The new Design & Engineering Centre became fully operational in February 1964 and cost Vauxhall £2.25m, a considerable sum of money at the time. It was the most comprehensive unit in the UK for the next twenty years. Within the center, the styling department occupied most of the first floor along the north side of the building. David Jones and his team went to town on the interior design of the styling area, the choice of materials, furniture, and fittings. The design area was split into the styling area and workshops. Large modern styling studios housed the design function – 3 for car exteriors, the others for car interiors, commercial vehicle cab design, advanced design, body development, and research. In addition, there was a much bigger auditorium or “appraisal” studio with a conference room and working boardroom at one end with one glass wall. Any vehicles under review may be observed constantly throughout discussions. These opened onto an exterior viewing terrace measuring 350ft in length and 70ft wide.
The workshop was used to build full-size styling models with a metal shop, wood shop, glass fiber shop, and paint and soft trim shop. The total staff employed initially was about 140. Upon opening, the HA was already in production, as was the FB, and its replacement, the FC 101, was already set to go into production. The PC's initial clay mock-ups were moved to the new building, and work started on the replacements for the HA and FC. But in the advanced styling studio, work began in late 1964 on a sports coupe based on the dimensions being laid out for the upcoming FD Victor, but as seen from the pictures below, some parts were used from a previous sports car project, HAS65.
Source: vauxpedianet.uk2sitebuilder.com
Images: GM; vauxpedianet.uk2sitebuilder.com
