On our CC hunt last week, nephew Aidan and I spotted this car down at the far end of a long driveway. And I drew a blank (Aidan too). I’ve got a hunch (or two), but don’t have the time right now to spend on Google images confirming them. So we’re going to let you do the legwork, although I suspect someone going to nail it from memory pretty quickly.
Hillman Minx
Hillman Minx, late 50’s into 60’s.
Here’s my pick… 1958 Hillman Minx
Yup, Audax, Minx, series I to II. The tarpaulin over it suggests it might be a convertible version.
Yes, a Hillman Minx. These weren’t unusual in the Bay Area when I was growing up, so I guess one still exists on the peninsula.
Bryce moved to California? When did this happen? And where did he get the black plates?
I was going to write something similar, LOL. ;oD
Nah, he’d hate it there – all those mad buggers driving on the wrong side of the road… 😉
Rootes Audax, definitely, Minx probably, but possibly a Singer Gazelle or even a Sunbeam Rapier (though I think the Rapier had a larger moulding on the boot lid) though we’ll need Kiwi Bryce to nail the exact year and series.
As Bernard Taylor says, it could be a convertible.
Just how many were sold in the US?
Dunno, but (humor columnist) Dave Barry’s dad had one.
He was a lot harder on it than anyone at CC ever was:
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19950102&slug=2097399
Hillman Minx. ’59 at the latest. The sixty models had larger taillights and small fins which curved outward. Looks like this could be a convertible with a partially opened top judging by how the tarp is laid. Dad had a ’59 some fifty-three years ago. I loved it.
I never would have guessed Audax Minx in part because the tail lights did look smaller than what I remember. But I was only 3 years old in 1960 so I think that’s excusable. Our family (in the Bay Area) had the pre-Audax Minx, a ’54. BTW, unlike today when California plates stick with the vehicle forever, the black-on-yellow plates were replaced by the yellow-on-black in 1964. So the alpha prefix gives no hint of the year until about “N” which started getting issued in 1965.
The 3a came out late in 59 I have one
Yep, I’ll second (ninth?) the Minx.
Possible dealer back in the day?
Funny, my first reaction on seeing that gas cap and trunk lid was a Checker with unusual tail lights, but it’s been a long day.
A 63 Dacia Sandero in right-hand drive.
58-ish Hillman Minx, my first car, circa 1970. Great car to learn to drive in.
That ’59 Sunbeam looks like a ‘Stude!
Well, the Sunbeam Rapier ‘was’ designed by Raymond Lowey…
Hillman Minx series 3 outside possibility of it being a Humber 80 bur outside NZ they are unknown this could be a 56-early 59 I have a late 59 3A with the oval lights.
The wagons kept those tail lights right till the last, this is a 63 Humber 80 wagon a NZ only model
I too thought ” Hillman Minx ” and was pleased to see that for once I was right =8-) .
All I know is : the Rootes products I had in the 1960’s and 1970’s were terrible vehicles .
Even the Hillman Husky ~ a great concept ruined by miserable cheapness .
Mind you : I love the older Econoboxes most here call ” penalty oxes ” .
Hopefully someone won’t be put off by the 10# of mouse poop this car most certainly has and puts it back on the road again .
The really good thing about elderly British cars is : they dead simple and cheap to repair as long as you’re doing the labor .
Mostly mucho fun to drive too . =8-) .
-Nate
So many Minxes in here this article could be mistaken for a forest