Hillman Minx History

The Minx name first appeared on a Hillman in 1931–32, on a compact, conventional family saloon with a 1,185 cc side-valve four-cylinder engine. Conceived under the influence of the Rootes brothers, who were taking control of Hillman, it was pitched squarely at the affordable middle-class market and became the company's defining model.

The 1935 Minx was among the first mass-produced cars to be offered with an all-synchromesh gearbox. Through the 1950s and 1960s the Minx anchored Rootes' 'Audax' family of cars — a clean, Raymond Loewy-influenced design shared, via badge engineering, with Singer, Sunbeam, and Humber siblings — making it one of the highest-volume British cars of its era.

The classic Minx ran until 1967; the name was then briefly reused for a basic, smaller-engined version of the new Hillman Hunter (the 'New Minx', 1967–1970) before being retired. The badge later resurfaced on Talbot special editions in the 1980s.