ROOTES Heritage Day at Gaydon 2024 | Classic Rootes cars

Classic Rootes Group cars (Hillman, Humber, Sunbeam, Singer, Commer etc) descended upon the British Motor Museum at Gaydon in 2024, for the annual Rootes Heritage Day, as did a number of earlier models that pre-dated the Rootes Group.
This was the first Rootes-only event I'd been to, I've always liked the look of pre- and post-war Rootes Group cars, and their cars' interiors in particular often stand out as being a lot more inviting and stylish than perhaps the interiors of contemporary rivals.
Many properly rare cars turned up, including example(s) of the Sunbeam Venezia, the huge post-war Humber Super Snipe, Sunbeam Rapier, Hillman Avenger, Hillman Minx (closed saloons and convertibles), Singer Gazelle, Humber Sceptre, Hillman Husky estate, Sunbeam Talbot 90, Humber Hawk estate, plus a number of forward-control Commer vans.
Let me know in the comments which Rootes Group car(s) are you favourite(s).
At the end of this video I'll include a link to previous Rootes-related car videos and photo compilations here on the Old Classic Car channel.
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[@oldclassiccarUK]

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[@RobertGott-c3f]

Great collection of Rootes Group products on display😊 Thanks for the tour😮😮😊

[@oldclassiccarUK]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@septiccalling8341]

Great recovery from the 'dim and distant past' line...... I think you got away with it 😂🤣 Anyhoo, glorious gathering of treasures. Don't fret about over-enthusing..... I don't think that you can in such a scenario and it's good to hear such genuine enjoyment! Happy New Year and 'bon chance' for '25; we might all need it 🙄

[@oldclassiccarUK]

Happy 2025 to you too, yes I think we will need it ...

[@delroyhenry3295]

Great presentation of cars ,much appreciated,uk

[@oldclassiccarUK]

Thanks!

[@rabinfw]

Thoroughly enjoyed the tour, Richard, thanks for letting us tag along. I’m an old Yank. My very first car was a ‘62 Sunbeam Alpine. Purchased when I was 18 back in 1968 so yeah, I wasn’t kidding about the old part!

[@ianlawrie919]

😂 “back in the dim and distant past 😮 not too long ago “ 👏🏻 excellent escape 👍🏻 Thank you for another brilliant journey through the history of the Rootes Group 👏🏻👍🏻👌🏻

[@colinmuddell9672]

What a wonderful collection in such good condition. A day trip in the Duple Commer would be a nostalgic journey. The Sunbeam Landaulet was the star of the show: such class and quality in superb condition. Happy New Year to all at OCC HQ!

[@johngreaves1134]

Great video, I used to work as a mechanic at a Rootes dealership back in the 60s and 70s, this brought back many memories of these cars as I think I have worked on most of these models, . I used to own imps, alpines , a Sunbeam Rapier, and finally a Hillman Avenger 1500 super, all great cars, as we could get parts at discounted prices, we all drove Rootes products.

[@roberttaylor6295]

A great and memory churning video. Father ran a Humber Pullman Limousin in the 50s as a taxi, and we also went to watch Louis Armstrong in the Batley Variety club in a hired Hillman coupe. I also rallied internationally a Hillman Avenger and loved watching Gerry Marshal throw 'Bertha' a Firenza about, and fellow driver had the super Avenger Tiger sposored by White Horse Whiskey, and of course the world famous Hunter .... to mention but a few. I could write book of Rootes stuff I remember! Thanks for such an enjoyable tour! Rob

[@oldclassiccarUK]

Interesting, I wouldn't rule out owning one of the big early 50s Humber saloons one day

[@ianbarnett5051]

What a fantastic video, thank you. I think my favourite was the immaculate looking early Rapier in the light blue and white.

[@oldclassiccarUK]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@allforone1321]

Love those fins on the Sunbeam Rapiers.

[@alanratcliffe230]

What a brilliant video on Rootes cars l love them along with Vauxhall I've had a hil.man minx estate, 1968/9 G,a hillman hunter 1750cc 1974M and a Singer gazelle 1969 G Would have loved to have owned a Humber, but alas yeah, these cars played a big part in my ear,y driving life back in the 70s/80s loved to owna sceptre like my Dads in the 60s, yeah these cars have a big par

[@asa1973100]

Fantastic video I absolutely love seeing those especially the singer gazelles my mother had three of them when I was a child and I remember them all very well

[@oldclassiccarUK]

Thanks for watching it!

[@allanriches9381]

What a awesome showing of the breed. That first row of pre war and 50’s Humber’s was hard to beat

[@SeanMulherine]

Great show, really enjoyed it. Thanks.

