The Hillman Super Minx is a family car which was produced by Hillman from 1961 to 1967. It was a slightly larger version of the Hillman Minx, from the period when the long-running Minx nameplate was applied to the "Audax" series of designs. (The Minx underwent many changes throughout its history, and the Super Minx name was not used during production of non-Audax Minx designs.)
Announced in October 1961,[5][6] the Super Minx gave Rootes, and particularly its Hillmanmarque, an expanded presence in the upper reaches of the family car market. It has been suggested that the Super Minx design was originally intended to replace, and not merely to supplement, the standard Minx, but was found to be too big for that purpose.[4] An estate car joined the range in May 1962, and a two-door convertible in June 1962.[6] The convertible never sold in significant numbers: the last one was made in June 1964,[2] ahead of the introduction, in September 1964, of the Super Minx Mark III.
A cabriolet version was offered until 1964.
The car was powered by the Rootes 1,592cc (97.1cuin) unit, which had first appeared late in 1953 with a 1,390cc (85cuin) capacity.[7] The original Super Minx had the cast-iron cylinder head version of the engine, though on later cars the cylinder head was replaced with an aluminium one.[7]
Suspension was independent at the front using coil springs with anti-roll bar and at the rear had leaf springs and a live axle. Un-assisted 9in (229mm) Lockheed drum brakes were fitted. The steering used a recirculating ball system and was as usual at the time not power assisted. Standard seating, trimmed in Vynide, used a bench type at the front with individual seats as an option. A heater was fitted but a radio remained optional. The car could be ordered in single colour or two tone paint. The four-speed manual transmission featured synchromesh on the top three ratios from the start [7] and had a floor lever: "Smiths Easidrive" automatic transmission was option.[7]
A car was tested by the British magazine The Motor in 1962 and had a top speed of 80.0mph (128.7km/h) and could accelerate from 0-60mph (97km/h) in 21.6 seconds. A "touring" fuel consumption of 27.9 miles per imperial gallon (10.1L/100km; 23.2mpg‑US) was recorded. The test car cost £854 including taxes,[8] which was then slightly less than the recently upgraded Austin Cambridge A60.
The first Super Minxes featured the 1,592cc (97.1cuin) engine as used in the Hillman Minx, providing in this application a claimed 62bhp (46kW; 63PS) of power.
Mark II
A year after the car was launched a Mark II version was presented, in October 1962, with greasing points eliminated, larger front disc brakes and a revised axle ratio.[6] For buyers of the automatic transmission cars, 1962 was the year that the Smiths Easidrive option was replaced by the Borg-Warner 35 transmission.[7]
Hillman Super Minx Mark II Saloon
Mark III
The "wraparound" rear window was replaced by a simpler arrangement in 1964.
In 1964, with the launch of the Super Minx Mark III the Super Minx was facelifted, and the wrap-around rear window gave way to a new "six-light" design with a larger side windows aft of the rear side doors. The windscreen and side windows were also made taller and the roof-line flatter.
Mark IV
The Super Minx was also available as an estate car.
Engine capacity was increased to 1,725cc (105.3cuin) for the Super Minx Mark IV launched at the London Motor Show in October 1965.[6] (The larger engine outlived the Super Minx, to be used in later models too.)
Related models
Like many other Rootes products including the Minx, the Super Minx was one of a badge-engineered series of models, sold under various marques.
The Singer marque was represented by the Singer Vogue which had been announced in July 1961, four months earlier than the Hillman Super Minx.[2] The range was joined in 1963 by a Humber: the Humber Sceptre.[9] The Singer Vogue and Humber Sceptre names would be retained by the successor Rootes Arrow model range. The Sceptre was developed as a four-door replacement for the Sunbeam Rapier, but was re-designated as a Humber shortly before launch, while the two-door Rapier based on the 'Audax' Minx continued unreplaced until 1967.[9] The Sceptre nevertheless was able to be successfully promoted as a more sporty car than the larger traditional Humbers.[9] Unlike the Hillman and Singer versions, the Super Minx-based Humber Sceptre retained the same roof, with large panoramic windscreen and shallow wrap-around rear window with fins, until the model was replaced, in the Humber's case in 1967, by a Hillman Hunter-based successor.
The cars differed in subtle ways, with the Singer being positioned slightly above the Hillman and gaining such extras as quad headlights, and the Humber topping the range, commensurate with Humber's traditional role as a producer of upmarket and luxury models. The styling of the Sceptre (as well as the Vogue) somewhat recalled previous, larger Humbers. The Sceptre marks 1 and 1A had a slightly different grille arrangement and front trim to the Vogue as well as a taller panoramic windscreen, sloping rear roofline and larger rear fins. It had been intended that the Sceptre be a sports saloon until shortly before its launch as a Humber, hence its sprightly performance compared with other Humber models.
