I suppose for starters, I should explain why the title of ...



Wow, it’s Fall already! All of the car shows have more or less come and gone and here we are looking at Winter. “Tinkerbelle” has been in several shows this year-only two of them “British”, the rest were just antique car meets. “Tink” draws alot of attention, particulerly because of her nice Powder Blue and Charcoal gray paint job-the wide white walls help too. However, almost nobody knows what a Hillman is (or rather was). However, she did get a second place in the Saloon Car class at the Moss Motors show here in New Jersey in September.

Just a reminder to all of you computer people out there....Craig Burlingame runs the Hillman Home Page on the Internet current (to access it just connect to “”). He has added my later factory photos-including the Super Minx, etc. I will be sending him more photos shortly so that the Internet site will have all of my factory photos on it.

Speaking of factory photos-a good source of them is your local newspaper! Rootes publicity sent them out to all of the major papers back in the fifties and sixties. So even if they didn’t use them, they probably kept them in their archives. You might also want to check if there is a microfilm index of your local paper and cruise through the fifties and sixties looking for Hillman and Rootes.

Members: We keep adding members which is a good sign.

Welcome to:

Mr. Emilio Sanchez

Box 1566

Trujillo Alto, PR

00977

David Pilpa-Augustyn

144 S. Lotus Ave.

E. Pasadena, CA 91007-4506

Parts Sources:

Things seem to be active up in Canada, try Mario at 514-444-2900 for various Rootes parts. His father was a Rootes dealer in Montreal and he has quite a collection of Rootes cars.

Ads: Ads for Hillman cars, parts, etc. are free to anyone, just send the information to : Brotherhood of

the Three Spires, 4 Townley Ct., Flanders, NJ 07836. I will place the ad in the next issue of “Melodies”.

Cars and Parts for sale:

Leads From Verne Hillman: '55 Hillman Mark VIII Deluxe Saloon, rough, VIN 1515778 (Alabama).

- '57 Hillman Series I Saloon, complete, condition unknown(Alabama).

- '58 Hillman Series II Convertible, complete, too rough to restore, engine free, numbers match (Alabama).

- Two Hillman series III convertibles, too rough to restore, all side windows and chrome frames are like new, some side and cowl moldings (Massachusetts).

- Copies of original owners manuals for Minx Series I, II, III A,B + C only.

- Copies of original shop manual, Rootes part number 6601045 for "Minx series I to V, Husky Series I to III, Cob series I to III (WSM # 118) (Tennessee).

- Copies of original parts list book, Rootes part number 6601435 for "New Hillman Minx and Singer Gazelle Series I, II, IIIA, IIIB and IIIC Saloon Convertible and Estate Car." (Tennessee).

- '61 Humber Series III Super Snipe 4 dr. Saloon for parts (Massachusetts).

- Factory parts book for Humber Series III-V (Tennessee).

For additional information, send a SASE to:

Verne Hillman

430 Long Meadow Cir.

Pulaski, TN USA 38478

Or call

(615) 363-7719

58 Husky: I have a 58 Husky here in Arizona that I took in trade. I t was owned since new by Cars of Yesterday Museum in Florida. Have original manuals,etc. . It is a very complete, solid original car. Shows 55,000 miles.Been parked for years. I have not tried to run it, but it is all there including keys .Have no idea of what they are worth,but would like to get $1400-1500. I thought maybe you could give me an idea where to list it for sale . I sell early datsun 240z cars and parts and ship them all around , so I could arrange shipping for the Hillman anywhere from here in hot rust-free Arizona . Thank you for any help you may give me .It is a pretty neat little car. I've got half a mind to fix it up and keep it. Greg Clark, 3190 Cottonwood Lane, Prescott, AZ 86301 (602) 465-2532

Husky Parts: Joel Shockman has MANY Husky parts available from several cars that he is parting out. If you need stuff, call him at 215-887-4234. He has just about everything for a Husky.

