Hillman Minx Convertible

Click Here for Full Screen Image - Click Here to Download Image

If only all Hillman Minx’s had looked as good as this, the company would still be with us, instead of just another footnote in Britain’s automotive history.

Even our chronically curmudgeonly consignor was impressed by this 1963 Minx Convertible. The car was restored between 2002 and 2004 but the quality of the work shows through and the car still looks stunning 15 years on.

The car was restored for the president of a regional classic car club as a present for his wife and we can only hope the dear lady was suitably appreciative. Judging by the condition of the car today we feel sure she was.

A photographic record of the restoration accompanies the Minx and shows that it received some fairly major surgery as well as an obsessive approach to the paintwork. There are 21 old MOTs and the car seems to have been generally cherished over the years.

The history file shows that it received a stainless steel exhaust system in 1980 at a cost of £154 and there are other invoices dating back to the 1970s. It would seem that the car has always been a little special, but then how many Minx convertibles did they make (two at least – we have another one for sale in this auction. Just like buses…..).

The rest of the car lives up to the paintwork, with the interior an absolute rhapsody in red and you might even begin to believe the mileage on the speedo (12,791 miles) – not that mileage matters when a car has had this kind of attention.

Not concours, but still in cracking order, this Minx looks almost too good to take out, but then the whole point is to drive ‘em not just dust ‘em.