Nearly five years after its launch, a Singer Vogue Series IV saloon tested by the Britain's Autocar magazine in August 1966, now with an advertised power output of 85bhp (63kW; 86PS), had a top speed of 93mph (150km/h) and could accelerate from 0-60mph (97km/h) in 25seconds. An overall fuel consumption of 22.0 miles per imperial gallon (12.8L/100km; 18.3mpg‑US) was achieved. The test car was priced by Rootes in the UK at £911 including taxes, at a time when the Austin 1800 was retailing for £888 and the Ford Corsair GT was offered at £925. The performance was felt to be lively, and the gear change, supported on the test car with an optional overdrive, ‘crisp’ with well chosen ratios. Comfort and fittings were also commended, but the fuel consumption and the tendency of the heavy brakes to fade when used hard disappointed the testers: this would presumably not have been an issue had the road test been of a Humber Sceptre which had its stopping power from a servo-assisted 10-inch (250mm) front disc/rear drum arrangement.[10]
The Humber was also, at launch, fitted with a high tune version of the 1,592cc and, from September 1965, 1,725cc oversquare engine producing 80hp (60kW) and 85hp (63kW) respectively.[9] Early models with the 1,592cc engine had twin single Zenith downdraught carburettors - later 1,592/1,725cc engines used a Solex twin choke downdraught carburettor for simplicity. The twin Zenith carburettors had been hard to keep balanced. Other modifications included a water-jacketed inlet manifold, timing adjustments and stronger valve springs to eliminate valve bounce at high engine speeds. The later H120's 107hp (80kW) engine is a straight swap for both of these units and looks almost identical - it provides a useful boost in power to an already swift automobile. The unique Sceptre interior featured full instrumentation, including a tachometer marked up to 6,000rpm, and a four-speed floor-mounted transmission with self-cancelling overdrive (with column-mounted control and indicator) on third and fourth gear for a total of six separate ratios in standard form. The lockout could be removed on first and second gears, and this was often done by Rootes in cars used for competitions such as rallying. In addition, the Sceptre was from the beginning provided with servo-assisted braking control and, unusually in 1963, 10-inch front disc-brakes. The Marks 1 and 1A were not available with an automatic option - although this was rectified with the Mark II cars, using a three-speed unit with automatic kick-down. This was a cheaper option than was usual at the time due to the deletion of the Laycock De Normanville overdrive fitted to the Manual cars.
There was a Singer variant of the smaller Minx as well (the Singer Gazelle) but no equivalent Humber version of the Minx, (except for the Humber 80 version of the Minx released in New Zealand, as is Humber 90 to the Super Minx) which would have been uncharacteristically small for the Humber marque; conversely there was a sporty Sunbeam version of the Minx (the Sunbeam Rapier) but no Sunbeam version of the Super Minx.
In addition to assembling the Super Minx,[3]Rootes Australia produced variants of the Singer Vogue from 1963 to 1966 as the Humber Vogue and Humber Vogue Sports.[11]
At least six Humber Sceptre development mules were built with the same engine as the Sunbeam Tiger, a 289cui Ford V8 unit. These never entered production, but at least one of the original cars survives.[citation needed]
Singer Vogue after the 1964 facelift which saw the wrap around rear window replaced with a more modern "six-light" arrangement
The Singer Vogue version was also available as an estate car.
1964 Humber Sceptre. Unlike the Hillman and Singer versions, the Sceptre retained the panoramic wrap-around rear window throughout its life
1964 Humber 90 Saloon, a badge engineered Hillman Super Minx Mark II
1965 Humber Vogue Series III
Replacement
The Super Minx saloon and its Singer variants were replaced by the Rootes Arrow range when the Hillman Hunter and Singer Vogue were launched at the London Motor Show in October 1966. However, the Hunter was initially offered only as a saloon and accordingly the Super Minx estate car remained in production until April 1967.[2]
Related Research Articles
The Rootes Group or Rootes Motors Limited was a British automobile manufacturer and, separately, a major motor distributors and dealers business. Run from London's West End, the manufacturer was based in the Midlands and the distribution and dealers business in the south of England. In the decade beginning 1928 the Rootes brothers, William and Reginald, made prosperous by their very successful distribution and servicing business, were keen to enter manufacturing for closer control of the products they were selling. One brother has been termed the power unit, the other the steering and braking system.
