As a young man back in the late 1960s, I rather fancied myself as "skilled and efficient" driver (not a boy racer!) in my 1600cc, six cylinder Triumph Vitesse. You can imagine my chagrin then when driving on a twisty rural road in Scotland one day, I found myself following a Hillman Imp and try as I might I could not keep up with it through the bends. I'd close the gap on the straights, but the superior handling of the Imp allowed it to negotiate the bends at speeds I was definitely uncomfortable with in my Vitesse (with its swing axle rear suspension). That gave me a healthy respect for the little Imp, which has only increased after watching this video!
Blimey this takes me back. I had an early imp with auto choke and pneumatic throttle, it was a nightmare! However in 1969 I changed it for a dark green 1967 Singer Chamois, manual choke and cable throttle, I absoulutely loved that car. I fitted Koni shock absorbers all round and purchased a sound proofing kit from one of the adverts in a Motor book. My wife, who at that time was my girlfriend, had a brother who lived in Cornwall 256 miles from where we lived We would leave at midnight on a Friday and travel down, full tank of petrol (6 gallons) there was no motorway back then, it was A4 A33 A 303 and A30 never ever needed to stop for fuel Unbelievable mpg on a long run. The difference between the early Imp and the Chamois was really quite drastic . I suppose I should add I changed oil and filters, plugs and points about every six months and used a coolant that contained an inhibitor. Perhaps I was lucky but my little "Shrimp" was a joy to own. Thanks for the video took me back to my youth 😉
I always preferred the Imp and its variants to the Mini - the engine and steering were just so crisp.I owned a Mini Ritz - the poorest finished car I have ever had. Ate door handles for breakfast when BL abandoned the original exposed door cable pull. I passed my test in Jersey on a Californian so could fairly compare.. On the rear engine theme the really svelte number was the Simca 1000 - a small 4 door car with typically French comfort seats and de luxe interior if you got the right model. Great video Matt. Congrats!
Up here in the northern Sweden there was a man who drove an Hillman Imp in ice racing back in the 1970ths, it was very quick at the start and he dominated his class viping the Volvos, Saabs and VWs on the tracks! What engine he used I'm not sure of. Folke Riström was/is his name and he was/is from Råneå outside Luleå.
Light weight - around 700kg or less plus 110-120bhp from a race 998 with the engine behind the driven wheels for good traction seems like a good recipe for an ice racer
A little Australian Imp anecdote. In the early 1970’s my aunt had a pub, in suburban Sydney, and I often worked there in the drive through bottle shop. One of the employees was a uni student and he owned and ran an Imp. We used the Imp to do local liquor deliveries. Back seat down and load through the rear window and off we would go delivering booze.
Great video. 5:53 Actually the metal strips on the engine lid are NOT to tie luggage on to but merely to protect the lid's paint from damage while loading boxes etc in through the rear hatch. Nice that the Imps are now getting the recognition they deserve. My first car was a Mini but a couple of yeas later in 1980 I bought my first Imp and instantly realised what a superior car it was. especially in terms of ride quality and interior space. I've had one ever since. Like most Imp owners I have moderns too but every time I drive the Imp I am reminded how ahead of its time it was in terms of driving dynamics; it's a tactile, involving experience. Nice too that a lot of younger people have taken to them - many of them are unaware of the early teething troubles and their buying experience therefore not prejudiced by it. Instead they view the car afresh, seeing a great looking car with surprisingly fresh and undated styling which is economical, practical and fun to drive, a great combination. Parts too are readily available. Great value - buy one now as prices are on the up!
I think you me and every other imp owner and enthusiast were saying the same under our breath ie the earlier cars rear load strips, i dont think id fancy tying anything to the engine cover :D Don't know why chrysler ditched them (not like they were a big cost factor) as they were so handy to perch a carboard box on while you changed your grip to lean forward over the cover and through the hatch
Over the years of driving an imp I've noticed there are 2 kinds of people that come over to talk to me. Theres the ones who tell the same old story about needing to put a bag of sand or cement in the front to make it handle. And there are those who absolutely love it and tell you happy memories from years gone by. After 13 years of owning it I've had 0 bags of sand or cement In the car. But plenty of happy memories.
