I don’t think I’m being unfair if I say that Hillman isn’t the first name that comes up when you ask a classic car enthusiast what their dream car might be. The name has a history of motor car manufacture going back to 1907, initially independently, from 1928 as part of the Humber company and later still, rolled into the Rootes Group and finally Chrysler. By the mid 1970’s however both the parent company and the Hillman brand were in difficulty, with their cars struggling to compete with shiny new offerings from Ford and Vauxhall as well as in house alternatives from Peugeot.
For most of its history, Hillman was a maker of staid, practical, small and medium-sized family saloons and estates, and probably the only car made by Hillman that has a genuinely strong classic following is the Imp, and its various badge-engineered variants from Singer and Sunbeam. Nor was Hillman generally considered to be a sporting marque, although it did have successful forays into motorsport with the Imp and most famously winning the 1968 London to Sydney Marathon Rally with a Hillman Hunter, driven by Andrew Cowan, Colin Malkin and Brian Coyle. Sadly, Cowan died just a few months ago.
Nevertheless, despite this somewhat unexciting image, Hillman did make some higher-performance versions of some of their cars. There was the Hillman GT (based on the Minx), and there was this week’s Prime Find.
The Hillman Avenger was Introduced in the UK in 1970, making this it’s 50th anniversary year, and was also built and sold under a variety of different names around the globe. In the UK, its name was changed to the Chrysler Avenger in 1978 and changed again in 1979 to the Talbot Avenger. In North America it was known as the Plymouth Cricket – could the same car have two names with more diverse meanings?
The Avenger was as bog-standard a family saloon as you could find, competing with the likes of the Ford Escort and Vauxhall Viva, and was reasonably successful. A GT version was added to the range with a twin-carburettor 1498cc engine, though it didn’t last long.
However, in 1972 it was decided to add a proper “halo” car to the range, that car being the Hillman Avenger Tiger, linking the car to the hairy Sunbeam Tiger sportscar and implying an obvious performance improvement over the standard models.
The standard engine’s power output was significantly boosted from 63 to 93bhp, the 0-60mph sprint was accomplished in under ten seconds and top speed was claimed to be 108mph, beating one of its main rivals, the Escort Mexico, but at the cost of heavy fuel thirst. Go faster stripes and a rear spoiler added to the sporty look, though it probably made little difference to the car’s road-holding, and a series of other performance-related upgrades over the standard car were also made.
The car was offered in one colour scheme only to start with – a very attractive combination of yellow (called Sundance) with black side stripes, black bonnet centre stripe and power bulge and Tiger lettering. Exact production numbers are not known, but it’s believed around 200 of this version were made.
The Tiger was updated further just a year later with quad headlights – which in my view suit the car much better – a completely black bonnet (minus power bulge) and wing mirrors, new wheels and seats. It was also offered in a second colour, Wardance Red, and about 400 of this model were made, so not exactly a huge number.
Of the total of c.600 Avenger Tigers produced, 28 remain in the UK, of which just 18 are on the road, so they don’t come up for sale very often. Nevertheless, we have found one with a dealer near Selby, North Yorkshire, and it looks pretty good. This 1973 has a 1600cc engine (I have been unable to find out exactly when this was introduced) and been the subject of a full repaint in Sundance Yellow, having originally been in Wardance Red – unsurprisingly, I prefer the yellow. The car comes with some history including a number of MOT certificates, so it might well be that the odometer reading of 77,319 miles can be proven.
As you might expect, in this claimed condition and with so few around, it’s not cheap, though it just makes our self-imposed £20,000 limit, with offers invited around that number. Interestingly, while looking for other photos of Avenger Tigers I realised that I had seen this car before, at the Practical Classic Car and Restoration Show last February, where it was auctioned by CCA who sold it for £16,650 (presumably including commissions). Where it’s been in the almost 12 months since isn’t clear, though I’m sure the dealer (who posted the advert on carandclassic on January 8th) might be able to shed some light on that. Based on CCA’s description, the car is in excellent condition in terms of paint and bodywork, but internally and mechanically doesn’t quite match up to its exterior appearance. Unless it’s had some work done in the interim, it’s hard to see the justification for increasing the asking price by almost £3,500, but a conversation with the dealer may clarify things.
It’s a cool car, and not one that the new owner is likely to see many of either on the road or at other shows, and with a little negotiation it might be possible to bring the price down a little. We’ve borrowed some photographs from the dealer’s website, and as always, we never recommend buying a car sight unseen, but if you’re interested, the link to the dealer’s website is here – Hillman Avenger Tiger 2
With our Saturday instalment of Prime Find of the Week, we’re offering our services to the classic car community, by passing on our favourite classic car for sale from the week that passed. This top-tip might help a first-time-buyer to own his first classic, or it could even be the perfect motivation for a multiple-classic-car-owner to expand his garage with something different. We’ll let us inspire by anything from a cheap project to a stunning concours exotic, and hope that you will do the same.
Just remember – Any Classic is Better than No Classic! We obviously invite our readers to help prospective buyers with your views and maybe even experiences of any given model we feature. Further to that, if you stumble across a classic which you feel we ought to feature as Prime Find of the Week, then please send us a link to primefindoftheweek@viaretro