My next car was a Morris Marina 18TC (not good), They had an MGB engine. After 6 months i got a Dolomite Sprint although a bit faster and more surefooted, i prefered the Hunter as great all rounder. i now have a BMW and if you asked me to swap with my old Hunter i would .
I had a Hunter GLS, it was my second car and still wish i had kept it. The Holbay engine was fantastic and the dash was superb! Mine was Silver with a dark blue vinyl roof, i swapped the interior for a black velour one out of a Humber Sceptre, put a new clutch in and then did a top end overhaul, which was a mistake never got the head gasket to reseal and had to drive around with a gallon of water in the car to top up the cooling system every time i set off as it lost a pint of water as it warmed up. Happy days!! Way better than a Cortina 1600E.
We had two of these when I was a kid growing up in New Zealand. My parents are British (we came here when I was a baby) and they refused to buy a Japanese car for years. We had an orange Hunter with a black vinyl roof and a white one too. We also had a brown Triumph 2000 and a little white Morris Minor. Ahhh the memories.
Fantastic car. My dad had a Grasshopper green GLS 1972 reg number FOX 316 L. Some rotten taxi driver drove into the side of it and wrote it off. I'll never forget the day it was towed off to the scrap yard. Like seeing a family member taken away. A very sad day.
Sorry about the GLS, but more importantly you survived. My dad's GLS survived 2 crashes, one in Margate, when a motorbike hit it in 1978 and 1980 when a taxi hit it, the end of the old beast. It also had the padded steering wheel. My Dad said he was going to to buy a Hilmam Hunter, I was horrified, untill I heard the sound of the GLS growl down the road. I was in love with that car from day 1.
God damn, this brings back memories!. I bought a hunter when i was 17 back in '97. A 1975 chrysler hunter GLS Auto. I liked it ok, but go for the manual model esp if you live on hills. Where i live in NZ is real hilly, and the borg warner 45 trans loves to yoyo thru gears like crazy.
The Hillman Hunter GLS was actually quicker than the sister Arrow series car; The Sunbeam Rapier H120. The Hillman Hunter GLS was lighter than the Sunbeam Rapier H120, and that was the strength of the car: power to weight ratio.
I agree, my dad did all the repairs, tweaking the Webers etc..., he even let me drive it. It was a private road and I was about 12-13. I only got about 50 yards before he thought it was enough. I can't say about the steering (obviously) but I bow to your better judgement.
Mum had the Avenger with twin carbs in red. I loved that car but when it was acquired at five years, it was rotten underneath, but dad decided to get it welded up and it gave us four years of joy. I loved that car and was sad to see it go. Dad had a Morris Marina at the same time and had that car for years, eventually selling to the local garage where the owner left it sitting outside for the next year only for it to be vandalized. Broke my heart gradually watching it being destroyed.
I had a 1972 Goodwood Green, I think, GLS as a boy racer and spent a lot of time and money making it go faster, bored out to 1800cc, stage 2 head, flat top hepolite pistons, oil cooler, re-jetted twin 40s and foam filters, straight through exhaust with only a backbox, lightened flywheel, overdrive, anti-tramp bars, uprated front coils, fancy chrome wellers with 205 tyres. Guy at Sportstune Edinburgh reckoned 125bhp, it wasn't enough anyway, the 2nd hand Escort RS2000s started appearing on the boy racer scene and that was it beaten. You could match them in straight races but the RS was a better car and better at cornering. I scrapped the car years later and sold the engine and gearbox to a guy with a Sunbeam Alpine.
I had a 71 Humber Sceptre. Want a Hunter GLS. . Trouble is never had luck with Rootes cars. My Sceptre written off, old man no tax or insurance. Wife lost 2 Avengers. Hit and run. And our 66 Vogue. Garage broken into and trashed
my dad had a GLS, he normally only ever bought rover and i was working as a trainee mechanic in a garage who had a dealership at the time these came out , i talked him in to buying one,, a nice firebrand red, EOJ 989L with black interior,, unfortunately it had problems overheating all the time,, he kept it 12 months then went back to rover,,
It was called Firedance red i had one in 1974, great great car no probs with mine, got drunk and hit a telegraph pole wrote the dear off, best car ever i had. still regrets to this day and im 67 now.
My uncle bought a black Hunter from an auction back in the early 1980s. It was gleaming black and an ex-army staff car. He had it running up until the early/mid 1990s, then left rotting on his drive. Never found out what happened to it, scrapped I presume.
