Avengers for sale around the world...

[oldschool]

Yeah this car is more your style Paddy...LOL

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-ORIGINAL-CLASSIC-HILLMAN-IMP-POLICE-CAR-1972-66000MILES-SUPERB-/330781036813?_trksid=p4340.m1982&_trkparms=aid%3D555001%26algo%3DPW.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D29%26meid%3D1615065048125128198%26pid%3D100009%26prg%3D1013%26rk%3D1%26

[Paddy75]

Hahahaha Officer Imp? Well the Suffolk constabularaly, const.. thats hard to spell!
The price of petrol musta been an issue for the ratepayers.

The Imp had its faults but a great fun car to drive I believe. More pep than a Mini although a squeezed thermostat was very necessary.

BTW as I read in an old article the Ave/beam engines do like to run a wee bit on the cool side, I noticed that on mine too, when the gauge is just under or about half way between C & N the engine seems to have more zip. Apparently squeezing the 'stat makes it open 'bout 75deg.

Did the same on me this morning, I have the Avenger in Dublin with me this week due to the exhaust falling outta the Shitroen. When the gauge is a bit low it seems very lively.
Must give the thermostat a squeeze.

Hahaha talking of the Fuzz, was a Garda Corolla (yawn) took a good look at her!

''..musha-sho Mick the auldSuper had those..'' (Kerry Gard joke)

[oldschool]

Yeah I read that somewhere too...the best temp for Avengers is around 72 to 75 deg. depending on their state of tune I guess?
In standard engines the inlet manifold is bolted to the exhaust manifold and warms up quickly, but getting too hot the fuel mixture will vapourise reducing power, so cooler water in the cylinder head will cool down the inlet manifold and keep the mixture condensed.

[Paddy75]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hillman-Hunter-GL-Saloon-1974-/370642730080?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item564c073c60

Nice Hunter, that one is the the type just before they got the anodized rear covers bit, thing. Do we like Hunters? Every Farmer had one, real 'culchie' (means red-neck) car they were. Strong old bus so they were and the alloy-headed Rootes 1725cc lump they had I suppose gave good performance while not being the typical fuel guzzling Cortina....Ahh-ha! Thats why the Farmers likes them!
The Cortinas had a slow 1600cc Pinto which still only gave 20mpg or the 2.0 which made you a great friend of the service stations!

The Holbay 120, they had a good rep'.

Shergar the wonder hose was hitched to a Hunter when he got stolen I believe.
A (Farmer of course) Uncle of mine had a poo brown one and I remember it being very comfortable. Of course the cool looking centre roof mounted cabin light I just had to be messing with. I think it was reg' KOI 1234 so it musta been about 1975/6 it had the metal bits round the rear, don't remember it having opening quarter-lights so it was a Super I guess - oh if it had I would have been 'futtering' about with them!

[oldschool]

Looks tidy Paddy...is that British Racing Green...hold on...can't be...it's a Hunter!!
1974 was the last year of the classic Hunter style here...1975 saw the uglyfied Chrysler Hunter...with the Avenger getting similar treatment a couple of years later!

[Paddy75]

Oh I'd get very opinionated about what Chrysler did to the Rootes stable. Funny how the MK2 Avenger feels like a very diffrent car. Good motor the MK2 don't get me wrong, they were very good, its just the Avenger was a late 60's/early '70s coke-bottle car like the MK3 'Tina. Oh hey, progress..
Peugeot too did a mac the knife job on them as well. Wouldn't have taken much to make a MK3 5 speed Avenger for the 80's. Pug had some pretty good engines esp. the diesels.
I had a 1995 306 Sedan SRDT that was made in Ryton, it never rusted.

Here the Hunter was still called a Hillman after the '74 on rear chrome thing upgrade. They got the Chrysler badge about '78 on when they got the Secptre type front end with the four round headlights. The Chrysler Hunters here funnily enough were all made in Dublin. I can only guess this was because of them being still popular with Irish Farmers and maybe when the tooling was shipped to Iran it was easier to get customs passed in Ireland at the time.

