Is The 1959 Hillman Minx A Good Investment Or Sale Proof?

[@SaleProofCarReviews]

Thank you Lance! Links to "The Vintage Vehicle Show" are in the video description

[@theTESLAwizard]

Brings back memories. Minx's were popular in South Africa where I lived. I had a 76 Dodge (Hillman) Avenger which was an excellent car.

[@johndean958]

Brilliant talk through on Hillman History and the owner of the Hillman too was appreciated.Thankyou for this great look at one of my favourite model cars and the year of this Hillman Minx. I love this model . Such charm and great character. A joy for me to watch. Thanks . John (Australia)

[@HeightPrivilege]

I had one when I was in college. It was a fantastic car. Ran BEAUTIFULLY! Confused the hell out of most people. If you can find a good one, buy it and enjoy it.

[@dmark1922]

What a blast from the past!! Our dad bought a 1959 Hillman -- new -- from a dealership in the Shoreline area. It became our mom's car while dad drove the '57 Studebaker station wagon. Funny to hear you guys gushing about it.. in an era when all new cars came with fins and fancy taillights, the Hillman looked like a car from the early 50s! Less than a year after buying the Hillman we had moved to Orange County CA, having driven all the from Seattle with four kids in it. Our ages spanned ten years. My oldest brother started driver's ed in 1960 and mom insisted he learn stick shift on the Hillman in mall parking lots and abandoned farm roads since driver's ed was all automatic. Thus, each kid learned stick the same way and mom was proud that when I, the youngest, learned in 1970 ( on mall parking lots and farm roads), all four kids had learned how to drive stick on the same car.... by the then the car was nigh on its last legs (or wheels) and we bought a 1969 Fiat soon after. Ours was almost the same color as this one, but the headlight chrome was simpler, without "eyelashes" ( I remember seeing those on other Hillmans). But the extreme austerity of the interior and dashboard really screamed HILLMAN! to me. Darn, I spent hundreds of hours in that car! I was actually surprised that you made no mention of the stoic styling. I remember the EL! Anyway, the ultimate "no frills" car.

[@ghizgor]

"The purchasing power" is a great name! you are criminally underrated by the way

[@SaleProofCarReviews]

Thank you!

[@degingerninja]

iv been slowly restoring my hillman minx series 3 1958 so i got one ahah

[@auntbarbara5576]

I love how the gauges are in the center to make it easy to swap for exporting. Lovely review, IDRIVEACLASSIC would be proud. Aunt Barbara adores you!

[@janiuseyerman3711]

There were two versions of the 1959 Hillman Minx, the low cost version was the "Special" which is the car shown and the up market "DeLuxe" which had fancier features. Minx convertibles are far more desireable than the sedans. There was also a small station wagon called the Husky which are in demand as dragster bodies.

[@SaleProofCarReviews]

Thank you for sharing! The owner and I had both noticed that there are some cars with more ornate trim, more pronounced fins, etc.. but we struggled to find documentation on it or someone else that knows the detailed differences of Hillman cars inside and out

[@thistime4you]

They also built an estate wagon besides the models you mentioned

[@chrisweeks6973]

Rootes Group comprised Humber, Hillman, Sunbeam and Singer cars as the main brands, though they also had Sunbeam-Talbot. The commercial vehicle side of the business had the Commer and Karrier brands. Humber (another Coventry enterprise) was the senior company, having created it's first bicycle in 1868 and being listed on the stock exchange in 1887.They commenced making motorcycles in 1896, discontinuing them in 1930. By 1914, Humber was the second-largest car manufacturer in Britain. Hillman Cars were acquired by Humber in 1928 and the two Rootes brothers joined the Humber board in 1932; they retained control of the company until 1967, when it was sold to Chrysler. The Hillman badge does not, in fact, show stylized stars, thought they are called spires. They are actually a representation of the Three Spires of Coventry, being the spires of the main city churches; they are Holy Trinity, St. Michael's Cathedral and Christ Church. Coventry was at one time renowned for those spires and Hillman was a Coventry company, hence the depiction of those spires as the company's badge.

[@andrewwmacfadyen6958]

In the Rootes brothers era the Reginald Rootes insisted that often tiny changes to styling were made every year. Which is why things like chrome finisher strips, over riders paint schemes are rarely the same on any two cars.

[@RetroCarsForever]

Never heard of Hillman...I thought it looked a bit like a Studebaker, now I know why!