I remember reading that when The Duke of Edinburgh visited the factory soon after production started, they hadn't really got started, so the stream of vehicles emerging from the factory were quickly driven round the back, to join the queue and come out a second, third and fourth time 😀 But it gave the impression things were going well
I always thought of the Imp as a bit of a joke when I was a youth - but, the more I’ve learnt about them, the more I’ve come to appreciate just what a little gem of a car it was. It’s fault was sticking with a rear engine when the market was clearly moving on, and of course the well documented build issues. But, as a little car, it’s a fantastic thing.
The reason the rear engine& box was chosen was to give it the practicality that has been demonstrated in this video. Plus there were cost considerations that ruled out the front engine front wheel drive, such as the added complexity of the all in one casting of engine & gear box, and the drive shafts with CV joints.
The Imps had quite a reputation in the Rally scene. When I was a lot younger we lived in a flat above my grandfathers garage in Lanarkshire, just down the road was a blacksmith called Jimmy McRae's. Jimmy used to mess around at that time entering local car rallies, hill climbs etc. I can clearly remember him working on Hillman Imps with my brother in our family garage and myself and all of my brothers travelling to various rallies as his "mecanics". The imps were entered in many rallies and were quite successful. From these humble beginnings, Jimmy's son's Colin and Alister became champions. Yip the Imp, blew head gaskets by the dozen, melted pistons for a passtime, universal joints were rubber doughnuts, but they were fiesty little cars. They changed to Mini's in the late 60s as they were front wheel drive.
Really good to see some Rootes Group content! And not only that, but a positive take on the Imp. So many reviews concentrate on the many disasters which plagued its development.
My mate had one , but I think they suffered from cylinder head problems 🤔, they were a neat little car , a mini with a boot at the front , I had 3 minis in my day all suffered with the same inherent problems, Subframe rot and general deterioration of the body, but they where fun to drive 🚗 😀
I've been getting rather nostalgic for my '66 Super that I passed my test in back in '73. Rebuilt engine, gearbox, fitted the official Monte Carlo lowered road springs plus other suspension mods. Huge fun to drive. Sold it to my BiL when I got a hand-me-down company Alfasud around '83, he kept it for 18 months then sold it to banger racers after he broke reverse IIRC. One of three cars that had only scrap value when I sold them but are now desirable - the others were a 205GTI 1.6 and a 306XSI 8V.
Loving this episode. My parents had just about every model Imp that there was back in the 70s, apart from the van version. My first car was a Sunbeam Imp Sport, in white so looked just like the car you're testing. Well white and rust brown. I loved it. Just watching you sat in it brings the whole experience back, right down to the smell of plastic seats and rubber floor mats. I think they're lovely little cars.
This takes me back. Had such fun with my imp. Also learnt how to change the head gasket (essential knowledge) and how to remove the engine and gearbox without jacking up the car. Record for occupants was 7. 4 in the back with the seat folded down. 3 in the front. Brilliant car!
Another car of my youth after a couple of years of a bad start, they became known for reliability and long-lasting, had a very loyal fan base it’s quite amazing that the car is more or less forgotten now, the engine was used in all kinds of sports and activities probably one of the reasons why theres not so many of them around now, but with government intervention, it will go down as the car that finished off roots
I had a Hillman IMP fifty years ago in 1973 and packed it fully and drove off to Sydney about 500 miles away. I drove it for two years whilst studying. It had more room than the more common Holdens and Falcons of its time. I loaded it with a big bass amplifier and two guitars other speakers record player, books and clothing for two years. Amazing what would fit in. After I graduated it took three days to get home to Victoria as the aluminum head had cracked but thankfully in those days there was not much freeway and so I had to stop many times along the journey at creeks to fill up the radiator................ It brought back mixed memories.
I brought one of the last new imp supers in 1976 ... Exported it to West Germany (Army), drove that car all over Northern Europe, loved it, only problem I had was the engine running hot, which turned out to be mud yes mud in the radiator fins flicked up by the back wheel... back flushed with a hose through the outside of the rad fixed it. A sad day when I sold it. I still hanker over that car... great drive ... never got bored with it. Ps you mention computerised engine production...no...this was a coventry climax fire tender engine from the late 1940s way ahead of its time.
How refreshing it is to have a reviewer who really does like the IMP for what it is and not refer to the political malaise that surrounded it and caused so much negative press at the time of its launch! What you drove is a genuine example of the IMP that was and still is a better car than the BMC Mini! If the Company had been given both the time and money it was promised by the government of the day the IMP would have been even better than at launch, along with the subsequent upgrades that were planned! With the the introduction of Chrysler, the whole design and development of the IMP & other models changed (in my mind for the worse- I was in the department at the time! ). The basic problem was the management did not understand the UK market or the need for such small cars!
