Hillman Imps / Our other cars

[ringway]

Made a lot of money in my youth welding sills into Imps. That and BMC 1100 subframe panels.

My mate Mike who crashed the Imp, his dad had an Austin 11/1300.
Apparently, his Mum (picture Hyacinth Bouquet) shut the garage door, got in the passenger side and her seat was touching the drive after the floor collapsed.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

My uncle had one of those just like that. I had no idea it was called a Hillman California.

To be really nerdy ("as if") your Uncle's car could have been a Hillman Imp Californian, a Singer Chamois, or a Sunbeam Stiletto... All the same slope backed coupe shape.

"Californian," yet strangely not the sort of car you'd expect to see in Malibu or cruising Route 1.

Singer Chamois

Sunbeam Stiletto

Fairly easy to tell the difference. You just look at the badge.

 

[D-18]

I had an Imp way back when..... Learned a lot about engines from my Imp experience. I think mine had got to the point where you could snap your fingers and the engine would jump out onto the bench! I thought they were really nice to drive though and the engine was a wee sweetie (when it was going).

 

[D-18]

Made a lot of money in my youth welding sills into Imps. That and BMC 1100 subframe panels.

If I recall correctly, the BMC 1100 / 1300 was the only car for which every single body panel (including the roof!) could be sourced from the after market panel replacement motor factors.

As a yoof, I also made money welding up suspension top plates for Escorts, Morris Minor floors and Mini subframes - happy days

A mate used to tackle things like Renault 4's - not unusual for them to fail their first MoT on corrosion - the body was so thin it was like trying to weld paper together. Compared to them, the Imp was built like a tank.

 

[KeithJG]

Further to being built like a tank........i owe my life to that fact as the Imps were all double skinned and not just a flat single skin as the mini was.

I have had a few Imps including a van which was really handy working on the engine in the rain as the whole back floor panel came up and you could see all the engine and most of the gearbox for maintenance ...a pleasure to work on.

What started my madness for Imps was my friend who in 1966 bought a brand new Hartwell Group 3 Tuned one in bright yellow.It was lowered and tuned from the George Hartwell factory at Bournemouth.

I came by a 998 engine so tuned it up and swopped it over for the std. 848cc engine when i had my own Imp... i was in the process of changing tyres from crossply to radial and had this terrible accident.

Hit a large lamp post at 70mph and was flung out the car on the road my right shoe being left under the throttle and my left shoe in the back parcel shelf.

The drivers door split it two and left the inner sheet complete with handle still hanging on the hinges, my right knee pushed up the steering wheel through the screen while the left knee went into the heater flap.

The floor to the back seat ended up being in 3" high ripples....the floor had opened up under the throttle but luckily my foot left the shoe behind in the hole.

All in all not a very good experience seeing also i had just filled up with fuel which was leaking on the road next to me!!........tank in the front boot.

You can see in the pictures how well the Imp took the bang you could stand in the large dent the lamp post made and still be flush with the front of the car.

I hit the lamp post off centre as it just understeered dramatically .....so the car spun around the post.

The rules then were mixed tyres were allowed so long as the radials were on the rear so my front crossply`s which were due for renewal the following week never got changed.

The extra grip on the rear just simply shoved the front away into the post with NO warning and on a dry road.



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[D-18]

Wow - a bit more than a quick rub over with T-cut to sort that one. You were one lucky chap to survive that little bump.

 

[BTB 500]

You were lucky to get away with that. Crossplys were fun, I spun my Viva in a Sainsburys carpark once (fortunately without hitting anything)!

 

[grober]

To be really nerdy ("as if") your Uncle's car could have been a Hillman Imp Californian, a Singer Chamois, or a Sunbeam Stiletto... All the same slope backed coupe shape.

"Californian," yet strangely not the sort of car you'd expect to see in Malibu or cruising Route 1.

Singer Chamois

Sunbeam Stiletto

Fairly easy to tell the difference. You just look at the badge.

Ah the good old days of badge engineering - slap on a vinyl roof, fancy wheel trims, some extra chrome, twin carbs if you were lucky and a name badge redolent of competition in the distant past and charge the punters quids extra for perceived kudos - easy money . No self respecting manufacturer would be seen dead doing something as gimicky and cheap as that nowadays

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Ah the good old days of badge engineering - ................ . No self respecting manufacturer would be seen dead doing something as gimicky and cheap as that nowadays

Quite!

Introducing the Fiat Arbarth Spider (Mx5)

The Opel Ampera Chevy Volt

The Opel and Vauxhall Adam

Or even the Taxi drivers' favourite, before the Prius: the Sharan / Galaxy / Alhambra

As you say, no decent manufacturer.....like Mercedes ...... (It's OK, I did see the wink)

Or the VW Phaeton Bentley Flying Spur

 

[pmcgsmurf]

Made a lot of money in my youth welding sills into Imps. That and BMC 1100 subframe panels.

Surely there weren't that many Imps running around in the late 90's, your just a lad!

We buy "a lot" of remade outer sills now, for the inner we (my mate) just makes these up himself.

 

[pmcgsmurf]

Learnt to drive in. Hillman Imp , the lessons were 12/6d an hour

We went up to Wick to pick an Imp up last year and a chap kept us talking for near on an hour telling us about how he used to teach people to drive in an Imp many years ago.

 

[pmcgsmurf]

I like the white one. Funny how wider wheels and a little neg camber change the look.
Wasn't cooling a weak point on these? How did you sort that?

In short with a decent (working) water pump and a radiator with plenty airflow (not clogged/blocked) even the original cars "should" have been OK.
Reality was that blockages, duff pumps and poor water flow with some blockages (especially if left idle for a while) towards the back of the block would cause them to toast themselves.

