Tom I was in the design department when we were designing the Arrow & Avenger. One of the reasons the deal went ahead with Iran was the WIN it had in the London to Sydney Rally with Andrew Cowan at the helm! The only difference to the standard car was a few more seem welds and the engine out of the Rapier H120, if I remember correctly. The one reason once they were in production for their longevity is the fact there is very little rust bugs in Iran unlike the UK! As for the Avenger it had the strongest body shell of all the cars on the market and should have been a fat greater success than it was. What let it down in the eyes of the public was poor quality build and cheap parts that fell off all due to industrial inaction! I still think that the rear end of the original Avenger is the most integrated design of all cars in that era, where the roof-line swept into a buttress style that continued through the tail lights and along under the boot door! If only they had made that whole back end open as I had suggested during a spell in the design studio under Roy Axe & Peter White. (Roy left to take up a position with Opel in Germany around that time.) The factory was also building a number of Humber Imperials for the Shah of Iran in 1966 that were very specially hand built with no expense spared! Rolls Royce quality Connolly leather throughout with west of England head-linings, Gold Crests on the doors and dash & pin-striping on the swage lines
Wow. That has to be one of the best & most informative comments. I learned to drive in a Hillman Hunter Estate. Couldn't take my test in it though due to its habit of jumping out of 3rd & 4th gear.
Interesting first-hand facts, thanks for the info. I had a 1970 Humber Sceptre rust bucket and loved it. PS: Re the London-Sydney, maybe if it wasn't for an errant motorist on the final stage of the rally, Iranians would all have been driving a Citroen DS (just kidding)
I sold, in 1974, when I worked at a Chrysler dealre, (yes, I'm that old!) a white LHD Paykan spec Hunter to a visiting Iranian student. (his dad was paying, mind!) It was badged as a Hunter, but with all the Paykan mods. Larger radiator, 6 blade fan, no heater (!) heavy duty suspension, heavy duty battery, oil bath air cleaner.
My dad bought a brand new Hunter GLS just prior to them becoming Chrysler Hunters. He loving kept it for over 35 years, but we had to sell it to pay for his dementia care. The car was garaged every night and serviced on time, every time. We made it known that we were selling and asked for offers. The car had never been welded, and everything was exactly as it should be. Four people came at the same time to view it, and it started a bidding war. We were more than happy with the sale price.
I went down a rabbit hole of Patrick Motor Group this evening as I just liked the Patrick Motorsports livery on the Mini and SD1, that was quite an interesting read. a really old (like 1930’s) but MASSIVE car dealership/parts supplier of British cars. (And coach builder amongst other things) I had no idea it was such a massive company, apparently they had links to get cheap fuel too and only got undercut when supermarkets began doing fuel… slightly off topic 😂
The Hillman Hunter and Arrow Left-Hand drive models were also sold for a few years in the Philippines. The Hunter I owned had the Rootes 1725 engine with aluminum head, a single-barrel side-draft carb, and a 4-speed manual gearbox. The car was badged as a Hillman and did not sell well in the Philippines due to strong competition from Corolla, Corona, Lancer, Galant, Datsun, Escort and Cortina. The body was not well protected from rain and rust, mine suffered from leaking windshields and doors - a fatal flaw in a tropical country with lots of rain. Nevertheless I think this was a very good car platform provided you knew how to figure things out. I was familiar with every square inch of that car.
1989/1990 I worked in Iran. Paykans everywhere. Took a taxi one 19km into Kerman with a German Workmate one evening. Taxi had the best part of a turn of free play in the steering wheel. At one point taxi hat a pothole and swerved towards an oncoming lorry. Driver took a massive swipe at the steeriing wheel and we were back on our own side of the road. Me to Helmut: "Damn" Missed again!". Taxi driver burst out laughing. He had lived in London for 20 years and his english was perfect.
I was in Iran in the 1970's. As Merchant navy officer waiting to join a BP tanker. I was fascinated by the hundreds of Hillman Hunters that I saw there. I haven't heard of the Paykan name. They had 'Iran National' written on them followed by a stylised Arabic script. I asked some of the locals about them. It appeared that a common upgrade, was to swap the engine for a Datsun unit.
Hi Tom, Great video, and good detail. My Father, Ted Justice , was part of the team who set up the deal with the Khayami brothers and, who in fact planned the lay out of the new INIM plant ( I can see him sketching it on the kitchen table). He went on the become Director of Global Export Ops for CUK, but the Iran contact was always his "baby" and was awarded the OBE for services to British Exports in 1980. I met the Khayami's a few times when they came to see my Father in London and Coventry. I joined CUK in 1972, and remember a lot of staff going to work for INIM on contact around '75 - '79 when INIM were sourcing their own components locally.
My parents had a F reg Hillman Estate. I learnt to drive in it. Then inherited it as my own car until I bought my own car a MGB GT. The Hillman was a great car- masses of space and could cruise at 70 down the motorway with no issue. We had the 1725 cc engine. Pressed Steel I think made the bodies and was it designed by Roy Axe?? I know he did the Rapier coupe based on the Hunter. The design still looks great. Please correct me if I’m wrong. Another great video- definitely not boring! thanks.
My first car was a second-hand 1968 Hillman Arrow built by Chrysler Australia. Nice car, but leaked like a sieve when it rained. Traded it after a year or so for a Chrysler built Galant.