1725 parts for sale: the items are;

a cast iron head $50

rockers and shafts $25

timing gears and chain sets $25

crankshaft pulley $5

timing covers $10

oil filter base $5

intake & exhaust manifold set $25

crankshafts $50

4-speed gearboxes, late 60's all synchro. excellent condition $??? all prices are U.S. dollars. no shipping charges on all but the head, cranks, gearboxes and manifolds. preferred payment is by money order. Arizona USA. joe @ 1 602 970 6434 evenings

1950 Minx Convertible: Sam Jaffee has a really beautiful ‘50 Minx convertible for sale. Color is Red with a tan top. Car has 57,000 original miles and Sam is the 2nd owner. Price $3,950. Give Sam a call at 518-399-5910.

Car of the Quarter: This “Car of the Quarter” will be the Hillman Minx Mark IV of 1951.

There were only minor changes in the Hillman Minx for 1951. Introduced in September of 1950 in England and in November of 1950 in the US, the Mark IV did have some changes. The two most notable were the inclusion of a water pump on the Minx flat head four and the increase in the bore of the engine from 2.48 inches to 2.56 inches. This increased the engine from 1,185cc (72 cu in) to 1,265cc (77 cu in). Exactly how much of increase in horsepower this provided could be argued as some Mark III sales literature claimed 35 horsepower from the old 1,185cc engine and other literature claimed 38 horsepower! The material on the Mark IV claimed either 37.5 or 42 horsepower. However, even with the possible loss of half a horsepower, Rootes called the new engine the “Plus Power” engine! The new engine could get the Mark IV up to 68 MPH, 0-60 times were unknown but it took the Mark IV 21.4 seconds to get up to 50 MPH and the quarter mile took 24.6 seconds. Not exactly muscle car territory! I have owned two Mark IV’s and the acceleration can best be called leisurely. Which is probably good as the handling was not particularly outstanding.

The other noticeable difference was in the bumpers. The Mark III used fluted bumpers, the Mark IV normal rouned ones. All of these changes brought the price up (but only slightly), from $1,495 to $1,533 for the sedan and from $1,745 to $1,890 for the convertible. The very rare “Estate Car” went from $1,835 to $1,938. These prices, which were roughly equivalent to the price of a new Chevrolet or Ford, kept sales down to only 3,787 Hillmans for the year-or not even one day’s production of Chevrolets in that year!

The gear ratios stayed the same as did the 5.22:1 rear end. Rootes now claimed 365 dealers in North America (this included Canada but not Mexico). Sales outlets were expanding around the world-adding Brazil, Argentina, Hong Kong and Belgium.

The standard size tires were interesting-in England and throughout most of the world, 5.50x16 tires on 16 inch wheels were standard, but in the US, 5.50/5.60x15 tires on 15 inch wheels were standard.

Colors were black with either red or brown interior, pastel green with red interior, dove grey with red interior and pastel blue with red interior. Not an overpowering list of colors!

1951 also saw a big increase in Hillman advertising, with ads appearing extensively in “Time” magazine, “Holiday”, “The New Yorker” and other quality publications. In addition, advertising was continued in trade publications such as “Automotive News”. Also, Road & Track did its first foreign sedan test-a copy is included with this copy of Melodies.

Hillman Lore: It seems that a number of “brothers” are interested in making their Hillmans go faster. So here are a few tricks I have learned on getting a liitle more out of your Hillman.

First of all, tune it properly! In addition to making sure that you have good plugs (of the proper heat range) wires, points, condensor and cap, you must set the timing correctly. This is not done in the usual manner-that is only the starting point! First, set the points to just open with the timing marks on the front pully set to TDC and the vernier adjustment on the distributor turned all the way in. Then set the vernier to the 6 degree advance (that is usually the long mark). Now you are ready to begin to tune!

On a clear, as windless as possible day, find a long, straight, level stretch of road and accelerate from 30 to 50 MPH in one gear. Time it on a stop watch. Then vadvance the timing a measured amount (one turn, one mark, etc.) and do the run again in the same direction again timing it. Keep advancing the timing as long as the times decrease. As soon as they INCREASE, go back to the previous setting. For more performance, use hi-octane gas-but be warned, you will now HAVE to use premium gas all the time.

