Vauxhall SRV

The Vauxhall SRV (Styling Research Vehicle) was concept car of 1970, which was designed by Wayne Cherry and Chris Field for Vauxhall, in the United Kingdom.[1] Never intended for production, the car was an attempt to raise Vauxhall’s profile and image, while providing one platform for researching, some unusual design concepts.[2]

Vauxhall SRV (July 2009)

The car’s exterior design was inspired by the short nosed, long tailed, racers of Le Mans of the time, but was able to seat four adults in comfort, despite being just 41 inches (104 cm) high. The design, unusually, featured fixed front seats, but with all of the driver controls, adjustable for position, angle and reach. The car was also shown at the London Classic Car Show, in March 2017.[3]

The car also featured four doors, with the rear doors being handle less, and largely disguised. This feature, ironically, is only now being incorporated into real production cars, over thirty years later. The car could change its aerodynamic profile, using an adjustable aerofoil, which was located in the nose section.[4]

The SRV also had electrically adjusted suspension levelling at the rear, and the car could redistribute fuel to different tanks to adjust handling.

The instruments were fixed to one pod, which was hinged to the drivers door. The engine was one 2.3 litre, mid mounted transverse version, of the Slant Four, but featuring fuel injection. The engine, fitted to the SRV, was actually one mock up, and the car was unable to run under its own power, and the necessary transverse transmission, was never developed for the vehicle.