Headlight Shapes and "Marks" 1 2 and 3 explained

[JoKer]

Our beloved Hillmans/Chrylsers are distinguished into 7 "series's" or Mark's (Think Escort Mk I/II etc)

tho one thing that I never figured out was which got the twin Lights vs the Square & obviously the later/80's Chrysler got the big squares

so I asked on the ASOC FB page & here's the reply

Avenger Sunbeam Owners Club Hi Jared M The GL and GLS along with the Mk2 Tiger got the twin headlights, all other models had the single headlights until the later Chrysler Talbot cars that all had the larger headlamp through the range.

hope that helps with identification or clarification of your car

please add anything that might be relevant/of interest regarding headlights here

/replacement parts numbers hints tips etc

[oldschool]

The workshop manuals describes 'Series' only...series 4 is 1974, 6 is 1976, 8 is 1978 etc. The 'Mark' reference is a colloquial description the Avenger acquired over the years...Mark 1 Hillman 1970-73, Mark 2 Hillman 1974-77 and Mark 3 Chrysler model 1977-81.

The headlights were pretty straight forward in NZ Hillman models, just the 1973-77 Alpine had twin round lights along with the 4 dial dash.
I did see a blue Hillman wagon on TradeMe a few years ago with the twin lights and a blue 4 dial dash as well.
That would have been a UK assembled GL wagon. There were quite a few Hillman GL and GLS car imported built up from the UK as NZ assembly couldn't keep up with demand at times. You can tell a GL from a GLS as the GLS always had a vinyl roof.
The UK models had colour matched dashboards as well. I understand all NZ Hillman models only had black dashboards as they were made here, not part of the CKD kit.

[blekkja]

Are UK dashboards are better than NZ ones? In terms of sun damage and not looking like shit?

[oldschool]

No...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2059210.m570.l2632.R2.TR6.TRC2.A0.H0.Xhillman+avenger.TRS0&_nkw=hillman+avenger&ghostText=&_sacat=29751

[NZTiger]

Dashboards were never made in NZ, all pack items and all black until Series 7 when they were all brown.
NZ's high UV meant that they didn't last as long here as in UK as the plasticiser in gets baked out quicker.

[JoKer]

The 'Mark' reference is a colloquial description the Avenger acquired over the years...Mark 1 Hillman 1970-73, Mark 2 Hillman 1974-77 and Mark 3 Chrysler model 1977-81.

Still some of the awesome info snippits of this forum I come back to find every now & then