I believe all of them had the same problem, the water was leaking into the legroom. This was my experience with few of them which we owned then I was checking others cars to see the rust in the same area! I think there had been a problem in the mold of the firewall
There's still a few hunters knocking around here in Aus. 😊 My old man had a Hillman husky, the imp based estate. Appalling little thing, the alloy block had warped an kept blowing head gaskets with the engine under the estate floor, we'd be on the side of the road unloading the boot, the old man fitting a new gasket, we carried a few & jerry can of water "just in case". Ahhh memories of the 70s
Had quite a few rides in the Hillman Hunter as a taxi cab in Tehran back in the early to mid 1980's. The Hillman Hunter was also popular in Australia as the "family second car" for the wife or daughter. Great video, well researched, most enjoyable, thank you.
I was a Rootes Group apprentice from 1961 - one of my friends working in the stores (Singer factory in Small Heath, Birmingham) was employed to produce 'Knock Down Parts of the Hunter to export to Iran.
A friend of mine used to work there too & towards the end they would take a window out in the upper floors & throw all the new spares out of the window to the skips down below, he did luckily have very wide trousers to help keep my Hunter & Sunbeam Alpine sports on the road
I was working in Iran 46 years ago, I remember the Paykan and the Hunter based Irannational pickup truck. I particularly liked the Jeep based Symorgh pickups. There was also a company called Iran Kaveh which assembled R-series Mack trucks.
I remember the Paykan in 1974 when we went there for a year for my dads job. Apart from a few old 1950s american cars nearly all the taxis were Paykans. I had forgotten about these till I saw your video 😁.
I remember going on holiday to Turkey as a teenager - imagine my surprise to see that the police were driving a locally-made version of the Renault 12. One incident stuck in my head - I watched this outside the hotel we were staying in... Picture the scene: two coppers in one of these pulling over a top of the range Mercedes for some motoring offence. Down goes the driver's window of the Merc, out comes a handful of Turkish Lira notes into the hand of one of the police, and the Benz speeds off.
My first car in 1983 was a Chrysler Australia made 1972 Chrysler Hunter Royal 4 speed manual . I had the final Australian version for a year it was reliable besides getting parts from then Mitsubishi Australia paper gasket seals etc had to be ordered. The final Australian version had different back lights and different grill to blend in with the larger 6cyl American design Chrysler Dodge Valiant family car . Had standard Australia design rules by 71 72 headrest /full bucket seats. Was comfortable car to drive quite reliable built strong. Was still around a few on roads in Australia especially western Australia until 2010 seen last one in the local shopping centre carpark.
I owned one as a lad in the eighties. Back then the choice was normally Ford, Vauxhall or Leyland. I bought it cheap and ran it for a year until the next MOT when I found out why it was cheap! Never mind. It was a great car back in it's day, I remembering it driving so well compared with the usual cars available.
Very interesting. My sister had 2 Hunters - a 1967 one and a 1974 one. I had a 1973 Hunter automatic, then a 1972 Humber Sceptre variant. Excellent cars - much nicer than the Cortina, in my opinion. Great video - thanks. Take care 🙂
There is often a Paycan parked outside the Iranian Store, 156 Uxbridge Road, West Ealing. However it’s believed to be a Hillman Hunter trimmed with Paycan parts imported from Iran!
On way to a scout camp, my mates dad had a Hunter, posh one with the ribbed rear panel, the back axle fell out, for a brand new car that’s usually considered ‘sub optimal’ asides from these issues Rootes made some half decent cars, another missed opportunity
My great uncle had a Hillman Avenger, he bought it second hand and drove it (albeit less and less frequently) up until his death in the mid nineties by which time only 50% of the body panels were the original British racing-esque green
I recently drove and sold a Roots 1970 sunbeam vogue for a friend who passed away. I was well impressed with the car and the quality build comparing it with BL and fords of the time.
Well Tom, much credit to you. Excellent video again. Always had a soft spot for the Hillman Hunters. Going off on a bit of a side road, have you ever done a video or anything on the Austin Metropolitan? Before my parents came to Uk from Canada my mother had a Nash Metropolitan which was the same car. It looked quite a nice thing
I was on a business trip to Tehran in 1977/78 and frequently used Paykan taxis to get around. Perfectly good car. The only Rootes Group car which I ever owned was a 1963 Alpine or "Husky GT" as it was sometimes called (the Alpine used the Husky's short wheelbase chassis). Rusty but fun...
My dad worked in the Linwood plant for 30yrs seeing the transition from railway DMU & EMU units , wagons and the I’ll fated Road Railer trailer through to the end of car production.
@@johnmontgomery9149 It's closing must have been awful for the workforce there. Of course, when the Imp was introduced, it took some time to make it an oiled operation, but by the 70's it was. And probably building better cars than BL. Peugeot's rationalization scheme added with Tatcherism.
My dad and I had quite a few hunters between us, we were travelling salesman, always buying second hand cars, we found the hunter to be reliable tough cars capable of a lot of miles.
The most sought after variant in this country is the Hunter GLS. It may sound a little humble, but it's actually mechanically the same as the Holbay-tuned Rapier H120 coupé!
Tom, A great video thanks; I recall towing an Eccles caravan with my fathers Hilman Hunter 5 up ! Surrey to Perrancombe in Cornwall. Would you consider doing a piece of vehicle production/assembly in Nigeria from the 1960's to 2000. There is a piece on Wikki but it started with the TJ Bedford to Leyland ;Land Rover /Range Rover -Peugeot 404 Pick up to 504 passenger cars and VW Beetle/Kombi bus etc..
