Rootes Cars of the 1950s, 1960s & 1970s – Hillman, Humber, Singer, Sunbeam & Talbot: A Pictorial History

Covers all the models introduced post-war by the Rootes group and it's successors, and reminder of the attractive, slightly up-market cars they produced. Yet another example of selling a British business to a foreign owner who has no conception of what the company's value is, struggles to make it pay, and in the end gives up and liquidates the assets for a fraction of their former worth.

This gets to the ROOTES of the matter. I had a Hillman Minx in my YOOF ! Lovely old girl she was. Now the only lovely old girl is SWMBO. Bless. Good read folks

This an unusual book in that it is of the smaller A5 format and it describes all of the Rootes cars of the 1950s to 1970s era. Each car is allocated two pages of details which includes several small colour photographs indicating the appearance from various angles, and systematic specifications of not only the main features of the particular car, but also often the dashboard layout and the differences between the available trim levels. That is not to say the specifications are of a boring list format, although consistent sub-headings are used. Where possible, the information is presented in normal prose which includes a generous introduction for each car.What is special about this book is the comprehensive coverage of all the cars within the Rootes group for the specified years, and the systematic nature of the coverage, combined with the very readable presentation. This makes a pleasant change from other authors of the same genre where only a selection of the produced cars is covered and in a rather haphazard way according to the whims and interests of the writer concerned.The contents are sub-divided into the following sections so that the different marques within the Rootes group are covered separately.Rootes: a brief HistoryHillmanHumberSingerSunbeamChrysler/TalbotAltogether, this is an extremely comprehensive yet concise volume written in a consistent readable style. The compact size enables it to be carried (just) in a coat pocket while maintaining a reasonable font size for readability. Reinforced floor boarding beneath the book case is definitely not required for this volume!

I worked at Rootes for more than 5 years in north London and have owned 2 Hillman Minxes' and a Humber Hawk so I found this book very interesting, needless to say, I found all three of my cars. Very clear but small photos of all the marks that they did with a short history of the company. Glad I got this book, at a good price too.

An Excellent book showing all the cars of this mainly forgotten car group. They produced some very stylish cars, far better than some other makes, yet they aren't as well remembered. The author gives a good introduction to each model and technical details are very good. Also are the models produced by Chrysler UK and Peugeot as Talbot's which very few authors review.

This book is full of specifications for the various models of the Rootes company and is packed with colour photo after photo of not only the cars but the various colour schemes, trims, grilles, dash board dials, gear stick details and mention is made of any non-stock alterations. I would have liked to have seen performance details (0-50/60, top speed, mpg) but otherwise the book tells me all I need to know about Rootes cars from this period. Hopefully the author will carry on the good work and other makes might be covered in due course.

Quite comprehensive look at the Rootes and Chrysler era cars from 1950 to 1979 and slightly later. Some great detail with most of the car types shown in recent photographs taken from Classic car shows. Only slight point, it would have been good to have had a brief history of the original separate marques e.g Hillman, Sunbeam etc and details of when they merged into the Rootes group, just for newcomers to the marque.All colour to so that's another bonus - a bargain book too!

I was a little disappointed at first sight as this book is quite small as are the photos most of which are taken at car shows , however after a more detailed read I have changed my opinion somewhat ,the information contained is very useful and the vehicles covered comprehensive.The detail on the later Chrysler and Talbot vehicles is quite hard to find, but its all here in this great little book. The author must have taken years to assemble all this data and take the photographs which are well taken of vehicle in standard condition or restored to original spec.I can recommend this book to anyone interested in Rootes cars .