RETURN TO THRUXTON: The 50th Anniversary of the Vauxhall HP Firenza Droop Snoot
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- čas přidán 23. 07. 2024
- Tim Watson presents a unique journey to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the iconic Vauxhall Firenza Droop Snoot! In this special video, we dive deep into the rich history and legacy of the Vauxhall Firenza, a car that left a lasting mark on many, despite so few being built.
On Saturday 22 June 2024, 31 Droop Snoots returned to Thruxton to mark the 50th anniversary of the HP Firenza, five decades after the launch race, pretty much to the day, at the UK's fastest racing circuit.
Our Tim presents the story of the hp firenza, widely known as the droop snoot. Many will remember gerry marshall, the vauxhall firenza rally car, gerry marshall big bertha, baby bertha vauxhall firenza and the vauxhall firenza v8… this short video tells the story of the ill fated droop snoot firenza.
Introduced in 1974 by vauxhall motors at the Droop Snoot Race Thruxton, Return to Thruxton Droop Snoot celebrates Droop Snoot 50th Anniversary with Tim Watson joining 31 survivors of the vauxhall firenza droopsnoot.
We start by looking at the vauxhall firenza, which some call the vauxhall viva firenza and go through to the HP Firenza Thruxton where a vauxhall firenza can am joined many other vauxhall firenza 2300, many of which will have vauxhall firenza restoration
Love the Droop Snoot? You are in the right place.
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50 years ago, Truxton, the UK's fastest race circuit, played host to an important yet largely forgotten race. Vauxhall were coming back to their sporting roots and on this very day some five decades ago, 20 stunning HP Firenzas took to the track in the hands of famous racing drivers to launch Vauxhall’s new performance coupe.
The Firenza was first introduced in May 1971. The flat nose design was essentially a coupe of Viva HC which was introduced a year earlier, but with a distinctive coupé body style to compete with the Ford Capri and forthcoming Morris Marina Coupé.
1971 also saw the formation of Dealer Team Vauxhall, after the efforts of Bill Blydenstein and Gerry Marshall through the 60s started associating Vauxhall with motorsport success once again. Indeed, in ‘71, DTV won the British Saloon Car Championship, and Blydenstein had supplied multiple cars and engines that were winning in Ireland, Scotland and the Hillclimb Championship.
Step forward Wayne Cherry, Assistant Design Director at Vauxhall. He suggested body modifications should be considered, but changing the already set tooling for Firenza would be financially unviable.
This fell to Dave Wright. Vauxhall had a fairly new engine, the slant-4, which has been introduced in 1966. There were multiple displacements available, with the 1.6l 1599cc pushing 72hp. In 1972, a much larger 2279cc 2.3l unit was introduced and having tried various camshaft profiles with the existing twin carburettor design, Wright had achieved an output of 131hp. Combined with a new 5-speed manual ZF gearbox, it car was, on paper, ready. Better aero, drag reduced by 16.5% and enough power.
The prototype was sent to Millbrook to test the performance and a short time later came a phone call… 0-60 had been recorded at 7.5sec, 1 sec better than target and quicker than the 3.0L Capri. The top speed was recorded at 120.4mph, 5mph more than target. At a later press launch event and in the hands of Paul Frere - ex Ferrari F1 Driver - it clocked a speed of 129.4.
And so with glowing reviews and proven performance, the High Performance Firenza, complete with a GRP moulded nosecone and two pairs of Cibié headlamps behind toughened glass covers was launched in 1973. It was widely recognised as the Droop Snoot, but officially marketed at the HP Firenza, whilst its flatnose sister was renamed Magnum. Everything seemed to be right and Vauxhall expected some 30,000 sales of the Droop… so what went wrong?
The 1973 oil crisis.
The droop did, however, make one final appearance in ’76… with an abundance of nosecones left, Vauxhall applied it to Magnum Estate to create the Vauxhall Sportshatch. Sadly, this also failed to capture huge sales numbers, with even fewer - just 197 - being built.
50 years on then, the droopsnoot remains a largely misunderstood and often forgotten piece of motoring history. Today, very few people know what the droopsnoot is but those who do hold it in high regard. Its failure should be attributed to external factors no-one saw coming.
If it had sold in the thousands, perhaps the droop would be far more recognised and celebrated than it is, but for those here today and those watching this now, it will always be a special car. In many ways, its ultimate fate and unexpected rarity elevates the droop beyond anything the designers of this car could ever of imagined; an piece of automotive history that remains iconic half a century later.
*Disclaimer:* This video is not sponsored by or affiliated with Vauxhall Motors. All opinions expressed are our own. - Auta a dopravní prostředky
Brilliant video.
An excellent video Tim. I was very glad to be there at Thruxton Sunday, a great for everyone in the DSG.
Thank you! It was the perfect celebration, full credit to the Droop Snoot Group for making it happen
Great video , thanks for posting.Having owned and driven numerous droopsnoots over the years it was great to meet you on Saturday Tim and go through the motor trade enigma of these cars .
Great to meet you too! Sorry I didn't have much time to chat, it was a tight shoot!
Just Brilliant
Superb video,very professional. My first car was a Firenza which ended up 2.3 with 5 speed Getrag from a vx4/90.
A droopsnoot was my dream
Snap, did the same with mine. I rebored and rebuilt the engine with a high lift camshaft and a pair of 48 delorto carbs plus the getrag box, It was such a beast I had to upgrade the brakes!
Great video. I own a 1972 1800 SL Firenza in red. I actually passed the orange flat front Firenza in this video while driving past Stone Henge years ago which was quite surreal as you just don't see others on the roads! I was driving mine at the time too.
Excellent! Glad you enjoyed the video! And I know that feeling, I have Calibras in my collection and its always a great feeling when you see another out and about.
Brilliant documentary mate. 👍👌
My mate had one in early-mid eighties, I had a Magnum. Good times were had out on the road.
We used to have a yellow Firenza in 1982. A very rare car now. Unfortunately our old car ended up being held together by rust in the end so sadly no longer exists.
Amazing Job Tim, great video 👌🏻
I've always wanted one of these but never see any.
I think the Vauxhall dealer that I worked for had just one in, which was put on the road as a demonstrator for one of the bosses. Fords got caught out too with the RS3100. The Firenza stood out and the ZF box took a little getting used to, but the car itself was something a bit different and was well ahead of it's time.
Those Vauxi's 'lines' look near identical to an Escort if you ignore the nose, bonnet & wheel hubs.
I suppose they are the very rare incestuously sporty lovechild of the Mantra and/or a Cavalier ?
I'd say closer to the Capri than the Escort. The Droop came shortly after Manta but before Cavalier...
Tune in at 7pm tonight for the full video!
@@OurTim I can see that, although the rooflshape, front and rear pillars angles and the hint of the wheelbase appear more Escortish, but with the Caprisian style lower rear quarter window humped lines (without the power bulging rear arches) and bonnet/nose lengths...
Yup wil do, have it set to remind notify for later already !
Would sooner have a droop snoot than a ford