in South Africa they did make a Datsun 1200 ute up until recently, complete with A series pushrod engines. However they updated the interior and front end in an attempt to modernise them.
upnorth,
Oct 21, 5:34pm
The Hunter and its Paykan follow on from Iran made it Britains biggest and longest production model.
Here in NZ the 40,000 assembled made a fortune for the repair trade until Jap imports arrived.
rob_man,
Oct 21, 5:45pm
When they stopped making them here, Danny Lendich bought up a heap of them and kept them in a shed. It took him years to use them up. I can't see any reason to even try to tart up the original 1200, they were never an ugly car.
cocabowla,
Oct 21, 5:46pm
worked with an older chap in the 80's and early 90's, bought a hunter new in 73 and was still his daily driver when he passed away 2 yrs ago.
ladatrouble,
Oct 21, 6:19pm
You can't compare a 1979 Hillman Hunter to a 1979 Corona because the Hunter was at the end of an over long production life - but you can compare a 1966 Hunter to a 1966 Corona,and the Hunter comes out looking pretty good.
I could never understand how come Rootes redsigned their engine to 5 main crank and alloy head - and never fitted a timing cover oil seal. Surely it's not an overly expensive job compared to the crank! Of course in 1966 oil leaks were never considered a problem,but by the '70's it wasn't a good look.
grangies,
Oct 21, 6:31pm
I worked on sh1tloads of the Lendich Datsun's in the mid to late 90's.
Bloody good set up he had with them.
casper35,
Oct 21, 7:45pm
Hunters were great cars had one for years never let me down.
fordcrzy,
Oct 21, 7:53pm
hunters were old man heaps of $#!t even in 1984. nothing special about them at alll they were the subaru legacy of the 70's
motorway,
Oct 21, 8:13pm
Yep, went in that shed to sort a digger out and there were 16 of those utes in there.
rob_man,
Oct 21, 8:34pm
Trying to remember who used to do his work back then. Wayne Scott was doing a bit later on in the piece as I recall.
franc123,
Oct 21, 8:41pm
Haha yeah I seem to remember in that period that they were extensively driven by the hat brigade, gents in their 60's and 70's that never exceeded 75kph and had a queue of other cars behind them.Todd motors built and shifted a lot of them no doubt about that, they rivalled Cortinas for years and years in terms of sales, in some years I think they were even in front.
bigjerry,
Oct 21, 9:53pm
Great Hunter discussion. I always saw them as an ugly shell but i had a few Rootes groups. I kept that up through the years when mates were converting to Jappas. It was all about style you see. I recall my first Corolla made me wonder why I had been putting up with the performance of a 1725 British for so long. I seriously doubt the mighty hunter will ever be looked upon as a sort after classic.
kevymtnz,
Oct 21, 10:48pm
better make sure you dont have a Mitsi as that is what the engines were based from Routes group hillman/humber = mitsi sigma those 1725 engines sure did go pretty good work up, do over 100mph bk in the late 70s there was a worked 1600 hillman minx going around eating V8s of the time for dust problem was kept snapping the front gearbox shaft main fault with the hunters was the brake boaster as if failed would suc brake fluid into the engine through vac hose and would smoke
muzz67,
Oct 22, 4:22am
I paid 4k for a 77 Hunterin 1983. 4 stage auto, very sophisticated! Petrol filler hidden behind panel on the rear of car was great for fooling pump attendants. Would just do 160kph. Found a digital watch under the spare wheel,, now I tell people I paid 4k for a watch and got a free Billy Bunter.
lovemore_mbigi,
Oct 22, 4:44am
Amen to that Brother!Pre-1990's cars rock for all these reasons.
I hose myself laughing at the current VW tv advert hyping up how cheap their service is for 3 years.Hells bells, I haven't spent anything more thana fraction of that on oil, grease and filters for my 1977 runabout in the 8 years I've owned it.
lovemore_mbigi,
Oct 22, 4:51am
Loved the Hillman Hunter.Had a 1970 Safari overseas fitted with a Peugeot 404 engine - magic combo that pulled like a train and was absolutely bullet proof.One of the smoothest gearboxes ever.
A 1973 Hunter Scepter was magic - very well appointed and comfortable.
The only drawback with Hunter is the rather indirect steering - I may be wrong but I believe it didn't have rack and pinion but stayed with a legacy 1950's Rootes affection for worm-peg and heaps of ball joints.
lovemore_mbigi,
Oct 22, 4:54am
They were first put into production in around 1972.First rate quality, simple and tough wee utes they were.
skin1235,
Oct 22, 5:15am
I think you'll find that was Toyota, the cranks, pistons, rings and bearings etc were identical in the early hiace 1600 and 1800cc, even the rocker cover was interchangeable Had a mate that used to use the humber 80 engines in a race boat, he would grab every toyo motor he could find, oil pumps and dizzy, cast head etc were a straight swap - humber gasket sets were often procured from toyo suppliers
wizid,
Oct 22, 5:34am
so did i
wizid,
Oct 22, 5:41am
had the 1725 iron head.owned 1 for 4 years . . had the usaul probs .the 69 won 1 or 2 rallys in its time .
tigra,
Oct 22, 7:56am
Dont the build something like this ( low cost basic car) in India and China for the masses! Ok the emissions thing is a problem but not insurmountable.
whqqsh,
Oct 22, 8:01am
I think they still make Morry Oxfords over there, definitely Enfield motobikes
franc123,
Oct 22, 8:02am
The problem with those old alloy head motors is that the public couldn't (and still can't!) get their head around the need to change antifreeze every couple of years and why old acidic coolant and different metals trapped together doesn't mix,it was a case of its holding water and my temp gauge isn't going up whats the problem!Alloy heads/motors are fine if they are looked after.
jagman24,
Oct 22, 8:05am
really a Hunter for $4,000 , you can buy a 94 s class merc for that, holely hell, lol
shop-a-holic,
Oct 22, 8:19am
My father bought me one the day I got my Licence at 15 years of age. He placed the car in my name, plus two MUCH younger sisters and I was not allowed to drive it unless I took my sisters with me. Certainly a killjoy. Plus I had to drive them to school everyday. The lovely thing about the (now dubbed Billy Grunter) was that it was the only car made at their Linwood factory in Scotland, and still the only vehicle to come out of Scotland.
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