One-of-six Vauxhall Chevette HSR for sale

Like old Vauxhalls? Like classic rally cars? Like homologation specials? Right this way

Perhaps it’s a symptom of spending too long in the classifieds, though it can often feel like all the motorsport specials have been dug up. That Escort Twin Cam, so-and-so’s Audi Sport Quattro, the really-final-last-one-off Delta Integrale. It’s becoming ever harder to get genuinely excited about a ‘find’ because so many of them have already been discovered. Sometimes more than once. Then up pops a black Chevette HSR and the cynicism can be parked for a little longer - the right rally car can still be hugely thrilling.

The HSR was a 1980 evolution of the 1976 Chevette HS. The latter, as plenty of PH will know, was a homologation car; the newly created Dealer Team Vauxhall (to all intents and purposes a works motorsport operation) wanted a rally car to beat the rear-drive Escorts in the mid-70s. So the 2.3-litre slant four was crammed into a Chevette and a cult classic created almost overnight. Wasn’t a bad little rally rascal, either, with all that grunt and lightweight agility. Pentti Airikkala won the 1979 British Rally Championship driving one.

The HSR modifications aimed to keep the Chevette competitive against the competition, introducing the superb wide bodykit that permitted the fitment of chunkier tyres to the racers (and earned the ‘plastic fantastic’ name for the road cars). The rear axle was revised as well, with more pickup points for the suspension, presumably offering up a bit more control over lumps and bumps and during the lurid powerslides the Vauxhalls became famous for. Some reports suggest more power for the road cars at around 150hp, though most agree on the same 135hp as the HS.

As was so often the case with homologation specials, the HS didn’t sell well; a buying public gripped by the misery of the '70s wasn’t much interested in a souped-up Chevette. So it’s believed that a lot of HSR road cars were built from HSes left unsold in showrooms. There were meant to be 400 of the originals and then 50 HSRs to comply with the evolution rules of Group 4 rallying, though both numbers now look pretty optimistic: it’s commonly accepted that fewer than 40 evolutions of the Chevette HS were made, with one estimate as low as 33. Once Vauxhall and Opel rallying operations were combined, all attention turned to the Manta Group B car. The Chevette’s rallying star shone brightly and briefly, a tarmac rally car hero for the ages.

To find any kind of HSR more than 40 years after they were built is notable; this one even more so as a black car, because it’s reckoned by the seller that just six ever existed - the overwhelming majority being silver like the HS. Now there might be as few as three left. It’s a stunner, too, all box arched attitude and retro Batman colour scheme. The advert says it was restored a decade ago and purchased from the company that did the work. It’s even been signed by Gerry Johnson, the first team principal of Dealer Team Vauxhall.

Certainly it still looks eminently presentable while still boasting plenty of original features like the dealer stickers, tartan seats and decals. We’d bet those new carbs and exhaust have the engine running better than ever. And that the steering wheel has many stories to tell of 35,000 miles. The bootful of spares looks like a treasure trove of Chevette paraphernalia. To anyone with even a casual interest in old rally cars or classic Vauxhalls, it’s hard not get a little giddy about the prospect of an HSR seemingly this good.

The asking price is £60,000, meaning the rarest of all the Chevettes has finally overtaken almost all the Mk1 and Mk2 Escorts. It’s still possible to pay £60k for the Fords (or sometimes more in exceptional circumstances), though most tend to be found around the £40,000 mark. None are quite going to be so rare as the HSR however, and if you’re a Vauxhall person more than a Ford one then the argument is done already. It’s a huge amount of money, of course, though even in the weird world of classic cars it feels like an almost unrepeatable opportunity. So don’t forget to remind us of that when a silver one comes up next week…