Hillman Hunters and Avengers were still a common sight on UK roads in the eighties. I had friends that drove them. As it rolled round to the nineties they virtually disappeared and are extremely rare now. Didn’t know about the extended life of the Hunter abroad though. Similar stories to Fiat, who sold their designs to former eastern bloc countries.
There used to be a company in South London who had masive stocks of new/old stock Rootes parts. The yard and sheds were vast. After the Iranian revolution the govenment over there put an order in to the south london company for 3 containers full of suspension parts for hunters. These were sent from south london but never reached Iran due to being stopped at customs because the metal was deemed to be of good enough quality that could be melted down to make arms. The parts were sized by the UK authoroties and never seen again.
Very interesting. It was also referred to as the Peykan. (The name is Persian for Arrow, which makes sense.) Producing the CKD kits, (completely knocked down), kept the Humber Road Factory in Coventry in work for many years.
I visited Todd motor company in New Zealand as a kid. They were building Hunters along with Avengers on the same line from CKD kits. Many of those cars lasted over 20 years however stricter rust rules killed them in the mid 90s.
I have known about the Iranian Paykan as back in the 1970s l owned a couple of Hillmans and my brother is still into Rootes Group cars and l knew about the Paykan and thanks for the history about the Paykan also the Paykan ute that blew me away l like utes have owned a couple of them myself and still own a 1997 Hilux ute another Rootes Group Hillman you could look at the Isuzu Hillman Minx
@@philtucker1224 Standard block as far as I remember apart from the sump. It had a different head and exhaust manifold. After I rebuilt the engine, I had a fairly respectable 105 HP at the wheels.
@@gmo4250 yes that sounds pretty realistic, I built one back in 1975 with a mild road/rally cam and that gave similar figures at the flywheel on a test bed dyno.
@@philtucker1224 A little extra information, the block was bored out to 1800 by Oselli Engineering in Oxford and the head was reworked by them. I replaced the air box with a K&N filter. The overall increase in performance was very noticeable.
Worked on many as they were a current car in the 80's, used to do a HLS for an old boy, metallic purple, first time I lifted the bonnet confronted with twin 40's and Holbay rocker cover. Had a basic estate in the early 2000's, went really well. Not a bad car really for the day.
i drive these cars all the time i own two and i love driving them, especially now there is a 20 mph speed limit in wales, ideal for crusing in your classic, lol, also more spares avalable for them now whoop whoop.
In the late 1960s, you could rent a Paykan in Tehran for the entire weekend for around 2000 Rials. By far the majority of taxis in Iran were orange painted Paykans. They were easy to drive and very reliable.
I had a Holbay Hunter, bought cheap with a short mot and too much rust, drove it through the summer scrapped in the autumn, nobody kept cars as an investment
One of the first things that I did, when I first got online, was to research why there seemed to be so many Hillman Hunters in Tehran every time that it was on the news.
My dad had a green 1725 powered one with a black vinyl roof OSN 900M. Eventually the driver side doors would not open and the tinworm got hold of it. He always said it was one of the quickest cars he owned and the engine would probably go on forever.
I had a Singer Vogue, and there was a single pic of a vogue front grill on a production line, so that trim was used? I still have a tiny bit of 'Arrow' (never knew it was called that) on the back of my Aston Martin DBS which has the rear lights!
When I was a small child we lived in wales and our neighbour had a couple of these, I remember one was a metallic brown and the other was a beautiful metallic blue/green colour. They both had the chrome rear tail light surrounds and looked very smart and almost American in design, well compared to our beige Mini Pickup anyway 😅
back in the good old bad old days when I were a lad and men were men and sheep were scared, I got to work on a few Hunters. can't remember any issue with them other than the normal bits which are supposed to wear out + rust, though not as bad as most. a real rock solid car, boringly reliable and styled, the Toyota of its day. incredible how it lived on and even got rebodied lol. clearly the car is good for many climates and conditions, maybe it could eventually scrape into the top 10 most produced cars in history one day? dare I suggest doing a video on George Turnbull. he has a fascinating history. if Turnbull had ended up at the top of BLMC it may well have survived.
I spent 9 months in Tehran in ‘ 88/‘89 with the UN at the end of the Iran/Iraq war. Paykans were thick on the ground and practically every taxi was a Paykan. We were told at the time that Paykan is Farsi for Arrow, which makes sense.
UK's own Barracuda! In Holland they were badged as Sunbeam. They were really chique. One guy in our street owned one from new in blue metallic with all the stripes and options: lovely car. Resale value was poor, so he hung onto it for over ten years. Good luck with yours!
The image of the Paykan ad at the start of the video quite a historical document. An ad made after the Islamic revolution of '79 would have had the young lady dressed rather differently or not in the advert at all I'm sure.
Watched from Old Harbour Jamaica and they were a common site in Jamaica 🇯🇲. My family owned a number of them over the years more so the Avenger (I still own a Imp). I knew about the Iran 🇮🇷 production from my Motor magazine back in the 1980's and it good to see it's still going strong. I'm disappointed of the British destroying their own auto industry for we use to swear my them.
