In the mid-1960s, a young General Motors designer named Wayne Cherry was given the opportunity to design a concept car for Vauxhall. Vauxhall had recently opened a new Design Centre which presented Mr. Cherry with opportunities that may have taken years to secure at GM's Technical Center in Michigan.

Mr. Cherry designed a sports coupe called the XVR, and three examples were built for the show circuit. The next concept that he and his design team created was the Styling Research Vehicle (SRV).

The SRV Concept made its debut in 1970 at the London Motor Show. It was a four-door, four-seat sports car that featured a cab-forward design in a similar fashion to the long-tail LeMans cars of the era. It had a fiberglass body with movable panels which aided in high-speed aerodynamics. There were two large front passenger doors with smaller gull-wing flap-style rear doors. The rear wheels were enclosed by hinged covers which could be opened to allow access to the wheels. There was also a large rear louvered cover which concealed the engine compartment.

The SRV Concept was a styling exercise and not a functional vehicle. It was to be powered by a transversely mounted dual overhead cam (DOHC) 2.3-liter slant four engines with fuel injection and twin turbochargers. However, the mock-up engine that resided in the engine bay was actually made from fiberglass, aluminum, and wood. Had this been a working prototype, a transverse transmission would have had to be developed for the vehicle.

The interior had fixed front seats with adjustable driver controls, steering columns, and pedals. The instruments were fixed to a pod hinged to the driver's door. There was an electrically adjusted suspension leveling at the rear, and the fuel could be re-distributed to different tanks to adjust handling.

After making its debut at the Earls Court Motor Show in October of 1970, it was put on display at the Geneva Motor Show several months later, in 1971. Currently, the car resides at Vauxhall's Heritage Center.

by Dan Vaughan