Hillman-Coatalen Motor Car Co. Ltd., Coventry. UK 1907 - 1909

Hillman Motor Car Co. Ltd., Coventry. UK 1910 - 1946

Hillman Motor Car Co. Ltd., Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwickshire. UK 1946 - 1970

Hillman Motor Car Co. Ltd., Linwood, Glasgow, Scotland 1963 - 1970

Chrysler UK Ltd., Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwickshire. UK. 1970 - 1976

William Hillman the founder of the company was a successful bicycle manufacturer whose various enterprises went back to the 1870s. In 1907 he went into business with the young, 28 year old, Louis Coatalen who had designed a large 25hp car for the Tourist Trophy. Coatalen himself drove the car in the race, but without success. There followed limited production of this car which had an engine capacity of 6.4-litres with four separate cylinders on a common crankcase. It was a "T" head side valve design, but unusually, for the time, it was a "square" engine with the bore and stroke being 127mm. The final drive to the rear axle was by shaft.

There were also a very small number of 6-cylinder cars made with the same bore and stroke which raised the engine capacity to 9.7-litres.

By 1908 there was a much smaller car, called the 12/15hp, with an engine capacity of 2,388cc. This was the first car to carry the radiator shape that was a feature of all Hillman cars up to 1930. Up to the outbreak of the First World War the Hillman marque was made in small numbers of no more than 50 a year.

Coatalen left the company in 1909 and went to Sunbeam where his talent was put to better use, but there must have been a long standing relationship between the two men as Coatalen married one of Hillman's daughters of which there were six. Motoring must have been in the blood, as two other daughters were married to motor manufacturers, one to John Black of Standard and another to Spencer Wilkes of Rover.

When Coatalen left the company it was renamed simply Hillman and continued with the 12/15, also available as a taxicab, and a little 10hp 2-cylinder car. In 1912 the 12/15 had it's stroke increased which increased the engine capacity to 2,736cc. A 2-litre 6-cylinder car was also listed at about this time, but not much information has survived.

The Hillman Motor Car Company would probably have retired with William Hillman who, in 1913 was already aged 65 if it had not been for the arrival of A J Dawson as it's designer. The old Coatalen designed "T" head engines were already old fashioned in their layout even if the "square" engine was way ahead of it's time. Dawson persuaded Hillman to adopt a single model policy and designed a neat little 4-cylinder monoblock side valve engined 1,327cc car called the Hillman Nine.

There were several manufacturers offering Nines at this time as motoring was starting to move from an exclusive pastime for the wealthy into a means of transport for the masses. The local competition came from Enfield, Singer and Standard but even so the Hillman sold quite well and by 1914 they were making about 450 a year. The war put paid to further car development, other than increasing the engine capacity to 1,593cc, although the Nine continued in production into 1917.

Dawson left the left the company in 1918 and was replaced by John Black who as mentioned above was Hillman's so-in-law.

The Hillman Nine was continued after the war with the addition of electric lighting and other minor improvements, and was in production until 1925 as a testimony to Dawson's sound design. A sports model, with the engine capacity reduced to 1,496cc so that it could compete in the voiturette class, was introduced in early 1919 with an attractive V-radiator, polished aluminium body and an outside copper exhaust pipe. The engine was tuned to give 28 bhp against the 18 bhp of the touring model. It was not particularly fast (top speed about 60 mph) but as it was the first sports car available in the immediate postwar period a few were sold (about 120) in spite of a price of £680. One was acquired by Raymond Mays whilst he was at Cambridge. He used it in competitions until moving on to the famous Brescia Bugattis. None of these cars survived but a replica was made for a Mr. Black (was he a relation?), by Tula Engineering in the late 1960s using an original Hillman chassis and a body built by Wilkinson's of Derby. The original body from the Hillman is now giving good service on a 9/20 Lagonda belonging to Colin Mallett. In all about 4,000 Hillman Nines were produced.

Under John Black's management the company moved up-market again with the Fourteen which was a conventional 4-cylinder 1,954cc car which rivaled the Austin Twelve, Humber 14/40 and others. In spite of the competition the Twelve sold well and about 11,000 were sold in the five years of it's production up to 1930.

