northern_mike wrote:
Was the Hillman Hunter any relative?
Nope, the Hunter was the Rootes Arrow and almost entirely different. The Avenger was a new design. At least Rootes didn't do as BL did and try to rehash old stuff into something new.
I guess the Avenger happened only on the back of the Plymouth Cricket development state-side as I can't imagine Rootes in the UK on their own had the resources to develop a fully new car.
The Avenger and Arrow range ran concurrently for a number of years. The Arrow was variously the Minx, Hunter, Sunbeam Rapier, Singer Vogue and Humber Sceptre. The latter being the posh one and the Sunbeam and Singer being available as a rather tasty Coupé.
There was also the hot Hunter, the H120 Holbay and that went quite well. Bit of a Q-car as externally it looked just like any other Hunter.
An odd fact about the Avenger was that it was never under-sealed from the factory. Another legacy of it's Cricket roots possibly as rust was never such a problem in the land across the pond.