'65 Hillman Super Minx MkIII The Old Rock-n-Roller

[retrolegends]

Who else on here has had this happen to them?
I go to a mates place for a catch up and I end up coming home and explaining to the missus why I have just bought another old car.

So I was looking for something 1960s but I had my heart set on an A60 or a Mk6 Oxford, certainly a BMC Farina of some kind, but after seeing said mate of mine I was confronted by a strange shape hiding under a plastic cover in the yard next to his unit.



So a quick bit of recon work to find out about it and I got to look underneath. Its a '65 Super Minx MkIII 6 light with the 1600cc engine and its certainly NOT made by BMC!





It turns out to belong to the brother in law of the guy looking after it and he is looking to sell it as he no longer has a garage and it had been broken into outside his house so a quick phone call and a run up and down the yard in it I end up buying it! Well I couldn't leave it there could I?

Not without its issues obviously, the indicators don't work, there's a parking dent on the rear quarter on the driver side, its filthy, and I am not sure about the Revolutions, but its solid, runs like a swiss watch, has the original wheels and trims in the boot and has an MOT until May (No Tax for me!).

Check out that wheel!


And check out that cassette player!


It must have been someones pride and joy at one time as I found this whilst Googling


So that's where we are at the minute, I have left it with my mate to give it a damn good mopping and sort the dent out before the wife sees it.Although she says that she it quite looking forward to rolling up at Billing Aquadrome in it in the summer.

[69royal]

love it, looks to be really tidy if it was mine id keep the revos and drop it a bit job done imo

[retrolegends]

Jan 29, 2014 17:44:44 GMT 69royal said:

love it, looks to be really tidy if it was mine id keep the revos and drop it a bit job done imo

Your right of course 69royal it would look good lower but for now the only slamming will be a Hollies cassette in the player
Looking forward to cruising in it.

[Clement]

This looks really nice! Well done on the quick decision, and wife approval too

[07lilredwagon]

that thing is adorable!

nice find! love the red accents in all the right places and the interior is a treat...

JP

[clougher95]

This car is cool.

Bookmarked, look forward to seeing the updates on this one

[7M.elody]

You have such a cool car I love these

[PhilA]

Nice, I miss mine, it was identical to that. Still got some spares and odds and ends in a box somewhere.

Side note, the H on the bonnet is on upside down.

--Phil

Found a picture. I painted mine BL Black Tulip because white/red/rust/primer sucked.


Super Minx by renault9gta, on Flickr


Edit: Watch the rear brakes... they have funny self-adjusting mechanisms and they jam up. If the handbrake is curse word, most likely it all needs attention. I found an afternoon with brake cleaner and a can of grease worked wonders.

Oh, and if it's had a change of oil, the gearbox.. you will fall in love with. The engine's easy to tune by ear, and the carburetor if it's the original is beautiful to work with. Colortune's your friend

[bmwv8capri]

cool car (a friend of mine has several super-rusty-minxes under resto) yours looks very tidy!

[retrolegends]

Thanks for the nice comments folks. The last Super Minx I saw was on the banger track at Hednesford Raceway and that ended how you would expect, so I am going to make sure this stays in good nick.

[mrabody]

The styling on these is much cleaner than a BMC Farina. Looks nice.

[Ramonz]

My dad had two of these one after another that us kids got ferried around in.

Hated it at the time but now look back and see how proper cool it is - well done and very jealous!

[Del]

Yeah. I'm diggin' this

[PhilA]

Jan 30, 2014 15:54:21 GMT retrolegends said:

Thanks for the nice comments folks. The last Super Minx I saw was on the banger track at Hednesford Raceway and that ended how you would expect, so I am going to make sure this stays in good nick.

I had two- DDM was the second. The first was.. a donor, at best. It eventually ended its' days around the oval with a horribly knocking bottom end. A Cavalier saw it quite a bit shorter (though considering the speed of the impact, the Hillman fared quite well).

Some guy bought it and brought it back after hammering it out... he got turned away because it was "Too rusty to race mate".

Yeah, you know it's bad when you can't even banger race it

Still, DDM is on SORN somewhere, it's been renewed every year so far, which is promising.

--Phil

[fender]

2011 / 2012 advert for it here - www.classiccars.co.uk/hillman/super_minx/series_iii/advert/12048

[qwerty]

Looks lovely on the Revo's.

[AtomicRooster]

Revo's are fine, just needs bigger tyres.

[retrolegends]

Feb 2, 2014 10:40:27 GMT fender said:

2011 / 2012 advert for it here - www.classiccars.co.uk/hillman/super_minx/series_iii/advert/12048

It's had two owners since that advert, and got quite a bit cheaper.

I'm with you on the tyres AtomicRooster, makes it look like a scalextric car!

[retrolegends]

Quick update, I went over to give the Minx a run this morning and assess the work that's needed, not really the weather for it but with work being so busy I have to take the opportunities when they come up.
So the body work-





Not too bad for 49 years old I suppose, the battery didn't have much life so a jump off my Audi and away we went.



A quick run to the closest petrol station for some squirt and it was soon up to temperature.



The nice lady in the petrol station says "Oooo is that a Hillman? My next door neighbours dad had one of those when I was little!" I love these sort of comments, it makes me feel like I am providing a public service.

[PhilA]

You'll find the quarter-lights are helpful, because the heater fan is not.