My interest in vehicles made by the Rootes Group started in childhood I suppose. My parents came to Canada in 1952 from England. A friend of my father had told of the big money that could be made over here and so they decided to come over for a few years, hopefully saving enough to return home and buy a house. While in the UK my dad had worked as a mechanic for Water’s Garage in Hertford, a Rootes dealer, and upon arrival in Toronto he was hired by Rootes Motors Canada to work in their parts department. He worked there until 1964 when he was transferred to the Rootes Motors office in Vancouver as Parts Manager. He held this position  until the buyout by Chrysler in 1967, at which time he went to work for them until his retirement in 1981. Needless to say, my parents never did return to England to live. They both fell in love with Vancouver but did return to the UK regularly to see family etc.

I was born in Scarborough, Ontario in 1957, five years after my parents came over from the UK. Scarborough was a suburb of Toronto then but is now a part of the Greater Toronto Area, or as it's more commonly known, the GTA. We left for Vancouver in 1964 so I don't have too many memories of the first Hillmans my parents had. Looking at old photos I would say they had at least three Mark Minxes during their twelve year stay in Toronto. All would have been bought used and probably didn't last too long due to the long cold winters and the abundance of salt put on the roads to melt the snow and ice.

I do however, have some memories of our trips down to Florida. I remember I would amuse myself for hours while we were driving along the freeway, playing with my Dinky Toys on the back seat parcel shelf (no seatbelts in those days!).

I also recall years later my dad telling me he would have to carry a bunch of spares with him as it was hard to find Hillman parts in the southern U.S.