Thursday, May 04, 2006

A Rare Catch.

The car in this somewhat cramped and cropped picture is a Hillman, either a Mynx or a Hunter.

Hillman was a fine old British carmaker that survived until the 70's.
It was part of the Rootes Group, a conglomeration that was a big mover and shaker in the sixties.
The Hunter car was replaced by an updated Hunter in the late 60's, with a somewhat squarer, more contemporary design.
It was a successful export, indeed so successful that when the Shah of Iran wanted to start a domestic motor industry he started out by creating an assembly plant for Hillman Hunters, crated and sent over as components from the British factory.

This continued till at least 1979; the Rootes Group was destroyed by strikes; they designed and prototyped the 'Alpine' car in the 70's, a very advanced design with the first use of plastic moulded bumpers, but the project was taken away from Britain due to the strikes, and given to Chrysler Europe as their 'Euro-car'.
Other models followed, but by the mid-80's Chrysler had had enough and sold all the UK assets to Peugeot.
Peugeot finally closes Rootes' Ryton factory near Coventry next year, when it ceases UK production of the Peugeot 206.

And that will be that for Hillman.

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