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John Worth’s splendid Royale Coupe is a ‘not quite one family’ car. It belonged to his father ‘until 1985. He liked six-cylinder Vauxhalls, needed a hatchback and four seats - and enough towing capacity for a horsebox’.

When Vauxhall unveiled the Royale in October 1978 it was their first “prestige” model since the demise of the Viscount in 1972 – but the two cars were very different. The latter was unabashed scaled-down Americana while the new model was positively European in its outlook. The Royale saloon was based on the Senator A and the Coupe on the Monza. As  Motor magazine put it – “There’s no escaping the fact that the Royale is almost pure Opel with a Vauxhall badge on it’’.

Asides from semantics the Senator and Monza were even more luxurious and featured 3.0-Litre fuel-injected engines; the Royales were powered by a 2.8-litre unit with a Solex DVG 4AI downdraught twin-choke carburettor. However, Mr. Worth Snr had no intentions of buying a Monza. First, they cost ‘even more £££’, and secondly, ‘they were not a Vauxhall!’.

As Luton had also not offered a six-cylinder car since the demise of the Ventora FE in 1976, there was much press and public interest in the Royale. It was one of the main attractions of the first NEC Motor Show and the brochures stated ‘only very occasionally a great new car is born’. Moreover, here was vehicle ‘of commanding authority designed and built to the highest standards’. This was prestigious transport with electric windows, central locking, adjustable steering, a sliding roof, alloy wheels, a Philips’ 460 radio/cassette player as standard. Plus seats upholstered in the finest velour available to humanity.

At £8,662 the Royale was not a cheap vehicle – but Vauxhall intended it for the barrister or property developer who demanded more creature comforts than offered by the Reliant Scimitar GTE. It was also ideal for the prosperous estate agent who regarded a Ford Capri Ghia Mk. II as social death. As for the name, the Vauxhall historian David Booker notes that Viscount  could no longer be used as United Biscuits had registered the name ‘for their new chocolate mint cream biscuit!’

Autocar of January 1979 thought the Royale Coupe made ‘a very good all-round showing’ although a year later Motor regarded the Vauxhall as ‘clinically efficient’. However, Motor Sport’s  Bill Boddy approved of the saloon;  ‘not every executive wants the absolute in performance and those who favour Vauxhalls will find the Royale very impressive indeed’.

The later Royales were offered with the 3-litre engine until production ended in 1982 - two years later the saloon was belatedly replaced by the Griffin-badged Senator A2. Opel continued to offer the Monza until 1986, but there were to be no more Grand Tourers bearing the Vauxhall name. Today, only ten examples of the Royale are believed to remain on the road.

 John’s Vauxhall was ‘sold into the trade, and then I stumbled across it in 1993, for sale - £400. So I’ve now owned for 27 years!’ He much enjoys driving this Vauxhall of Vauxhalls, although he has noted that ‘only a few now recognise it’. But then the Royale is ‘a car for discerning motorists who will settle for nothing but the best’.

WITH THANKS TO – John Worth

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