Southern Tablelands Heritage Automotive Restorers Club Inc.

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10^th Anniversary Dinner July 2011	Car of the Month

Ian Pyett’s 1965 Hillman Minx

Ian Pyett’s 1965 Hillman Minx

Article and photos by Steve Cole; thanks to Ian for the background on his car.

I am always really impressed to see a vehicle that the present owner has restored, doubly so when the owner has done most of the work themselves. Ian has done all of the work to restore his Hillman, and it is a real credit to him.

The Hillman Minx was designed and constructed in the United Kingdom as a middle sized family car and remained in production in various forms from 1932 to 1970.

The series Minx’s ran from 1956 until 1966. The car was face lifted each year and given a series number from series I to series VI.

The original design for the series Minx was actually done for the Sunbeam Rapier coupe by the American designer Raymond Loewy, who also designed the Studebaker Hawk and indeed it is very easy to see the similarities between the two. The four door minx was sold in two different guises: the basic minx model and an up market version, the Singer Gazelle. A two door based on the Minx platform chassis, the Sunbeam Rapier coupe, was also built. This was in fact released a year before the new series Minx. For New Zealand, knock down kits were supplied and built up by Todd Motors and badged as the Humber 80. The Minx was also sold as an estate (station wagon) and although very rare in Australia, a convertible. Both of these models were dropped at the end of series 111C production in 1963. Thereafter, the convertible and estate could only be purchased in the Super Minx, a slightly larger vehicle that was originally intended to replace the Minx, but because the Series Minx’s were very popular and still selling strongly at this time, ran parallel with them and sold in Humber form in Australia and as Singer Vogues in the U.K.

There was also a short-wheelbase estate, the Hillman Husky built from1958 to 1965. This was the basis of the Sunbeam Alpine sports car. A van was also produced called the Commer Cob. This was an even more stripped down version of the Hillman husky.

To complement the new body design a new overhead valve engine was designed and built, initially 1390 cc, then going to 1494cc, then 1600cc and finally culminating with a conversion to five main bearings and a longer stroke to 1725cc. While mostly offered with manual transmissions utilising column or floor change, automatic transmissions were an option, a Borg-Warner in the Series V/VI.

Ian’s Hillman Minx Series V was built in 1965, and finished in “Sage Green” with a light grey interior. Ian’s Minx left the production line with a 1600cc overhead valve engine and Borg-Warner automatic transmission. The car was largely complete but in overall relatively poor condition and needed a total restoration. The paint was in poor shape and the interior missing, but the shell had little rust, so Ian avoided one of the problems with most vehicles of this age.

The refinished paint and interior is immaculate and a credit to Ian’s hard work over three years to produce a car of a very high standard. Restoration included the mechanicals as well, with Ian himself rebuilding the automatic gearbox and differential, the brakes and suspension. Ian reports that most mechanical parts are readily available for these vehicles, although aided by the fact that he has a large collection of Hillman parts having owned a number of Hillmans over the years.

One challenge was to reproduce the Hillman badge, which are largely unobtainable. Ian’s solution was to make one himself using a mould made from one in reasonable condition. The results are very impressive and a testament to his skills. Ian also fabricated the replacement dashboard, using marine ply with walnut veneer overlay. The dashboards of vintage British vehicles are a real eyecatcher, and make many of us with plastic cars envious. Ian’s Minx is no exception, with the magnificent walnut dash complemented by full instrumentation, Smiths of course!

The Minx is Ian’s daily driver and so he has opted for a few changes to make the car more driveable and reliable. The original Minx engine was stood aside for a 1725cc powerplant from a later Hillman Gazelle. This engine, substantially more powerful than the 1600cc standard engine, was needed to permit the car with automatic transmission to successfully cope with modern day traffic. With an alloy head, downdraft Weber carburettor, electronic ignition, electric choke, sealed cooling system and a gear reduction starter, the engine is now much easier to start and more responsive on the road. Valve saver injection completes the engine workover to improve longevity running on unleaded petrol.

Ian’s Hillman Minx is a beautiful car, perfectly restored with well thought out modifications to make it a pleasure to own and drive on a daily basis. One of the real pleasures of being a member of STHARC is that there is such a huge variety of cars, bikes and heavy vehicles to fuel our interest for heritage vehicles. It is certainly a real plus for all of us that Ian’s immaculate1965 Hillman Minx is part of our fleet of heritage vehicles.

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