Good morning! We’re still working our way through the alphabet, and today we’re going to put it in H, with a pair of imported economy cars from different eras. Crazy Valclav isn’t involved, but they are both being sold at dealerships, so as always, buyer beware.
Yesterday, I gave you a wide variety of choices starting with the letter G, and I’m sure none of us are surprised that the big GMC pickup won. It’s a good price for a whole lot of truck, not the sort of thing you’d want to daily drive, but when you need it, nothing else will do. What did surprise me, though, is that the Welsh Wonder put up such a strong showing. I’ve been a fan of the Gilbern GT ever since someone showed up with one at the Portland All-British Field Meet a few years ago, but I had no idea they were so rare.
But I already have my MGB GT, which is too similar to the Gilbern to make a case for it, and I prefer my green GMT400 to that big-block monster. So they’re both out of the running for me. The Goggomobil is adorable, but my neighborhood empties out onto a highway with average speeds of about 60 MPH, so I don’t think it would do me any good. That leaves the Metro, and I’d be happy to have another one. They’re fun to drive, butt-simple to fix, and capable of some amazing feats.
That Metro is a perfect segue into today’s choices, since both of these are cheap economy cars, too. Or rather, they were, in their day. But as we all know, after attrition has taken most of them off the road, even the most humble machine becomes a “classic,” and prices rise accordingly. But there’s old, and then there’s old – one of today’s choices is from the same year as Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure; the other pre-dates The Wizard Of Oz by two years. Will one of them leave you stranded along the Yellow Brick Road? Is the other totally bogus? Let’s check them out and see.
1937 Hillman Minx Drophead Coupe – $12,000
Engine/drivetrain: 1.2-liter flathead inline 4, four-speed manual, RWD
Location: Morgantown, PA
Odometer reading: 86,000 miles
Operational status: Cranks but won’t start
Wow, look at that: cars with suicide doors two days in a row! Today we have the Hillman Minx, a small car produced by the Rootes Group in Great Britain. This Minx is a “drophead coupe,” which is basically a very British way of saying “convertible.” It’s a left-hand-drive version originally sold in Canada, and the seller claims it is the only one of its kind known to still exist. We’ve had rare cars on here before, but I don’t think we’ve ever featured the only one left.
The Minx is powered by an 1185 cubic centimeter inline four, a flathead of course – overhead valves in 1937 were only for the wealthy. It does boast one technological innovation, however: in 1935, the Minx was the first mass-produced car offered with a fully-synchromesh transmission. This one does not currently run; it has been sitting for a long time. But flathead engines are simple; if you’ve got fuel, spark, and compression, it’ll run. You just have to figure out which one is missing.
Someone has begun restoring the interior; the door panels and dashboard look pretty good. The seats are a mystery; what lies beneath those cheap Wal-Mart seat covers? The seller isn’t saying. The shape looks wrong for the original seats, though. They look too new. The rear seat is in nice condition, though.
It’s incredibly dirty outside; the seller describes it as a “barn find,” and it looks like half the barn’s dust is still clinging to it. The seller says it has no “invasive” rust, which sounds good, and if the shiny parts are indicative of the paint’s condition, it’s actually not bad.
1989 Hyundai Excel GLS – $4,000
Engine/drivetrain: 1.5-liter overhead cam inline 4, three-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Odometer reading: 12,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives, but that’s all we know
Hyundai these days is a peddler of some pretty nice EVs, as well as a whole line of stylish internal-combustion-powered cars. But here in the US, it all started with this car, the original Excel. Based on Mitsubishi mechanicals and styled by Giugiaro, these cheap runabouts were everywhere for about a decade. After that, they all disappeared, either rusted away or worn out. I haven’t seen one on the road in at least ten or fifteen years. Come to think of it, this might be the last of its kind as well.
The Excel is powered by a 1.5-liter inline four of Mitsubishi design that makes about seventy horsepower. I have never seen one that did not leak oil, and I’ve serviced scores of these things. Most Excels had either four- or five-speed manual transmissions; you could only get an automatic on the fancy GLS model like this one. And, of course, it’s a simple three-speeder. There’s a video of it starting and running in the ad, but we don’t know much more than that. It has only 12,000 miles on the odometer; apparently no one ever drove this car. I guess I can’t blame them.