The above sometimes will give vastly improved performance. Of course you should check that the vacuum advance is working properly before this!

The next method to improve the performance of all Mark Hillmans and Huskies (Mk I and Series I) and Series I, II and III Minxes is to replace the existing carburettor with a carb from a Series IIIA or later Minx or Series III Singer Gazelles. This will give you at least a 10% improvement in performance and greatly improved acceleration. Why? Because all of these early Hillmans used either Solex 30FAI carbs or Zenith 30VM8 or 30VI carbs-none of which have accelerator pumps. Thus flooring the gas pedal will actually make these cars go SLOWER! The accelerator pump gives a squirt of gas when the gas pedal is pushed. This helps performance quite notably.

The next steps require more work! On Mark VIII, Series I, II and III Minxes and the Series I Husky the manifolds can be replaced with the later manifolds-the “squared” intake manifolds are not as good as the “curved” ones-this is worth something like 2 HP, not really much but when you only have 43 HP, even 2 HP is worth going after!

The next step is to replace the cylinder head of your Mark VIII Minx, Series I, II and III Minx and Series I Husky with a cylinder head from a 1960 Series IIIA or later head. Why??? Bigger intake valves. Again, this adds a few HP at the top end. While you are at it, replace the Camshaft on your Mark VIII, Series I and Series I Husky with a Camshaft from a Series II or later Minx. This does not increase HP but delivers the same HP at a lower RPM and does add a little to the torque.

What is the gain from the above? The Mark VIII was rated at 43 HP and the Series I at 47-this will increase it to 52.5+ HP.... not a whole lot but an over 20% improvement over the original HP. This will be very noticeable on the road.

The next modification will do a lot for performance but will be very noticeable...... replace the manifolds and carb with the manifolds and carbs from a late Series I or Series II Rapier. On the Series I and II cars this will increase the horsepower to 67, with all of the modifications listed above, it will go to something around 73 HP. This will also require a new exhaust system (1 3/4” pipe instead of 1 1/2” pipe).

Add an electric fuel pump, a glass pack mufflier and a “flexible” fan and you will get close to 75 HP. Some hot rodding tricks like “porting” the cylinder head and shaving a little off of the cylinder head to up the compression ratio will also gain a few more horsepower.

To get more you will have to do a full Sunbeam Alpine conversion (Aluminum head, etc.). You can use your existing block and replace the cam with an Alpine Cam, aluminum cylinder head, manifolds, carb and distributor. This combo on 1500cc engines will yield 83 HP and up to 91 HP on 1725cc engines.

Finally, you can just install a complete Alpine engine-if the “rust worm” has eaten the Alpine or an unfriendly tree or pole has rearranged the body work, you may have a complete drive train that will almost drop in- you may have to play around with the transmission cover to get it to fit in any Hillman prior to the Series IIIA Minx and the Series II Husky.

Another way to improve performance on the early Series cars (I, II and III) is to replace the transmission with one from a Series IIIA or later or with one from an early Alpine. The better gear ratios will make a marked improvement in acceration.

I have heard of a number of radical engine swaps-but these were all major surgery projects. The reason being the very, very narrow engine compartment of the Minx. There is no room for a V8 or a 90 degree V6 in there. But I am sure there have been some interesting conversions! Back in the very early sixties I ran into a mechanic from Jamaica who had a 1960 Series IIIA Minx convertible with a 6 cylinder Jaguar sedan engine in it! He actually sat in the back seat to drive the car-the engine took up the front seat space.

Next Issue: We will continue to story of Hillman with the Mark V and provide some suggested parts swaps. I have been thinking of an “All Husky” or an “All Imp” issue. Would this be of interest???

Other Clubs: I have just received the newsletter of the Rootes Club of Norway (!). While the pictures are neat, I haven’t the foggiest idea of what the Norwegian text says! However, I will be sending them a copy of Melodies. I will also exchange newsletters with the Brit Saloon Car Club of Canada.

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