The only thing, it should have had rack and pinion steering. They were a fast car for their day, it would keep up with a Jaguar XJ6 at traffic lights, even today one would not be at the back of the queue. These old cars were so easy to fix, i was in Devon and the alternator went, it took me ten mins to change it over outside Lucas in Exeter.
I ❤Adore Hillman Rootes / Chrysler Talbot Humber Cars / Singer Sunbeam Hunters in all the Hunter Shape Design Cars / Both My Parents owned Dark Blue Hillman Hunter Cars 2 Blue Hunter DL & 1 Green Hunter DL in Grasshopper Green Etc. Brilliant Cars but they broke down a lot. My Mums Brother had a Hillman Avenger and my Mums other Brother owned a Green Talbot Horizon and my Child Minder own the Red Talbot Horizon 40 years ago Good Cars
Makes me cry. This is so Q a Q car that it is almost an R car. Lovely Olivia Newton John. She would have liked my identical to this Blue GLS, registration NON 404M. Rest in peace, my loveliest of cars. If only I had then the money I have now I would have saved you. Forgive me.
Yes, I remember them. Not bad cars but frankly not great either. The whole thing just needed expanding a bit. Why was it that most British cars of that period were potentially so good but just made a bit too small for an average family. Only the big Rovers, Fords, Humbers and Vauxhalls seemed to get it right.
Afraid not the engine was pushed out under the car, and i ended up in hospital lost a lot of blood, and the doctors would not let the Police take a sample so in that way i was lucky, I was 28 yrs old and stupid, still to this day i regret loosing that car, I made an error mine was 1974 with the padded steering wheel centre, and a vinyl roof.
I had a metalic bronze Hunter JSR 57 P. Heap of feckin shit, after its 1st MOT, the inner sills were badly corroded and the hand brake frame came right off its mounting
With leaf springs, Solid rear suspension, push rod engine, steering box, they were well behind their time, when Japanese were manufacturing DOHC engines with rack and pinions.
It's up there with the Marina as an example of why the British motor industry went into terminal decline. Ancient design, badly engineered. even more badly made under a quite good looking body. The Marina had a plug ugly body though.
You;re talking out of your arse, the Rootes arrow cars employed some of the most technically advance chassis engineering and construction for the time, resulting in very light axle load. They're nothing like like a Marina and would piss all over a Cortina out of the box, which handled like a Blancmange. Try taking a ride in a back of Cortina for more than 10 minutes and try and hang on to your breakfast to see what I mean. The problems for arrow, were in quality control, once the Haggis bashers got their hands on it at Linwood, they couldn't bolt the engine together consistently, so they detuned the engine like they did with the Imp. The other problem was that Rootes got in such a stink financially with the Imp, that they actually sent the cars out without electrocoat, so they rusted to bits in less than 6 months.
These were the performance saloon of the era the "Sierra cosworth " of the 70's .I owned gold GLS NME611L for 20 years and loved it.
My next car was a Morris Marina 18TC (not good), They had an MGB engine. After 6 months i got a Dolomite Sprint although a bit faster and more surefooted, i prefered the Hunter as great all rounder. i now have a BMW and if you asked me to swap with my old Hunter i would .
Loved both my dolly sprint and my Hunter GLS dolly was quicker as you say but the sound of them twin 40s on the Hunter was sweet 😁😁
I remember the growl of the Holbay engine, my dad overtaking, Escorts, Vauxhall's, Cortina's with ease. The best car of it's time.
I had a Hunter GLS, it was my second car and still wish i had kept it. The Holbay engine was fantastic and the dash was superb! Mine was Silver with a dark blue vinyl roof, i swapped the interior for a black velour one out of a Humber Sceptre, put a new clutch in and then did a top end overhaul, which was a mistake never got the head gasket to reseal and had to drive around with a gallon of water in the car to top up the cooling system every time i set off as it lost a pint of water as it warmed up. Happy days!! Way better than a Cortina 1600E.
I had a GLS 1974 model best car i ever owned, roomy easy to fix,and good performance, i miss her.
We had two of these when I was a kid growing up in New Zealand. My parents are British (we came here when I was a baby) and they refused to buy a Japanese car for years. We had an orange Hunter with a black vinyl roof and a white one too. We also had a brown Triumph 2000 and a little white Morris Minor. Ahhh the memories.
Fantastic car. My dad had a Grasshopper green GLS 1972 reg number FOX 316 L. Some rotten taxi driver drove into the side of it and wrote it off. I'll never forget the day it was towed off to the scrap yard. Like seeing a family member taken away. A very sad day.
