Chrysler UK & Hillmans

[Hillman Avenger]

Any folk owned UK Hillmans or any of the variants, Rootes, Talbot? I'm aware Hillman Avengers were exported to the US - Pluymouth Cricket, I believe.

[slantsixness]

Wow,
Someone actually remembers the Cricket...!

I'm No help here, but at least my family had one. We took it to germany, and had to have it repaired with parts from Hillman...several times. It Wasn't a very good car, but you can't find any of them here in the U.S. anymore. We sold ours (1971) in germany in 1974 to another USArmy family in Munich. It was rust red and that's about all I remember, except the dash board was "cool" and the car was tiny. (I was between 5 and 8 years old when we had it)
It was the only "foreign" car my Dad ever bought.
He felt it would be more suited for europe's smaller streets.

Thanks for bringing up the memory!

Slantsixness

[Hillman Avenger]

Originally Posted by slantsixness

Wow,
Someone actually remembers the Cricket...!

I'm No help here, but at least my family had one. We took it to germany, and had to have it repaired with parts from Hillman...several times. It Wasn't a very good car, but you can't find any of them here in the U.S. anymore. We sold ours (1971) in germany in 1974 to another USArmy family in Munich. It was rust red and that's about all I remember, except the dash board was "cool" and the car was tiny. (I was between 5 and 8 years old when we had it)
It was the only "foreign" car my Dad ever bought.
He felt it would be more suited for europe's smaller streets.

Thanks for bringing up the memory!

Slantsixness

Hello.
That's a nice interesting post about your dad's car.
If ever you're at a loss of what to do come and share that story with us in the UK. Our Hillman peeps will love it.

[74 Cricket]

I have a 1974 Plymouth Cricket ( Canadian car ) my wife bought new , were in the process of hunting down a drive train , it still has the 1600 engine in it , but thats got to go ..........Pat

[Hillman Avenger]

Originally Posted by 74 Cricket

I have a 1974 Plymouth Cricket ( Canadian car ) my wife bought new , were in the process of hunting down a drive train , it still has the 1600 engine in it , but thats got to go ..........Pat

Oh no! It's a lovely engine. No silly rubber cam belt, but a good solid timing chain What kind of condition is the bodywork in?

[74 Cricket]

Originally Posted by Hillman Avenger

Oh no! It's a lovely engine. No silly rubber cam belt, but a good solid timing chain What kind of condition is the bodywork in?

The body of the car is next to mint , has not been winter driven since 1978 and before that her dad would spray it with oil every fall , as far as the engine goes , I will giggle the day I can hold it to the floor and watch it die a slow oil starved , valve floating death. Sorry if this offends you but the lack of power just drives me nuts and I consider it taking your life into your own hands to pass anything on the highway . This engine has to go!! Originally I was going to go whole hog on the car and put a 4.3 V6 and overdrive auto trans with a ford 8" rearend and mustang II steering , then I sobered up , after some research I have found out that the Chrysler Conquest and Mitsubishi Starion 2.6 turbo engines will bolt in ( Yee Haa TURBO !!!!!! ) So now I don't have to cut it up . Did I mention that I really hate the 1600 cc that occupies the engine compartment at this time and can't wait to blow it up ! Sorry , I'm back now , did I mention..............No bad thoughts GO AWAY!!!! Anyhow I'm currently looking for a Starion/Conqest donar car so I can get underway with the transplant so she can celebrate it's 30th birthday and put some fun into driving it again. Oh by the way if you would like to see the car with it's P.O.S.1600 in it it's at cardomain.com , Plymouth section , Colt page , no Cricket page ? Go figure. Anyway enough babble , take care ........Pat

[slantsixness]

A '74 cricket from CANADA is a mitsubishi like us Colt,I believe, not a hillman transplant.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the '71 cricket my family had was a 4 door, and only was available as a 4 door. there were no Hillman transplants that were two door, just the Wagon and the 4 door. Wasn't it like '74 or a little later that VW started making Avengers, or i remember something like that. Chrysler was turning away from Hillman,VW and SIMCA at that point, until the Omni/horizon project emerged from the flames of chrysler's european (including Hillman) flop's.

ok, now I'll shut my big mouth!

Slantsixness

[74 Cricket]

you are quite right slantsickness .the 74 Cricket was powered by Mitsubishi . I had to chime in just because ,I like you was surprized that some remembered the Cricket.....

[MagicRat]

I did see a Hillman, (2 door convertible) in Toronto 2 weeks ago.
At first, I did not know what it was. My friend and I are very enthusiastic about cars, me for the older ones and my friend for sports cars. Both of us did not know what it was. It looked very similar to an early '60's Ford Anglia, so we knew it was English and about 40 years old, but were otherwise stumped. It seemed to be in mid restoration and had no nameplates. An older friend of ours recognised it. However, I have never seen another.