[@johndavey72]

Hi Richard. Thers's something about Sunbeam /Chrysler that leaves all other car manufacturers wanting regardless of price . That's probably why they went bankcrupt !!! Thanks Ricnard 😊

[@brucewilkinson3942]

Thanks for all the great video content this year it's been greatly appreciated, hope you and your family have a very Happy New year.

[@oldclassiccarUK]

Thanks 👍 All the best to you also for 2025

[@nickjones2536]

I've always had a soft spot for Rootes Group products. They seemed adept at updating their model ranges to good effect. Probably better than some of their larger competitors. Great content as always, a nice 'twixtmas' treat 👍👍

[@rolandwoods2420]

Wish we could have gone - looks fabulous! Our long list of Rootes cars would bore the most dedicated enthusiast. In short - Super Snipe estate, Rapier H120, Arrow Vogue and Hunter, Minx style Gazelle and Rapier, Super Minx and Sceptre. Mostly good memories. Thanks for the video 🙏

[@oldclassiccarUK]

Cool list of cars there, yes it was a good day out as both the Rootes and Ford shows were on the same day

[@MichaelCondron-x8n]

Top video brings back memories when I first met my wife she had a Hillman Minx after we married traded it for a Hillman Hunter great cars thanks for a great video, Cheers

[@jonathangriffin1120]

Very interesting tour Rick, I was fortunate enough to go to school in the early sixties right next to the A361 which at that time went through Frome instead of around it. As well as the sound of Commer TS3s being given the beans, I always remember they had a distinctive 'whiff' about them, probably due to lube oil being passed over from the blower into the cylinders. I wouldn't be surprised if that 'Hillman Vouge' was a Kiwi import, they used to do stuff like that back in them thur days! Would have been nice to see a Peykan as well.....

[@Roger.Coleman1949]

Another fantastic video RJ of some particularly rare and seldom -seen survivors actually driven to an event .The 24/60 Sunbeam limousine is breathtakingly magnificent which must have an engine of around 4.5 litres .Love the green Sunbeam Tiger , the lovely prewar ' Talbot ' airline ' saloon , noticing the ' trademark ' pillarless Rootes glass overlap , featured well into the 50s on the Sunbeam-Talbot 80 & 90s.The early beautiful blue/grey Rapier Mk 1 ? must be around 1957 and so rare , just a handful left. Would not want to be impaled on the beak of that Snipe mascot - pointy indeed !

[@oldclassiccarUK]

Hi Roger, yes it was a proper treat to see so many cars that rarely if ever appear at the general old-car events I usually get to. Thanks for checking this one out.

[@nevillestumbles4631]

Great video, Richard. I always liked Rootes Group cars but never owned one. However, I did service a Singer Gazelle for a friend of mine and an uncle owned a couple of Humber Hawks - very nice cars. Here, in Australia, Hillmans were quite popular and Humber Snipes were used for hire cars by some companies.

[@tomday7309]

Great video, Richard. I guess Rootes was trying to be something of a GM with the riot of models produced during the '50's and '60's. Those early 1960's Humber Super Snipes remind me of the American Rambler sedans of the same years from the front. I'd love to have one of those Simca Aronde coupes also. Very swish.

[@gordysevenzero3244]

Absolutely right about the rust resistance of the big Humbers - my family's first car was a '63 Hawk, and I spent many a happy weekend applying a wide variety of products to the rotting cills of a then 5 year old car! My current Mercedes is 18 years old, but still has twelve years left on its' anti-perforation warranty - we'll see how that goes... How far we have come from the times when the seven of us used to cram into the 'dilly' for day trips - only two seat belts, of course!

[@jeffking4176]

Love those fastback Sunbeam Rapiers. [ love all of the cars shown here.😁] The Avenger Tiger is good looking little car too. I remember when Chrysler tried to market these in North America as the Plymouth Cricket. The problem was in making it compatible with U.S. pollution standards. They just didn’t run right, after all the changes. Cold weather was nightmare for owners. Sad. SIMCA 1100 cute little car. Only small handfuls of Simcas sold in the U.S. 📻🙂

[@marcodebarkingville1827]

Simca's were sold in Australia for a little while and I can still remember their AM radio jingle that finished with a vocalist singing "some car, this Simca"😅

[@rathnasirikalansooriya9582]

❤❤❤

[@petersmith4455]

hi Rick, that duple bodied coach on a commer chassis, i remember as a child in sussex Southdown Motors had some commers with Harrington crusader mk11 bodies, they used to make a loud noise with that engine, ghastly things, loved it when a Leyland leopard with Plaxton mk 1 body turned up to our school, in 1962

