onto it or pouting out of it..." Wow, this is the exact opposite of modern car design. Nowadays most new cars are full of creases, messy plastics, huge air intakes, fake exhausts, bulging bonnets, crooked windows, and are badly packaged. Just look at the new Honda CRV, for example, The Toyota C-HR or the new BMW 1 Series! I feel like in the past cars were designed from the heart. Now they're all trying to meet demands and crossing out checklists; that the car has to be sporty, aggressive, powerful, and also be a four-door SUV at the same time, and be able to stream Netflix on it's five different touch-screens while keeping itself in lane while sending you Instagram updates.

[@timauger]

A lot of modern cars look as if they are designed by teenagers on drugs, inspired by the design of the trainers they wear on their feet ...

[@eltsennestle998]

...3 years later, the drivers' floor fell out, and the tinfoil wiring dissolved.

[@lennyh500]

I bought that one! 21DPX

[@charleskosyjana1295]

Looks closely related to the US and Canada chevy II / nova. Were these ever sold in North America? The announcer sounds American and the car shown is left hand drive.

[@nygelmiller5293]

Great!

[@jjwoody6532]

Gee the door handles started to drag on the road when it went around that S bend.

[@goodladdn]

and more body roll than a tired wife on a friday night!

[@jameslewis9773]

I have a 1962 ENVOY with 53.000 on the clock

[@Rick-S-6063]

That's the sort of car I'd like to own. There are too many belly button cars out there (Mustangs, GTOs, '57 Chevrolets) so I've always had a thing for the more obscure offerings (AMC Ambassadors, Ford Taunus 17M P2s). If it's unusual, I'm usually attracted to it.

[@jasoncarpp7742]

Nice looking car. This car must be an export model, since the steering wheel is on the left side of the car.

[@davidhall1707]

Yes. For Canadian market.

[@jasoncarpp7742]

Why not the U.S. market?

[@davidhall1707]

Well I'm sure it could have been for the U.S. market as well... but the description says this film was the introduction for the Canadian market.

[@jasoncarpp7742]

It's possible. I've never seen one in person.

[@davidhall1707]

Very, very few Envoys came to Canada. Quite a few Victors and then Vivas though.

[@simonfysh6998]

I had a vx 490 . Fast, comfortable but dangerous. And unsafe . Rear wheel came off due to bearing failure on new M6 doing 70. nearly killed me.

[@davidellis279]

What a great car,it was fitted with the reliable 1508cc engine which was superb,I had the misfortune to purchase the later FC model 101 which was the biggest piece of Shite I ever bought in 1967,they had bored out the engine to 1594cc and it completely ruined the engine,the Three Bearing Crankshaft could not stand the extra strain and the bearings rumbled at high engine speeds causing terrible vibration throughout the car, it was awful to drive,only kept it a few months.

[@Witheredgoogie]

Yes the 1508 was a very sweet little engine that purred along. The predecessor, non base model F types were superbly finished inside and out, the 'deluxe' had real leather bucket seats,pile carpets and lush door cards not the tatty ones like you found in Fords. Both the last F type and FB were in fact, factory under sealed, but of course this did not stop the rust underneath- water traps?- the long winters of yore?- or dodgy imported steel ?.... who knows why they continued to rust even with extensive protection?

[@davidellis279]

Witheredgoogie ,My uncle bought an F series in 1960,what a great car for its time as you say the engine was superb,he was fanatical about the maintenance which he did himself as you could in those days,every six months he would spray the complete underside with diluted old engine oil,he wax polished it fortnightly and leathered it off every time it got wet before garageing it,he had it for years and it was better than brand new when he traded it in,a mechanic from the Dealer bought it.

[@VauxhallVictorMan]

The F and FB Victors rotted so badly simply because of the fact it was the design and water leaks. The Underbody sealant went hard very quickly and would breakaway leaving bare metal exposed. Lets face it but in the 1960's there was not much thought in rust proofing. There was no sealant between spot welds unlike today. Bad fitting door and windscreen seals allowed water to soak the under carpet felt so the floor rusted from both sides. Once that started the end was in sight. Mechanically they were really good but on this video the car rolls really badly and even I would be put off.

[@sylwiaz200]

Vauxhall w Rodzina Treflików(Envoy FB)

[@هانيكمال-ز9س]

توجد لدينا سياره مثلها في السودان مهجوره جدا

[@martinburke362]

No way where FBs built to hold 6 passengers, well over loaded at that, these where 4 passenger European cars