Grumett Pick-Up

If there’s one legacy automotive brand I don’t give two shits about, it’s Vauxhall. I know this might be surprising, or sad, or whatever, but I have never put effort into ever learning about Vauxhall. 

Do you blame me? Exactly.

What I have done recently, for our mutual “benefit”, is to force myself to learn about Vauxhall, for the purposes of finding and relaying the story of a weird one to you.

To my eyes, Vauxhall was even more boring than the worst from General Motors, because at least the bulk of GM had its roots near enough to Motown, NASCAR, and the U.S. military industrial complex (including NASA engineers), meaning plenty of oddities oozed out from close to the RenCen’s roots. 

Holden came from Australia, Opel from Germany, Saab from Sweden, Vauxhall…the UK.

Not the cool UK, however, Luton, Bedfordshire, where cars were made for people too busy working and living to faff about with anything other than a vehicle that was produced by long-established Vauxhall Motors, with its history as a local manufacturing firm since the 1850s.

I can appreciate the history, and the focus on early long-distance races, Brooklands trials, reliability contests, small rallies, and all of the other motorsport-adjacent things Vauxhall has gotten up to.

I’m not dead: my heart still beats for a white and yellow 1996-era John Cleland BTCC Vectra. The 2005 Vauxhall Zafira VXR? Legend (in its own mind). 

You'll be pleased to know the long arm of GM-Vauxhall extended to Uruguay, and Grumett, where  the mix of models blended polyester-bodied Vauxhalls with dressed-up Isuzus.