I bought a 1725 auto gold coloured Humber Sceptre in late 1980. It was great for lugging my mates around London and not long after my new girlfriend too (who looked a bit like Debbie Harry). It sadly blew the engine after a trip "up north" for Christmas and New Year ('83) in Wetherby. It wasn't worth the repair bill so was written off. A comfortable car that looked stylish without being garish. A few years earlier I had an old "Audax" Minx for a few months which used more oil than petrol.
Great Cars Hillman Hunters / Hillman Minx’s / Chrysler Hunters / Singer Gazelles wonderful motors & although Rootes joined up with Peugeot Talbot / I remember Rightly Talbot Solara Replaced All the Rootes Hunter Cars under Hillman / Humber / Chrysler / Singer
@@johnburns4017 lighter shell and mpg gains i assume. for an academic exercise look up the wikipedia page of the paykan and the the 405 rwd to compare both.
I meant no disrespect@@cc51520 I was told this 40 years ago by a Rootes worker. My reason was to pass on a nugget of info was to point out the symmetry of naming the cars after its code name.
I used to own a 67 round headlights model hunter 1725 ,I did go to a Chrysler dealer in a local town in new Zealand south island Timaru cost was little over 4k I wanted a manual but the salesman turned up with a automatic 3spd borge Warner nice car 🚨🚗
It is to your wonder perhaps that face-lifted version of Paykan (means arrow in Persian) with bigger headlights also got fuel injection system. And they are still pretty reliable cars, if to say the only problematic parts were carbs and ignition systems. These cars also work great with CNG, although emissions wise they are terrible.
Fascinating story , id heard they were continued in Iran but no idea just how many and for as long Btw had to re- subscribe today I'd been 'untubed! ' Cheers Tom. Mitch
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Tom I was in the design department when we were designing the Arrow & Avenger. One of the reasons the deal went ahead with Iran was the WIN it had in the London to Sydney Rally with Andrew Cowan at the helm! The only difference to the standard car was a few more seem welds and the engine out of the Rapier H120, if I remember correctly. The one reason once they were in production for their longevity is the fact there is very little rust bugs in Iran unlike the UK! As for the Avenger it had the strongest body shell of all the cars on the market and should have been a fat greater success than it was. What let it down in the eyes of the public was poor quality build and cheap parts that fell off all due to industrial inaction! I still think that the rear end of the original Avenger is the most integrated design of all cars in that era, where the roof-line swept into a buttress style that continued through the tail lights and along under the boot door! If only they had made that whole back end open as I had suggested during a spell in the design studio under Roy Axe & Peter White. (Roy left to take up a position with Opel in Germany around that time.)
The factory was also building a number of Humber Imperials for the Shah of Iran in 1966 that were very specially hand built with no expense spared! Rolls Royce quality Connolly leather throughout with west of England head-linings, Gold Crests on the doors and dash & pin-striping on the swage lines
Wow. That has to be one of the best & most informative comments. I learned to drive in a Hillman Hunter Estate. Couldn't take my test in it though due to its habit of jumping out of 3rd & 4th gear.
It was a nice and clean design; not worse than a Cortina. It derived from their previous rear-engine project, didn't it?
Interesting first-hand facts, thanks for the info. I had a 1970 Humber Sceptre rust bucket and loved it. PS: Re the London-Sydney, maybe if it wasn't for an errant motorist on the final stage of the rally, Iranians would all have been driving a Citroen DS (just kidding)
@@NickyB62that’s why it’s pinned. Comments like this are what it’s all about.
Hello John, The deal with INIM had already agreed way before the L>S Rally....not because of it...
I sold, in 1974, when I worked at a Chrysler dealre, (yes, I'm that old!) a white LHD Paykan spec Hunter to a visiting Iranian student. (his dad was paying, mind!) It was badged as a Hunter, but with all the Paykan mods. Larger radiator, 6 blade fan, no heater (!) heavy duty suspension, heavy duty battery, oil bath air cleaner.
oil bath air filter, now thats a real give-away of a car adapted for dry dusty climates
In my Industry London Buses,, Hillman Hunters were London rhyming slang for Bus passengers, Hillman Hunters/ Punters, shortened to Hillmans.
My dad bought a brand new Hunter GLS just prior to them becoming Chrysler Hunters. He loving kept it for over 35 years, but we had to sell it to pay for his dementia care. The car was garaged every night and serviced on time, every time. We made it known that we were selling and asked for offers. The car had never been welded, and everything was exactly as it should be. Four people came at the same time to view it, and it started a bidding war. We were more than happy with the sale price.
good on you
Hey man, you must never say that you’re boring us again… we appreciate your hard work
I could go on for hours Nick… HOURS
But thank you I appreciate it, soon things will be much longer… much much longer after the amount of research I’ve been doing.
I went down a rabbit hole of Patrick Motor Group this evening as I just liked the Patrick Motorsports livery on the Mini and SD1, that was quite an interesting read. a really old (like 1930’s) but MASSIVE car dealership/parts supplier of British cars. (And coach builder amongst other things) I had no idea it was such a massive company, apparently they had links to get cheap fuel too and only got undercut when supermarkets began doing fuel… slightly off topic 😂
The Hillman Hunter and Arrow Left-Hand drive models were also sold for a few years in the Philippines. The Hunter I owned had the Rootes 1725 engine with aluminum head, a single-barrel side-draft carb, and a 4-speed manual gearbox. The car was badged as a Hillman and did not sell well in the Philippines due to strong competition from Corolla, Corona, Lancer, Galant, Datsun, Escort and Cortina. The body was not well protected from rain and rust, mine suffered from leaking windshields and doors - a fatal flaw in a tropical country with lots of rain. Nevertheless I think this was a very good car platform provided you knew how to figure things out. I was familiar with every square inch of that car.
