Some cars can capitalise on their own failings. A perfect example of this is the Vauxhall Victor F of the late 1950s which has become quite a rarity because thousands of them just rotted away at a relatively early age.
Now the Victor F is a prized heritage car and if you want to see one, the survivors are always in a gleaming, lovingly restored and cared for line-up at owners' club events and classic car shows.
And how fine they look, with deeply polished paintwork and glittering chrome.
It's certainly not how I remember the Victors. In the early 60s they could be seen with major outbreaks of rust bubbles marring their startling American lines.
And interestingly, they were early examples of mass-produced cars with metallic paintwork. But the paint used faded rapidly, making the metallic-coated Victors look old before their time.
And it seemed that the silver ones always ended up rusting first.
A scientific friend gave me a explanation of this, saying that the metallic paint had a catalytic effect on the metal. But I think that the dear old Victor was just full of water traps.
A shame, because they were great to drive with bench seats, a neat column change and umbrella style handbrake.
The Victor F, which was a kind of scaled-down version of the 1955 Chevrolet, was introduced in 1957.
Its looks didn't appeal to everybody and Vauxhall later instituted some styling tweaks. It was a hefty car and always had a transatlantic way of going about things.
These days, a restored and rust-free Victor F is a prize indeed.
I had not driven one since the early 1960s so it was quite a surprise a couple of years ago when I turned up at a Vauxhall driving event and there were some heritage models.
Here was a 1950s car that could hack it in everyday use in a modern new world. Its performance was still good despite decades passing. Its 1,508cc engine had bags of torque and the whole experience was relaxing and fun.
It was sad to see the Victor F go because the later models were never quite the same as this dear old smoothie.
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