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

An ode to Todd Motors — this family has three of the Petone/Porirua-based car assembler’s classics

I spotted this car when my daughter got a quick lift home for a forgotten text book. Jacob McMillan comes from a classic car-loving family in Auckland’s Mt Albert. His dad owns a rare 1947 MkI Humber Supersnipe, his mum drives a 1966 Hillman Super Minx, and Jacob and his dad often strip cars with other Humber-Hillman car club members, storing the parts for future use. There’s a family Valiant Charger stowed away somewhere, too. All these cars were handled, if not assembled, by the NZ motoring institution of Todd Motors.

When Jacob got his license he went looking for a commuter car. He checked out a few Fords and other vehicles. Most of his peers would have been looking exclusively for Japanese vehicles, but Jacob wanted something useful, drivable — and a bit different. Nothing really fi tted the bill until he laid eyes on this tidy Hillman.

The car was put together in a car assembly plant owned by the Todd family which was, by then, also assembling Chrysler Valiants and Mitsubishis. Hillman Hunters were assembled locally from 1967, and this model, the AL, was the fi rst with the wood-fi nish fascia plate on the dash.

The Todds

Todd Motor Company was formed in Christchurch in 1923 and moved its headquarters to Wellington over 1924-5. In 1925 the Todds were appointed as the NZ distributor for Chrysler. The Todds established the Associated Motorists’ Petrol Company Ltd shipping in oil from Russia in 1933 — the resulting fuel was christened ‘Europa’ to help disguise its Soviet origins.

It went on sale in 1934. With the Depression mostly over Todd Motors announced it would shortly begin actually assembling Rootes vehicles from the UK, along with some of the US Chrysler vehicles it had been importing, in a new plant in Petone, Todd Motor Industries.

The first cars off the line were American Plymouths in 1935, from Chrysler, at the rate of seven per day. In April, Rootes vehicles (Hillman and Humber cars) from England followed.

By October 1937 the Petone plant had produced 7000 vehicles (including commercials), and the plant was now also building
Hillman 14s and Humber 20s. Todd Motor Industries had added a second assembly line in 1936 for Hillmans and Humbers; the original line was then used just for Chryslers and Commer (Rootes) trucks. Of course, the next big event was World War Two (1939).

From July 1, 1940, the NZ government withdrew all licenses to import vehicles. The Todds had already, in anticipation, dismantled the second line installed in 1936. All outstanding ‘completely knocked down’ (CKD) car packs awaiting assembly were stored while the plant workforce concentrated on munitions, long range aircraft fuel tanks, rifle grenade dischargers, mortar bombs, wooden aeroplane propellers and other equipment, as well as taking part in the damaged American vehicle rebuilding programme.

The war over, Todd Motor Industries brought its passenger car body jigs out of storage and set them up. Humber Super Snipes
arrived in 1952 — the classy cars were well respected. By the 1960s, due to public perceptions and a NZ government keen to
help Mother England emerge from its wartime privations (America hadn’t had its factories bombed), the balance of favour had swung
quite dramatically to English cars — Todd assembled just 135 US Chryslers in 1960, compared to 3928 Hillmans and Humbers.

Todd assembled its 100,000th car in 1964. (The answer to the Chrysler conundrum was solved in 1963 when the Australian-sourced Chrysler Valiant entered production at the Todd plant.) Meanwhile Singers were being put together alongside the Hillmans. In the late ’60s, Japanese cars were creeping into the NZ automotive mix — 1970 car sales by market share put British Leyland Corporation New Zealand (Austin, Standard, Rover and Morris) at 25.01 per cent, Ford 22.15 per cent, General Motors 21.25 per cent and Todd Motors at 16.66 per cent of total NZ car sales.

European and other cars came to 8.6 per cent and Japanese cars just 6.22 per cent. This would all change with the oil shocks,
which dramatically affected sales of big cars and gave the Japanese marques the advantage (good fuel economy) needed — reliability did the rest for the troubled English brands, suffering from aged factories and labour strife in the UK. Todd
acquired its Mitsubishi franchise in 1971.

In 1973, the 200,000th Todd car was built at Petone — it was a Hillman Hunter station wagon much like this one. Director of operations and marketing, Denford McDonald, presented the milestone car to the Otago Old People’s Welfare Council.

Last of lines

In 1975, the last vehicle was assembled at the Todd plant in Petone and the entire operation was moved to the brand new, purpose- built Todd Park in Porirua. Production began on October 29, 1975, without a day’s output being missed (the first Porirua-built cars were Australian Chrysler Valiant utes).
IN 1973, THE 200,000TH TODD CAR WAS BUILT AT PETONE — IT WAS A HILLMAN HUNTER
So back to Jacob — it’s possible his estate was built at Petone, but it’s hard to tell — originally a cream colour, it was resprayed metallic bronze long before he acquired it, and ID tags or stickers went awol some time ago (date first registered would clear this up).