In Aust we had what was a Hunter Royal with loud colours ,stripes hot motor and twin carbs called the Hustler. Mine was wonderful-loved it !
1989/1990 I worked in Iran. Paykans everywhere. Took a taxi one 19km into Kerman with a German Workmate one evening. Taxi had the best part of a turn of free play in the steering wheel. At one point taxi hat a pothole and swerved towards an oncoming lorry. Driver took a massive swipe at the steeriing wheel and we were back on our own side of the road. Me to Helmut: "Damn" Missed again!". Taxi driver burst out laughing. He had lived in London for 20 years and his english was perfect.
Great story! I love it when comments actually add colour to the video. Thanks for the giggle.
I was in Iran in the 1970's. As Merchant navy officer waiting to join a BP tanker. I was fascinated by the hundreds of Hillman Hunters that I saw there. I haven't heard of the Paykan name. They had 'Iran National' written on them followed by a stylised Arabic script. I asked some of the locals about them. It appeared that a common upgrade, was to swap the engine for a Datsun unit.
Hi Tom, Great video, and good detail. My Father, Ted Justice , was part of the team who set up the deal with the Khayami brothers and, who in fact planned the lay out of the new INIM plant ( I can see him sketching it on the kitchen table). He went on the become Director of Global Export Ops for CUK, but the Iran contact was always his "baby" and was awarded the OBE for services to British Exports in 1980. I met the Khayami's a few times when they came to see my Father in London and Coventry.
I joined CUK in 1972, and remember a lot of staff going to work for INIM on contact around '75 - '79 when INIM were sourcing their own components locally.
My parents had a F reg Hillman Estate. I learnt to drive in it. Then inherited it as my own car until I bought my own car a MGB GT. The Hillman was a great car- masses of space and could cruise at 70 down the motorway with no issue. We had the 1725 cc engine. Pressed Steel I think made the bodies and was it designed by Roy Axe?? I know he did the Rapier coupe based on the Hunter. The design still looks great. Please correct me if I’m wrong. Another great video- definitely not boring! thanks.
Rex Fleming designed the saloon/overall car with Roy Axe designing the estate and coupe.
@@tomdrivesthanks. I always like the Roy Axe designs. He was involved in the Rover 800 as well. Clean and stylish looking car.
My first car was a second-hand 1968 Hillman Arrow built by Chrysler Australia. Nice car, but leaked like a sieve when it rained. Traded it after a year or so for a Chrysler built Galant.
I believe all of them had the same problem, the water was leaking into the legroom. This was my experience with few of them which we owned then I was checking others cars to see the rust in the same area! I think there had been a problem in the mold of the firewall
In the 1990s I worked for Mr Mahmoud Khayami at one of his Mercedes Benz dealerships . Thanks so much for all your hard work
Mr khayyami was productor of first paikan
There's still a few hunters knocking around here in Aus. 😊
My old man had a Hillman husky, the imp based estate. Appalling little thing, the alloy block had warped an kept blowing head gaskets with the engine under the estate floor, we'd be on the side of the road unloading the boot, the old man fitting a new gasket, we carried a few & jerry can of water "just in case".
Ahhh memories of the 70s
My mate bought a single owner car for a song because he grew up in one. Auto of course so it's slow but it's in very good condition.
@@Low760 if you can find a "old man's" Sunday driver especially from the "dry" states they'd make great practical classic
Had quite a few rides in the Hillman Hunter as a taxi cab in Tehran back in the early to mid 1980's. The Hillman Hunter was also popular in Australia as the "family second car" for the wife or daughter. Great video, well researched, most enjoyable, thank you.
I was a Rootes Group apprentice from 1961 - one of my friends working in the stores (Singer factory in Small Heath, Birmingham) was employed to produce 'Knock Down Parts of the Hunter to export to Iran.
A friend of mine used to work there too & towards the end they would take a window out in the upper floors & throw all the new spares out of the window to the skips down below, he did luckily have very wide trousers to help keep my Hunter & Sunbeam Alpine sports on the road
The car shown at 8:38 is the Peugeot Pars, a locally produced Peugeot 405 and maybe as popular as the Hilmann.
So enjoy your videos, Greetings from New Zealand. Keep up the great work
I was working in Iran 46 years ago, I remember the Paykan and the Hunter based Irannational pickup truck. I particularly liked the Jeep based Symorgh pickups. There was also a company called Iran Kaveh which assembled R-series Mack trucks.
I remember the Paykan in 1974 when we went there for a year for my dads job. Apart from a few old 1950s american cars nearly all the taxis were Paykans. I had forgotten about these till I saw your video 😁.
My first car was a Hunter, I've googled Peykan numerous times. It's nice to see the Hunter with Chrysler lights, great video as always.
Amazing story, thanks for your research and sharing.
Tom,, this channel just gets better and better. Great work
Thanks Ian, appreciate it!
The Renault 12 was another old European car that became very popular in Iran.
Bloody good car, the Renault 12.
I remember going on holiday to Turkey as a teenager - imagine my surprise to see that the police were driving a locally-made version of the Renault 12. One incident stuck in my head - I watched this outside the hotel we were staying in... Picture the scene: two coppers in one of these pulling over a top of the range Mercedes for some motoring offence. Down goes the driver's window of the Merc, out comes a handful of Turkish Lira notes into the hand of one of the police, and the Benz speeds off.
