Vauxhall Car Day – Guildford

Memories of an early Vauxhall

The Perth Vauxhall Club held its annual classic car day recently at Anzac Park, Guildford and I went along for a nostalgic visit.
I was the proud owner of a 1963 Vauxhall Cresta when studying Journalism at Uni in the early ‘80s.
Although I only owned the Cresta for a relatively short time, it soon became one of my favourite cars.
I had bought it from a friend after pranging my 400cc Honda motorcycle – an accident that left me mostly unhurt but with both hands heavily bandaged.
Luckily for me, the Cresta was an automatic, as changing gears would have been a physical impossibility at the time.
It was the heaviest and most solid passenger vehicle I had ever driven – my previous cars being a Mini and small, two-door Holden Torana.
Everything about it shouted ‘60s classic – from the red leather seats to the woodgrain dashboard, cream duco and shiny chrome trim.
Had I kept it I would probably now be sitting on a gold mine – like the restored example pictured below at the classic car day.
Since my Uni days I have owned many other cars but that Cresta lives on as the most cherished vehicle ever to grace my driveway.
Perhaps it was the timing, and my subsequent conversion from two wheels to four (I had owned a clutch of motorbikes previously).
Or it could be the fact that at 22, I had never before experienced the luxury of a prestige ‘60s-era English car with four doors, a willing six-cylinder engine and comfy bench-style seats – seats that offered ample room to move while dating at the drive-in!
Aaah sweet memories…

The 1963 Vauxhall Cresta