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Last year we featured Adrian’s Viva De Luxe “Brabham” but, incredibly, this is not the rarest car in his collection. In March 1968, Crayford Engineering transformed five of the HB range into dropheads. Each was based on the SL90, finished in white and wore Cosmic Mk. I alloy wheels’. Luton officially approved the conversion, and they were distributed solely by the Leeds Vauxhall dealership Wallace Arnold.

‘Viva Goes Topless!’ read the very late 1960s publicity, which promised ‘A compact sports convertible with Continental flair’. The Vauxhall was undeniably good looking and the roof easy to operate, but David Booker of Vauxpedia noted one major disadvantage. ‘The rain runs down inside the car behind the “B” post. There were drip trays to funnel the water down into the sills, but as can be imagined this in itself was a recipe for disaster especially on a ‘60s car.’

The Convertible received valuable publicity in Motor magazine, and it possessed a genuine Kings Road appeal, but Wallace Arnold sold a mere three examples. The cost was a significant problem; advertisements stated that prices started at £1,162, which was circa £500 more expensive than a standard SL90 two-door saloon.  This was a considerable sum, especially when your friendly local Triumph dealer could offer the Vitesse Mk. II for just £998 15s. Its looks may have been somewhat 1950s, but it was powered by a six-cylinder two-litre engine instead of the Viva’s 1,159cc plant.

Crayford subsequently made a pair of privately commissioned Viva GT convertibles, both of which survive, while there are now just two known open-topped SL90s. As Adrian observes,   URR 419G is ‘the only one still in its original unmodified condition’. A Mr. Leonard Fuller of Derby first owned it, and Mr. Miller became the Viva’s second custodian in 1999. For £800, he purchased ‘a completely stripped down and rusty bodyshell, with no engine and all of the component parts just thrown in boxes. The mileage was unknown’.

The restoration of the Viva to a near Concours condition lasted ten years, and ‘virtually every part used in the rebuild of this car, all body panels, mechanical, electrics, trim etc., were from my own collection of brand new genuine old stock parts’. The Crayford gained a replacement engine and gearbox,  front and rear axles,  suspension,  trim,   instruments, wiring,  bumpers and lighting – in short, ‘just about every new part you can think of was fitted to this car’.

The restoration was completed in 2009 when the Viva finally returned to the road. There was also a fresh mileage that restarted at “Zero”. Today, Adrian mainly drives URR in the summer – and it more than lives up to Wallace Arnold’s offer to ‘Let Viva supply you with the joi-de-vivre of fresh air motoring’.

With Thanks To: Adrian Miller and The Vauxhall Viva Owners’ Club

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