Vauxhall XVR
The Vauxhall XVR is a concept car built in 1966 by Vauxhall. The name stands for eXperimental Vauxhall Research. It debuted at the March 1966 Geneva Motor Show receiving favourable reviews from press, but never went into production.
Production
Three prototypes of the XVR were built in total. Two were glassfibre rolling mockups with no engines, while one was a metal bodied, fully functional example, built by Motor Panels of Coventry. The fully functional car was the one displayed at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1966. In total, the concept took five months to design and build.Only one of the mockups survives today. The running prototype was damaged while on display in Canada and was scrapped; Vauxhall also crushed the other mockup. The surviving car remains in the ownership of Vauxhall Motors and is currently on display at the British Motor Museum.
Specifications
The lone fully functional XVR was powered by a few different front mid-mounted engines during its existence. As the intended fitment was still undergoing testing, the XVR was fitted with a used 1.5-litre four, cleaned up and repainted, for the Geneva Motor Show. Once the 2.3-litre slant-four was ready, a tuned pre-production example of the variant model which was later used in the Vauxhall VX4/90 was installed. Upper management then decreed that development work be halted and had a 2.0-litre slant-four in standard trim replaced the car as it entered the show circuit. This engine produces around.The suspension was fully independent in the front and rear, and there were disc brakes at all four corners. With the 2-litre engine, the XVR was able to reach a top speed of over.