HILLMAN HUNTER (1970) // Unrestored daily driver for 5 decades
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- čas přidán 23. 05. 2021
- His grandfather bought it off the showroom floor in 1970. An ordinary family car that was the unlikely winner of the original London to Sydney Marathon, but is it still practical as a daily driver?
Let's take it for a brisk drive and see if it is still possible to use and old banger like this in modern traffic. Practical car or mobile chicane - let's find out. - Auta a dopravní prostředky
My dad owned a same model and colour Hunter but with a red interior and individual seats at the front and a 1500cc engine. He bought it brand new in February 1971. Very luxurious at the time, comfortable ride and solid chassis but suffered from rust on the front wings just above the headlamps. Loved that car. Wish I still had it.
Similarly, my Grandfather had a white 1972 Royal with the red bucket seats. Many fond memories sitting in the back of it....nobody ever told you to put your seat belt on...the back seat had none! He died in 1992, the car was immaculate but Nan paid a wrecker $15 to come and drive it away. I was gutted, I would have happily had it.
Blast from the past mate! Love that vinyl…
I can't get over that bench seat so cool
Dave you are a natural. I really enjoyed this. You are very entertaining. Please return and do more.
Love Dave. Bring him back. Great car. Very stylish
Great cars and very underrated. I used to work on them brand new at a Chrysler main dealers in the UK. Great gear change and a strong engine but suffered serious body corrosion after a few years. The speedo on this example would benefit from a light application of heavy grease to stop the needle wavering. We used to use water pump grease and just made sure that we kept it clear from the speedo head.
Absolutely brilliant car . I loved driving my fathers and thought it the very pinacle of luxury
The Humber sceptre had overdrive 3,4 gear Laycock 6 gears it makes
The Australian version was very shoddily built (Chrysler). My first car was a 1967 Hunter and it spent more time in the repair shop than out. I used to defend it to my old dad by reminding him they won they London to Sydney, he reckons I bought the very same car..ha ha. Having said that it was lovely to drive when it was out of the repair shop.
It was very nippy away from the lights but when dragging my mate in his FC I was leaving him for dead until my engine mount snapped leaving the engine on an angle and only 1st and 2nd available, never mind, we live and learn.
My father bought a 1969 GT Safari station wagon brand new in Wollongong and didn't make it home from the dealers. It overheated and flooded the cabin. It was his first ever new car and broke his heart.
Oh deary me. That's so sad Wayne. Sorry to hear.
there was no such thing as a '69 GT Safari wagon. Sorry.
Very cool David, well done.
We have had few of these in the family, all of them have a common problem, when it rains it leaks into the leg area!
Nice review of the standard hunter.
I have a he hunter royal 660. Which was cheyslers equivalent of the gt.
I'm also building a replica of the andrew cowans 1968 winning car, for a rerun of the event,from Perth to sydney in October.
You can find the event on fb. Look us up. Keep up the good reviews.
I like the change of pace. Nice work!
Thanks Michael. It'll be back to fast stuff again at tomorrow's shoot.
Yep...but I wouldn't drive this car for my licence's sake...look at that wonky speedo!
My first car was a Hillman Hunter with the front bench seat in 1978. Completely impractical with the floor shift.
Surely that depends on how many girlfriends you're trying to cram in beside you
Had no idea they had bench seats.
I wanted to hear the car sound without the background music, but the engine sounds great.
Love it. Hire Dave
This car was produced in Iran under the name of Peykan
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About the same power as an Avenger 1500 but about 150kg heavier. So a bit less sporty, but with the overdrive option it might have been better on a long journey.
parents had a Royale 660. petty sure it hit the ton on the way to Falls Creek from Melb up the Hume :-)
Solid effort!
Let's not forget that the Hillman Hunter had four more models with different names, Hillman Minx, Singer Gazelle, Singer Vogue and Humber Sceptre.
Hillman GT
The Minx had a 1500cc engine.
Had my 1970 singer vogue up to 140 could have kept going had twin carbs tho
You thrillseeker!
Oh come on, I owned many Hillman Hunters and used to drive them flat out, they were very quick, much quicker than Dave could achieve. Dave did not even push it when measuring 0-60, he changed gears before it could hit the rev limiter and yes you need to rev engine to about 3K and let out its clutch and see it shoot out like a bullet, big wheel spin to better 0-60 in about 10 seconds, a cars performance depends on its driver, ask Lewis or Max .My last one I owned was a proper Hunter shaped Humber Scepter that drove and felt like a mini Jaguar, with velvet seats vneer walnut dashboard and illuminated switches all in florescence green lit instrument panel, I wish I had kept hold of it, but I did not have the time to look after it, so left in a friends farm, and it was covered with in algae and bushes, it was real disheartening to not even strip it down for spares and it was taken to the crushers.
Yes Dave was, um, restrained. We didn't even know it had a rev limiter. It just seemed to run out of breath and not want to go any higher. For better or worse It's not within Dave's nature to give "Bob" a jolly good flogging. Even with a limp lettuce. Remember they have had a tempestuous relationship for 50 years already. And even though I'm happy to extract the best I can from a GT3 @ 9000rpm, it wasn't within me to goad him any more than I did. So, yes, it just seemed out of character to try to extract performance figures from the old girl. Poor old Bob spends plenty of time these days on the gravel verge with the hood up as it is. No doubt your Hunters are absolute weapons of 4-cylinder destruction compared to Dave's. What can we say? Except sorry.
What is that bench seat out of they didn't come with those did they? I'm only 21 don't know that much.
Back then bench seats were more common than buckets in many cars. Yes, standard fitment. That's the original seat in this car.
@@inCARnationAustralia Which models of the Hunter had bench seats because I don't remember? What I do remember is the unusual place for the handbrake next to the driver's door.
@@inCARnationAustralia I never saw them fitted to uk cars.
@@ABCDEF-yf4yu I remember the Mk2 Jags had the same handbrake position.
Kevin wilson said there's wee in British blood
My Dad had the base version Hunter the Minx in Red late 1960's model in the UK owned it in the mid 70's didn't like it really probably the Hunter and the Humber and Singer bigger engine variant cars were better to drive
65
Any Rootes Group cars aren't worth that much today infact there a couple of Hillmans for sale that have been for sale for 5 years not sold nobody wants them l say they would be if lucky $1000
I won't tell Dave. It'll make him sad. Or worse, he might try to snap up another cheap one.
@@inCARnationAustralia They are a little bit expensive there is a Hillman for sale for $5000 to much and get this there is somebody selling one for $10000 in Victoria they haven't sold yet and never will