[@graemeburr6463]

I enjoyed this Richard, my father, grandfather and myself having owned about 13 Rootes products between us. I was interested in that grey flat back window Super Minx with the single strip of chrome down the sides. Although the wrap around rear window models all had the single strip most of the flat back ones had a double strip with a contrasting colour between. Here in NZ I only ever saw one with a single strip, every other one seen had dual ones. The single strip Super Minx with the flat back window here belonged to my father. He got it off my Grandfather who imported it new from the UK. Grandad was slightly annoyed because by the time it arrived by ship, Rootes had released the 1725 engine and his white flat window Super Minx with full red interior and the single chrome strip down the side only had the 1600 engine. It had a different pattern to the interior compared to NZ assembled ones and was better finished too.

[@Carl-x8y3c]

Hi 👋 Richard. I like the black Singer Gazelle. There is a fellow here in the city i live in who owns a lovely green 1961 Singer Gazelle. I recorded it with my phone earler this year. It has a red interior like the one in your video. I also have recorded a 1963 Sunbeam Rapier in white with a red stripe down the side. Soft top. Its in stunning condition. Its a pity i cant send to you what i have recorded. These Rootes group cars are what i remember on the roads growing up. The Chrysler 180 is nice , but it wasnt sold here , and i dont know why. But we sold mainly Australian Chrysler cars . Like i say wonderful cars on show there , the Humber Hawk , Minx , Super Snipe are what i remember. Thanks for this video . From Carl.

[@oldclassiccarUK]

Thanks for checking it out

[@Vince_uk]

Great video RJ, I also have a huge soft spot for Rootes. I had a Super Snipe MK III twin headlights in the early 70"s, first registered in 1963, a magnificent machine. It is one of the cars I sold and made a rare profit on. These cars have absolute class.

[@oldclassiccarUK]

Very swish, sounds a bit like the maroon car I pondered buying many years ago (late 80s)

[@Vince_uk]

@@oldclassiccarUK You are absolutely correct about the wheel arches RJ, we had to strip the car and rebuild them with the mandatory filler and respray it. The rest of the car was solid.

[@helenphillips4204]

Love the radiator topper on the 102 year old Landaulet xx

[@adamsfamilydottwo]

I always try to think of something that relates to the cars you show in your enjoyable videos I have always had an interest in Imps and Clan Crusaders . I was doing the Gremlin Rally, a round of the Motoring News Rally Championship ,we were in the Black Mountains above Abergavenny ,my navigator said there is a ford along here a river crossing not a car , and because its been raining a lot, usual in Wales! its likely to be deep and fast flowing .As we came to the ford people were slowing us down ,I wasn't going that quickly anyway In the river next to the ford was a Clan Crusader,I think it was the works car driven by Alan Connolly ,tied up to prevent it going further down stream, apparently he had gone into the water so fast the bough wave had washed it off the road and it was now fastened to ropes held by spectators, their were dozens bearing in mind it was about 3 am As we went through the river my blinker mudflats instead of holding the water and mud down to prevent it going over the lights , acted as a sort of snow plough ,and shot the cold water into the air and soaked most of the people. My Viva was fitted with an electric fan so it kept going thank goodness as I don't think we were flavour of the month

[@oldclassiccarUK]

Ha I always like to read these first-hand car stories, thanks for posting

[@julianbrooks9922]

Sunbeam, Talbot and Darracq merged in 1919 to create an Anglo-French company. However it went bust in 1935 and the British side was bought by Rootes as Sunbeam-Talbot and the French Talbot-Darracq side was bought by Simca of France. Interestingly two halves came back together when both Rootes and Simca were bought by Chrysler and Peugeot revived the name Talbot which had long since been dropped by both the British (mid-fifties) and the French side because of its Anglo-French connection (which predated the merger with Darracq and Sumbeam.

[@oldclassiccarUK]

Thanks for the potted history!

[@jeffking4176]

Interesting. So that is the connection. I did not know about that first part. 📻🙂

[@saxon-mt5by]

Multiple Rootes-Group owner here. Started with an early Singer Gazelle estate, then a couple of Singer Chamois, followed by an Arrow-range Singer Vogue estate (all Singers, by coincidence) and now a 1938 Talbot Ten Airline like the green one here.

[@glenmason1876]

Great video, my first car was an Hillman avenger, 1971 model, in light blue, nice car at the time, but quite basic inside

[@peterbuckley5204]

The filler cap on the Humbers were the offside reflector from memory some had a rippled grip around the rim to grip it

[@fletcherchristian1611]

That Commer charance dous it for me.