A new Hillman model for 1929 was the 2.6-litre straight-8 which used a lengthened Fourteen chassis. The engine gave about 58bhp an a top speed of 70 mph was possible, but they suffered from a weakness in the lubrication to the big end bearings which was never entirely cured. After the Rootes takeover the engine was fitted in a Humber chassis and called the Vortic and later the Wizard, with well proportioned saloon coachwork. In spite of their shortcomings it was the most popular of all the British built straight-8s with sales of 2,795.

By this time Hillman had granted, in 1927, exclusive rights to market their cars at home and abroad to the Rootes Brothers of Maidstone in Kent. In 1931 Rootes took control of the company together with Humber and from then the Hillman was the marque name used for the lower end of the Rootes Group model range.

In October 1931 Rootes announced the Hillman Minx at the London Motor Show at Olympia. The car was designed for the mass market and was, in effect, the small Humber with an 1,185cc side valve engine giving a respectable 30bhp and Bendix brakes. It was also rather better equipped than the competition and at £159 the public made it one of the most popular models in Britain between the wars. The Hillman Minx was continually improved with 4-speed gearbox and a "freewheel" option in 1934, (there was even a model called the "Melody" which featured a wireless as standard equipment), followed by an all-synchromesh gearbox in 1935. The running boards disappeared in 1936 and pressed steel wheels were fitted.

The body was restyled at the rear in 1938 to allow access to the boot from outside, and by 1939 the synchromesh on bottom gear had been lost as part of a cost cutting exercise. The last pre Second World war models went over to unitary construction for the body/chassis units. During

The 1930s there were alternative bodies available, two and four door tourers, 2-door roadsters and an estate car, badged as a Commer from 1937. By 1939 only the 4-door saloon and the 2-door roadster were available and production had risen to about 55,000 cars a year. In all 152,000 Hillman Minx were made.

The most interesting Hillman model made from 1933 to 1935 was the Aero Minx which had an underslung chassis and a stylish sports body but was otherwise mechanically the same as the standard Minx. In 1936 it became the Talbot Ten as Rootes had by then absorbed Talbot into the Rootes Group along with Commer Cars at Luton.

Because of the popularity and reliability of the Minx it was chosen by the war office as a staff car for military service and thus remained in production throughout the war. This gave Rootes a major advantage because when the war ended, in spite of the shortage of materials, they were in a position to have a car in production for civilian use by 1945. There was a face-lift in 1948, which included a revised front to the body with recessed headlamps and the chassis was converted to hydraulic brakes.

There was a major redesign for the Minx Mk III in 1949, which, apart from a full width-width body, included independent front suspension for the first time. Unfortunately the engineers at Rootes were untutored in suspension design and the new front suspension was designed so that as the car rolled, on cornering, the roll-centre became progressively lower. The result was that if it was cornered enthusiastically or take round a roundabout at any significant speed the car would end up on it's roof! In spite of this the Minx continued to find buyers and was progressively developed over the next 20 years. A more powerful 1.25-litre engine was available from 1950 and a hardtop coupe version called the "Californian" was made for export to America in 1953. The engine was enlarged again in 1955 to a short stroke 1,390cc with overhead valves for the De Luxe Minx and a short chassis estate version called the Husky (a name revived from the 1920s) was introduced. There was also a licensing agreement with Isuzu in Japan, which lasted from 1953 to 1969. The body was also restyled at this time and the 2-door version became the Sunbeam Rapier.

From 1957 Rootes used the Minx body platform for the Singer Gazelle with the Singer engine. This unit was replaced by the Hillman engine from 1959 onwards. The Hillman engine was gradually increased to 1.5-litres in 1959, 1,592cc in 1962 as the Super Minx and again in 1966 to 1,725cc with five main bearings. Chassis improvements were also made over the years and automatic transmission was available from 1958 as an option, spiral bevel rear axle in 1961 and front disc brakes were fitted as standard equipment from 1964.

The Minx was also made for sale in New Zealand as a Humber from 1949 to 1967. The sidevalve engined model was known as the Humber Ten, the ohv model as the Humber 80 from 1955 and the Super Minx became the Humber 90.

Up to 1960 the Hillman division of the Rootes Group had maintained the one model policy introduced in 1913. However it became clear that Rootes needed a small car to compete with the BMC Mini and so it was natural that this would be branded as a Hillman being the marque they and the public associated with the lower priced end of the market. This new project which became known as the Hillman Imp was to be built at a new factory at Linwood near Glasgow in Scotland with grants from then government.

