Khawar Benz

hillman hunter — Hillman Hunter series 1

I just managed to take a picture before the owners left and could hardly hide my excitement. It must be decades since I last saw a Hillman Hunter – the model that would have been long forgotten and buried had it not been for Iran.

Flashback

The beautiful Hunter'n at Sjøflyhavna outside Oslo stood out among the grey, sad SUVs. In this company, any red car with white painted rims would stand out in a positive sense. I think the owner was surprised that "an ordinary man in the street" was so forward.

-"Perhaps you know someone who had a car like that?"

One of my fellow students had a dark blue Hillman Hunter. When we worked together, his car was parked next to my own Ford Cortina mk2. The two cars were so similar that one could suspect that the designers had looked at each other in the cards. But if the cars were similar, they appealed to different people. The Cortina appealed to guys with sideburns and sporty ambitions, while the Hillman was preferred by uncles with knitted cardigans and bobbed hair.

Lack of enthusiasm

The Hunter was designed and put into production by Rootes in 1966. The following year they were acquired by Chrysler. In retrospect, we know that Chrysler did not succeed very well with its acquisitions in Europe. While those of us who owned Cortina mk2s boasted uninhibitedly about our cars, I heard little from Hillman Hunter owners. Neither did my study mate - who, by the way, traded in the Hunter for a new Taunus soon after. The car at Sjøflyhavna is a Series 1 car with a shiny grill - in my opinion, the most beautiful. When the model went out of production in 1979, it had received several facelifts. The latest in 1977. In the meantime, the competitor Cortina had come out with two completely new models – the mk3 in 1970 and the mk4 in 1976. But the Hunter was not a bad car. It was in every way a worthy descendant of the Hillman Minx and Superminx. The durable 1500 and 1725 engines were also carried over to the Hunter - and in terms of performance they were just as good as the Cortina mk2.

Paykan

The model we know as the Hillman Hunter was also sold under other names belonging to the Rootes group - names such as Rootes Arrow, Humber Sceptre, Singer Gazelle, Hillman Minx, Sunbeam - and eventually also the Dodge Husky as part of Chrysler. A new manufacturer had also appeared - the company Iran National where the Shah of Iran himself had a hand in the game. Soon after the Hillman Hunter went into production, Rootes began shipping cars in crates to Iran for assembly locally. The model was called Paykan (Iranian for "arrow" - as in Root's Arrow) and was eventually to become the car that ordinary Iranian citizens could buy - a kind of Iranian Lada. In a short time, the roads were filled with Paykaner - taxis, pickups and private cars.

Iran Khodro

Paykan outlived both the Shah and Ayatollah Khomeiny. The factory that began assembling the Hillman Hunter is today called Iran Khodro CO (khodro=car). The company produces over 1 million cars a year, - split 50/50 between heavy vehicles and passenger cars that are sold in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as old satellite states of the former Soviet Union. When Chrysler ended production of the Hunter in 1979, the Iranian factory was allowed to take over the production equipment to continue producing the model as a "continuation model". Production of the Paykan continued until 2005 as a passenger car, and until 2015 as a pickup truck. After Peugeot took over Chrysler's European division, they also took over the cooperation with the Iranians. From 1985, Paykan received new 1600 engines from Peugeot. The model, which had been in production since the mid-60s, continued with new facelifts - which unfortunately only made the cars more old-fashioned.

The region's technocentre

IKCO (Iran Khodro) now produces a large range of models based on Peugeot. There is both license production under the Peugeot brand, as well as production of own models based on discontinued Peugeot models. The company's latest model, IKCO Tara, is based on the Peugeot 301/Citroen Elysse. Another, popular model, IKCO Dena, is based on a further developed variant of the Peugeot 405. IKCO also collaborates with Suzuki, Chinese FAW Haima and Dongfeng – as well as Mercedes-Benz trucks. All models are sold in a region where it is complicated and expensive for Western companies to operate in. IKCO is by far the Middle East's largest car manufacturer. The market is large – and despite the turmoil – demand for vehicles is high. It can also be mentioned that several airlines in the region send their planes to Iran for maintenance. Older Ilyushin models with a flight ban in the Western world can today only be overhauled in Tehran.

Khawar

As mentioned, IKCO produces over half a million commercial vehicles, the majority of which are Mercedes-Benz. One of the models is called KHAWAR and is based on the short-nosed Mercedes-Benz trucks we remember from the 60s here at home. These cars have characterized the roads in the region for decades. IKCO also manufactures newer models from the Mercedes-Benz heavy vehicle family, Actros and Axor. But sometimes simple can be best. If you drive a day stage through the desert with fine sand that penetrates into every cavity, you will still see the good, old nose cars. Immortal cars with real Benz quality and the most experienced drivers behind the wheel.

Today, Paykan has the same status as Lada in Russia. It was the cars that got the country "on wheels" - cars that all adult residents have memories of - and a brand associated with Iran. There are probably as many Paykan jokes as there are Lada jokes, but there is respect for driving a great Paykan - as this gentleman does.