1959 Hillman Minx Goes for a Drive
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- Опубліковано 12 вер 2024
- An all new family car for the 19050s into the '60s, the Audax Hillman Minx range was an exciting new design from the Rootes Group.
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The Hillman logo represents the three spires, the emblem of the City of Coventry where they were made. The spires are still there though the Germans hit two out of three churches with Holy Trinity the only complete survivor. The Old Catheral is just a shell with no roof and Christchurch has just the spire left! It was a sad day when Puegeot (spit!) closed down the old Rootes factory. Coventry may be the 2021 City of Culture but it is no longer a city of car making that made it;s reputation.
It has got worse. I know someone who has a reasonably senior engineering position in Stellantis, and he just wants out ASAP. Using multiple companies to sell vehicles back to themselves and move the tax burden, Lovely little game over the PPE equipment that they were compensated for by the government but had bought from themselves at highly inflated prices.
I had a great uncle who had a red and white one and a great aunt who had a green and white one. It was a treat if you got to sit in the middle of the front bench seat. No seat belt required.
I’m from Tucson, Arizona, USA and my first car was a 1957 Hillman Minx Estate. I was 15 years old and I paid a whopping $25 for it. The starter ring gear was shot and I found used parts at a local junkyard and fixed it and drove it to high school. I also bought the parts to convert it from column shift to floor. Love this video!
My all time favourite car. My grandad had one and use to work at the Roots factory in Coventry. As a young boy I can remember sitting next to him in the front on the bench seat. Thanks for the video, it really took me back.
My dad had a 1963 Hillman Minx, CPP482B back in the early 70’s light blue!
In 1960 I acquired a 1956 series 1 Minx and my first girlfriend. After wrecking the 1390 engine I located an unused factory recon 1600 lump in a breakers yard for £30 and added twin carbs and exhaust (from a scrapped Singer Gazelle). Speedo used to register 90mph with a corresponding 6,000rpm on the smiths tachometer. Of course both were grossly over reading, but it impressed the girlfriend especially when a tight left hand turn sent her sliding across the bench seat in my direction. Marvellous!
I always wanted one right through my school years in the 50s and 60s. Still want one.
Lovely 1959 Minx Matty my Dad had the Sunbeam Rapier coupe back in the early 60's was fast back in the day👍👍👍
My brother had a 59 same as that with a long floor change. My father bought a 1962 With the little gull wings on the rear, with a beautiful stubby floor change . One of the few cars that kept a starting handle. For as long as they could. In winter he would religiously use it to start it. I think he still had the original battery in it five years later.. As teenagers we used to revel in taking it out and blowing the cob webs out , as my father tended to just potter around in it. Great car with almost sports like suspension for the time. Many years later bought my wife a 1966 Super Minx Station Wagon for her use. With floor change also. Another great dependable example. I always like the firm feel of them on the road.
Yes, I remember the stubby gear change in my family’s ‘61 Minx ; it was lovely.
I'd forgotten just how good looking the Minx was. Everything is beautifully balanced and proportioned. A real looker!
The Minx looks very classic 1950's, and a nicely designed practical family car. Raymond Loewy styling is good, as he did good with the US Studebakers. I like the interior head room and the proper horn!!! All in all, the Minx is a winner for me.
Thankyou for showing the Hillman. This is a real favourite car of mine. I just love it. It has so much charm and good looks going for it. Just brilliant to see it being looked at and I am able to get so much pleasure out of seeing it, again and again. I knew you were a good person and you showed this by holding back whilst the dog was on the road. Great to see.Cheers, John (Australia) .
eal
I learnt to drive on one of these hillmans my father had the station wagon l live in Australia and this rioad test brought back many memories of going on holidays going on Sunday outings in country new south wales this why l enjoy you tube channels especially the british ones because you review british built cars of the 50s 60s and 70s which were a big part of my childhood into learning to drive and right through to when l married in the 80s l owned a couple of hillmans but my elder brother still owns a1962 hillman minx convertible
Well done, Matt, you showed us inside the BOOT and bonnet! Not everybody does that!
Nice. In the mid '60's, our family car was a 1961 Minx. 1500cc by that time, as I recall. 4 gears on the floor. In two tone green/cream. Very much a cut above Minors, Anglias, Prefects. Front bench seat very comfortable. The previous family car was a Ford Escort/Squire. Austere stuff. The Minx always felt warm, solid and cosy to drive in. Fond memories.
British good taste meets American glamour and the result is . . . perfection. Rootes Group were great, such a shame they did not survive.
