Founded as the Auto Machinery company by William
Hillman in Coventry for the manufacture of bicycles,
he enlisted the help of John Kemp Starley (who
would go on to found Rover) to help get the fledgling
operation off the ground. Such was the demand
for bicycles at that time that Starley would
soon leave to set up his own business, while
Hillman’s company would go from strength
to strength, soon making him a millionaire. It
was almost inevitable that Hillman would join
so many other cycle manufacturers into the world
of automobile manufacture.
The 1907 Hillman-Coatalen
(named after the designer), featured a powerful
for the time 24 horsepower engine. Confident
that it would quickly garner race track success,
the car was entered into that year’s Tourist
Trophy. It would crash, but not before it had
put in a stellar performance that had not gone
unnoticed. Coatealen would leave Hillman and
join Singer, his departure leaving a vacuum in
the design area, and subsequent Hillman’s
were much more staid than the original iteration.
In 1913 came the 9 horsepower, which would survive
the war and continue to be a top seller well
into the 1920’s.
In 1926 Hillman released
the 14 horsepower, then in 1928 Hillman unveiled
the incredibly expensive 2.6 litre Straight Eight
model; new from the ground up, it was unashamedly
built to appeal to the well heeled. Production
problems would delay the release by a year, and
the timing couldn’t have been more wrong,
the depression years being just around the corner. Rootes came to the rescue in 1928, and in the
ensuing years their designs started to influence
Hillman. The Wizard appeared in 1929 and was
available with either a 2.1 or 2.8 litre engine,
then 1932 saw the introduction of the Minx, the
first in a long line of models that was to last
until 1970.
1932 - 1970
The Raymond Loewy design organisation developed the Audax body style for the Rootes group, after their success with Studebaker coupes in 1953.
The sedan version was launched in 1956, while the Estate followed the release of the popular Humber Hawk saloon mid 1957. More>>
1956 - 1967
Rootes' development engineers were always working to improve the consumption of the 1,725 c.c. Minx engine fitted to the Series VI. Obviously wind has a greater effect on lighter and less powerful cars, and in the case of the Minx the acceleration figures of 50-70 m.p.h. in third gear would take the engine well over its power peak so that, especially into wind, the car would take an unrealistically long time to reach 70 m.p.h. More>>
1963 - 1976
The Hillman Imp was the first mass-produced British car
to have the engine in the back, and the first to use a
light aluminium alloy die-cast engine. More>>
1966 - 1979
First introduced into Australia as the "Arrow",
the Hunter was a conventional design, square four-door
sedan (and later estate) with a live rear axle and ohv
engine (initially 1725cc with a 1496cc in 1970). More>>
1967 - 1969
For those living in the UK and not satisfied with the performance on offer from the stock Hillman Hunter, from Davenport Vernon, then Rootes main dealers at London Road, came a rather more sporting iteration - the "Master Hunter". More>>