Hillman was a British automobile marque created by the Hillman-Coatalen Company, founded in 1907, renamed the Hillman Motor Car Company in 1910. The company was based in Ryton-on-Dunsmore, near Coventry, England. Before 1907 the company had built bicycles. Newly under the control of the Rootes brothers, the Hillman company was acquired by Humber in 1928. Hillman was used as the small car marque of Humber Limited from 1931, but until 1937 Hillman did continue to sell large cars. The Rootes brothers reached a sixty per cent holding of Humber in 1932 which they retained until 1967, when Chrysler bought Rootes and bought out the other forty per cent of shareholders in Humber. The marque continued to be used under Chrysler until 1976.
Rootes Arrow was the manufacturer's name for a range of cars produced under several badge-engineered marques by the Rootes Group from 1966 to 1979. It is amongst the last Rootes designs, developed with no influence from future owner Chrysler. The range is almost always referred to by the name of the most prolific model, the Hillman Hunter.
The Hillman Imp is a small economy car that was made by the Rootes Group and its successor Chrysler Europe from 1963 until 1976. Revealed on 3 May 1963, after much advance publicity, it was the first British mass-produced car with the engine block and cylinder head cast in aluminium.
The Hillman Minx was a mid-sized family car that British car maker Hillman produced from 1931 to 1970. There were many versions of the Minx over that period, as well as badge-engineered variants sold by Humber, Singer, and Sunbeam.
The Hillman Avenger is a rear-wheel drive small family car originally manufactured by the former Rootes division of Chrysler Europe from 1970–1978, badged from 1976 onward as the Chrysler Avenger. Between 1979 and 1981 it was manufactured by PSA Peugeot Citroën and badged as the Talbot Avenger. The Avenger was marketed in North America as the Plymouth Cricket and was the first Plymouth to have a four-cylinder engine since the 1932 Plymouth Model PB was discontinued.
The Sunbeam Alpine is a two-seater sports roadster/drophead coupé that was produced by the Rootes Group from 1953 to 1955, and then 1959 to 1968. The name was then used on a two-door fastback coupé from 1969 to 1975. The original Alpine was launched in 1953 as the first vehicle from Sunbeam-Talbot to bear the Sunbeam name alone since Rootes Group bought Clément-Talbot, and later the moribund Sunbeam from its receiver in 1935.
Chrysler Europe was the American automotive company Chrysler's operations in Europe from 1967 through 1978. It was formed from the merger of the French Simca, British Rootes and Spanish Barreiros companies. In 1978, Chrysler divested these operations to PSA Peugeot Citroën.
Humber Limited was a British manufacturer of bicycles, motorcycles, and cars incorporated and listed on the stock exchange in 1887. It took the name "Humber & Co Limited" because of the high reputation of the products of one of the constituent businesses that had belonged to Thomas Humber. A financial reconstruction in 1899 transferred its business to Humber Limited.
The Hillman Husky was a line of British passenger vehicles manufactured between 1954 and 1970 by Hillman.
The Singer Gazelle name has been applied to two generations of motor cars from the British manufacturer Singer. It was positioned between the basic Hillman range and the more sporting Sunbeam versions.
The Humber Sceptre is an automobile which was produced in the United Kingdom from 1963 to 1976 by Humber.
The Sunbeam Rapier is an automobile produced by Rootes Group from 1955 until 1976, in two different body-styles, the "Series" cars and the later (1967–76) fastback shape, part of the "Arrow" range.
The Riley 4 / Sixty Eight and Riley 4 / Seventy Two are cars produced by BMC from 1959 to 1969, under the Riley marque. They are closely related to the Pinin Farina-designed MG Magnette Mark III and Wolseley 15/60 and the simpler Austin A55 Cambridge Mark II, Morris Oxford V pair, sharing the MG's rear styling and engine. This Riley was the most expensive car in that series.
The Humber Super Snipe is a car which was produced from 1938 to 1967 by British-based Humber Limited.
The Singer Vogue name has been applied to two generations of motor cars from the British manufacturer Singer.
The Humber Hawk is a four-cylinder automobile manufactured from 1945 to 1967 by British-based Humber Limited.
Sunbeam-Talbot Limited was a British motor manufacturing business. It built upmarket sports-saloon versions under the parenthood of Rootes Group cars from 1938 to 1954. Its predecessor Clément-Talbot Limited had made Talbot automobiles from 1902 to 1935.
The Sunbeam-Talbot 90 is an automobile which was produced and built by Sunbeam-Talbot from 1948 to 1954 and continued as the Sunbeam Mk III from 1954 to 1957.
The Hillman Fourteen is a medium-sized 4-cylinder car announced by Hillman's managing director Spencer Wilks, a son-in-law of William Hillman, at the end of September 1925. This new Fourteen substantially increased Hillman's market share and remained on sale into 1931. During this time it was the main product of the company.
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