Whatever the case, it’s from near the end of the venerable Hillman line, with the very last being assembled here in 1978.

This wagon (I mean ‘estate’) is defi nitely locally assembled — the glass is all Pilkingtons NZ safety spec. From 1978, Todd assembled just Mitsubishis, a few more Valiants plus some Datsuns and Renaults on contract to other companies. Eventually the Todds sold out the entire business to Mitsubishi Motors NZ, and from then on it was a 100 per cent Mitsubishi builder.

Jacob’s Estate

This car has had a respray, and Jacob thinks at least two motor changes. He’s had it for a year and replaced the differential — the motor is still the original type, a 1724cc four-cylinder ohv engine mated to a four-speed gearbox. Jacob’s not the least bit fazed by any of this — he was a little late for our appointment, having been delayed by a bit of spot-welding on the wagon’s floor-pan. So the polite 18-year-old is already pretty competent, and indeed works as a bike technician outside of school.

The estate version of this popular Hillman series was first assembled here in 1969 — in 1977, the model was face-lifted with
twin headlights for its last incarnation.

Jacob really likes his Hillman. “It’s wonderful,” he enthuses. “I’ll keep it forever. It’s up for anything and it’s versatile.” He imagines
one day he’ll give it the full resto. For now he intends to keep it going, keep it serviced and keep it tidy. He’s found a rare overdrive
he plans on fitting to get a bit more cruisability on the open road — the diff is a bit low-ratio, making it great for hills, but not so
good for long straights, although fuel economy is “fine”.

A lumpy cam is destined for the engine, along with a lightened flywheel. Jacob also plans a port and polish and has twin Strombergs he wishes to fi t, to replace the single Stromberg carburettor. This will give the motor a bit more power, and the
car a little more utility, without turning it into a monster. The Hillman has been to Havelock North (near Napier) and back no worries, and done a few trips as far as Taupo and back. “It gets around.”

Jacob also likes the fact it’s a talking point. People amble over and start conversations, often along the lines of ‘I had one of these’ or ‘I always wanted one of these’. It was a pleasure meeting someone so young and motivated — and with the skills needed, too — to keep a workaday classic like this on the road.

Specs

1976 HILLMAN HUNTER AL ESTATE

Engine: Four-cylinder, 1724cc, overhead valve

Transmission: four-speed manual

Price New: 6298 (estate)

• $5850 (sedan with manual transmission)

• $6395 (sedan with auto transmission)

Words & Photos Mark Webster

I spotted this car when my daughter got a quick lift home for a forgotten text book. Jacob McMillan comes from a classic car-loving family in Auckland’s Mt Albert. His dad owns a rare 1947 MkI Humber Supersnipe, his mum drives a 1966 Hillman Super Minx, and Jacob and his dad often strip cars with other Humber-Hillman car club members, storing the parts for future use. There’s a family Valiant Charger stowed away somewhere, too. All these cars were handled, if not assembled, by the NZ motoring institution of Todd Motors.

When Jacob got his license he went looking for a commuter car. He checked out a few Fords and other vehicles. Most of his peers would have been looking exclusively for Japanese vehicles, but Jacob wanted something useful, drivable — and a bit different. Nothing really fitted the bill until he laid eyes on this tidy Hillman. The car was put together in a car assembly plant owned by the Todd family which was, by then, also assembling Chrysler Valiants and Mitsubishis. Hillman Hunters were assembled locally from 1967, and this model, the AL, was the first with the wood-finish fascia plate on the dash.

The Todds

Todd Motor Company was formed in Christchurch in 1923 and moved its headquarters to Wellington over 1924-5. In 1925 the Todds were appointed as the NZ distributor for Chrysler.

The Todds established the Associated Motorists’ Petrol Company Ltd shipping in oil from Russia in 1933 — the resulting fuel was christened ‘Europa’ to help disguise its Soviet origins.

It went on sale in 1934. With the Depression mostly over Todd Motors announced it would shortly begin actually assembling Rootes vehicles from the UK, along with some of the US Chrysler vehicles it had been importing, in a new plant in Petone, Todd Motor Industries.

The first cars off the line were American Plymouths in 1935, from Chrysler, at the rate of seven per day. In April, Rootes vehicles (Hillman and Humber cars) from England followed.

By October 1937 the Petone plant had produced 7000 vehicles (including commercials), and the plant was now also building Hillman 14s and Humber 20s. Todd Motor Industries had added a second assembly line in 1936 for Hillmans and Humbers; the original line was then used just for Chryslers and Commer (Rootes) trucks. Of course, the next big event was World War Two (1939).