It looks pretty decent inside, but I don’t know what the hell happened to that steering wheel, and you’ll notice that one of the window cranks is lying in the foot well. That’s a sign of quality right there. It’s probably just missing the little metal clip that holds it in place. Pick one up from the Dorman HELP! rack while you’re at Autozone getting a nice new Grant steering wheel for it.
Rust was always the enemy of these original Excels, but this one seems all right. Apparently it was parked inside all these years. There is a dent in the right front fender and a crack in one taillight lens, but apart from that it’s remarkably clean. I don’t know what the market is like for the world’s nicest first-generation Hyundai Excel, but if there is one – here’s your car.
We’ve looked at a lot of Hondas here, which is why I avoided featuring one today. And Hudson and Hummer seemed too obvious, too. Besides, I like the idea of formerly ordinary cars that have become special just because there are hardly any left. Either one of these would draw a crowd at a car gathering. It’s just a matter of which one you’d rather explain.
A non-running Hillman vs a clearly over-priced lemon-era Hyundai?
So many better options available. That said, I’m shocked the Minx is favored 3:1.
Nope
The Excel was once ubiquitous and everywhere and is now completely absent American roads. A friend back in the mid-80’s cross-shopped the Yugo and Excel and I was astonished he chose the Excel, though either choice in a world of better and cheaper used cars was astonishing. Just for the Excel’s rarity alone I want it, though I’d have to do some serious negotiations on the price. This truly is a unicorn.
My first car was a mechanical (fraternal) twin to the Excel, except it had the 4 speed. I can still hear the gear reduction starter and the clacking of the solid rocker arms. So, that’s the one I went with, with the caveat that we’d have to negotiate on the price; the overall condition isn’t worth what they’re asking.
Yep, always wanted a prewar car, this one looks like it drove straight out of an Indiana Jones movie complete with dusty exterior, and the fact I’ve never seen another one before means it’d be super fun to drive to any car show. Price seems right given its condition and rarity. That’s exactly the kind of project I’d love to take on, much more so than a Hyundai anything.
I was hoping for an Imp, with its Coventry Climax derived engine, but this Minx is nice.
You guys never got the legendary drift king that was the Hyundai Pony?
My parents owned an Excel around the time I was born. It would be my choice if only for them to enjoy a deep bong rip of nostalgia.
While I would enjoy seeing the Minx in person at a museum or whatever, I have absolutely zero desire to own a pre-war car of any kind.
Bil & I used to play a game in which one would name the common symptoms of a reasonably common car which the other had to guess.
80s Hyundais were often the target.
‘Reasonably new car -not a diesel- with black bumper’ , for example. Many, many I saw back then seemed to suffer from oil ring failure at very low mileage.
Hilman all day
This was pretty easy, I’ll go w/ what I like as usual…the Hillman. It’s way more interesting, it’s got a classic body style, very unique features, is a stick, etc. The Excel is just ok and nothing special…it would still be good for someone who just needs a car though…especially w/ such low miles it still has a lot of life left in the Mitsu engine
Big nope. Both are incredibly overpriced.
The Hillman looks interesting as a project but it already is too expensive and needs too much money to make it good.
The Excel could be an interesting (yet boring at the same time) talking point, but 4K for a dented one with a broken interior is nuts.
Oh man. I was addled with a Hyundai Excel 5 sp.manual for a driving test, including open freeway. It has been fitted with a second wheel and pedals on the passenger side for the instructor to use in case of an emergency. They were mechanically linked to the mains. Saying it was a dog was an understatement. It actually gave the instructor a panic attack because it couldn’t get out of the way of traffic. We ended up detouring to surface streets then to some residential area, whereby the instructor led me to a random house. He jumped out and went in, came back out a few moments later with a beer, and told me I passed and just get us back to the school without taking the freeway.
I’d take the Hillman any day.