A 64 Imp was my very first car and I passed my test in my mum's Imp Californian. This car appears to drive so well and is crying out for a restoration to make a perfect example. I would love to have my Imp back.
What an enjoyable and informative video this is. Thank you. I bought a Singer Chamois Sport in 1967 (MAD 912F) and eventually got rid of it in the early 1980s. Buying it was a choice between a 998cc Mini Cooper and the Chamois Sport. I much preferred the gearbox and the general comfort of the Chamois and the car also came with a brake servo and reclining front seats (very important in those days!). I used to do all my own servicing in those days and regularly used to drain the cooling system and refill with the Rootes recommended anti-freeze to prevent corrosion of the aluminium engine. Fortunately I never had any trouble with the head gasket blowing but seem to remember I often had to have new king pins fitted to the front suspension in spite of regularly greasing them. Your video brings back happy memories of driving the car to far corners of the country for our holidays, back seat down and laden with suitcases, bags and a large Bearded Collie dog.
I used to own a 1970 Sunbeam Stiletto in signal red with a black vinyl roof and black Ambla interior. The Stiletto had twin headlights and the Imp Sport twin-carb engine. The rear window did not open. I enjoyed the car, it was very zippy, high revving and would do 80+ on the motorway. At high revs it was prone to throwing off the water-pump belt.
Just being pedantic for a moment, the rest of Rootes Group most definitely wasn't all at Ryton. A large portion of it was at Humber Road, Stoke, Coventry. Indeed, the Humber Road plant was the original, being opened in March 1908; Ryton was built in 1939 as a shadow factory for aircraft production. Rootes had other shadow factories in the Stoke area too, that also converted to car and component manufacture in the post-war period.
My grandad had two Imp's and my dad had one too. Neither of them gave any trouble despite the bad press that they got. Interesting that you mentioned the Suez crisis and how expensive petrol becomes at the time, because my grandad bought a Bentley Flying Spur (?) extremely cheaply and stuck it in his garage for a few years before he used it regularly
A teacher of mine had a new one in 1964. An aunt of mine had a Singer Chamois with lovely wooden dash and wooden side panels. Both had cylinder head gasket problems. A colleague in 1973 had an Imp and another in 1976 had a Sunbeam Stilleto. Our newsagent had a Hillman Husky in the early 70's. Great cars for their day. On another subject I have an 18 month old Kia Picanto 2 in Honey Bee which I love, but not as much as my 1966 Morris Minor 4 door in trafalgar blue.
The head problems were due to poor head torque. They need to be bolted down at least twice even three times. After the head had been lifted. Caused problems from new.
Drove one as a student in the late 70s. Bought used, it was a 1973 model, with round speedo dials and slightly different controls than the one in the vid. After reconditioning the engine, ostensibly abused by the previous owner, it gave me trouble-free service, save for having to do basic maintenance. Things would fail like the water-pump and the carb but fairly inexpensive rebuilt units were readily available. Weak points were the steering king-pins which would wear and needed replacement. I never experienced a blown head gasket or overheating, while I drove it on the motorways up and down the country doing trips of or in excess of 250 miles at a time, carrying my stuff. True I was a careful driver never pushing it beyond its limits thought the little 875 cc engine was very spirited for its size. Looking back it was such a fun car to drive.
A very attractive car and noticeably more powerful than an 850 mini, but driving one with 2 friends up the M1/M6 to Manchester in the late 60s/early 70s taught us just how unstable they were in strong crosswinds. We were young and keen drivers but trying to keep it in a straight line in rain and heavy traffic was extremely tiring - and nerve wracking. We swapped drivers several times on that journey. My mini was much better planted - even with a broken rear subframe.
Fantastic little cars. Lovely little engines, always happy to rev to stupid speeds, and great handling. Rather unusual weight distribution (tyre pressures - front 18psi, back 32psi), but I never managed to get the back to step out, no matter how hard I pushed mine. Also, a beautiful exhaust note - very similar to Hubnut's Foxanne. ORK958R, you're still missed after all these years. Such a shame the Rootes Group marques never had the following that Ford, BMC, and Vauxhall had. If they had, there'd be far more around.
