A car not often seen in North America was my first new car. In 1958, when I was 18, my family went to England for a 10 week visit. We had a brand new 1958 Vauxhall Cresta delivered to the docks in Liverpool to meet our ship. This was a 18th birthday gift from my parents which we drove 4000 miles through Britain before shipping it back to Canada, collecting it from a GM dealer in Toronto. This was the first of two Vauxhall Crestas that I owned.
The Vauxhall (GM Britain) PA Cresta, announced October 1957, mimicked the American fashion for tail-fins, wrap-around windows and white-wall tyres, taking its cues from the 1957 model Buick Special announced twelve months before the Cresta, though understated compared to the Cadillacs and Buicks of the time. All factory-built PAs were four-door sedans.
The PA Cresta had independent front suspension using coil springs and an anti-roll bar with a rigid axle and semi-elliptic leaf springs at the rear. The Lockheed brakes used 9 in drums all round. The 2,262 cc six-cylinder engine had pushrod-operated overhead valves and a compression ratio of 7.8:1; it produced 82.5 bhp at 4,400 rpm. A single Zenith carburettor was used. The transmission had three forward speeds.
It was well equipped with leather upholstery for its bench front and rear seats and woven pile carpet. Options included fog lamps, reversing light, locking filler cap and external mirrors. In order to keep the front floor clear to seat six people the handbrake lever was mounted under the dashboard and the gearchange lever was column mounted. The car could be ordered painted in either single or two tone colours.
For 1960, the Cresta was given a facelift, with a new, larger, grille and the replacement of the three piece rear window with a single wrap around screen. The previous ribbed roof panel was replaced with a smoothly contoured version,the Cresta was given a facelift, with a new, larger, grille and the replacement of the three piece rear window with a single wrap around screen. The previous ribbed roof panel was replaced with a smoothly contoured version.
First shown here is a 1958 VAUXHALL CRESTA PA by PATHFINDER MODELS. This is a white metal quite rare hand built model made in the 1980s.
Second is the revised version of the 1960 VAUXHALL CRESTA PA made by VANDGUARDS, a LLEDO COMPANY in 1996.
Lledo went bankrupt in 1999 and Corgi took over VANGUARDS MODELS in about 2004.
I love the Vauxhall Cresta PA and PB. They were very prevalent in my home town of Victoria and my friend's mother drove a pink PA; which we would drive about on occasion. It was a very good car and had a fair bit of power for its class. I have the yellow and the pink Pathfinders plus their Friary Estate PA in green and black; plus a bunch of other marques as well.
Maybe I could just add that Trax recently did a very tidy model of the PA Cresta - the original version of the car with the Buick-style 3-piece rear window, oval rear lamps and the simple side spears which I believe were meant to be a new interpretation of the trditional Vauxhall bonnet/hood "flutes".
Isplashed out on both colour versions. When they arrived I somehow got the impression that the Trax version looked a little short and stumpy in the tail compared with other models of this car - here it is alongside the Vanguards:
However, if you look at the Trax next to a photo of the real car. you can see that the proportions of all main body details match up remarkably well and are very well executed. I think it's actually the slightly over-size tyres that give the model an initial impression of being slightly too short and fat. (Maybe replacing them with a set of wheels from a Vanguards would make it just right).
Just to complete the picture, I also have an early model by Micro Models of New Zealand
and the slightly larger-scaled Spot-On model. The pale green model below is the Spot-On version of the original "Mark 2" car, and the black one was my attempt to convert the grille and back window to "Mark 1" specification (an act of desperation done years before any decent model of the "Mark 1" became available).
This post was modified 5 years ago 2 times by Graeme Ogg
Here's my Vanguards Cresta. This model appeared in a lot of two-tone combinations, but I think I liked this maroon/silver one the most. With jewelled headlights and spring suspension, a real throwback to the 'classic' Corgi Toys of long ago.
Here's my Vanguards Cresta. This model appeared in a lot of two-tone combinations, but I think I liked this maroon/silver one the most. With jewelled headlights and spring suspension, a real throwback to the 'classic' Corgi Toys of long ago.
