Bluey the Hunter

[lemansvk]

As well as my Alpine, I like to have a daily driver "budget" classic Rootesmobile. Something different and interesting that I can leave in the carpark without worrying about someone stealing, scratching or smashing it. I'm on my 5th such car in 3 years now and my rule is that they should cost no more than $1000 to buy and when sold I should get my money back. (so far the dearest one was the Vogue (in the previous post) @ $500 but I made nearly $1000 profit by the time I sold it, partly due to the Tiger clock which came in the usual box of spares)

Latest one is a Hillman Hunter Royal (sold as Sunbeam Arrow in the US). Bluey is a neat but unpretentious little sedan who just starts every time, goes where you want him to and gets you home again. With an iron-head 1725 and BW Auto transmission he is no road rocket but he does the job! His pics are here.

http://s122.photobucket.com/albums/o262/sunalp63/Bluey/


Cheers, Vic

 

[Tullamore]

Wow its beautiful, I can't believe it bought it for under $1000

 

[lemansvk]

Thanks. I actually paid only $400 - mainly because seller had located another car he wanted (Minx) and the Auto trans needs some work. A mate of mine is sending me a good 2nd hand auto for the cost of shipping so all I have to do is fit it. Needs new carpets and a bit of cosmetic work inside but nothing major. I wouldn't drive it around Australia but as a commuter car it's fine.

Vic

 

[Wombat]

Vic

You may already know this, but the Hunters had a habit of cracking the front cross members around where the engine mounts were bolted. When I bought my first car (a HC Hunter GT) my father, then the shop foreman at the local Chrysler/Rootes dealer immediately looked for cracks there. Both the GT and my HE auto had cracks there. In the HE auto, the part of the crossmember the engine mounts bolted to had actually broken away. This meant that the auto transmission did strange things as the engine moved on its (broken) mountings. Maybe worth checking.

Hope you get it running properly.

 

[lemansvk]

Robert,

Thanks, I will check that. The car actually drives quite well, with just some odd 'whirring' trans noises, until it gets fully warm - then it gets reluctant to shift out of second into top. I can drive it 15 km to work, leave it all day and then drive it home without any problems.

The former owner (who I have known for a while) is a long time Hillman owner who tells me the problem happened after the trans was serviced and not refilled with fluid - damaged caused by driving a fairly short distance after that. He told me all this before I bought the car.

Cheers, Vic

 

[64beam]

Great car Vic. From the pictures, you found a good bargain and something that you are very familiar with. It is always good to have cars you can actually work on as well.