Video: Who says Vauxhalls can't be exciting? See them sideways in the factory

Think Vauxhall and the chances are the first thing you’ll conjure in your mind is a Zafira on the school run or a Corsa making a trip to the supermarket. But the Luton based firm does have an exciting side as well. 

Ostensibly, this production is to celebrate the fact that five million cars have rolled out of the Ellesmere Port factory since the first Viva in June 1964. To do that, they hired stunt driver Paul Swift to drive fifty years’ worth of Vauxhalls around the plant. He starts out in a Viva, employing the push-pull steering technique you learned on your driving lessons, and ends up taking a current Astra onto two wheels.

But it’s the in-between years that I enjoyed most. The Firenza Droop Snoot all crossed up, the wheel-spinning Chevette HS and the Mk1 Astra GTE (when did you last see one of those on the road?). It’s all carried through by a neat clocking-on, clocking-off narrative. 

And if you’re still unconvinced that Vauxhalls can be exciting, check out our own video from earlier this year when we pitted Baby Bertha against a new VXR8.