The car was a small 2-door saloon built to house the 875cc Coventry Climax engine developed from their FWM unit. Coventry Climax had designed and built a range of small aluminium engines with single overhead camshaft operation originally intended for a number of stationary applications including their fire pumps. These engines had been "discovered" by the motor racing fraternity at a time when the cost of building bespoke racing engines was far too expensive to contemplate and so their appearance in racing gave the new car an exciting image.

The 4-cylinder engine was developed to give 39bhp by Leo Komicki, who had previously been responsible for the successful Vanwall Formula 1 racing engine. The chassis design team was headed by Mike Parkes, who was a racing driver and engineer, who went on to become one of the Ferrari works drivers.

The engine was mounted at the rear, behind the transaxle assembly, and canted at an angle of 45 degrees to allow for a storage space above. Front suspension was by swing axles which gave somewhat indifferent handling (some of the cars developed for racing were fitted with beam axles). It was an attractively styled car, but suffered from a series of engine and transmission problems which, although largely solved by 1968, lingered on in the public's mind. After the Rootes Group was acquired by Chrysler, in 1976, the build quality started to decline and it was not long before the model was withdrawn. It was never as successful as the Mini and the target production figure of 150,000 units a year was never achieved. In all 440,032 were built in the 13 year period. Rootes had always entered cars for international rally events and the Imp was successful in the hands of Rosemary Smith in the 1965 Tulip Rally. A team of Imps was also successful in winning their class in the British Saloon Car Championship in 1970, 1971 and 1972 run by Alan Frazer.

In 1964 the Chrysler Corporation took a strategic holding in the Rootes Group and took over completely in 1967. Chrysler was in some difficulty in it's traditional American market and was very anxious to gain a greater foothold in Europe, which they perceived as a new market.

This coincided with the inability of Rootes to finance the development of any new models. The problems at Rootes were well known in the industry and the first company to take a serious interest was Fiat. After a tour of inspection by Fiat management the laughter could be heard all around Turin. They were advised that Rootes was a mediaeval blacksmith shop and might just be suitable as an industrial archeological museum. The truth was that the board of Rootes had systematically stripped every last penny out of the company over the years and just taking one example, the truck gearbox plant at Luton (formerly Commer Cars) was still operating with machinery dating back to 1912. This machinery had been damaged in a Zeppelin raid in 1915 and was still held together with wire and angle iron in the 1960s. It is hardly surprising that the consistent rape of the motor industry by incompetent directors aided and abetted by greedy visionless politicians brought the British motor and other industries to this parlous state.

Chrysler were in such a hurry to move across the Atlantic that they barely noticed the shortcomings at Rootes and lived to regret it.

The Imp continued for a further year and the Hunter had already replaced the Super Minx in 1966. The Hunter was an uninspiring stopgap car with the old 1,725cc Hillman engine in a new body shell. The front suspension had been changed to a type of Macpherson strut but the live rear axle remained. It continued in production until 1979 although it wore a Chrysler badge from 1977. A smaller engined 1,496cc version called the New Minx was made from 1967 to 1970 when all future cars were badged as Chryslers.

There was a licensing agreement with Iran from 1967 where by the Hunter was sold CKD and assembled there as the Peykan. This continued into the 1980s with a break during the revolution.

The last Hillman was called the Avenger, a 4-door saloon with independent coil-spring suspension all round and a choice of either 1,248cc or 1,798cc engines. Originally launched as a Hillman it became a Chrysler in 1977 and Talbot in 1979. It was finally phased out in 1981. There were a number of attempts to raise the car's profile and a 100mph 2-door version appeared in 1973 and was available up to 1976. Reviving an old Sunbeam name was the Tiger, a 4-door limited production model homologated for rallies and racing with the option of a 210bhp BRM badged engine of 2-litres.

Finally there was a rather unsuccessful attempt to market the Avenger in America through the Chrysler agents as the Cricket and in other export markets as a Dodge.

The Hillman story was all over by 1980.

Bibliography:

Apex; the Inside Story of the Hillman Imp, by David and Peter Henshaw,

published by Bookmarque, 1990