Took delivery of my newest project and got it cleaned up for the most part. Came with a total of 3 hoods, one extra passenger door, 2 back doors, all the glass, 4 bumpers, and a bunch of trim doo-dads and accessories, as well as the seats and interior panels. Body is fairly straight, has 3 dents, one in the right rear quarter panel that is decently sized, but fairly minor, one along the driver door, and on around the left rear tail light that should also be fairly easy to repair. Has some nasty cancer in the lower corners of the fenderwells as well as part of the body, but that's OK, the exhaust is going to pop out there anyway
Both! My 37 Dodge in the back ground is the tow truck for the drag strips that are more than 100 miles away. If I break something outside of that zone I lose my free towing lol.
cool project...don't see many Husky vans around here,although they were sold new here.. I love 'em!! what are you gona use for runnin gear? and susp? would love to follow along as you build it up... cheers Paul
I had one in the late '70's. The body was is pretty bad shape, it had been hit in the front and the driver's side. I welded in the rear side windows with sheet steel and made it a panel. Made my own tubular grill and lower roll pan. Installed a Buick V6 and transmission, made up my own mounts. Finally painted it white with black interior. Wish I took pics of it. Sold it and never saw it again. Offy 220
These are on the same (or similar) floor pan to the Sunbeam Tiger IIRC, which means a 289 Ford will go right in there. Good page here... http://www.whatsahillman.com/v8hillman.html
Had one for a short while about 40 years ago. Ran like a skinned cat. Unfortunately it ran off the road and self destructed. They were dime a dozen here then. I'll watch the build with interest.
When I was a kid there was one just like that in an abandoned lot where a mansion burned down. It was squashed pretty good but wasn't burned. I always wondered WTF it was, now I know.
havent seen one of these in years. last one i did see was twenty five years ago and a friend had airbrushed murals over its orange paint. it was a hot little ride.
That's cool, i didn't know they ever got exported to the States, I think they pretty much all rotted away years ago here in England, maybe a small handfull left...
I had one in the mid 70's, cool little car. They weigh very little, so even swapping the 1725 Hillman Hunter GT engine and gearbox into mine made it a nasty little surprise for people at the traffic lights! Watch the rust at the bottom of the front wheelwells. The main structure for the body is in the pillars that run up from there in front of the doors. I had a Hillman sedan with rust in there, and I finally stopped driving it when the front doors started popping open when iI went round corners due to the body flexing so badly! (And it was all hidden inside the body too!) Cheers, Glen.
Thanks for the good info and compliments everyone! I'm definitely considering small block for this one, I have 2 289s at the moment, sadly neither of which are a hi-po, I also have a 283 and a 327, and been pondering swapping the cranks and making a higher revving 327 for it. First things first though, I need to pull the engine and transmission and start to dissect the front end of it so I can get the measurements I need for my frame jig. There are two things that have had me thinking, and the first one I know I will end up doing. After the frame is made, the front end will all be welded back up and the seams filled in and made into a one piece tilt. The second thought I had, since these little cars don't weigh much at all, was making it into a flop top. In all reality I can see it being a pain the arse, but the coolness factor would be way up there, any thoughts on that?
Why do you want to build a frame for it, when you can fit the 289 without? Unibodys are strong structures. I wouldn´t worry about the lack of a hi-po motor, I doubt you´ll need that much power to get it to really move.
The frame was more of a fore-thought, the original plan was to use my interceptor 440 block, but after magnafluxing the block, it revealed 2 cracks in it. So, with that being a dead end for now I may just go the route of sub frame connectors for a little extra rigidity.
somebody should photoshop it as an el camino type P/U?... move the C post forward and splice the roof...
Here is my 62 husky love to drive it.She ain't much on power but sure gets the looks.This is my second one put a 2.5 chevy in the first one put a price on it and someone bought it.Had to have another one and found this one on ebay.Would like to restore it but a v-8 would be fun also good luck with yours.
Cool little Husky. I have a '57 Husky myself. Can't wait to dig into mine too. For a great reference on another Husky build check out dougscars.com. He screwed together a super clean '60 with a 302 Ford. Good luck with yours! have fun with that thing.... Steve weim55 Colorado PS, If you want to sell one of those rear cargo doors I could use one.........
I have quite a few parts that will be put up for sale in the coming months, a back door being one of them....it seems to be in good working order, glass is in good shape, will need new weather stripping though as it is pretty rotten. If anyone is interested in the engine/transmission or parts off of them, let me know. I have no idea what condition the engine is in, but I can safely assume that some moisture has gotten into the block, but I haven't found any traces in the oil yet. Transmission is a little stiff, but still shifts freely. I will also have a spare passenger door, minus glass, and 2 extra hoods complete with all of the H-I-L-L-M-A-N letters that will also go up for sale once I decide which one will end up on my car. I just pulled the engine and transmission out of it today, and I will post more info on the parts as I go through them to see what condition they are in.
One of my future project cars too. Put the 3.8 buick v6, but got to have my dual range hydro behind it. There goes the floorboard. These are fun little cars!
I was lucky enough to find an absolute rust free example ( with the exception of the L/Frt lower fender) to start my project. Not eactly sure how the outer fender rusted without any trace of rust behind it?? Yes, the pan is the same as the Sunbeam Tiger, and to drop in the SBF all you need are Tiger mounts (available repro) and figure out another steering arrangement. I just opted to go with a custom Mustang II unit designed for a Tiger. Conversion to a sedan delivery was done with 16ga. plasma cut inserts that are mig-ed from the rear, and the outer seams leaded.
Here's one that was for sale on here. I'd love to have it. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=530563&highlight=hillman+husky
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