From July 1, 1940, the NZ government withdrew all licenses to import vehicles. The Todds had already, in anticipation, dismantled the second line installed in 1936. All outstanding ‘completely knocked down’ (CKD) car packs awaiting assembly were stored while the plant workforce concentrated on munitions, long range aircraft fuel tanks, rifle grenade dischargers, mortar bombs, wooden aeroplane propellers and other equipment, as well as taking part in the damaged American vehicle rebuilding programme.

The war over, Todd Motor Industries brought its passenger car body jigs out of storage and set them up. Humber Super Snipes arrived in 1952 — the classy cars were well respected. By the 1960s, due to public perceptions and a NZ government keen to help Mother England emerge from its wartime privations (America hadn’t had its factories bombed), the balance of favour had swung quite dramatically to English cars — Todd assembled just 135 US Chryslers in 1960, compared to 3928 Hillmans and Humbers.

Todd assembled its 100,000th car in 1964. (The answer to the Chrysler conundrum was solved in 1963 when the Australian sourced Chrysler Valiant entered production at the Todd plant.)

Meanwhile Singers were being put together alongside the Hillmans. In the late ’60s, Japanese cars were creeping into the NZ automotive mix — 1970 car sales by market share put British Leyland Corporation New Zealand (Austin, Standard, Rover and Morris) at 25.01 per cent, Ford 22.15 per cent, General Motors 21.25 per cent and Todd Motors at 16.66 per cent of total NZ car sales.

European and other cars came to 8.6 per cent and Japanese cars just 6.22 per cent. This would all change with the oil shocks, which dramatically affected sales of big cars and gave the Japanese marques the advantage (good fuel economy) needed — reliability did the rest for the troubled English brands, suffering from aged factories and labour strife in the UK. Todd acquired its Mitsubishi franchise in 1971.

In 1973, the 200,000th Todd car was built at Petone — it was a Hillman Hunter station wagon much like this one. Director of operations and marketing, Denford McDonald, presented the milestone car to the Otago Old People’s Welfare Council.

Last of lines
In 1975, the last vehicle was assembled at the Todd plant in Petone and the entire operation was moved to the brand new, purpose- built Todd Park in Porirua. Production began on October 29, 1975, without a day’s output being missed (the first Porirua-built cars were Australian Chrysler Valiant utes).

So back to Jacob — it’s possible his estate was built at Petone, but it’s hard to tell — originally a cream colour, it was resprayed metallic bronze long before he acquired it, and ID tags or stickers went AWOL some time ago (date first registered would clear this up).

Whatever the case, it’s from near the end of the venerable Hillman line, with the very last being assembled here in 1978. This wagon (I mean ‘estate’) is definitely locally assembled — the glass is all Pilkingtons NZ safety spec. From 1978, Todd assembled just Mitsubishis, a few more Valiants plus some Datsuns and Renaults on contract to other companies. Eventually the Todds sold out the entire business to Mitsubishi Motors NZ, and from then on it was a 100 per cent Mitsubishi builder.

Jacob’s Estate
This car has had a respray, and Jacob thinks at least two motor changes. He’s had it for a year and replaced the differential — the motor is still the original type, a 1724cc four-cylinder ohv engine mated to a four-speed gearbox. Jacob’s not the least bit fazed by any of this — he was a little late for our appointment, having been delayed by a bit of spot-welding on the wagon’s floor-pan. So the polite 18-year-old is already pretty competent, and indeed works as a bike technician outside of school.

The estate version of this popular Hillman series was first assembled here in 1969 — in 1977, the model was face-lifted with twin headlights for its last incarnation.

Jacob really likes his Hillman. “It’s wonderful,” he enthuses. “I’ll keep it forever. It’s up for anything and it’s versatile.” He imagines one day he’ll give it the full resto. For now he intends to keep it going, keep it serviced and keep it tidy. He’s found a rare overdrive he plans on fitting to get a bit more cruisability on the open road — the diff is a bit low-ratio, making it great for hills, but not so good for long straights, although fuel economy is “fine”.

A lumpy cam is destined for the engine, along with a lightened fl ywheel. Jacob also plans a port and polish and has twin Strombergs he wishes to fi t, to replace the single Stromberg carburettor. This will give the motor a bit more power, and the car a little more utility, without turning it into a monster. The Hillman has been to Havelock North (near Napier) and back no worries, and done a few trips as far as Taupo and back. “It gets around.”

Jacob also likes the fact it’s a talking point. People amble over and start conversations, often along the lines of ‘I had one of these’ or ‘I always wanted one of these’. It was a pleasure meeting someone so young and motivated — and with the skills needed, too — to keep a workaday classic like this on the road.

Words & Photos Mark Webster

1976 HILLMAN HUNTER AL ESTATE

Engine
Four-cylinder, 1724cc, overhead valve
Transmission four-speed manualc

Price New
$6298 (estate)
$5850 (sedan with auto transmission)
$6395 (sedan with auto transmission)