[@SaleProofCarReviews]

Hillman sold here from 1950 until 1970, then Plymouth sold the Cricket (a badge engineered Hillman Avenger) from 1971-1973. Since 1970, we haven't seen any Hillman branded cars stateside, and we haven't seen any badge-engineered Hillman origin cars since 1973

[@captaccordion]

That EL gear knob is exclusively a North American thing. In all other markets, the gearbox was considered a 4 speed, and everyone just knew that British 4 speeds (in those days) had crazily low first gears.

[@SaleProofCarReviews]

Interesting! The Porsche 959 also has an extra low gear before "1st"

[@Bmovie5000]

I almost bought one of these for my first car! British cars were really common as commonwealth exports to Canada, until cheap Japanese cars put them out if business. Reliability and difficult access to parts (early 90’s) made me choose a Datsun.

[@johnhiram1207]

I had a 59 Minx in the late 60s. Great car! Hard to get parts sadly.

[@timelwell7002]

As a UK citizen born in the mid 1950s, cars such as the Hillman Minx and Vauxhall Victor are very familiar to me. I wonder if many Americans and Canadians have heard of the Standard Vanguard from the same era? Or perhaps the Humber Imperial, or the Vauxhall Cresta?

[@bradhampton6457]

Just a few years prior to Chrysler importing Simca/Sunbeam aka Rootes Group. If I’m not mistaken the Hillman and Sunbeam were close cousins.

[@SaleProofCarReviews]

They were under Rootes leadership. In fact prior to the Rootes days, Louis Coatalen and William Hillman had a partnership between 1907 and 1909. In 1909, Louis Coatalen left for Sunbeam! It came full circle

[@mickaleneduczech8373]

My dad had a Minx in college, though I don't know what year. He said the main issue was the fuel line was too close to the exhaust pipe, causing vapor lock. He had to install an electric fuel pump, which made a bit of a racket.

[@Torsionbar4]

The Minx range was great for its time. The 2 Rootes brothers that took over the ailing company to add to its recently acquired Humber car company already had a thriving car dealership and distribution chain in the UK in the 1920s. William Rootes later Sir William and ultimately Lord Rootes was keen to make the most of the USA market and was a key exporter post WW2. His transatlantic styling and quality plus yearly to 18-month model upgrades and expanding badged engineered variants were directed to the US market. Sadly the heavily geared listed Rootes Group suffered badly from trades union militancy and weak management of the late 50s and early 60s that eventually destroyed the rest of the mass market UK car and motorcycle production.

[@groverbehrens6453]

Parts are expensive? I wouldn't say so, lots of mechanical parts interchange with the Sunbeam Alpine, which was also made by the Rootes Group . and lots of other parts interchange with MG's and Austins etc. Trim parts are a bit more difficult to find, but are not necessarily expensive.

[@rixtex]

My Dad bought a Hillman in the early 60's. He found it was unreliable and hard to find parts for in Dallas. He ended up trading it in for a '63 Corvair.

[@venomlexus213]

make a review about volkswagen polo 86c

[@brianwillson9567]

My father bought a 61 minx 111c. Scrapped in 1976 due to tin worm, so sad.

[@laurataylor824]

Very nice car , but I think the exhaust pipe should really be the opposite side to the fuel filler

[@papilloncycles3463]

Great color, My Girlfriend's favorite!

[@SaleProofCarReviews]

Minty!

[@papilloncycles3463]

@@SaleProofCarReviews I say it looks "Celeste blue/green" So Bianchi bicycles has always painted their flagship bike"celeste" blue, which to me looks green, apparently Italy's Queen Celeste's favorite color!

[@SaleProofCarReviews]

It certainly brings new meaning to "G-d Save The Queen"

[@papilloncycles3463]

@@SaleProofCarReviews I'm sure that some Italians still want Her back!

[@lesklower7281]

Firstly l live in Australia and l come from a Hillman family my father owned 1959 hillman station wagon l owned three hillmans a 1963 minx and two gazelles but you do realize that hillman minxes were built in Japan and were called Isuzu Hillman Minx until 1966 my brother owns a 1963 hillman minx convertible also the gear shift is different to this American model it was a four speed collum shift and the dash board was different much larger still in the center this hillman minx is a very good resteration also they made hillman minxes gazelles in Australia and in the 1960s they were the largest motor manufacturer in the world but part of there failure was due to the hillman imp it regularly makes the worst cars ever built lists

[@johnsinclair4111]

Bored. Too much non specific speaking. I owned one in the 60s you haven’t captured it’s essence.