[@Sam957-c7c]

Smooth

[@brianmarshall1637]

When my late wife and I were married in 1960 the taxi man had the pullman,also the Dodge topper as you say was seen in the film He'll Drivers,this one I have seen before in a display on I tube.

[@lawrence5117]

When I was a Young'un it seemed to me that Rootes Group cars generally stood out from the rest. They were very stylish and well built.

[@garywalker3818]

👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍Gary from Crewe

[@GraemeEkins]

Great video. Just like the range over here in New Zealand, albeit the rarer models like Tigers and Hawk /Snipe estates are very limited numbers now.

[@ericpryer-f4v]

And did no-one ever take a Humber 80 to the UK?

[@stephenricketts7764]

A great turn out of Rootes Group cars and vans. One of my cousins had a Sunbeam Rapier in gunmetal grey with a black stripe down the side and black interior (I think). I cannot recall the year but he had it in the 70's a very nice car, I wonder if it survives today? Some glorious older cars there as well, how some of them have survived is anyone's guess. I love the old Duple bodied coach that is a blast from the past when the body style was as important as the interior style. Thank you Rick for another great video. 👍👍

[@oldclassiccarUK]

Thanks Stephen, glad it was of interest

[@erichlausch9886]

🎆🎆🎆🎆🎆

[@sammcdonough71]

Another great video production. Lots of interesting vehicles on show here. Can anyone recommend best events (North) to see pre-war cars?

[@oldclassiccarUK]

It's worth checking the VSCC website for their vintage meets, I think they'll have a presence at this year's Gold Cup for instance, at Oulton Park. Also Loton Park.

[@alexmckenna1171]

That DUple coach was the same that used to take me to school, around 1956? Eddie Calvert was top of the pops, as the coach radio played his tune.

[@Jack_Warner]

A mate of mine has got a Sunbeam Tiger, sitting in his lock-up, down in Sussex. He's had it for at least twenty years, as I used to go down there once a year to see what he'd been doing. He never bothered to do anything with it. I don't know what it's worth, but it was pretty sound in the bodywork.

[@oldclassiccarUK]

Oooo wouldn't say no to that, great sounding car

The only Rootes Group car I ever owned was a 1972 Sunbeam Stiletto. I did not see any of them at this show, so I guess they must be pretty rare today.

[@oldclassiccarUK]

Certainly one of the lesser-spotted Imp variants nowadays, thanks for watching

[@lffit]

Interesting, my earliest memory of our family car in Australia was of a Hillman Minx, it was perhaps an earlier model than the MK8 you taped with the large oval grille, we may have had that model as well? Thanks!

[@colindelamare3180]

Very interesting video however it is a pity that a lot of variants of some models were not represented such the imp sport which was a limited production 1000 cc version, the sunbeam stilleto the top of the imp range, there was no hillman avenger gl either which was the top of the range avenger with the round headlights. Having said this I appreciate that you can only show what is present so well done on a good video.

[@simonrobson5844]

I miss my mk2 sceptre 😢

[@johnvanstone5336]

What does duple bodied mean?

[@epj900]

Duple was the name of the coach building company that made the body work to go on the Commer chassis

[@alexmckenna1171]

Would there have been a merger possible here? Rootes, Standard and Vauxhall...

[@timothyauger1443]

Not many Sunbeam-Talbots or Sunbeam Mk IIIs?

[@oldclassiccarUK]

They don't seem to pop up all that often at the shows I get to

[@peterbuckley5204]

Duple the coach builders they were built on various chassis mainly Bedford but also others

[@lesklower7281]

I have owned three Hillmans two Gazzells and one 1963 Minx in Australia we never got Singer the Singer Gazzell was the Hillman Gazzell and the Singer Vouge became the Humber Vouge because in Australia not surprisingly the Singer got a bad reputation for unreliability and the biggest problem l had with my Gazzells and they both had the 1725 alloy cylinder head and they both blew head gaskets regularly l was glad to bet rid of them and when l bought they were only just over ten years old but now l own a Toyota Hilux 1997 year model yes 27 years old that has done 440000 kilometres and still has its original head gasket and it is a nickel iron block with an alloy cylinder head Toyota did it why couldn't Rootes Group do it Toyota Hiluxes were around in the 1960s and my Hilux has the ultra reliable 22R engine and the 1960s Hilux had the 18R engine a smaller capacity engine than the 22R engine the technology was available but Toyota nailed it but Rootes Group didn't l guess some people like changing head gaskets especially Rover 75 and MGF owners well they are famous for blowing head gaskets