Brilliant well built cars they’re still commonplace on the road right up until the end of the 70s
My dad had a 63 super minx 180DFD . I remember he kept catching the R/H hand brake release button in his turn ups & releasing the brake or ripping his suit trousers ! Once the car rolled down the drive , crossed the road & half demolished the dry stone school wall . Great review & greetings from Perth Western Australia.
This has taken me back. It was our family car in the early Sixties. All it needed was the clothes peg on the choke, which every car seemed to have then.
My first car in 71. In Canada, so everything on the other side, but I loved it. $100!
My mate had a 59 minx 20 years ago when he was at uni. Very cool for cruising around Sheffield
Rootes cars were really well made and I think better than contemporary BMC's , Ford's and Vauxhalls etc .
The Minx is a favourite of mine. What a great example. Love all the colour and details....fantastic!
I love the old Rootes stuff and would welcome more like this. The last time the "Minx" name was used (to my knowledge) was for the Talbot Alpine and Solara.
Wasn't Minx and Rapier used as trim levels by then?
@@davidmarshall6538 Yes - the last French-built cars I believe.
@@MGBetts1 Thanks MGBetts1
I owned a 53 Studebaker, in the 80s. Something about the Hillman always rang a bell. Thanks for mentioning Loewy was involved. I didn't know that. ( of course, the 53 Studebaker was actually designed by Bob Bourke, in the Raymond Loewy studio, but Loewy was great at taking credit for everything). Great review! Thanks.
Hillman and the Rootes Group were all about 'high-quality engineering done simply and cost-effectively.
*Hillman Imp enters the chat
Ah! Imps! My late uncle was a manager at Rootes but some of them used to go in on saturdays to earn extra money as there was a special saturday production shift soley to repair the Imps that arrived on the train from Scotland in non-working contition or with parts missing. Anyone could volunteer for this shift apparently. Those were the days! There were other stories too!
Hillman Imp was very advanced, and as such plagued by teething problems because it was rushed into production (rectified in the Mk2 Imp 2 years later). Had it been built in Ryton it would have been much better and more profitable than in Linwood, where engines had to be sent on trains from Ryton, with an inexperienced work force and plagued by industrial action. Eventually it lead to Rootes' demise.
Very nice piece of English automotive history! Love all the small details, high quality from the Rootes Group.
I remember them well. In 1969 and 1970 I worked after school for a car dealer, and drove a lot pf cars here and there. The car in the video would be a Series III. The Series IIIA looked much the same, but with a slightly bigger engine and the gear pattern reversed ( forward and up for first) Or the other way around? Not sure. Nice, smooth, solid cars, with odd gear ratios and a tendency to rust.
These were very common in New Zealand as Humber 80s. I remember sitting in the middle at the front of a number of these owned by elderly relatives. My very entertaining great uncle had a way of driving his without touching the steering wheel, he said the car knew the way home...to this day I never worked out his trick.
Rust was the major killer of them, with many still around in the mid 80s in very bad condition. I remember one pulling into the local garage for petrol, dragging the petrol tank on the road...the hoon driving it was not pleased at all when the garage owner refused to serve him petrol. I remember a kid at school had one that was so rusty that you could see the pedals through the side of the car yet it was still driving nicely.
Steering with his knees I bet.
The wheel was big enough.
Kiwi as a beached whale bro
My guess, same as above. A bit of clever knee work. And, yes, a huge steering wheel.
Be fair most British cars were rust buckets especially the vanguard
My first car one of these ,two tone blue great car that my dad gave me when I passed my driving test first time. My dad replaced with a Hilliman Huskey instead
What a beauty! The sound on your videos is always brilliant as is your enthusiasm and attention to detail. Always great to watch!
my dads first car 227 DLY i was 7 or 8 (1968) , every summer it would make the journey from Doncaster to Bridlington , cant remember any problems with her , , great car.
Our family car was a 1959 grey/cream bought in 1966 replacing a Ford Popular of the same age. The difference was very noticeable with 12-volt electrics (electric wipers instead of vacuum) more room inside, plenty for 3 growing lads, a bigger boot and an extra gear in the transmission. It even towed a hired Sprite Musketeer down to Cornwall and back on a few occasions. Driving up the M5 at over 60 blew the engine but Dad put it back together and lasted a few more years before the tin rot took over. Happy days, although I was always car sick in it on long journeys!
I'm in love with these little Minx's and they were quite popular in Australia.
An aunt (really my father's aunt but not much older than he was) had a couple of Hillmans - this model and the one before. She lived in what were in the 1950's the outer suburbs of Sydney and praised the car. It was a good size to do the weekly shopping, deliver my cousins to school, get her to social gatherings and so forth. Very few troubles from either car.
