This is a 1956 Vauxhall Velox–never heard of one, you say? Well, Vauxhall is the British arm of, wait for it, General Motors. Just like Holden is in Australia. Wait a minute–this car is in Australia! Ok, so there are some puzzles here we won’t get to answer, and that includes why this car is advertised as having “no rust.” It’s being sold here on eBay Australia and is located in Kempsey, New South Wales there. The buy it now is set at $4,000 AU, which equates to $3,071 USD as of this morning.
As it turns out, these Veloxes were assembled by Holden in both New Zealand and Australia, although I couldn’t find out exactly when for each location. I think, though, that we can assume this one was built down under somewhere. The Velox has a 2262 cc over square (unusual for British cars) six cylinder engine and was known for…well…not much. Think of this as the plain person in the family, reliable and even just a little stately (just a little) but not outstanding in any way. A perfect way to fly under the radar.
Moving on to the rust or no rust issue. I’m not really sure what the seller is partaking of, but I want some! I see rust everywhere, although I don’t see any holes, which I think is what the seller means. The problem is, when I see a clear contradiction like that I end up taking everything else in the ad with a grain of salt.
This dent, for example. Described in the ad as a “minor ding,” I think this is certainly repairable, but will take quite a bit of hammer and dolly work to make smooth. Interesting door buttons, too, don’t you think? Anyway, the seller tells us that they spent four hours getting the car to run, but that it now runs like a clock and can be driven onto a trailer. Which might be a bit of an adventure, as the brakes need attention. Given the seller’s tendency to understatement, I think stopping once you drove onto the trailer would be difficult. However–what do you think of this down under find? And what’s the most interesting experience you’ve had with a seller that didn’t have the same standards you do?
To me, that car looks like it has no rust. It has surface oxidation (rust) but zero rust through that I can see. And I’m a Westerner, an east coast version of little rust to me means “needs all new steel.”
That’s not rust it’s called ‘slightly weathered’, when we get extremes of weather summer and winter from zero to 130 degrees cars will ‘weather’ slightly! Nothing a bit of elbow grease and a couple of ‘rattle cans’ of paint won’t fix !!!
Kidding of course.
A little rust here in PA. usually means still drivable won’t break in half.
Agreed. Any car guy would say that the car appears to have no rust. A layman with not much acquaintance with vintage/collectible cars would say it’s rusty, because of the surface rust. But surface rust is of no consequence and doesn’t figure into the value calculation. If it need paint, it needs paint.
Those rusted so bad in the UK that would’ve left the showroom like that! The following model was just as bad too.
I can see advertising it with no rust through, but not with no rust at all!
Its a bit expensive. I have 3 velox pa the model there came after. That is a total other car, but also 2262ccm.
This i welding on at the moment
A little rust around here means the Police or the Ministry of Transportation hasn’t pulled it off the road yet.(I’m in Central Ontario.)
Sure is an unusually plain looking car, but no different than say a ’54 Hudson. You’d think with a 6 cylinder, it would have reasonable performance, but it seems, with only 62 hp, (out of a 6 cylinder?) or 68 hp for the “high compression” model, performance was pretty slow, 0-60 in 21 seconds ( VW bug) and barely got 20 mpg. Probably a pretty standard family car in England back then, but not for American roads. Cool find.
Yeah, looks a bit like the Hudson Jet.
We got a ute version here too. This is mine after a triple roll at the local speedway.
I’m told it looked spectacular from the outside. I can assure you it was from the inside!
Patina
I have had one of these, mine was a 1955 Vauxhall Cresta, it had a 2600cc straight six engine with steering wheel gear shift change, in the early 1970’s I paid £9.00 for it as that was all I had on me at the time, I sold it in 1984 for £500.
That’s not the org. Engine for a 1955 model. It was the old 2262 engine. 2600 ccm first came in 1961
GM “53-“54 Chevy styling, roof to belt line down…just a bit smaller.
Lots of Brit cars were sold to the colonies in CKD form. That stood for Completely Knocked Down, as in kit form. I have the later PA version with the 2651 engine. It is a square engine and one of the smoothest straight sixes you will ever hear.
This 2651ccm. Is a chevrolet engine. It was the first foreign engine in a vauxhall. It has 113 bhp.
My granddad had one of these, different grill, in Hobart, Tasmania in the late 50s, early 60s. As he was born in 1888, and we kids went with him on occasion, it’s a wonder I’m still here!
Not true Jesper. That is a common fallacy but it is a bored out version of the 2262. Ultimately they took it out to 3294 for the PB, PC and Ventora.
2262 and 2651 is not the same engine.
There are big diff. In block and cyl. Head.
I found a Vauxhall super wagon in South Africa
1959/60 model 1400 Nissan motor and transmission
the owner want R7500.00 or about $470.00 no papers
same as this pic
Always remember my Dad telling me that the big (for the UK) 6 cylinder ran on a Single carb & when set up properly you were able to balance a coin on it’s edge on the rocker cover!