IDRIVEACLASSIC reviews: Vauxhall PA Cresta (the posh Velox!)

Today's video is in something which has been requested for adages - the Vauxhall PA Cresta. It's the example which was used for the Corgi models, so we're in good company!
Today's video is sponsored by Adrian Flux
Hard of hearing like me? I've popped the text below:
When we covered the Vauxhall Victor last year, we talked about how the GM owned Vauxhall of this era had really strong American styling and were bold in bringing this to the UK market in a time where rationing was just ending and the country as a whole was far more stiff upper lip than flashy duo tone paint and excess chrome finishing.
And gosh, doesn’t this just take the whole Americana vibe to the absolute max…which is funny, because at the time in the UK, there was a slight wariness of the American influence in Britain - which meant putting something like this Cresta into the market was going out with the knowledge you were producing a car which a segment of the market share would recoil in horror at.
It was sold as the car with the clean aerodynamic styling of tomorrow, the company looking forwards to that space age era in a similar way to Plymouth with their cars of the future, which we referenced in the Plymouth Fury video.
Made from 1957 to 1962, the PA Cresta sold a rather impressive 173,000 units and is sometimes referred to as a one of the Vauxhall sixes, due in part to its 6 cylinder engine under the bonnet.
And what an engine it was, it’s a 2.6 litre, 6 cylinder Vauxhall engine giving 113 BHP and was used in both the Velox and Cresta. The engine was a modern square design with wedge shaped combustion chambers, aluminium rocker posts, high compression cylinder head gasket, heavy duty alloy main and big end bearings, integral valve guides, two piece exhaust valves and positive crank case ventilation with filtered air and consumption of vented fumes.
But with great power, comes need for greater stopping potential and Vauxhall offered a disc brake optional extra upgrade on these PA Crestas, which might seem normal for today’s market, but at the time was a revelation. If you hadn’t paid for this extra, which incidentally was fitted to this car at time of purchase, it was 10 inch drums to front and 9 inch drums to rear. The disc brake upgrade was available from 1961, which may be due in part to the fact Ford had put them as standard on their Zodiacs and Zephyrs.
Suspension is another well thought out consideration on these and to the front we’ve got independent front wheel springing. Long and short wishbone units with double telescopic shock absorbers and there is a stabiliser bar which connects the lower units. Whole assembly is mounted on a steel cross member and bolted, with rubber insulation to body chassis.
The rear suspension is long, wide, positive camber springs with double acting telescopic shock absorbers mounted with pronounced inclination.
There were three transmission units available when this came to market which were all synchro three speed box, hydra-matic which was essentially a 3 speed automatic transmission and designed to suit the 2.6 and said to glide from slow to fast and fast to slow and lastly, the all synchro with overdrive.
Whilst this car was sold with the all synchro three speed, it now sports the all synchro with overdrive. The overdrive sits on second and third and the extra gears in the sales brochure were referred to as overdrive top and overdrive second. Top being for petrol saving and cruising on long journeys and overdrive second being for traffic or overtaking at pace on hills.
It’s also worth noting and something which completely slipped my mind on the test drive, there is no choke on this car, which again for the era, is absolutely wild. Buyers of these fine automobiles were told that the choke was automatically set for a quick warm up when starting from cold and would cut out automatically when the engine reached temperature. Again this may seem elementary to drivers of today, but compared to it’s competition, this was cutting edge technology.
Now whilst all this is fantastic, it’s really the look of a car which sells it to the passer by and for the customer picking the Cresta new from the forecourt and wanting a two tone colour choice, there were 9 colour ways to choose from. This particular car is glade green - alpine green and the interior duo tone leather is Sylvan green - deep sea green.
If you’ve only ever seen a Velox before, you’ll note there are some differences outside as well as inside. Things like the stainless steel surrounds, the two tone paint finish and the white wall tyres with polished aluminium ring embellishers. Internally you’ve got various things as standard - but we’ll show you that in the dash walk around.
The wraparound screen styling might look familiar to fans of American cars like the 57 Buick special which launched approximately 12 months prior to the PA, but in the UK this was like nothing else and really stood out a mile in the car park.