To Visions Of Here. You mentioned the Rooted group never had a big following, like BMC or FORD. Just like the Liberal Democrats or the Green Party , in political terms. Which does seem to suggest the British public is a bunch of wimps, who are too timid to try anything new!
Most of the "lads" who used to thrash these had a couple of bags of sand up front to avoid a meeting with a large tree on the outside of a bend. The engines always had problems with over heating and most of the guys I knew were running almost neat antifreeze in them to help with the boiling point. The only advantage was that you could remove the rear cross member and pull the lump out on a trolly jack, which I did a couple of times. The Ford Escort Mk1 took over as the lads "thrashmobile" and the Imp was then classed as another British also ran.
I never found the need to load the front of my Imps, they handle perfectly as they came from the factory. Nor did I have overheating problems, the trick is to treat the water pump as a service item and replace it every three or four years.
We had a blue one only for a few days because the dealer serviced it as we were about to go on our annual holiday, unfortunately they used just water. That was the end of that, I think they swapped it for an Avenger....
What a load of rubbish....same old story passed on over the years by people that havnt owned an imp. I've never met a single imp owner that has done this.
Really enjoyed this one. My first car, in 1974 was a white 1968 Imp Deluxe. Superb car to drive but very unreliable. Head gasket went annually probably due to a warped head I couldn't afford to have skimmed, third gear disengaged on the overrun, sills rotted, heater failed, radiator leaked, heater valve siezed, plus a few other things. And I only had it for two years 😀 But still have happy memories of it, and it taught me plenty about car maintenence and repair!
Head gasket failure was common because too small gap between cylinders. Solution (a fellow owner told me ) was to torque the bolts to double what it said in the book. This worked fine.
5:50 Those chrome strips were not to enable load carrying on the lid ... they were there to help prevent scratching the paint as you dragged luggage in and out of the rear window.
When I was a child a friends father had one of these. He went camping with a roof rack tent. Pull up, sort the tent lift the roof rack and drive out. I loved it.
Thanks for the video. Drive Dad's Car, near Matlock, has a lovely turquoise model available to drive (though ironically broken down on my visit!) A 1976 maroon Imp was my first car - as a 17yo in 1982. Memories..the choke on the floor, lift up to operate.. Lovely handling, great steering. Very, very noisy.. Loads of room inside and felt very solid. Rust nibling away at the rear arches all the while.. Brilliant, clever, car.
Remember this car wasn't just the Hillman Imp, various models included the Singer Chamois, Sunbeam Imp Sport, Hillman Husky (estate), and the coupes Californian, Chamois and Sunbeam Stiletto. There was also a van. There was rear engined foreign competition, Fiat 850, Simca 1000, Renault 8.
These are great little cars. Back in the 70's an Uncle had one, and when they came to visit us for a week we all got in it fir days out. Him, his pregnant Wife, my Mum, me, two sisters. Dad was at work and my brother sat in the front with my Auntie! No airbags, no belts, no efs given.
Love the Dymo tape on the instrument console, so you know what every switch does. Probably not fitted as standard, but very period! Great stuff! Love and peace.
What a great video. A mate of mine owned an Imp when we were teenagers and I had an old VW. I was astonished at how much better the Imp handled - really no contest in fast cornering!
Agree with everything you say about the Imp - a good one is a wonderful thing, streets ahead of a mini. I had a very bad one bought using my student grant back in the early 80’s. Despite being completely worn out it never actually stopped, but in the end it was doing less than 100 miles to the pint of oil and was very good at smoke signals. You mention the smoothness of the engine and its quietness from its rear location. They can be amazingly quiet if you install another three feet of sound insulation, in the form of all your worldly student belongings crammed into the back on the folded rear seat. It’s a shame there are so few left now.
I had an Imp I the early ‘80s,; the engine had previously been ‘souped up’ by my friend Rick for his sister. When this became available I had a go in it and it felt like a ‘Go Kart’ to drive, so I bought it. I found this much more enjoyable to drive than the Mini and had really good experience in this car. Sadly, now in the 2020s driving I’m in an anodyne superbly efficient modern car, but driving is not the same today.
My Dad had two of these when I was a lad and I remember him teaching my Mum to drive in one of them with me bouncing around in the back. Gotta love a horizontal speedometer!
Just finished Joseph Lloyd's take on the Imp so i was most excited to see the Furious Driving Take on this little car, and I was mightly impressed, I think these are fun looking cars and look a lot of fun to drive.