It was great to see the Hillman Minx again. My first car when I passed my licence in 1971 was a 1959, 1500cc Hillman Minx Estate. I don't know how many miles I did in the two years I owned it because the mileometer was stuck, but it must have been a lot. Great memories of a good old car. My dad later owned a 1962 Hilman Minx saloon (floor change) I drove tat as well.:-)
Amazing to think how influential and inventive the Rootes group was, exporting and even building cars all over the world. Pity about the pop up sunroof on this car. That column change would take some mastering...
Yes shame about the roof. Guess you could have it put back by a skilled workshop.
Column-changes are surprisingly easy to master (imho).
Brings back a lot of memories pal.
My dad had a 1967 Super Minx...lovely car.
I bought 2 of them in Seattle in 1980, the 1961 was my daily driver with a ‘59 for parts. It was a car that needed a knowledgeable person to keep it in tune and I remember having it up to 80MPH on the freeway.
Lovely looking cars. My dad’s best mate had a Sunbeam Rapier version of this car back in the very early 60s. Great old car he traded in for a British racing green Sunbeam Alpine…
My father's first car was a 1959 2-tone blue Minx (YWW 854) bought 2nd hand in 1965 from a family friend who'd bought a Triumph 1300 new. It still had the protective plastic coverings on the seats and these were *murder* to my li'l legs on hot days!
In 1969, dad bought the friend's Triumph 1300. I saw the Minx around town as late as 1984 but I suppose it has long succumbed to the Great Scrapyard In The Sky now. I don't remember a column change so it must've been a "4 on the floor".
brings back memories of going to primary school around 1970 in an old one of these.
What a splendid old car. How classy.
It had to happen! This is our first family car (that I remember). In the early 1970s it was replaced by a Fiat 850 Coupe, which we kids prefered.
I really enjoyed that video :) To me, they seemed to be a very popular car in my part of the world back in the early 70s: I particularly remember the instrument panel because as a small boy, I had a go-kart that I bedecked with lights and a school friend's grandfather was breaking one of these up in a sort of remote garden-cum-private allotment some of the houses had (literally - I saw him saw the roof off) and I got the instrument panel and indicator switch for my go-kart! Happy days, the early 70s... and a bit of trivia: Raymond Loewy Associates were also involved in the design of the 'streamlined' BSR record changer as fitted to many Dansette and Bush record players.
Very Britisch and well-made cars.
1:06 Actually, the Minx name was used from 1931 (apologies if others have mentioned this further down the comments). It was also used in conjunction with other names so, Melody Minx bought you one with a radio (a big enough deal at the time to alter the name of the model), Minx Foursome (ahem) Drophead Coupe (the most expensive model at the time), Minx Aero and Aero Cresta (take that Vauxhall) bought you a sporty two door. Etc., etc. I'm sure I've mentioned this before on this channel, but Rootes cars were very well made - even going to the trouble of matching pistons and conrods by weight to give a more balanced engine, and using chrome-plated rings for longevity. This example is in an unusual colour combination, but, no surprise with the upholstery colour. Rootes certainly loved their red trim (which always seems to last forever). I prefer the next iteration with the rolled-over fins, but this is a pretty example of a sturdy, faithful model. A lovely little machine that I would happily own at the drop of a hat.
Thanks, good presentation. My older brother had a Hillman Minx in Australia, 1960s, which I can remember a little. They are a good looking cars even today.
Fantastic! my first car in 1974 was a 61 IIIB Minx. Thanks for acknowledging we in NZ got a Humber version. In the late 90's I brought a 61 IIIB Humber 80 that was low mileage for the age with original paint, a nice survivor car . A change of circumstances forced me to sell it. Your drive brought back neat memories. Mine both were column shift too. I Remember pulling it down and out into reverse once and the knob parting company with the shaft (the gear lever shaft).
I really like the simplicity of it all.
A woefully overlooked and underrated motor car.
Opening the door on a summer's day was an entire nose-fest.
Brilliant smell from the upholstery. Excellent vid!
Being a rep between the 50s and 70s my father had lots of different fleet cars, including a fawn(?) Hillman Minx from 1962-64, so I can remember us kids sliding around on the bench seats when we went round corners. It seemed a lot more practical and spacious than the Standard 10 we had before, but wasn't anything special, I think, and it used to make my kid brother sick. It was replaced by the rather more exciting Ford Consul Classic 315, one of the few company cars that my dad really liked.
My dad's first car I really remember. Fond memories of using the starting handle when the battery was flat.
