Faults:

The number three cylinder collapsed.

The owner had the rings and bearings done before he sold it, but being tight fisted he decided not to replace a cracked piston, which would have cost $15.00 NZ for a second hand one, so the piston collapsed after six months.

It cost me $1,000.00 to put in a replacement engine. The hydraulic clutch blew seals on a regular basis. Rust got a good hold of the old girl, requiring extreme lashings of bog.

General Comments:

The Hunter was a reasonably reliable car, despite the problems I had with it.

It was always a good starter, even in the middle of winter. In a -6 degree frost I only had to pull out the choke, turn the key and voila.

The Billy as I called it, did a lot of kms for me around New Zealand.

Faults:

Head gasket repeatedly leaked- Block needed surfacing.

Clutch thrust bearing disintegrated- they are a ring of Graphite!

Headlights were appallingly bad- all of the electricals were earthed through the accelerator cable onto the carb!- Fixed with an earthing strap and multiple electrical problems just disappeared! The guy I bought it from showed me receipts for several hundred dollars for electrical work-sucker!

Handbrake never worked.

General Comments:

Bought the car for $1000, spent $300-$400 on various parts and sold it three years later for $1100.

The car handles fairly sloppily, the steering is perhaps excessively light, but has a good, tight turning circle, but tends to scrub the front tyres quite severely if doing a lot of tight cornering (eg shopping car-parks).

I used it for some long distance driving and it was OK at 110kph, but wouldn't want to go much faster. Around town the light steering made it easy to drive, and the clutch is also light, but still has some feel to it.

Easy to work on, I replaced the graphite clutch thrust bearing in just under three hours by following the repair manual (and I am not a mechanic!). Head gasket replacement in under 90 minutes!

Faults:

Nothing has gone wrong with the car since I have had it.

General Comments:

The car is still in original condition.

Seats are very comfortable.

Goes like a dream on long trips and when it is warm, hardly uses any fuel on long distances.

The car isn't the best looking, but it is in very tidy condition for its age.

The dash isn't showing any cracking or fading.

Faults:

Blown head gasket.

Ruptured carburettor diaphragms.

Cracked front cross-member.

Seized rear universal joint.

Gearbox jammed in two gears.

Tore the internal spline out of the clutch friction plate.

Clutch thrust bearing failed.

Main plug in underdash wiring harness burnt out.

Drivers front window broke whilst closing the door.

Rear brake cylinders leaking.

Snapped pinion in differential.

Spun number four big end bearing.

Front timing cover seal wore out.

Radiator re-core.

Snapped front sway bar.

Rust in near side rear quarter panel.

Rust perforations in fuel tank.

General Comments:

A powerful car, given the size of the engine.

Reasonably predictable handling, although the vehicle does tend to go from understeer to oversteer at off camber corners without warning, especially at speed.

Vehicle has no camber adjustment on front axle.

Vehicle has too much positive camber for high speed operation.

The vehicle has incorrect Ackerman angle in relation to the front end geometry.

The comfort level of the vehicle is quite good.

The vehicle was quite reliable, despite all of the above problems, which only happened over the first six months of ownership.

Parts are very cheap and easy to obtain.

Performance upgrades, including suspension modifications are straightforward and available.