The Vauxhall Cresta is a British car first introduced in 1954 by Vauxhall Motors

Vauxhall Motors

Vauxhall Motors is a British automotive company owned by General Motors and headquartered in Luton. It was founded in 1857 as a pump and marine engine manufacturer, began manufacturing cars in 1903 and was acquired by GM in 1925. It has been the second-largest selling car brand in the UK for...

 as an upmarket version of the Vauxhall Velox

Vauxhall Velox

The classic four-door saloon boasted a newly developed straight-six-cylinder engine of 2275 cc, with overhead valves. The power output provided for a claimed top speed of...

 (itself a six cylinder version of the Vauxhall Wyvern

Vauxhall Wyvern

The Vauxhall Wyvern is a medium sized family car introduced by Vauxhall in 1948 as a successor to the Vauxhall 12. The name comes from the mythical beast the Wyvern and may be due to a mis-identity of the heraldic Griffin on the Vauxhall badge....

). When the Wyvern was replaced in 1957 the new larger car took the Cresta name. This car, code named the PA version one, was one of the more elegant British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 cars of the late 1950s even though it was not sufficiently upmarket for it to be driven by those who considered themselves the elite of British society.