CarBrandLogos archive · Vauxhall · 1954
Detroit styling on a Luton budget, chrome and whitewalls included.
Discover the storyPhoto: SG2012 · CC BY 2.0
The story
Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Vauxhall Cresta, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.
01
The Cresta arrived in 1954 as the Velox with the options fitted as standard: leather, a heater, better carpets, two-tone paint and enough brightwork to distinguish it in a car park. It was the top of the Vauxhall range and priced to be bought by people who wanted to look as though they had done well.
Vauxhall Cresta PC de Luxe 3294cc February 1971 · Charles01 · CC BY-SA 3.0
02
The car people remember is the PA of 1957, which took its cues directly from General Motors' American studios — a wraparound windscreen, a three-piece rear window, fins over the rear wheels and a grille that had no business on a British road. It was ridiculous and it sold, and it remains the clearest evidence of what GM ownership meant for Vauxhall's design department.
Vauxhall Cresta 1956 - Flickr - mick - Lumix · Mick from Northamptonshire, England · CC BY 2.0
03
The PB of 1962 calmed things down, and the PC of 1965 added a 3.3-litre six and a longer, plusher Viscount version with electric windows. Production continued until 1972, by which point the executive market had moved to Ford's Granada and Vauxhall had nothing left to answer with.
Vauxhall Cresta PA 1961 - Flickr - mick - Lumix · Mick from Northamptonshire, England · CC BY 2.0
At a glance
Produced
1954–1972Technical specification
Badge at launch
This is the marque emblem that accompanied the Cresta's era. The full identity timeline is documented in the brand archive.
Explore the logo history →From the journal
Contemporaries from the 1950s
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