1970 Blydenstein Vauxhall/Lotus Viva HC

• 1971 & 1972 Irish Saloon Car Championship winner driven by Des Donnelly
•  Sold by Gerry Marshall in 1972. It shares the same engine as his famous Firenza ‘Old Nail’
•  Rare Lotus Formula 2 904 engine with spare in carrying frame ( 290 bhp @ 8200rpm)
•  Raced in Guyana and the Caribbean by GM Concessionaire Richard DeFreitas and his wife, the hugely talented and much-missed, Gabriel Konig
• The comprehensive  spares package alone with a spare Lotus 904 engine represents a high value in itself and makes this a very viable proposition
• With its international provenance, would undoubtedly be welcome at Blue Riband historic events everywhere.

Built in 1970 by Bill Blydenstein to run in the Irish Saloon Car Championship entered by McCanns Motors, the importer at the time of Vauxhall vehicles into Dublin, and to be driven by Des Donnelly. The car was built using the same know-how and engine that was fitted to Gerry Marshalls Firenza, ‘’Old Nail’’. It won the Irish Saloon Car Championship in 1971 and 1972 and was then sold by Gerry Marshall.

It was purchased by Philip DeFreitas, the General Motors Concessionaire for Guyana, South America who had enjoyed tremendous success racing both HA and HB Vivas. It was driven by him and his late wife, BRDC Member and well respected racer, Gabriel Konig, around Guyana and the West Indies until 1990 and was the most successful saloon in the Caribbean. Gabriel had met Philip whilst racing her Chevrolet Camaro in Guyana in 1972. Over the next sixteen years, it became the car to beat and famously won the 1980 Trinidad event beating imported state of the art Toyotas. During the eighties, it was shipped back to the UK by Gabriel Konig and, after a rebuild, it went to South Africa to compete in the International Sports Prototype series. In 2003, it returned to Europe and competed at Spa and various events in the UK until 2007.

 This Viva HC is fitted with a very rare Lotus Type 904 engine and impressively boasts a spare as only approximately twenty five units were produced. Vauxhall announced the arrival of the slant-four engine at the 1967 Earls Court Motor show and Colin Chapman quickly approached Vauxhall to buy some of these blocks to speed up the development of his own engine to break away from the Ford marriage. Before long this hybrid was running in the Lotus 62 and Formula 2.

 The Lotus Formula 2/904 was stroked by Bill Blydenstein from 2-litres to 2.3-litres capacity and had Cosworth pistons, a Faradon crankshaft/connecting rods, was dry-sumped and runs Tecalemit fuel injection, this combination producing around 290bhp at 8200 rpm. The gearbox is a ZF competition 5-speed and again comes with a spare mounted to the spare engine in its carrying frame. The rear axle is a Ford ‘Atlas’ competition item with fully floating half-shafts and a ZF limited-slip differential. De Dion rear suspension and disc brakes complete a very focussed specification for a ‘shopping’ Vauxhall.

 This little HC is a great survivor, an important part of Vauxhall's competition history and needs to be adopted by a new owner who is interested in campaigning this remarkable Viva. The comprehensive spares package alone with a spare Lotus 904 engine represents a high value in itself and makes it a very viable proposition and, with its international provenance would undoubtedly be welcome at Blue Riband historic events everywhere.