@@iana6713 Sounds about right for an eastern Mediterranean country!
Was it perhaps built in Romania by Dacia and exported to Turkey and Iran?
@@TommyWylieSpot on! I looked it up after my last comment. It was the Dacia 1300 in Iran.
Had a few Hunter variants back in the day. Great car and the looks haven't dated as much as other 60s cars.
Our neighbour out here in NZ in the 1980s had a Singer Vogue, which was another variant on the Hunter.
My first car in 1983 was a Chrysler Australia made 1972 Chrysler Hunter Royal 4 speed manual .
I had the final Australian version for a year it was reliable besides getting parts from then Mitsubishi Australia paper gasket seals etc had to be ordered.
The final Australian version had different back lights and different grill to blend in with the larger 6cyl American design Chrysler Dodge Valiant family car .
Had standard Australia design rules by 71 72 headrest /full bucket seats.
Was comfortable car to drive quite reliable built strong.
Was still around a few on roads in Australia especially western Australia until 2010 seen last one in the local shopping centre carpark.
I owned one as a lad in the eighties. Back then the choice was normally Ford, Vauxhall or Leyland.
I bought it cheap and ran it for a year until the next MOT when I found out why it was cheap!
Never mind. It was a great car back in it's day, I remembering it driving so well compared with the usual cars available.
The car at 3:37 is Hyundi pony in yellow which Shered its door handles with the mk4 ford cortina 😊
Very interesting. My sister had 2 Hunters - a 1967 one and a 1974 one. I had a 1973 Hunter automatic, then a 1972 Humber Sceptre variant. Excellent cars - much nicer than the Cortina, in my opinion. Great video - thanks. Take care 🙂
Thanks Michael!
There is often a Paycan parked outside the Iranian Store, 156 Uxbridge Road, West Ealing. However it’s believed to be a Hillman Hunter trimmed with Paycan parts imported from Iran!
Taftoon Bakery?
Why ikc don't separate peykan In 2023 and now product arisn2 😢
On way to a scout camp, my mates dad had a Hunter, posh one with the ribbed rear panel, the back axle fell out, for a brand new car that’s usually considered ‘sub optimal’ asides from these issues Rootes made some half decent cars, another missed opportunity
My great uncle had a Hillman Avenger, he bought it second hand and drove it (albeit less and less frequently) up until his death in the mid nineties by which time only 50% of the body panels were the original British racing-esque green
I recently drove and sold a Roots 1970 sunbeam vogue for a friend who passed away. I was well impressed with the car and the quality build comparing it with BL and fords of the time.
There's a hillman hunter I see near me in what looks like off white but I have only ever seen it at night.
Lovely video. I almost bought one of these, but I didn't. Kinda always regretted that decision.
Well Tom, much credit to you. Excellent video again. Always had a soft spot for the Hillman Hunters.
Going off on a bit of a side road, have you ever done a video or anything on the Austin Metropolitan? Before my parents came to Uk from Canada my mother had a Nash Metropolitan which was the same car. It looked quite a nice thing
I was on a business trip to Tehran in 1977/78 and frequently used Paykan taxis to get around. Perfectly good car. The only Rootes Group car which I ever owned was a 1963 Alpine or "Husky GT" as it was sometimes called (the Alpine used the Husky's short wheelbase chassis). Rusty but fun...
Great story. I am of an age where I remember seeing them on uk streets. Great work on the video 👌
My dad worked in the Linwood plant for 30yrs seeing the transition from railway DMU & EMU units , wagons and the I’ll fated Road Railer trailer through to the end of car production.
Sad ending. There's a great docu on TH-cam about the last days of Linwood.
@@sebastian0107 I have seen it. Lies from the management regarding them creating strikes.
@@johnmontgomery9149 It's closing must have been awful for the workforce there. Of course, when the Imp was introduced, it took some time to make it an oiled operation, but by the 70's it was. And probably building better cars than BL. Peugeot's rationalization scheme added with Tatcherism.
My dad and I had quite a few hunters between us, we were travelling salesman, always buying second hand cars, we found the hunter to be reliable tough cars capable of a lot of miles.
I owned a Hilman Hunter in the late 70s. It was a lovely car.
The most sought after variant in this country is the Hunter GLS. It may sound a little humble, but it's actually mechanically the same as the Holbay-tuned Rapier H120 coupé!
My dad had a few of these. The last one i remember was biege JOV 910P .it had trim around the back lights with a flap for the fuel filler.
Tom, A great video thanks; I recall towing an Eccles caravan with my fathers Hilman Hunter 5 up ! Surrey to Perrancombe in Cornwall. Would you consider doing a piece of vehicle production/assembly in Nigeria from the 1960's to 2000. There is a piece on Wikki but it started with the TJ Bedford to Leyland ;Land Rover /Range Rover -Peugeot 404 Pick up to 504 passenger cars and VW Beetle/Kombi bus etc..
My Dad had a Hillman Hunter and so did my Grandad, so plenty of Hunter memories!
Hillman Hunters and Avengers were still a common sight on UK roads in the eighties. I had friends that drove them. As it rolled round to the nineties they virtually disappeared and are extremely rare now. Didn’t know about the extended life of the Hunter abroad though. Similar stories to Fiat, who sold their designs to former eastern bloc countries.