Great pics and great music. Hope mine looks as good when finished!!!!
Had a holbay engined, gls back in the early eighties, very quick. Happy days!!
beautiful memories of my first car.
My uncle used to have an ex-army 1750 ( or 1700 ) square headlight job in gleaming black.
Lovely motor it was....
Sorry about the GLS, but more importantly you survived. My dad's GLS survived 2 crashes, one in Margate, when a motorbike hit it in 1978 and 1980 when a taxi hit it, the end of the old beast. It also had the padded steering wheel. My Dad said he was going to to buy a Hilmam Hunter, I was horrified, untill I heard the sound of the GLS growl down the road. I was in love with that car from day 1.
My dad had a 1725cc GL estate HYF133K. Wings ruusted but so well put together
God damn, this brings back memories!. I bought a hunter when i was 17 back in '97. A 1975 chrysler hunter GLS Auto. I liked it ok, but go for the manual model esp if you live on hills. Where i live in NZ is real hilly, and the borg warner 45 trans loves to yoyo thru gears like crazy.
The Hillman Hunter GLS was actually quicker than the sister Arrow series car; The Sunbeam Rapier H120. The Hillman Hunter GLS was lighter than the Sunbeam Rapier H120, and that was the strength of the car: power to weight ratio.
I had a purple one bought it from a car auction in Norwich, had a lot of good times in the old Holman
A GREAT CAR UNDERSTATED By ford and gm greed hi from new zealand
I agree, my dad did all the repairs, tweaking the Webers etc..., he even let me drive it. It was a private road and I was about 12-13. I only got about 50 yards before he thought it was enough. I can't say about the steering (obviously) but I bow to your better judgement.
We had few of these in the family. All of them have the same problem: Water leaks in the leg area while raining!
Mum had the Avenger with twin carbs in red. I loved that car but when it was acquired at five years, it was rotten underneath, but dad decided to get it welded up and it gave us four years of joy. I loved that car and was sad to see it go. Dad had a Morris Marina at the same time and had that car for years, eventually selling to the local garage where the owner left it sitting outside for the next year only for it to be vandalized. Broke my heart gradually watching it being destroyed.
I was a bit over the limit and hit a telegraph pole in mine, probably the best car i ever owned, mine was a 1973 in firedance red. RUR 19M.
My dad had a Hunter GT.
BRT 705H !!
I had a 1972 Goodwood Green, I think, GLS as a boy racer and spent a lot of time and money making it go faster, bored out to 1800cc, stage 2 head, flat top hepolite pistons, oil cooler, re-jetted twin 40s and foam filters, straight through exhaust with only a backbox, lightened flywheel, overdrive, anti-tramp bars, uprated front coils, fancy chrome wellers with 205 tyres. Guy at Sportstune Edinburgh reckoned 125bhp, it wasn't enough anyway, the 2nd hand Escort RS2000s started appearing on the boy racer scene and that was it beaten. You could match them in straight races but the RS was a better car and better at cornering. I scrapped the car years later and sold the engine and gearbox to a guy with a Sunbeam Alpine.
The Hillman Hunter GLS replaced the Singer Vogue, and is just one model below the top of range Humber Sceptre.
Also replaced the Hillman Minx. Some might say the GLS should have been branded as a Sunbeam but there was already the Rapier H120
hermoso auto te felicito saludos
I would the money 💰 to purchase this beautiful 🚗
I had a 71 Humber Sceptre. Want a Hunter GLS. . Trouble is never had luck with Rootes cars. My Sceptre written off, old man no tax or insurance. Wife lost 2 Avengers. Hit and run. And our 66 Vogue. Garage broken into and trashed
I wanna own all of the Rootes Hillman / Chrysler / Talbot / Humber / Sunbeam Hunter Cars and Dodge Commer Space Vans
my dad had a GLS, he normally only ever bought rover and i was working as a trainee mechanic in a garage who had a dealership at the time these came out , i talked him in to buying one,, a nice firebrand red, EOJ 989L with black interior,, unfortunately it had problems overheating all the time,, he kept it 12 months then went back to rover,,
It was called Firedance red i had one in 1974, great great car no probs with mine, got drunk and hit a telegraph pole wrote the dear off, best car ever i had. still regrets to this day and im 67 now.
My uncle bought a black Hunter from an auction back in the early 1980s.
It was gleaming black and an ex-army staff car.
He had it running up until the early/mid 1990s, then left rotting on his drive. Never found out what happened to it, scrapped I presume.
