The motor show was always a good opportunity to show off the new wares of the industry. This is less of the case now than it was, of course, with just two major shows in Europe each year now for example. But back in 1948, this was most certainly still the case, and no one was more aware of it than the Rootes brothers, perhaps the British industry’s ultimate salesmen and showmen.
CC has seen before the importance of the 1948 London Motor Show, the first since 1938 with several milestone vehicles presented, and heard of the presentation skills of Billy (Lord) Rootes, the man who made a complete model out of a car, the 1935 Hillman Melody Minx, with a radio.
The 1948 British Motor Show, at the Earls Court exhibition centre in west London, was perhaps the most significant ever. Not only was it the first show since 1938, but it marked the debut of three of the great cars that put Britain back on its feet after the second World War – the Land Rover, the Morris Minor and the Jaguar XK120. Each could claim greatness, and many could spend a happy evening debating their relative merits and choosing one to go home in.
But there were many more debutants – each of the British manufacturers had something new to show, and Rootes were no exception. Their star cars were the new Minx, known as the Phase III Minx, new big Humber luxury saloons and new Sunbeam-Talbot sports saloons. Rootes were determined that their new Minx, commercially the most important of the three, would be remembered, but how?
The X-ray Minx was the answer. The idea is reported to have been from Geoffrey Rootes, son of Lord Rootes and then a director of the business, and was based on a car built with Perspex panels, coloured black, and lit powerfully from within the car. Add in a timer and strong lights on the interior of the vehicle, and you’re there. The effect included the engine bay, showing a turning engine and transmission driven off an electric motor.
The x-ray impression continued to the interior fittings, which would otherwise not have been visible, such as the seat frames, door cards and inner panels.
The Minx itself was a pretty unremarkable car – a unitary construction with a straight four engine of 1185cc, giving some 35 bhp and 63 mph. 0-60 was 24 seconds and 40 mpg was claimed. Suspension was independent at the front, using wishbones and leaf springs at the rear. Perhaps the stand out feature compared with its competitors was the Loewy styling, showing similarities to post war Studebakers, albeit in a truncated form. Some resemblance was evident in Rootes products for almost 20 years, until the Hillman Hunter/Sunbeam Arrow range came on the scene.
Assembly was completed in Coventry but with CKD assembly across the world in Rootes’ outposts, especially in Australia and New Zealand, as Britain pushed for exports. A total of 150,000 were built in five years, over three variations.
The panels were produced by Triplex, the safety and toughened glass business that was part of the Pilkington glass empire. Triplex was a name based on the idea of bonding glass in layers using adhesive plastic membranes.
And the cost? A regular Minx was £505, the X-ray Minx £15000.00, around 30 Minxes, equivalent to £400,000 today or around 20 Peugeot 308 hatchbacks, the spiritual successor to the Minx.
I suspect Lord Rootes would have considered it a bargain.
dowdy is the word!
Even a dowdy girl is more interesting if she is wearing a see-through outfit.
Just sayin’.
This brings back a memory of a GM showcar from before The War, a 1939 Pontiac with the body done entirely in clear Plexiglass. I believe the car still exists, and went thru an auction sometime in the past decade.
This triggered a memory, but the interwebs are coming up blank. I distinctly remember seeing a photo (in print, either a car mag of one of the ‘hop up your Vega’ books I had back in the day) that showed a clear plexi Vega body that was constructed to test rigidity.
GM owns a Cosworth Vega with a clear plexi hood, and I think I’ve seen pics of cutaway Vegas that were once on display at a theme park under huge plexi bubbles.
Then there’s this:
The Pontiac was drivable and does still exist.
I wonder if the same can be said for the Minx?
The fact it is up on axle stands suggests not. I’d suspect that almost certainly the mangled unitary body would not have been strong enough
Great post, Roger. Didn’t know these early postwar Minxes were already styled by Loewy. I do see the Studebaker vibe now, though. Funny how the 53 Stude and the later Minxes also had this family resemblance one generation hence.
I guess I can see just a teeny bit of Studebaker in the front (perhaps the 1946 Skyway Champion?) but not a lot. I see a lot more 1949 Plymouth. It is funny that as upset as Raymond Loewy got about the blunt front that Exner did on the 47 Stude this Minx takes blunt to a whole new level.
Nothing you have said here dissuades me from imagining me as a Hillman Minx guy had I been an Englishman buying a new car that year.
Our local Auto recycler has the left 1/2 of an early Chevy Vega up on the office roof. It’s been up there for decades, I believe it was cut from a complete car when new. I recall it once being a mobile display back in the last century.
Wow, love the transition idea. For some reason, this exercise feels like I’m looking at Bryce with see-through glasses.
For Syke…
Found a reference to the see thru Pontiac.
It was made of Plexiglas and was sold in 2011 at auction for $308,000
I’ve always thought that calling the car a Minx (particularly a dowdy, dull, sedan) was an interesting choice, given the definition of minx.
Impudent, boldly flirtations or cunning it is not!
Thanks for posting this! The first car I ever rode in was a Minx of this vintage, my parents’ 1954 Minx (2 years old then) that brought me home from the hospital, and took us on many adventures for the next 4 years. Not a rarity, but at the same time not a big-selling car … in California. Of course, ours was not see-through. It was maroon, but the only pictures I have are black and white.
Great post, Roger.
Horrid little things, a few still clogging the local road arteries when I was a kid, frightened granny somewhere beneath the wheel.
I’ve posted this link before, but it’s worth repeating if anyone has 10 minutes to spare. It’s a chapter from the autobiography of acclaimed novelist Tim Winton on their family Minx called Betsy. Practically perfect writing, and very funny.
https://www.panmacmillan.com/blogs/literary/read-betsy-from-tim-winton-s-the-boy-behind-the-cu
I had a 51 model but one youve never seen Roger. Todd motors assembled Hillmans here and produced a version called a Humber ten sold at Humber dealers as their small car, it had vertical grille bars of pressed brass and nickel plated, not sure about the claimed top speed mine out paced a 105E Anglia for several miles indicated 75 mph, for the $100 I paid for it it was a good car I drove it daily for 18 months commuting to work and apart from a lost crown wheel tooth nothing went wrong and it got driven hard Mine never got better than 30mpg, but managed to tow a tandem axle trailer load of furniture over some very steep hills without overheating or any real problems, brakes were marginal at best but that could have just been my car
Here’s a later model that my Mum drove in the late 60s,early 70s, I hated being seen in it, thankfully Dad had a VH Valiant wagon to ease some of the pain, as justy said above, “horrid little things”, but tough as nails , it was like a little tank.
I like the look of that Avenger? in the last picture
picture didn’t load, doesn’t matter, its not pretty.
Rootes’ advertising, 1955.
Great find Roger!
The car in the third photo has been featured on CC at least once before: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-european/curbside-capsule-1951-hillman-minx/
My grandfather had one long before I was born. He always had a little soft spot for that car. Hillman parts were well, nonexistent in Maryland in the early 70’s so keeping it running was a challenge. He liked the challenge of modifying parts to fit, rebuilding generators and starter motors, and scouring junkyards for parts.