Survived till the mid seventies. Rust eventually got the better of it but a great family car. 😯
The same here, Dad's first car. He passed his test then next day went out and bought a brand new Hillman Minx (£600) a fortune in 1953 ! It was the first new car in our street.Then a day later drove us on holiday from Newcastle to Bournemouth. No Motorways, no Parking meters or yellow lines or traffic wardens, petrol 1/6d a gallon ! (7.5p) This car had the 'stick of licorice' column change, his next one was a floor change on a 1963 Minx, then 2 of the square shaped Minx's 1968 then 1974. Great cars Rootes group. A yearly service, done by a mate £5 including parts ! Happy Days.
Well done, Matt. I have always loved the look of this generation of Hillman Minx. Beautiful and stylish. What a vast difference between the previous generation and this one. Ma's first car was a 64 Minx. Poor car developed asthma with the first flake of snow. That never got resolved. Keep up the great work. I do love the driving videos celebrating the unusual.
I cracked up at the phonetically labeled switches, “luh for lights, wuh for wipers” bit. :)
Another Rootes Group product? Lovely stuff! By far and away the best of the British automaking conglomerates, with the styling and technical prowess to beat out anyone in the world. I would suggest, however, that you get yourself a Humber Super Snipe of any generation to have a look at, given your completely justifiable rooting for Rootes after all.
My Grand Father also had this car in 1960s and 70s. In Pakistan
My grandfather had one up to the mid 1970s. A later series with the non-wrap around rear window. He traded it for a Mazda Capella. The RX2 version of it is popular in the drifting scene.
Love your video, the Hillman was the first car I drove in 1963, I was 5 years old and nearly killed my father when he took me to the barber, stepped out of the car for a moment while it was staill running and i managed to drop it in 1st gear. He must have run 500 feet to catch up with it.
A car that gives you a paces of mind ✨️ 😌
I used to own a 1957 Minx in two tone grey which I paid twenty pounds for in the early seventies.It was the best twenty pounds I spent. I drove that car all over and it never let me down The only thing I had to replace was the exhaust system.
My dad had the same model RTP6 was the reg, we went to Poland in it around 1966 was a great car. He never kept many cars for more than a year some times less.
My dad took one out for a test drive in 1958. He seemed to like it but it was too small for our growing family.
Good work with the dog! 👍. Btw if anyone is near Dartmoor, the Mortonhampstead motor museum is well worth a visit!
I live in Australia, and a friend of mine had one of these back when we were teenagers, in the very early 80's..it was a tough and reliable little car, and we often used to go hooning around on country dirt roads where we lived..that Minx took a lot of punishment and just kept on going. they were fun times. we're still friends today and it often comes up in our conversations.
Column change, red seats, metal dash, and top luxury sunvisors. Then the whine of the gearbox as you move off, all of the good stuff.
Sorry Lad, I am off to watch any sort of 50s B Movie with Dirk Bogarte or Jack Hawkins wearing Trilbys. It was the gearbox whine and the body colour steel wheels that clinched it.
I only liked the floor gear lever on this car as it had a lovely action.The logo on the steering wheel is just like part of the trident from Maserati.
Classic car in a classic two tone colour , just perfect Matt , my dad had the later Minx in blue , happy times and as a kid you knew you’d been a good boy if you got to sit on the front bench seat 😁 if naughty you travelled in the back seat and if really bad boy you went in the boot 😂, yeah I was 15 before I realised cars had windows 😂 and comfy seats . Great video Matt , great memories too 👍🏻.
Nice one. I vaguely remember my uncle had one when I was very Young. He then had a Zephyr, the one with the wings. I remember sitting in the back on a winters evening being freezing until the heater eventually got warm enough to raise the temperature a few degrees.
A sweet car, always a nice quality of build the Rootes cars.
Great to see a Rootes car, nice review. Shame it has a more modern sunroof.
Cute car. Have to say I adore the transmission whine of the older cars. That dinky dashboard is simple but all the better for it. Not sure how easy it is to get used to a column gear change...guess it takes a bit of practice!
You'd be surprised how easy column change is to get used to: my first car - a Renault 16 - was column change and if anything, I preferred it to a floor change.
My dad had a motorbike Triumph speed twin, Then he had a motorbike and sidecar, another speed twin, then we got a hillman minx, just like this one ours was light blue over cream, you can't imagine how posh we felt!!
The floor gear change was much better on the Minx , by the mid sixties nearly all Minxes were floor changers.. They were well built cars .
These were assembled in Australia, sold very well indeed, and were seen everywhere. We had 2 tone cars, but that particular division of colour is not familiar to my eye. I do worry about your tall cup yardstick though - that parcel shelf could accommodate quite a good amount of crisps, biscuits, dips and beer!