I owned one, by then a rust bucket. Lime Green 1.8l (?) with a twin carb.
The gear box was so smooth, just perfect, Loved it, but the MOT killed it!!!
A lot of parts from the Minx/Hunter were used to build the Ginetta GRS Tora
There used to be a company in South London who had masive stocks of new/old stock Rootes parts. The yard and sheds were vast. After the Iranian revolution the govenment over there put an order in to the south london company for 3 containers full of suspension parts for hunters. These were sent from south london but never reached Iran due to being stopped at customs because the metal was deemed to be of good enough quality that could be melted down to make arms. The parts were sized by the UK authoroties and never seen again.
R J Grimes of Coulsdon?
That's the one. Couldn't remember the name. I worked for Speedy Spares in Brighton and got told the story while I was there.
@@daveollie6238 Didn't Speedy Spares buy out a lot of Grimes stock when it closed?
I used to get parts for my MK2 Sceptre from Grimes... Used to ring them with a list and then send a cheque with a covering letter. Happy days!
@@dj_efk yes, that was them
Very interesting. It was also referred to as the Peykan. (The name is Persian for Arrow, which makes sense.) Producing the CKD kits, (completely knocked down), kept the Humber Road Factory in Coventry in work for many years.
It was a good deal for Rootes as you say.
I visited Todd motor company in New Zealand as a kid. They were building Hunters along with Avengers on the same line from CKD kits. Many of those cars lasted over 20 years however stricter rust rules killed them in the mid 90s.
I have known about the Iranian Paykan as back in the 1970s l owned a couple of Hillmans and my brother is still into Rootes Group cars and l knew about the Paykan and thanks for the history about the Paykan also the Paykan ute that blew me away l like utes have owned a couple of them myself and still own a 1997 Hilux ute another Rootes Group Hillman you could look at the Isuzu Hillman Minx
We learned to drive in our Mum’s automatic Hunter GT. Very fond memories, we live in New Zealand, I think it was locally assembled here.
I'm 64. My 1st car was Hillman Hunter 1725. At 17 I was fortunate to be able to afford to run one of these.
I had a UK Hillman Hunter GLS, gorgeous induction sound from the twin Weber 40s.
Probably a modded 1725 iron block, they gave good power.
@@philtucker1224
Standard block as far as I remember apart from the sump. It had a different head and exhaust manifold. After I rebuilt the engine, I had a fairly respectable 105 HP at the wheels.
@@gmo4250 yes that sounds pretty realistic, I built one back in 1975 with a mild road/rally cam and that gave similar figures at the flywheel on a test bed dyno.
@@philtucker1224
A little extra information, the block was bored out to 1800 by Oselli Engineering in Oxford and the head was reworked by them. I replaced the air box with a K&N filter. The overall increase in performance was very noticeable.
Great video, I'm especially interested in cars for other markets and their stories.
Worked on many as they were a current car in the 80's, used to do a HLS for an old boy, metallic purple, first time I lifted the bonnet confronted with twin 40's and Holbay rocker cover. Had a basic estate in the early 2000's, went really well. Not a bad car really for the day.
i drive these cars all the time i own two and i love driving them, especially now there is a 20 mph speed limit in wales, ideal for crusing in your classic, lol, also more spares avalable for them now whoop whoop.
In the late 1960s, you could rent a Paykan in Tehran for the entire weekend for around 2000 Rials. By far the majority of taxis in Iran were orange painted Paykans. They were easy to drive and very reliable.
In early 70's SA gov implemented local % policy, and to comply Hillman installed the Peugeot engine.
The Hunter was a good car. When I was a lad my uncle had one, BDV 473L which was beige(Prarie Wind) in colour.
The 'fast' Hunter was the GLS which had the Holbay engine with twin 40DCOE carbs
I’ve heard of that one, I’d like to do a video on fast Hillmans
@@tomdrives The same Holbay engine was also fitted to the fastback (Arrow Range) Sunbeam Rapier designated as Sunbeam Rapier H120
I had a Holbay Hunter, bought cheap with a short mot and too much rust, drove it through the summer scrapped in the autumn, nobody kept cars as an investment
Thanks for your research which I was unable to do as I live in new Zealand
Like Hillman avenger in Argentina ended production in 1990 as VW 1500
One of the first things that I did, when I first got online, was to research why there seemed to be so many Hillman Hunters in Tehran every time that it was on the news.
My dad had a green 1725 powered one with a black vinyl roof OSN 900M. Eventually the driver side doors would not open and the tinworm got hold of it. He always said it was one of the quickest cars he owned and the engine would probably go on forever.
My first car was a hillman hunter DL in white ..RYA 448L had the twin doomed instrument cluster ...had it for 5 years
Funny we're talking Hillman's, I found a brand new Grille badge for a Hillman Super Minx a couple of days ago
Top show mate loved it how about the Sherpa vid that be good 🛠️🤠 JB
That hoodie's amazing. Is it made out of mid 90's Peugeot seat fabric?
I got told once I looked like a bus seat.
I had a Singer Vogue, and there was a single pic of a vogue front grill on a production line, so that trim was used? I still have a tiny bit of 'Arrow' (never knew it was called that) on the back of my Aston Martin DBS which has the rear lights!
