Filed Under: News
There is a school of thought that believes had the company provided decent marketing and used skilled car assembly workers and not shipbuilders, had there been some common sense applied, in fact an awful lot of common sense, well the engines were forged at one end of the country and then sent 400 miles to be completed and then sent back again to be fitted to a body that was pressed elsewhere, our car choice would probably outsold the iconic and much praised mini.
We again had the typical malaise that affected the British Car Industry, demarcation strikes, which lost so many man hours.
One tends to forget that the mini was not perfect, it had problems, it was very basic at first, one couldn’t actually call the back seat comfortable, nor the front come to that, but that aside it was great fun in town, our car has been called the poor man’s Porsche, being one of the few rear engined cars, yes all but forgotten except for the dedicated band of “Impers”. The Hillman Imp and the badged Singer and Sunbeam models.
Impers you say, any one who owns one of Rootes Imps or cars using Imp parts, is one, I think it rather charming, I can’t think of too many other cars one could do it to. The clubmen are very dedicated, their web sites informative and well organized.
Only just over 400,000 Imps were produced during the life span of thirteen years, one writer says “It didn’t really catch on with the British Public”, alas it wasn’t the Imps fault, Rootes got themselves into an unholy mess, Chrysler was no better, so the marque passed into History.
I read a report that the great late Ayrton Senna raced Imp’s at one stage, of course the car managed to build up quite a reputation in motor sport, in many ways the choice of a Coventry Climax alloy engine was perfect and as they were able to cant the engine this improved the road holding plus Rootes managed to put in a decent rear suspension of coil springs and semi trailing wishbones, the front end was unusual Large lower swing axles and coil springs with co-axial telescopic dampers, which eliminated need for upper locating wishbones. I just said to Eileen you would believe I was mechanically very able, how do you check the oil?
The Imp was the first British car to use a diaphragm spring clutch, in fact the gearbox synchromesh is very robust so much so that one can change gear without using the clutch. Not that I am advocating such on a car that is well over 40 years old, but it was possible when new.
The Coventry Climax engine used was originally designed as a racing engine, despite its diminutive 875cc capacity it has a high compression ratio of 10 to 1, it is a three bearing unit but runs very smoothly, all but the sports model have a single solex downdraught carb, the sports engines have twin Stromberg’s plus an oil cooler.
The relevant data for the various models is:-
Imp de luxe 81mph, the dreaded 0-60 23.7secs petrol consumption 38.1 mpg
The super imp you will get about 78mph and a 0-60 time of 22.8 and petrol consumption goes up to 35mpg
The Imp Californian will touch 78mph the 0-60 is 22.1 and overall consumption 34mpg
The Chamois is not much different to the Imp de luxe.
However the Sunbeam Imp sports 90mph and 0-60 in a blistering 16 secs and petrol consumption is good at 33.1
I suppose you would say the Imp was the first hatchback as the rear window opened. Though it didn’t on the Californian, Stilleto and Chamois,
In addition to all that was going on with Rootes they were making continual improvements to the cars, then there was the Husky Estate which for its size would swallow a large amount of luggage, itwas a development of the Commer Imp Van, an impressive line up, it didn’t stop there either as there was a Rallye Imp with a 998cc engine which produced 65bhp. though it wasn’t production line stuff designed specifically for sports use which it had considerable success.
The Imp was well priced, at one time it was the cheapest car in Britain the de Luxe at 549.00 and the Super at 576.00, however in 1966 the mini was cheaper but by 1968 the rolls had reversed.
I can find mention of John Sheppard and the Irish Imp Club, there seems to be a connection with Route 25, which seems to be a useful contact though no doubt our Declan would point you in the right direction, now there is a UK firm Speedy Spares that specialize in Imp and many other classics, they do mail order or can be found near Brighton in Sussex.
Enjoy your car whatever and if you see me approaching shut the bonnet quickly as always regards Ted
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