Back in the 70s I worked for Borg Warner (engineering dept) working on the introduction of the model 45 auto transmission, I spent much of my time road testing Arrows (Hunter/Sceptre etc) & Avengers to get the shift quality right.

 

As I was spending a lot of time at Chryslers Ryton factory I found out about the once a month Saturday morning sale of all management & pool cars which were offered to employees at massive knock down prices. The engineering manager I was working with there offered me the chance to buy one in November 1974. 

 

When the sale day came around, there were 50 or so cars from the Simca 1000 Ralley to Chrysler 180/2.0L and loads of Imps, Avengers Hunters etc. Most had around 200 - 300 miles on the clock.

 

I was drawn to a Sunflower yellow Hillman Hunter 1725 GL with O/drive (GKV 3 N) which had only 12 miles on the clock. I was told it was one of the show cars from the Earls Court Motor Show the previous month. It had been transported each way and registered when it returned to Ryton and not been driven on the road at all, and, it had been fitted with a number of extras because it was a motor show car. 

 

I bought it for £720 – the showroom price at that time was approx £1400. Chrysler sent all the sale cars to White Gates garage Coventry for a full check over before delivery and I drove it back to South Wales on the Wednesday ...I was very happy with my half price Hunter. 

I never had a photo of the car but 4 years later I bought another one direct from Chrysler ... one of the very last Hunters, as the production run had already stopped. It was a 1725 Super with o/drive box and loaded with extras and only 160 miles on the clock, and I paid just £680 for it...VFP498S and I took a photo of this one...sorry about photo quality but they are 37 years old!

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Phil Williams