Now it is a whole lot simpler, we fit a decent pump and a high efficiency (more cores than original) radiator and all is well.

 

[pmcgsmurf]

Despite me being brought up in Red, Blue & White and in Kilmarnock, I am prepared to forgive you, your transgressions on the basis that I love the cars.

Exactly, all about the cars.

On that particular day a couple of trucks stopped outside and it was clear one of the drivers supported the other half of the old firm.
He said he would never have stopped but when he seen the Imps he had to ask what was going on, his grandad worked in the factory and had a Chamois and you could tell he loved talking about it as it clearly raised some fond memories.

 

[pmcgsmurf]

IIRC the first Imps had positive camber on the front suspension/wheels. Rumour has it that at the last minute before production it was discovered that the headlights would fall below the height required by the vehicle construction and use regulations current at the time so the front "swing axle" suspension was jacked up for the car to pass. This made the handling "interesting" to say the least. Standard suspension tweak was to lower the front suspension central pivot point such that the front wheels took on a far more sensible aspect.

The later cars had the pivot points for the front suspension adjusted to sort the camber out, in the early days folks sorted things with bags of sand etc.

All alloy engine [ pretty revolutionary in a mass produced car at the time] was supposedly based on the legendary Coventry Climax engine widely used in competition. That too had lowly origins have been originally designed as an engine to power fire pumps .

And variants used in other cars too of a more sporting heritage.

Have a look at The Lost Lotus program on Channel 4.
Just before 30 minutes our Mildred makes an entrance and then a fire engine and Ant explains how the engine came about.

Still need to put one on Philip's chin for his derogatory remarks to our Hillman Imp. )

 

[brucemillar]

Exactly, all about the cars.

On that particular day a couple of trucks stopped outside and it was clear one of the drivers supported the other half of the old firm.
He said he would never have stopped but when he seen the Imps he had to ask what was going on, his grandad worked in the factory and had a Chamois and you could tell he loved talking about it as it clearly raised some fond memories.

Cars that have great character do break down all sorts of barriers. We were serenaded by a group of guys in a transit singing ‘Oh Lord wont you buy me a Mercedes Benz’

It was bizarre, spontaneous and hilarious. They stopped the traffic. All for my 124 Wagon.

 

[pmcgsmurf]

My Mum had one when I was a child, for some reason I used to ride in the boot/hatch area and can still recall the smell of the engine.

Years later a mate had one which he tuned up, he claimed that he chose an Imp as he worked out that he could swap an engine over in about an hour which was useful given his propensity to blow them up. I also recall the rather 'floaty' nature of the steering at (relative) speed when surprising a few tarted up Mk1 or 2 Escorts.

It is so easy to take the engine and box out, we used to do it for fun when we were younger.

Two gear box mounts, the linkage and the rear cross member and that's it ready to come out after disconnecting the fuel, clutch, starter etc.

 

[pmcgsmurf]

My first car was a Singer Chamois, cost me £200..

Spent untold ££s converting it to full Monte Carlo road spec. Spax adjustable suspension, negative camber conversion, Viva(?) front hubs and discs. 998cc Rallye engine with dual Webers, competition transaxle, 1" competition drive shafts. Front mounted radiator (Hillman Hunter), extra large oil cooler. Interior stripped out Corbeau competition seats and 5 point harness. The later saved my life when a front tyre parted company from it's Revolution rim in a fast corner... Car sold for parts..

Great car, great learning experience...

That sounds like a car, the best i could get to when I was young was polishing the ports and sticking a better carb. on.

Then when I god a decent paying job I decided that oily stuff was not for me, how times change.........

 

[ringway]

To be really nerdy ("as if") your Uncle's car could have been a Hillman Imp Californian, a Singer Chamois, or a Sunbeam Stiletto... All the same slope backed coupe shape.

"Californian," yet strangely not the sort of car you'd expect to see in Malibu or cruising Route 1.

Singer Chamois

Sunbeam Stiletto

Fairly easy to tell the difference. You just look at the badge.

That's it! A Sunbeam.

I actually Googled "Sunbeam Rapier" for some reason and a totally different car showed up, so I assumed my memory was on the blink.

Was it near the top of the range in the Imp world? I remember him being rather pleased with himself when he bought it.
It did have a sporty look back then, white in colour and IIRC reasonably flash for that era.

 

[brucemillar]

In short with a decent (working) water pump and a radiator with plenty airflow (not clogged/blocked) even the original cars "should" have been OK.
Reality was that blockages, duff pumps and poor water flow with some blockages (especially if left idle for a while) towards the back of the block would cause them to toast themselves.

Now it is a whole lot simpler, we fit a decent pump and a high efficiency (more cores than original) radiator and all is well.

My neighbour, who owns a restores many wonderful cars, runs an original concourse Triumph Stag and never once has it overheated or boiled up. He gets really annoyed when you say "they had overheating issues, didn't they?" His view is that the owners had overheating problems as they never maintained them properly, knowing that the cooling was always a potential issue!! I like that view point. What he means is that if you keep it clean and use good fluids, there is no reason to have cooling issues - and he doesn't have issues.

 

[BTB 500]

My neighbour, who owns a restores many wonderful cars, runs an original concourse Triumph Stag and never once has it overheated or boiled up. He gets really annoyed when you say "they had overheating issues, didn't they?"

Same applies to the Dolomite Sprint. I think the issue was that people were used to cars where the cooling systems were much less critical and the 'small print' (e.g. keeping the correct level of anti-freeze all year round to stop corrosion) didn't matter. Now these cars are owned by enthusiasts who look after them properly, and all is fine.