HILLMAN CAR CLUB
OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA INC

Hillman Minx
Series IIIC SS70
HILLMAN CAR CLUB
OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA INC




Bob Killoran's badge.  10 cm (4") diameter.

The rest of the world had only one version of the Minx Series IIIC saloon (successor to the Series IIIB De Luxe) – the old plain "Special" level was dropped forever.  Rootes Australia produced 2 versions –

The psychological pricing of the ADL at 999 Australian Pounds (rrp) must have appealed to buyers; only 40 pounds more than the "Special" – see advert page below.   Several decades later, ADLs are relatively easy to buy while sightings of the "Special" have been very rare.

The state distributor for Rootes & Chrysler in South Australia, and major dealer in Adelaide was Commercial Motor Vehicles Ltd. (CMV) in Franklin Street.  Stocks of the new Minx Series V began arriving in 1963, but CMV still had around 20 unsold Minx Series IIIC Special cars.  To make them appealing to buyers, their bright idea was to implement performance enhancements on the engines without spending too much money.

At our club meeting on 7 March 2007 the guest speaker was Len Miller, a consultant performance mechanic who told us about the simplistic methods he'd used to tweak and test his modifications, using only Rootes parts already in stock.  According to HCCSA member Ross Kemp (who worked at CMV from 1958), one of the leading hand mechanics at CMV modified about 4 cars in-house, using polished heads from interstate and exhaust extractors.  Then Len Miller was commissioned to develop and implement his own enhancements for the remainder (around 16 cars) – which were sold by CMV with an SS70 badge and the usual 3,000 mile 3 month warranty approved by Rootes Australia.

John Newmarch ran a grey SS70 in local production races.

Nobody seems to have seen an SS70 for a very long time – until a derelict one at Port Pirie was advertised in November 2014 for auction.  In the under-bonnet photo, note the dual carburettors.  Everything else seems to be standard.  A heater was not standard equipment in Australia during that time, but was available as an accessory.


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