For a while in the North of Ireland the traffic branch all had the Chrysler Hunters and there is a guy around my neck of the woods has one with only 1,500 miles on it. Apparently it was hit when new and was just stored and forgotten about.

Yeh I like Hunters too but a bit big and heavy to drive much. Petrol here is to hit ?1.80/l as the government tries to pull in more money before the banks go bang - again. Without going too much into politics ane economics there are 40,000 unpaid mortgages here and that time-bomb is about to explode.

I have a sister in New Zealand at the moment and a brother on Australia. Both have told us that finance in Aus & NZ is still pretty conservative with a bank requiring you to have saved 10-15% of a houses value before they even consider your mortgage application.
That used to be the way here too, then the banks decided to get clever...

On the birght side the economy is slowly picking up and the old reliables like beef exports is booming. The oil find off the coast of Cork is viable apparently.
Hmmm, wonder could we get the whole of Ireland into America! Here ya go Sam, the North Atlantic on a plate!

[Paddy75]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hillman-Avenger-1973-/160879979403?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item257531ab8b

A 1500cc GLS. I see the ditch side strut is looking a bit diffrent from the drivers side!

[oldschool]

My 1500 has the same arrangement, just the drivers side has been replaced and it's poking through the top of the mount, still a 1/2 thread so using the original mount. Lots of different struts used in Avengers. I know some Avengers had a 9/16' thread strut and a different top mount and the Chrysler ones had a different KPI so can't be used in a Hillman, unless the lower arm is changed too.

[Paddy75]

Yeh its a bit nuts the number of diffrent struts they had, even the MK1 had 3 diffrent types on standard models with disc brakes. The earliest ones had convex spring mounts then they got concave type and the Series 4's have year unique struts.
Then the granny-mush drum braked ones were diffrent again. I believe fitting the S8 on struts and TCA's is the business to optimize the suspension for radial tyres. As far as I know the earliest MK2 still had the later MK1 struts and TCA's with still the rod link throttle and points ignition.
They do tram-line a fair bit esp. in reverse.
Mine needs a new strut top mount on the drivers side as its mushroomed.

Been driving the Avenger full time now for two weeks as there was bother getting the exhaust for the Shitroen.
I have to say the Avenger was a good driving car - okay a bit noisy, sure.
Was talking to a guy in his MK2 Cortina last week, it looked great and it was the later crossflow engined type. However the consumption and the splutters out of it!
Oh the Viva was easier to run but handled like a wheelbarrow and the 3 main bearing engines were total shite, was told that the crank thrust-ing was wild on them at 30,000 miles!
The Marina - yeh, aye right.
Ford Escort, the business for going sideways, every other way uncomfortable no-torque thirsty clutch burner.

Sure I'm biased, but the more I see of other mainstream cheap cars of the era the more and more I'm convinced that the Avenger was the very best of a bad lot!

As for trying to get the mixture spot-on, forget it. Modern petrol/gas/whatever has the bio-mix in it so it just does not carburate the same as the petrol back in the day.
The only way you'll get a totally smooth fast idle is setting the mixture rich and then while the car will ceartanly be lively the fumes from the exhaust are a bit anti-soical.
I have mine set to slight lean, plugs red/white and while the car is a bit dead it is giving 35mpg.
You are right Oldschool about that 75degC ideal running temp for Avengers as when she is half warm the idle is smooth but at hot its struggling.
Probabbly should richen her slightly.
Thinking that sandwitching the heat spacer thing in DPC felt and cutting a manifold gasket in half and fitting over the complete gasket to take the inlet back from the head a wee bit might help.

The coughs and splutters out of that crossflow Cortina though! Naa-na-na-na-naaa Fordies!

Anyhow back to more mundane driving now as the Citroen is back on the road. Avenger goes back to being a weekend toy.

