Hillman Super Minx - First Classic Car

[CWhaley]

Hello all, first time on here so go easy on me! I've finally bought my first classic - a 1965 Hillman Super Minx 1.6 Saloon.

Mechanically the car is fairly sound - good engine, gearbox is smooth and all features seem to work well given the age.

I want to restore the car and keep original and to do that there's a few jobs I wanted to get an idea of price and availability.

- Needs new rear sills
- New front arches
- Hand/Parking Brake is poor
- Rear brakes are poor
- Car pulls to the left slightly
- Rear passenger door locks, but does not close fully

Anyone know where I should start with this?

Thakn you

 

[JPSmit]

Fantastic! Welcome, I'll be honest there aren't many Hillmans on the Board - but, please hang around, we love all cars here!

Looks like a great project! I have a friend in my club here (Toronto & area) who love Hillmans! In terms of the return to the road, you should be able to handle all the mechanical stuff fairly quickly and easily. I am not sure if you can weld, otherwise I guess you will have to farm out the bodywork.

Has the car been sitting? Assuming it has, I would replace the brakes - hoses - and either rebuild or replace the brake cylinders. None of this is hard - about the most difficult is an assistant to help bleed the brakes. In terms of the door, I would clean and lubricate really well before I started taking things off the car. It shouldn't be difficult to take the inside door card off to lube inside - though be really careful as I assume the door cards aren't replaceable.

again welcome and looks a great project!

 

[CWhaley]

Hello, thanks a lot for the reply and advice John-Peter!

It's good to know the mechanical side is fairly do-able - I have actually found several websites that sell lots of parts for delivery which is good and I have the time and gradual funds to do this. The car has been in regular use - in fact it was only taken off the road last month where before that it averaged around 1,000 miles a year. The engine starts first time and the gears are nice and smooth.

I think I will replace the brake hoses as the brakes themselves were dangerously inadequate when trying to stop form 25 mp/h on a test road!!! I'll spend some quality time looking at the door too so thanks a lot for the pointers there.

PS. My dad passed his driving test in a Vauxhall Viva in 1969!

 

[Bayless]

Welcome to the forum. It's good having more "unusual" LBCs around (like my Prefect).