The Vauxhall Cavalier is a large family car that was sold primarily in the United Kingdom by Vauxhall from 1975 to 1995. It was based on a succession of Opel designs throughout its production life, during which it was built in three incarnations. The first generation of Cavalier, launched in 1975 and produced until 1981, was Vauxhall's version of the General Motors 'U-Car' - essentially an Opel Ascona B/ Opel Manta with a few minor visual differences.
The second generation of Cavalier, launched in 1981 and produced until 1988, was launched simultaneously with the identical new generation of Opel Ascona, which was sold across the world in various guises on the GM "J-Body platform". The third and final generation of Cavalier, launched in 1988 and produced until 1995, was based on the first generation of Opel Vectra with the same production span. Cavaliers for the UK market were predominantly built at Vauxhall's Luton plant, but were also built alongside their Ascona/Vectra sister models at Opel plants in Continental Europe.
Mark I (1975–1981)
Launched with a 1,896 cc engine as a 1976 model in November 1975, the Cavalier was a restyled version of the Opel Ascona B which had debuted three months earlier in West Germany. The Ascona/Cavalier was built on what GM called the U-car platform, and the Cavalier was originally intended to have its own bodywork and interior design. However, GM management stopped its development six months away from the car's intended release and decreed that it used the Opel Ascona body and interior almost unaltered, but with the longer hood and "droopsnoot" nose from the Manta B, albeit without the air slots between the headlamps, whilst the rear fascia would be altered with the license plate moved below the bumper and an applique panel between the rear lamps with "VAUXHALL" spelled out in large letters similar to existing models. In the end to keep costs down, the different nose, designed by Wayne Cherry, was the only obvious styling feature to set the Vauxhall apart., with the interior also having no differences from the Opel sister car except for badging and trim. The new models bore a strong visual resemblance to the 1973 OSV (Opel Safety Vehicle) project which had been seen in West Germany two years before.
Van, pick-up and estate versions were also on the drawing board, but the MK1 Cavalier was ultimately never produced in these bodystyles, though prototypes were constructed to the extent that a road legal Cavalier Van can be seen in an early episode of UK TV show Minder, the exact same car used in the production being pictured at. In the meantime, estate versions of the smaller Chevette and Astra, as well as the larger Carlton, would be launched to compensate for the lack of a Cavalier estate.
To begin with, the Mark I Cavalier was produced principally alongside the Ascona at the newly refurbished Opel plant in Antwerp, Belgium.
Shortly after its launch, the Cavalier was tested by What Car? magazine and received a much higher rating than the Ford Cortina Mk III and Morris Marina against which it was tested. However, the Cortina was less than a year away from replacement, and January 1976 saw the arrival of the Chrysler Alpine (the British version of the Simca 1307, which had recently been voted European Car of the Year). In Britain, demand for the Cavalier initially outstripped supply, one of the factors in General Motors making a decision soon afterwards to add the Cavalier to its British as well as continental production lines in August 1977.
The first Vauxhall Cavalier to be assembled at Vauxhall's Luton plant was driven off the production line by Eric Fountain, Vauxhall's manufacturing director, on 26 August 1977, after which the 1256 cc version, assembled at Luton and using engine and transmission already familiar to Viva 1300 owners, broadened the range. At that stage the 1584 cc Cavalier and the 1979 cc which had joined it were still being imported from Belgium, but in due course these, too, started to emerge from the Luton production plant. The commencement of Cavalier production in the UK also helped ensure that supply for the car met demand, and consequently its sales figures increased so it was now a constant presence in the top 10 best selling cars in Britain.
