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Cavalier Mk1 Mega Bertha

By 1977 Vauxhall needed to replace the Firenza in the Super Saloon championships, a replacement was needed from the new Vauxhall line up. The Cavalier Coupe was chosen and Mega Bertha was born. Penned by John Taylor the fibreglass body stretched over a space frame chassis. And it was designed to take either a 2.5 litre turbocharged Opel engine or a 8.1 litre Reynolds Aluminium-Chevrolet engine used by the all-conquering McLarens in the US Can-Am race series. The project was cancelled in mid-1977. Bill Blydenstein's workshop split the steel shell in three and Rawlsons of Dover who did all the fibreglass work for Vauxhall at the time made the initial mould and the first (buck) set of body work which would have been dressed and fettled in order to make another finish mould, but the whole project was then cancelled and the whole lot shipped back to Luton where it sat until Bedford Trucks went bust and was sold off as part of the liquidation sale. The people who bought it took it to Scotland and it lay there till 2001 when it came into possession of David Cousins, his plans for the car are to have it finished to racecar standards, and fully operational. If anyone else can provide any further information on this car please let us know. Many thanks must go to David Cousins for providing us with the information on his and the photographs.

The car as it is now. Pictures with thanks to David Cousins.

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