[oldschool]

Here's an ex-museum Avenger 1500 on eBay...check out the home made tow bar!!!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1972-Hillman-Super-Avenger-/221122724918?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item337bf10436

[avenga]

Dual coil?

[Paddy75]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1972-Hillman-Super-Avenger-/221122724918?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item337bf10436

Yikes! Bad reg'!
Some towbar! Musta been towing a lawn mower trailer or something. Pea green interior! Ribbit.

[oldschool]

You can see where they've cut the exhaust pipe so it doesn't rattle on the tow bar...which is going black from the exhaust carbon...haha
Don't they have some sort of Euro standard for tow bars Paddy?
Surely that wouldn't pass or it doesn't matter on 40 year old cars?!

[Paddy75]

Yeh there is the imfamous Euro NCAP Star rating for new cars, however they are tested as LHD so for famous example a RHD Fiat Punto has 4 Stars because it was crash-tested as a LHD, but if you crash a RHD one you are in the serious risk of losing your legs, as what happened to an American woman here in Ireland a couple of years ago.
Oh the Yankees don't at all sue when that happens, so now Puntos are banned by the car hire firms (hooray!)
RHD is probabbly better as most people lead with their right eye and its natural instinct to lean left in an emegency, however most cars (except some Hondas) are optimized for LHD, so on a RHD you are sitting behind the engine, not the gearbag.
I noticed on the Avenger that the indicator stalk on the right (as they all used to be) is a better job, your left hand is free for the gears.

Anyhow there I am meandering off in tangents again, yes Oldschool you are right, that towbar would not pass an MoT or Technicial Control. There are laws about the height of the hitch and esp. as the bar is actually lower than the valence it could never pass a test. Mind you the GB test is carried out by private garages so 'familarity' shall we say does breed contempt, and a bottle of Vodka!

Its likely the divil's own green Avenger was on private roads for years and was used to tow some sort of lawnmower. You rip that towbar off it anyhow! The standard towbar Avengers got did not help their looks too much as far as I remember them.

Well now, a half decent GLS will sell! The GLS had a Holset fan compared to the fixed one on the 4door GT's, let two more horses outta the stable.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hillman-Avenger-1973-/160879979403?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item257531ab8b

Being Jan 1973 it is not tax-exempt, however once you prove it was built before 1/1/73 it is exempt, easy enough on a Jan'73 motor!

[Paddy75]

They are all on the 'bay!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Chrysler-Hillman-Avenger-1-3-/290774020039?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item43b37b6fc7

A likely heavily restored early MK2 - S reg' so that'll still have the points and the vinyl roof could not have been a factory fitted job as its a DL by the looks of the pocktless door cards. Still a good everyday Avenger.
A good candidate for dropping an Isuzu 1.7D engine with a Sierra gearbox into it - and a MK1 dashboard of course! I wonder how much work it would take to Hillmanize the rear of them - anyhow not for me but if I was in England and at ?900 thats worth a punt.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HILLMAN-AVENGER-1500-BASIC-GREEN-/221123987473?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item337c044811

The Rootes lime green (very rusty colour) MK1 Avenger Basic is back for sale and as previously suspected its clean rotten, I'd guess the drivers door pillar is dust also.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1972-Hillman-Super-Avenger-/221122724918?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item337bf10436

The divil's own MK1 is going rapidly up the money, I have a 'Start the good life with the Avenger' 1972 Brochure and the Super model pages is exactly like that one, forest green with a groovy green interior too. Even does not have the roof rail strip like this one, funnily enough the light blue DL did have the strip, likewise the Orange 4door GT also didn't have the roof strip, musta been a colour thing.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Avenger-1972-tax-excempt-rally-car-prdject-/130763865500?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item1e72223d9c

This one is probabbly in better shape than the lime green basic one, as you can see by the price too.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hillman-Avenger-1973-/160879979403?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item257531ab8b

21 bids on the purple MK1 GLS, I'd say that lady is worth ?1800 assuming there is nothing too serious wrong with her body.