Gordon enjoys a sunny afternoon in the company of two Hillman Minx cabriolets

I enjoy life’s little twists. Like the time a metallic green Hillman Minx Cabriolet, registered number 52M1NX, turned a corner in front of me as I walked home from work. I took a guess at where it had come from and asked a nearby panel and paint business if they knew the car.

“Oh yes, we’ve done a bit of work on that car, it belongs to David Klue.”

From there I tracked David down to his business in a Palmerston North side street. He was suitably impressed by ¨NZ Classic Car’s follow-up service, thinking I was visiting him about the advertisement he had just placed with the magazine to sell his MG TD. That confusion sorted, he took me to the large storage area behind his premises where his Minx was stored. Only, this car was metallic grey and registered 52MINX! The car I had seen belonged to his good friend John Edmonds.

David and his wife, Lesley, bought their Minx about four years ago, sight unseen, from Auckland. When it arrived on the transporter it looked a very promising basis for a major refurbishment. They had it repainted from a nondescript green to its present attractive metallic grey, the upholstery was restored, new carpets and hood were fitted, and the car was ready to go. It went better than it might otherwise have done, thanks to a Humber 80 engine that had been fitted some years earlier.

The Klues had bought the car so they could include their four children in open air motoring pleasures, something they couldn’t do in the MG. The first trip away, to the Coromandel area, brought a nasty shock when they couldn’t close the doors. They took the car to a local panel beater, who was stunned to find the chassis was so badly rusted that only about 10mm of good steel stopped the car falling in half! Subsequent experiences with the Minx have been far happier.

Another Minx

Meanwhile, John had been looking for an old car and was very taken by his friend’s Minx. To his great surprise, a fully restored one came on the market, so he promptly bought it. From never having seen a Minx convertible on the road, they now had a pair.

David is much more concerned with cosmetic appearances than the mechanicals, as long as the car starts and runs reliably. This would explain the whitewall tyres that really add to the grey car’s appeal. His car is unmodified, apart from the Humber 80 engine and Weber carburettor. It is easily capable of cruising at 100kph, and is a relatively practical proposition for daily use or trips. Unfortunately, the increased power has resulted in two broken rear axles so far. As old hands will know, the axles were a weak point on Minxes, and the extra power doesn’t help.

For John, on the other hand, the mechanicals must be right for him to be happy with a car. There was no way he could live with the very modest performance offered by the old side-valve engine, so he replaced it with a 1725cc alloy-head engine from a Singer Vogue. The Vogue unit bolted straight up to the Minx gearbox, making for a simple conversion, he thought.

The first test run revealed that the gearbox input shaft was a little too short, resulting in a total lack of forward (or backward) motion. This was fixed by fitting a Humber 80 gearbox, but the next problem was gearing so a Super Minx rear axle assembly went in as well. With a twin-choke Weber carburettor fitted, John had a car that could cruise comfortably at 100kph. He has also fitted a brake booster and an anti-roll bar.

Modified Minx

The modifications created a potential minor problem. John’s car has 15-inch wheels, with the original three-stud type on the front and four-stud rear wheels to suit the Super Minx rear axle. Conversely, David’s car has the three-stud 16-inch wheels that were available for some export markets. This means John must either carry two spare wheels or rely on David for a three-stud spare. Because they usually travel together, it hasn’t been an issue so far.

Even though John’s modifications would make a purist weep, I can understand why he did it. The original 1265cc side-valve engine produced a heady 31kW (42bhp) which, to be fair, was an improvement over the original 1185cc Minx engine’s 28kW (38bhp), but it still wasn’t a sports car. The engine originated in the 1931 Minx, so it was already well matured by the early ’50s.

Loewy’s Minx

The 1952 Minx MkV was one of several updates of the first totally new postwar Minx body, designed by Raymond Loewy and introduced in 1948. The shape has been described as a mini-1949 Plymouth, but that grille looks much like a downsized late ’40s Studebaker grille to me. The MkV can be distinguished from the MkIV by the chrome sides added to the grille, the chrome spears on the front guards and doors, and the stone guards added to the lower leading edges of the rear mudguards.

These two cars boasted top speeds in their day of 117kph (78mph). They ambled up to 80kph (50mph) in just over 21 seconds and, for America’s obsession with quarter mile acceleration times, tripped the lights at just less than 25 seconds. At least one modern commentator noted that the Minx’s leisurely performance was a good thing, given its very average handling.

The handling doesn’t bother these owners or stop them thoroughly enjoying their cars. Both insist the old girls must be driven as if they are modern cars. John used his as an everyday car for some time, and the Minxes have travelled thousands of kilometres together, to Golden Bay in the south, and as far as Mahia and Gisborne in the north. The trip to Mahia was a camping holiday, so the cars were fully laden with the Klue family, John and his son plus an extra couple of kids, and enough camping gear for two weeks’ holiday.

The two men also share a passion for classic boats, and each has an old-style launch permanently moored at Taupo. The Minxes have seen frequent trips to Taupo for weekends or longer holidays. Not surprisingly, the cars get a lot of attention as they travel around the country together. This can be a problem when they want to move along, but people want to look at and talk about this delightful pair of cars. It has its up side though — they were once flagged down by a motorist in Taupo, who produced a Hillman Minx wheel brace from his car’s boot and presented it to David.

Top-down Minx

One of the many things the men agree on is that top-down motoring is almost compulsory, winter or summer. Raising the roof for rain is permissible. The kids have learned to deal with this eccentricity by rugging up in their sleeping bags on long trips. The practical benefit of driving with the tops folded is that the cars are much quieter. They also agree that motoring, and life in general, should provide maximum fun. One point they don’t agree on is that John thinks the very rare roadside breakdowns are part of the fun.

Neither owner knows much about the history of their car, although David chanced to meet the salesman who sold his Minx to its first owner. He worked for the Rootes dealership in Waverley, and sold the car to a local farmer’s wife. The salesman recalled that he had to deliver the car to the back door; he wasn’t allowed to park in front of the house.

Talking of history, David and John have interesting and varied car ownership histories. There has been one constant through David’s years — nearly all of his cars, and there have been many, have been convertibles. There has been the occasional exception, including a Daimler V8 and a Bentley S3, but they have been vastly outnumbered by MGBs, Triumph Spitfires, a Herald convertible, a Stag, a Saab, etc, etc. At one end of the spectrum was a Morris Eight convertible and at the other a brand new Volvo C70.

Lesley has an obsession with Fiat Bambinas, so the couple has owned a number of those over the years (well, they nearly qualify as convertibles). Nowadays she can sometimes be seen behind the wheel of their Porsche Carrera convertible, no doubt taking some personal time out from family duties. David can’t imagine ever selling his Minx, which he doesn’t say about any of the other cars in his fleet.

Before the Minx

John hasn’t owned anywhere near as many cars, and most of them weren’t soft tops, but his motoring past includes a 1924 Dodge Tourer, a Morris Eight Tourer, a Mark VII Jaguar (his twin brother also had a Mark VII at the same time, only possible thanks to their father’s farm petrol tank, even if it was low octane), an E-type Jaguar and a Ford Sierra-powered JBA kit car. He currently owns an Alfasud Cloverleaf Sprint
So why would a couple of dedicated car enthusiasts, each with an eclectic past and current car ownership history, get such a buzz out of these two convertibles that, even in their uprated form, are not dynamic road-burners?
As David said, they are as practical and useable as relatively impractical old cars can be, but more importantly, they have both style and a fun factor.
Words and Photos: Gordon Campbell