I had a Hunter GL and always wanted a GLS, but I was only 18 and had little money, especially for insurance. Where are you now, LGJ437K ?
Good looking car in its day,my uncle bought a new dark blue one in 73ish,crank failed at 23k ouch!
The only thing, it should have had rack and pinion steering.
They were a fast car for their day, it would keep up with a Jaguar XJ6 at traffic lights, even today one would not be at the back of the queue.
These old cars were so easy to fix, i was in Devon and the alternator went, it took me ten mins to change it over outside Lucas in Exeter.
My dad had a of these - I used to think the over drive was wicked!
I ❤Adore Hillman Rootes / Chrysler Talbot Humber Cars / Singer Sunbeam Hunters in all the Hunter Shape Design Cars / Both My Parents owned Dark Blue Hillman Hunter Cars 2 Blue Hunter DL & 1 Green Hunter DL in Grasshopper Green Etc. Brilliant Cars but they broke down a lot.
My Mums Brother had a Hillman Avenger and my Mums other Brother owned a Green Talbot Horizon and my Child Minder own the Red Talbot Horizon 40 years ago Good Cars
Makes me cry. This is so Q a Q car that it is almost an R car. Lovely Olivia Newton John. She would have liked my identical to this Blue GLS, registration NON 404M.
Rest in peace, my loveliest of cars. If only I had then the money I have now I would have saved you. Forgive me.
One important thing I forgot to ask. Did your car survive the telegraph pole incident?
Yes, I remember them. Not bad cars but frankly not great either. The whole thing just needed expanding a bit. Why was it that most British cars of that period were potentially so good but just made a bit too small for an average family. Only the big Rovers, Fords, Humbers and Vauxhalls seemed to get it right.
I love the Peykan alias Hillman Hunter:-)
ایول داری . من یه قرمز دخترکش داشتم مدل 1349
I loved my GLs TWX ??L in an orange / red
The engine was a 1700 or 1725, too.
Iris elbow 1725 my dad had two Hilman hunter estate cars👍😁
Afraid not the engine was pushed out under the car, and i ended up in hospital lost a lot of blood, and the doctors would not let the Police take a sample so in that way i was lucky, I was 28 yrs old and stupid, still to this day i regret loosing that car,
I made an error mine was 1974 with the padded steering wheel centre, and a vinyl roof.
Where were these made then? Ryton? Stoke Aldermoor?
I think the Arrow range started at Ryton, moved up to Linwood (maybe 70 to 77?) and then the last few were assembled in the Irish Republic.
Not "survived" but had, ''two" crashes.
Pretty sure it was Ryton
I had a metalic bronze Hunter JSR 57 P. Heap of feckin shit, after its 1st MOT, the inner sills were badly corroded and the hand brake frame came right off its mounting
My father has one
Not even a 1725 . Probably fell apart after its next jaunt to the Latvian Hand Car Wash modern slavery visit ?
This car is spelled Qar.
With leaf springs, Solid rear suspension, push rod engine, steering box, they were well behind their time, when Japanese were manufacturing DOHC engines with rack and pinions.
It's up there with the Marina as an example of why the British motor industry went into terminal decline. Ancient design, badly engineered. even more badly made under a quite good looking body. The Marina had a plug ugly body though.
What was ancient about the design of this in the early '70s? Where was the bad design and bad engineering? Was it any worse than its competitors?
The Marina was basically a rebodied Morris Minor (1948). A Cortina rang rings round it.
robbiecox
Yes, I knew that.
I was asking of the Hunter cars.
You;re talking out of your arse, the Rootes arrow cars employed some of the most technically advance chassis engineering and construction for the time, resulting in very light axle load. They're nothing like like a Marina and would piss all over a Cortina out of the box, which handled like a Blancmange. Try taking a ride in a back of Cortina for more than 10 minutes and try and hang on to your breakfast to see what I mean. The problems for arrow, were in quality control, once the Haggis bashers got their hands on it at Linwood, they couldn't bolt the engine together consistently, so they detuned the engine like they did with the Imp. The other problem was that Rootes got in such a stink financially with the Imp, that they actually sent the cars out without electrocoat, so they rusted to bits in less than 6 months.
are actually old enough to even remember?
these car is NO as fast as there ferari ;-)
.....Those were the most hideous cars I think I have ever come across.....Thank God that they no longer make them!!!
.....Yes, so hideously ugly motors they were!!! And they made them in such revolting, harsh colours too!!!