The Future Generation – The Mechanix Students who restored a 1965 Hillman Super Minx by expert writer, Andrew Roberts

Young people today! Why, when I was their age, I lived in a shoebox on the A27 and worked 26 hours per day at Rank Hovis Southampton, all for a £5 Our Price record voucher. But just look at this new generation, with their clothes, their hairstyles and their music. Not to mention devoting their time to restoring a 1965 Hillman Super Minx Mk. III and receiving an award from Lord Montagu of Beaulieu for their successful participation in the Mechanix course.

Put simply, without the sort of young enthusiasts who completed the Mechanix course, the world of classic cars will have a fairly limited future. This initiative, organised by St Andrew's & All Saints' Church of Dibden in Hampshire and supported by major local businesses, runs evening courses for young people aged 14-17 without mechanical experience. Their goal was to raise a car to an MOT standard. 

To look at the challenge to these youthful engineers into a historical context, restoring a then 59-year-old car when aged 15, would be the equivalent of my trying to refurbish a 1926 Morris Oxford ‘Flatnose’ in 1985. The Super Minx is not so much a vehicle of their parents but their grandparents or even their great-grandparents generation. It is a vehicle from a time when prices were in £sd, when London telephone numbers were along the lines of RIVerside 5692 and when a starting handle was not an unusual fitting in a new car.

As for the Hillman’s background, last year, Dr. Jon Murden, the National Motor Museum's Chief Executive, donated it to the Mechanix course. He rescued from a Worcestershire farm, and in his words: 

I had acquired the car with the intention of restoring it and had made gradual progress. However, following a personal set-back, I re-assessed what I could now reasonably do and decided that the project was beyond me. When I met the organisers of the ‘Mechanix’ group I was so impressed with what they do for young people in Hythe, on the spur of the moment, I offered it to them as a gift in the hope that it would do some good in our community and inspire some new classic car enthusiasts. 

A year later, the Hillman looks fit to grace any Rootes Group showroom and is due to return to Beaulieu on a short-term loan this summer. It will then be auctioned, and the proceeds will fund future courses. Here, I must confess that I especially appreciate the work of the Mechanix students, as I am an avowed fan of the Super Minx. Its faintly mid-Atlantic lines, with those hooded headlamps and vestigial tailfins, seem downright jaunty. For me, a 1965 Super Minx positively exudes respectable suburbia, the ideal vehicle for a sit-com next-door neighbour or the heroine of a Scales of Justice B-film.

More importantly, countless young enthusiasts across the UK are restoring and maintaining cars, assisting and running clubs, learning new skills and helping with events. We need to encourage the Mechanix course, and similar initiatives, for we need the next generation's participation with classic cars. To quote Lord Montagu:

Whilst we are a national museum, this course happens to be run on our doorstep, so I am especially pleased that we have been able to host the presentation once again. The course offers a great opportunity for students to learn the skills which will be needed in the years ahead when some of the cars of today are in need of repair and restoration.

Young people, eh - devoting their evenings to learning vital skills and returning a fine car to the road. Why, when I was their age...well, to be frank, I did not achieve anything nearly so impressive. And that is why the Mechanix students are to be congratulated.

With thanks to The National Motor Museum for their time and for permission to use the images in this blog.

And thanks to - National Motor Museum