Vauxhall XVR

The Vauxhall XVR is a concept car built in 1966 by Vauxhall. The name stands for eXperimental Vauxhall Research prototype. It debuted at the March 1966 Geneva Motor Show, receiving favorable reviews from press, but never went into production.

This article is about the 1966 concept car. For the Vauxhall tuning division, see VXR. For the Holden-based 4-door sedan, see Vauxhall VXR8.
Vauxhall XVR
The last surviving Vauxhall XVR mockup
Overview
ManufacturerVauxhall
Production1966
3 built (2 glassfibre mockups, 1 metal, functional vehicle)
DesignerDavid Jones (design director)
Body and chassis
ClassConcept car
LayoutFMR layout
DoorsGullwing doors
Powertrain
Engine2.0 L (1,975 cc) Slant-Four engine
Transmission4-speed manual

Production
XVR rear end

3 XVR prototypes were built in total. 2 were glassfibre rolling mockups with no engine, while 1 was a fully functional example with a metal body built by Motor Panels of Coventry. The fully functional car was the one displayed at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1966. In total, the concept took 5 months to design and build.[1] Only one of the mockups survives today, as Vauxhall crushed both the running prototype and the other mockup. The surviving car currently resides at the Vauxhall Heritage Centre.[2]

Specifications

The single fully functional XVR is powered by a front-mid mounted 2.0 L Slant-4 engine producing around 100 bhp (75 kW; 101 PS).[3] The suspension is fully independent in the front and rear and there are disc brakes at all four corners.[4] At the time, this engine was a pre-production model and was later used in the Vauxhall VX4/90. The XVR was able to reach a top speed of over 100 mph (160 km/h)

Design

The design team for the XVR was directed by David Jones and included Wayne Cherry, John Taylor, Leo Pruneau and Judd Holcombe.[5] The looks are inspired by the Mako Shark II concept car introduced in 1965, and the design features a split windscreen, pop-up headlamps and gull-wing doors.

References
  1. "Vauxhall XVR: The Little Vette that Wasn't". Hooniverse. 2017-03-24. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
  2. "TG's guide to concepts: the Vauxhall XVR". Top Gear. 2017-06-05. Retrieved 2018-09-19.
  3. "TG's guide to concepts: the Vauxhall XVR". Top Gear. 2017-06-05. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
  4. "TG's guide to concepts: the Vauxhall XVR". Top Gear. 2017-06-05. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
  5. "Vauxhall XVR Concept". deansgarage.com.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.