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This page: A look back at the Q-H exhaust systems designed to make your car go and sound better.

Quinton Hazell performance exhaust silencers, 1970.

Quinton Hazell performance exhausts in 1970

This single sheet leaflet turned up in a bunch of paperwork packed into an envelope dated 1970, so my guess is that this single sheet advertising literature was issued by Quinton Hazell at around this time.

Spotty youths of today might assume that they were the first to hit on the idea of bolting a large exhaust onto their prized motor-car in order to make it go a little better, and sound a whole lot fruitier. But, as with most things, there is little truly new around. Several companies in the 1960s and 1970s could supply the DIY home-tuner with a straight through exhaust system, or just the silencer, designed to help their engine breath a little easier. Factory-fitted exhausts and manifolds are always a compromise, trying to balance efficiency with a need to maintain an air of civilised decorum within the passenger compartment. Go-faster tuning fans are less interested with hearing their dashboard clock tick, and place more emphasis on extracting the last nth of 'go' from their machines, and it is to this market that such systems were aimed at.

A variety of free-breathing silencers were available from QH, with large bore single or twin chromed outlet pipes exiting the rear of the car. I remember having a similar system (but by TriumphTune) on my Spitfire some years back, and the noise was much easier on the ear than the standard wheezy offering. These silencers could be supplied with heat shields, so that the enthusiastic Mini owner could protect his/her car's hydrolastic suspension pipes from the heat generated by the exhaust.

Quinton Hazell (Silencers) Limited head office was in Lytham at this time (late 1960s, early 1970s) with outlets in Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester and London. They are of course still in business - their current range of automotive parts can be seen on their own site.

Most of the cars popular with tuners in the late 1960s were catered for by QH:

Austin Mini, Mini Cooper, Van, Countryman, Healey Sprite Mk1, 2, 3 and 4.
Ford Anglia 105E, Cortina 1200/1500 and Cortina GT.
MG Midget and MGB.
Morris Mini, Mini Cooper, Van and Traveller.
Riley Elf
Triumph Herald, Spitfire and Vitesse.
Wolseley Hornet

Prices started at 75/- (75 Shillings = 3.75 GBP) for a single tail pipe silencer to fit a basic Mini, with a twin pipe unit for the same car costing 97/6. The most expensive option was the twin tail pipe silencer, to suit the Mini van, estate, Riley Elf and the Wolseley Hornet, which came in at 105/- (or 5.25 GBP). The fact that Quinton Hazell is still in business, when so many other companies from that era have either gone to the wall or been merged with other businesses, is amazing I reckon.

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