Engine all-iron, ohv 1057/1159/1256cc or ohc 1599/1759/1975/2279cc ‘four’, single Solex, Zenith or Stromberg or twin Stromberg carbs An excellent family car, it gave Vauxhall a useful slice of the small-saloon market – one it hadn’t entered before.

Growing up and watching his father run Ferris is a continued source of inspiration for Van Tongeren. The base engines are fine for pottering around and quite economical, with great practicality. The overhead-cam engines brought a new world of performance, especially in GT and 2300 form with good handling, though they can be thirsty. Looking forward, we are laser focused on continuing to build on our on-premise business with our food service distributors, cafe and restaurant partners,” Van Tongeren said. “We’re aligned, and we are all considerably focused on the health of our team.” The time presented itself this year,” Mark Van Tongeren said. “We attempted to do this over the past couple of years and the clarity just wasn’t there.”Van Tongeren credited his father for setting Ferris Coffee & Nut up for success. The company’s aspirations moving forward include maintaining a positive cash flow and preserving long-standing relationships with manufacturers in West Michigan, he added. Work ethic was instilled in our house at a pretty young age,” he said. “Seeing the amount of effort that it takes to run a business has certainly been something that I’ve always appreciated from him.” Its ‘Coke bottle’ styling was attractive and complemented by a much-improved interior. Quiet and smooth, it was equipped with a particularly well-located rear axle, which finally turned the Vauxhall into a driver’s car. Suspension: front wishbones, transverse leaf spring (HA) or coil springs (HB/C), anti-roll bar (GT/HC) rear live axle, torque tube and semi-elliptic springs (HA) or four links and coil springs (HB/C), Panhard rod (GT), anti-roll bar (Firenza 2000); telescopics f/r

Ferris Coffee & Nut is among the minority of family-owned businesses historically with a clear succession plan, according to recent surveys and studies. A 2021 PricewaterhouseCoopers survey found that just 34 percent of family businesses nationally have a “robust, documented and communicated succession plan in place.”The HA Vauxhall Viva looks like a small vehicle today, but it was considered large and spacious for a 1-litre car in 1963, with good economy and performance for the time but a rather poor ride and finish. Today, the performance models are coveted but they still barely justify restoration costs, and the union of rust and low values has left just a few hundred survivors from the 1.5 million built. It’s only right that values are at last rising.

You have to have a set of agreed upon and followed rules for how decisions are made and how disagreements happen,” Van Tongeren said. “Prioritizing the family relationships first and making sure those are strong is key to a successful family business.” The extra weight of the 2in wider body with 1.5in longer wheelbase killed the performance and economy of the base model, however, and bigger engines were needed to make it go: the base HC was actually a second slower to 60mph than the base HA, with the same top speed. Not surprisingly, it’s the most sought-after and valuable production Viva now, though specials such as the Brabham, Crayford convertible and Lawrencetune GT will inevitably command more.

Solutions

The 2-litre, overhead-cam Viva GT wasn’t the boy-racer bolide it was dressed up to be, but was a great touring car that in HB form was the only production Viva to (just) top the ton – 100mph was a mere 1mph out of reach for the HC GT and 2300SL – and it was the only one to better 11 secs to 60mph. The HC was a mild rehash of the HB: praised at its launch for improved spaciousness and refinement.