My grandad had two Imps and a Sunbeam Stiletto and I remember being lifted through the rear window as a toddler in the late 70s to ride in the "boot". His only new car ever was a Mini but my grandma made him sell it as she didn't feel safe in it. They had a Beetle in the 60s and a Skoda 120 Super Estelle in the 90s so must have enjoyed the interesting handling.
My Dads 1st car was one of these - GFR 208 D in autumn gold. Actually bought whilst we were on holiday in Blackpool!! And he had yet to pass his test lol - Mum Dad and us 4 kids squeezed in there and went all over the north west for a couple of years - Freedom was ours.
Super little car with great patina! My uncle had a engine company and extracted huge amounts (relatively speaking) from the Imp engine giving him great success in local motor sport events
I love Rootes Group! I have always had a strong fondness for the Sunbeam Alpine, which I have occasionally seen even in recent years on local US roads. I prefer the look of the IMP, maybe partly because the Mini has become almost a bit trite like a VW Beetle. The style is definitely one of "form follows function". Some might think it is "cute", but I like its angular good looks. I'm not sure how this could possibly cope in modern American traffic, but if I ever found one that needed a powerplant replacement, this would make a fantastic electric daily driver. Its too bad that Rootes caved to the British government's impractical demand of situating the plant at Linwood so far away from Coventry, but everything is always so clear in hindsight. Definitely a car that excites me!!!!
Had two - the second I modified engine wise - R22 Cam, 38mm Stromberg carb - Straight thro Silencer you coud hear from a mile away - modified front suspension and better tyres- it cornered on rails - built my own electronic ignition for it and it revved to some ridiculous level - 8000rpm plus with no limiter.
Great kittle cars, my first car was a 1968 Singer Chamios (Imp with twin headlamps) that I paid £75 for in 1981, drove it for 6 monyhs on L plates (always with a qualified passenger) and then passed my test afer 4 lessons (the minimum the intructor would do). I loved that car took 4 of us away camping in the Lake district. Would rather like one now but the prices have gone silly for a good one. My second car was also an IMP a later 1974 one that I bought assuming it would be a better car, it wasn't, it had been abused and not looked after.
Brought back some memories, my first car was a Hillman Imp, you could side mount a Datsun 120y motor in the back to give it more grunt!! With the wide wheel base it handled really well with cornering, many were used here very successfully in the Rallying world.
I had a friend in late 70s have a hillman imp Californian.can’t remember much that it looked better than standard.heating problems if I’m remembering right.Matt can’t wait on your welding job on the freelander.
Another great review Matt, they were a good car, very practical for a small car with a rear engine. A local bus driver in our home village had a SINGER version of this car, think it was called a ‘Chamois’ really just a badge engineered Imp. The engines sound really smooth and free revving, a bit like Rover’s K series engine, funnily enough they had the same overheating and Head Gasket failure issues I believe as well. Although I’m a Mini fan firstly I think the IMP was the better car out the two, at least from a practicality and storage point of view. There’s probably far fewer of these still in existence than the Mini.
I used to get taken to my central Edinburgh school in one of these by the local doctor, he also owned a pristine Rover P6 which was also sometimes an option. Other days my late father took us to school in our Mark 2 Jaguar. Those were the days, sadly long gone.
Thank you for a good Laugh. I owned a Hillman Imp. Sorry but all your praises do not go with the car I owned. It was a very bad starter. The king pins only lasted 12 months between replacement & the cross pin in the diff unit slid out & cracked the casing. This, My father & self fixed by bracing the casing with a piece of machined angle bolted & Araldited in position. I lived with it for 3 or 4 years. Going on long journeys in hot weather was not its forty. It was much better in cool weather. The hydraulic clutch never played up in cool weather, but it did in hot. The one bit that did always work on mine was the pneumatic throttle. Yes it did drive well. To me, it was an almost car. One that was a lot of trouble. At that time the best small car to have was the notch back Ford Anglea.
My dad learnt to drive in 1964 in an Imp. 27 years later I learnt to drive in a madza 121 (later kia pride) and taught by the son of my dad's instructor.
My first car, loved it. Im 6ft3 and there was loads of room. Couldnt even fit in a mini. Went all over the country in mine,but overheating was sometimes aproblem.
