The Hunter that crossed the globe

If ever there was proof that you should always read car ads properly, this Hillman Hunter would be it. Not only is this a celebration of a rally gone by but also of the good-old classifieds that left ink on our fingertips and paper cuts on our thumbs.

While rally fans crowded and crowed to every Prodrive-produced Subaru Impreza with World Rally Championship history at the Brekkie Recce Assembly, this Hillman pottered in and backed into a pretty little spot beneath a tree.

A somewhat low-key, but very pleasing first outing since coming out of restoration. Half a century ago it was crossing continents on the 1970 London-Mexico World Cup Rally along with cars such as ‘Puff’, who we’ve met before on these pages.

But back to that advert.

“My dad spotted the car for sale in the back of Motoring News in 1993,” explains its custodian, Martin Moore. “It was mentioned in passing within another advert!”

He ringed it and rang to enquire about the Hunter – ‘condition as found, offers’.

“Having competed on smaller international events himself around the same time, he always had a keen interest in the event, so the opportunity to own a car that had completed it was too much to resist,” says Martin. “He then travelled down to Wales and saw it where it sat in a scrapyard, where presumably it had sat for many many years!”

“When we got the car it was in a very poor state,” Martin continues. “My dad and friends began the restoration, but it eventually got to a point where it was beyond him.

“Growing up with that car and others around me set me on my career path, and I ended up with the skills and contacts to finish off the work my dad had started.

“I got it basically finished in early 2020, ready for the 50th anniversary show at Gaydon. Unfortunately that has been delayed for two years, for obvious reasons, so your show was its first proper outing!”

The London-Mexico marked the football World Cups, leaving 1966 host England – more specifically, Wembley, where the final had been held – to drive right the way to Mexico and Mexico City, venue of the opening match and final in 1970.

Some of the biggest names in rallying entered, with Hannu Mikkola winning for Ford and Brian Culcheth second for Triumph. Mikkola’s team-mate Rauno Aaltonen claimed third ahead of Culcheth’s team-mate Paddy Hopkirk. Remarkably, great England goalscorer Jimmy Greaves shared with Tony Fall to sixth, one place behind Timo Mäkinen.

“Of all the Hillmans to enter the event, ours was the only one to make it to the finish in Mexico,” says Martin.

“It was the only privateer Hillman on the event, entered by a team from Cenarth in Wales. The car was prepared by one of the three competitors, Washington James, who owned a Singer dealership in Cenarth. Although our car was entered as a Hillman Hunter, presumably to secure works backing, it's actually a Singer Vogue. Presumably as he had a Singer dealership it was easy for him to get hold of!”

James shared with sometime international rally pairing Alun Rees and Hywel Thomas to 15th place, more than a day after Mikkola careered into Mexico City. Out of the 100+ that set off from north London, less than a quarter made it.

Even fewer of the cars survive today, making this Hunter a special thing indeed.