The Vauxhall Viva is a small family car that was produced by Vauxhall in a succession of three versions between 1963 and 1979. These were designated as the HA, HB and HC series.The HB Viva, announced in September 1966[10] and sold by Vauxhall until 1970, was a larger car than the HA, featuring coke bottle styling, and was modelled after American General Motors (GM) models such as the Chevrolet Impala/Caprice of the period, and in no way was related to the Opel Kadett - as had been the case with the HA. It featured the same basic engine as the HA, but enlarged to 1, 159 cc, but with the added weight of the larger body the final drive gearing was reduced from 3.9 to 1 to 4.1 to keep the nippy performance (except the SL90 which retained the 3.9 diff having the power to cope with the higher ratio).The Vauxhall Viva Brabham was a short-lived model designed to add a little panache into the range - in the way that the Cooper did for Mini or Lotus did for the Cortina. Given that, you'd be expected to think that it was a fire-breathing homologation special capable of seeing off some serious machinery. Not so. If anything, the Brabham was a bit of a dealer special. In that it was all show and not enough go. It did receive a mildly tuned version of its 1159cc engine. It featured twin Stromberg carburettors, reworked exhaust manifolds and an uprated camshaft, which delivered a very useful 68bhp. The interior was upgraded and the bodywork treated to some nice stripes - but in the end, it remained in production for a mere year before being ousted by the Viva 1600.