People bang on about the Hofmeister kink on BMWs and here it was on the Minx from '56! Minxes actually started in 1932 with a body shared with the Rover 10. Useless fact - Rover MD Spencer Wilks married William Hillman's daughter. We had a Series 1 which was fine, then a Series VI with 1725cc 5 bearing engine and all synchro box which was vastly better.
Good review and interesting info on Rootes cars. I remember them in the late 1950s early 60s being popular with local farmers and their wives. Cars used to turn up at my Dads vets surgery with a live ,if ill, sheep in the boot ! Saved call out fees from ‘t vet. Certain farmers wives were not happy about the mess in the boot ,next time they took the car to market day in local town
That dealer tour was possibly my favourite video of all Matt! The Hillman is cool - great video! Do love the whine of older gearboxes…
My dad had a Super Minx before I was born he would tell me. While we were little kids he had a Singer Vogue of the same shape then changed it for the new Minx. Over the road from where we lived, was a Roots dealership how handy was that. So he had 3 Roots group cars well 4, if class a 79 Chrysler Alpine as a Roots car. I'm sure either you or your subscribers will tell me if it was/wasn't a Roots group car.
As a subscriber I felt the need to answer. 😊 Rootes was taken over by Chrysler somewhere in the mid-1960s. The old Rootes-names, like Hillman, then lived on for another few years, before every Chrysler UK-car also got badged Chrysler. I'd say the alpine was vaguely a Rootes-car since its designer, Roy Axe was a Rootes-man who had also designed the Hillman avenger a few years earlier. But the eniges and chassis underneath its modern-looking body came from Chrysler France - former Simca.
Loved the honesty of that car and the “behind the scenes” camera angles.
Gorgeous classic!
Love the sound the engine when changing gears.
Lovely old thing! Thanks as always.
I brought a 1958 Hillman in 1964 same color interior and exterior as yours.
Window crank cover plate = escutcheon. Word of the day. The one upmarket touch here, lol. Doubt anyone over here (US) can really understand how in austere in many ways life was in 50's Britain.
i love the space age look on the inside
My late grandfather had one of these in the mid sixties probably the first car I travelled in because my father didn't have a car till much later great memories from a great era.
Lovely old thing. Shame about that sun roof.
And the period cigarette in the ash tray.
We had one of those , we used to sit three abreast on the front bench seat .
That was a very nice looking car and I would like to drive it by myself! I'm very fond of old cars and I like to watch them driving.
@furiousdriving, the logo in the centre of the steering wheel is the Rootes Group badge, not Hillman. It's a stylised "three spires" design reflecting Rootes home town of Coventry. The Hillman badge was a winged design featuring, I believe, Coventry Cathedral and the Hillman name. Some later cars did have the three spires design with the word Hillman though.
My dad's great car and I enjoyed driving it and repairing it.
I believe you could get a Hoover TwinTub washing machine in the boot. Went on a 600 mile holiday in about 1978 in one of these, with an unbled hydraulic clutch and headlights that were stuck on main beam. Which made things 'interesting'.
Also remember the Hillman Minx's more upmarket twin, the Singer Gazelle, and there was the two door Sunbeam Rapier coupe.
And yes, when they got rid of the column change, they kept the same steering community cowls with just a plug in the top there the gear change used to be, plus, of course the front bench seat.
I always remember the Hillman Super Minx from when I was wee.
Had one of these (third or fifth hand) back in the early '70s. Very solid car. If I remember correctly, the front bench seat could recline all the way back to make a bed together with the rear bench. Great for camping, emergencies, or, er, other pursuits...
I LOVED THIS VIDEO !!! reminds me of my 1954 Hillman Minx I had... if you get the chance, will you do a vid of a early 50's Minx? mine had the side-valve engine... I loved it when you hopped in & took us all for a long drive, that was great... & the video quality is excellent !!! Greetings from Australia ...
Column shifts were confusing. The Japanese cars were the only ones that had a diagram to show where the gears were. Some were away for the low gears and some were towards you. It was always expected when you picked up a rental car or purchased a car that someone would show you where all the controls were. Many cars of the era only had 3 gears on the tree.
I think (but could be wrong) that some of the earlier Renault 16s were engraved with the pattern, but I know my 1974 one wasn't. On that, 1st was towards you and up. The later 16TX was, as far as I know, the only car with a five-speed column gear change - 5th was away and up.
It really needs a Wabasto roof.. Matt... nice tho 👌👍
The first of a very long line in Hillman Minxes actually came out in 1932. It had an 1185cc side-valve engine that carried on until 1950, when it was enlarged to 1256cc and lasted until 1954. People mourn the Rootes Group but I have never forgiven them for what they did to Talbot when they bough that company in 1935.