New Zealand Classic Car – September 2019

22 New Zealand Classic Car | themotorhood.com

Chris and his dad entrusted the shell

to Lance Cleave at Abrasive Blasting and

Coatings, an old-school craftsman, who,

Chris says, really got involved with the

project. The blistered paint had concealed

some ‘spider rust’, so Chris opted for the

replacement bonnet that the previous owner

had already acquired, along with two doors

from a donor car. There was some rot around

the fuel filler to fix too. Chris and his dad

also took the opportunity to fix at last a small

dent in the right rear panel acquired during

Chris’ grandmother’s ownership; it had always

rankled with both of them.

Rooms smelling of solvents

Chris was a sales rep at the time and used

to take bits of Geraldine with him on the

road. He would spend his evenings sitting in

his motel cleaning car parts, then spend the

mornings looking innocent when motel owners

asked why the room smelled of solvents. On

the whole, they were relieved to discover that he

had only been washing car parts.

Finding most bits for the Hillman wasn’t

terribly difficult, thanks to Speedy Spares in

the UK. While Chris wanted to keep as much

of the car original as possible, he was happy

to specify new rubber for radiator hoses, door

and window seals, and the washer bottle. He

also replaced the electric fuel pump with an

original-spec mechanical model.

Chris stripped the dash and applied

“many, many coats” of marine varnish.

Dashboard Restorations remade the top,

which had suffered the usual cracking. The

carpets were not to the standard Chris wanted,

so they were also remade. After some work

with a toothbrush, the original vinyl seat

coverings and door cards came up as good as

new, partly due to their originally being made

from durable Vynide material but also because

his grandparents always had sheepskins on the

(optional) separate front seats. Chris got a new

set of those made too — another nod to the

family heritage that added another thousand

dollars to the bill.

The car is now resplendent in a rich, dark red.

It’s as close to the original colour as they could

make it. Jason at Universal Custom spent a lot

of time getting the colour and finish to a high

standard, while avoiding, at Chris’ insistence,

making it look “too modern”.

Disagreement over suspension

The 1725cc motor came back together

with the help of Tom Taylor of

Taylor Automotive. After Chris discovered

that his dad, on his own, had removed

the gearbox from a donor car to get some

clutch components, he tried to keep him

away from heavy lifting, so he roped in

his brother to help with installing the

clutch, gearbox, and driveshaft, while

his dad supervised. They had another

small disagreement over the suspension.

Chris decided to lower the car a little, add

another leaf spring to stiffen the rear a bit

and reset them, and add custom coils at

the front. He had done something similar

with his 403kW HSV GTS E3 — not that

he’s going to hammer the 139-kilometre-

per-hour-maximum Hillman (0–60mph

[0–97kph] in 18 seconds) around a track or

blast it down gravel roads.

“There’s no way I’m taking that on a

gravel road,” he states.

His dad argued against the suspension

changes, but, eventually, says Chris, he

came round and admitted that the car

looks the better for it. There are a couple of

other personal touches that Chris couldn’t

resist, but they are thoroughly in keeping

with his devotion to the car’s history.

The name ‘Geraldine’ is inscribed on the

radiator shroud and on the glovebox, and

the rear quarterlights bear an inscription

in loving memory of his grandparents,

Nana Molly and Pop Bill.

This 4972cc, two-valves-per-cylinder motor with twin downdraught

carburettors offers great torque and produces around 352kW, which

Rogers describes as plenty

Above: Chris Steele reunited with Geraldine