When I was a small child we lived in wales and our neighbour had a couple of these, I remember one was a metallic brown and the other was a beautiful metallic blue/green colour. They both had the chrome rear tail light surrounds and looked very smart and almost American in design, well compared to our beige Mini Pickup anyway 😅
That facelift front was obviously lifted from the Ford Granada MK1
back in the good old bad old days when I were a lad and men were men and sheep were scared, I got to work on a few Hunters. can't remember any issue with them other than the normal bits which are supposed to wear out + rust, though not as bad as most. a real rock solid car, boringly reliable and styled, the Toyota of its day. incredible how it lived on and even got rebodied lol. clearly the car is good for many climates and conditions, maybe it could eventually scrape into the top 10 most produced cars in history one day?
dare I suggest doing a video on George Turnbull. he has a fascinating history. if Turnbull had ended up at the top of BLMC it may well have survived.
They didn't feel built as lightweight as a Cortina/Taunus, that I remember: solid doors, quality feel.
I spent 9 months in Tehran in ‘ 88/‘89 with the UN at the end of the Iran/Iraq war. Paykans were thick on the ground and practically every taxi was a Paykan. We were told at the time that Paykan is Farsi for Arrow, which makes sense.
Videos on the Ford Cortina, Triumph 2000/2500 and Jaguar XJ series would be great, thanks.
I own a Fastback Rapier, one of the many variants of the Hillman Hunter
UK's own Barracuda! In Holland they were badged as Sunbeam. They were really chique. One guy in our street owned one from new in blue metallic with all the stripes and options: lovely car. Resale value was poor, so he hung onto it for over ten years. Good luck with yours!
The image of the Paykan ad at the start of the video quite a historical document. An ad made after the Islamic revolution of '79 would have had the young lady dressed rather differently or not in the advert at all I'm sure.
Watched from Old Harbour Jamaica and they were a common site in Jamaica 🇯🇲. My family owned a number of them over the years more so the Avenger (I still own a Imp). I knew about the Iran 🇮🇷 production from my Motor magazine back in the 1980's and it good to see it's still going strong. I'm disappointed of the British destroying their own auto industry for we use to swear my them.
I bought a 1725 auto gold coloured Humber Sceptre in late 1980. It was great for lugging my mates around London and not long after my new girlfriend too (who looked a bit like Debbie Harry). It sadly blew the engine after a trip "up north" for Christmas and New Year ('83) in Wetherby. It wasn't worth the repair bill so was written off. A comfortable car that looked stylish without being garish. A few years earlier I had an old "Audax" Minx for a few months which used more oil than petrol.
Great Cars Hillman Hunters / Hillman Minx’s / Chrysler Hunters / Singer Gazelles wonderful motors & although Rootes joined up with Peugeot Talbot / I remember Rightly Talbot Solara Replaced All the Rootes Hunter Cars under Hillman / Humber / Chrysler / Singer
lots of Hillman in Cuba
LDV vans is an interesting one as the old shape UK built ones ended up being produced in Turkey under the BMC vans.
the 405 on hunter floorpan is a weird one
I didn’t know that either until this, it was quite a shock.
@@tomdrives i remeber hearing it on a 405 video, might have been bigcar, i think they got the fwd 405 at the same time
@@davelister7183 correct that’s the normal 405 which is produced by Peugeot Persian (Peugeot Pars)
I think the Peugeot with the Hunter running gear is known as the Rao
@@johnburns4017 lighter shell and mpg gains i assume. for an academic exercise look up the wikipedia page of the paykan and the the 405 rwd to compare both.
Hi Tom how are you, who made your manifold I've recently bought a 65 hillman super minx and would like to convert to a Weber carburettor thanks
Iran rules the world of cars!!!!!
I used to have an 1978 Chrysler Avenger 1.6 GL. A shame, as I sold it years ago, but the car is stil alive.
my father used to own ford cortina and morris minor when i was young [70S]....missed old goodies of Brits cars
The rear lights are highly sought after as both Aston and Lotus raided the Rootes group parts bin……
Paykan is the Iranian word for Arrow. This pleases me.
I meant no disrespect@@cc51520 I was told this 40 years ago by a Rootes worker. My reason was to pass on a nugget of info was to point out the symmetry of naming the cars after its code name.
@@cc51520Professor, he is not wrong, Farsi is an Iranian language!
I used to own a 67 round headlights model hunter 1725 ,I did go to a Chrysler dealer in a local town in new Zealand south island Timaru cost was little over 4k I wanted a manual but the salesman turned up with a automatic 3spd borge Warner nice car 🚨🚗
Great Car Story, any from South America or Africa?
It is to your wonder perhaps that face-lifted version of Paykan (means arrow in Persian) with bigger headlights also got fuel injection system. And they are still pretty reliable cars, if to say the only problematic parts were carbs and ignition systems. These cars also work great with CNG, although emissions wise they are terrible.
My uncle own a hillman hunter in the 70s and it was a great car
Is that related to the Chrysler Humber Sceptre? My Dad bought one of those in '73.
Did you know that Paykan is the Farsi word for arrow - the Rootes name for the Hunter family that succeeded the Audax? So even the name lived on.
Fascinating story , id heard they were continued in Iran but no idea just how many and for as long
Btw had to re- subscribe today I'd been 'untubed! '
Cheers Tom. Mitch
I had a Minx hunter then a Hillman Avenger GT...Great cars for the time..
Had an Avenger in the 70s/ 80s traded it in for a mk1Cavalier .