I used to have a Singer Chamois, and, later, a Sunbeam Stiletto (a sporty, fastback coupe version of the Imp). Both excellent cars, but the Stiletto really was a joy to drive, as it came with decambered front suspension, wider wheels and a much peppier engine (twin Strombergs, sportier cam and multi-branch exhaust) - definitely better than a Mini. One weakness, applied to all variants, was the method used to implement the universal joints in the rear axle - rubber doughnuts - which used to eventually degrade and fail, with resulting sudden loss of drive. (The Lotus Elan used a similar arrangement, and I think you can now buy properly engineered replacements which don't involve rubber for that car...) Wish I still had the Stiletto...
Love Rootes cars, but more particularly the later Minx and Hunter. Dad had one of each - both became rust buckets but loved all the same. And with the family surname on the boot! Nice review. Keep up the good work, Matt!
I loved my Imp but I did have head warping problems and eventually I moved on to a Super Minx estate, I loved that too. How cool having your name on the boot.
Our neighbor had a sea foam green. I thought it was a an interesting car when I was a kid abroad. It has a huge greenhouse and the rear glass hatch is practical. Peculiar and handsome design.
My grandpa had two Imps: a mustard yellow D-reg Mark 1 like the one you're driving, and then a bright red H-reg Mark 2 (with the circular gauges) after that. I remember the floor-mounted choke. I hadn't realised just how offset the pedals were. My grandpa was 5'11" and it must have been a tight squeeze for him to fit in behind the wheel and to have room to control the pedals. I'd forgotten that the rear seat folded forwards, though I remember the butyl rubber toggles for holding the rear seat back upright. Scary to think that 2-door cars in those days didn't have any way of locking the seats to the floor. H&S would have kittens at the sight of the exposed alternator / fan-belt pulley complete with what look like razor-sharp cooling fins to take you fingers off :-(
Always loved the Imp but never owned one. I have actually just bought down the Imp books I bought from my mother's loft and stuck them on ebay so a double blast of Imp nostalgia as I had a quick read while taking the images for ebay.
Thank you very much, I enjoyed this video. I'm American and only learned of the Imp a few years back when a UA-camr in the United States had acquired one in need of some repair. And I was fascinated with the cleverness employed throughout the car as well as the with the engine. I was hoping that you might address the model name of "Super Imp" as other videos that I've enjoyed have all been the "Imp", never a Super Imp. I'm not seeing this video car being different than the Imp's I've seen, so I'm wondering if the "Super Imp" simply relates to having a more powerful engine.
I must confess I rather like that car. The only Imp I've ever been in though was in fact a derivative - the Sunbeam Stiletto, which a mate 'tweaked'. It certainly made good progress... and let's not forget the Husky, of which I seem to recall Eastern Electricity having a few.
My brother had a red van version in the mid '70s. It was already a banger by then but I remember the way it flew around the country lanes where we lived. A lot of fun for not a lot of money.
The first car i ever got in to as a kid was the exact same one in white, my dads friend in stoke on trent owned it, he loved that thing. must have been around 1981, have fond memories of this an a bright yellow ford capri. You are right, the imp was better than the mini in every way.
That noise takes me back to the one and only new car my dad bought, a 1971 hillman imp estate (husky) and a very reliable car that on a regular basis traveled from Norfolk to Kent or Wiltshire to see the families
For Folk who never built cars before they did very well. Logistics were questionable at best but BMC did manage some ludicrous assembly practices as well. Amazing story of this 1967 Super too.
The Imp never received the recognition it deserved, probably due to reliability issues but then the Mini was hardly a paragon in that respect. Despite its mechanical layout becoming unfashionable the car was far more innovative and sophisticated. It rode better on proper springs rather than rubber cones and its engine was streets ahead of the Mini's rough and wheezy A series with whining gearbox. I drove a friend's Imp a few times and remember it as great fun. Once, I was cruising at a reasonable speed forgetting I was still in third! Such was the fabulous smoothness of that engine!
“B” Reg was my first car. Bought it “used” for £180 as a student back in 1970. Kept a bag of cement in the boot to keep the nose down. Had no functioning heater as all the rubber hoses passing through the door sills had perished before I got the car. Finally got rid of it for £60 in 1973 when I got a Ford Cortina 1300L with my job as a rep. The Imp had a good interior but crap mechanical/electrical reliability. RIP Hillman marque. (Rootes/Chrysler).
Great little car, show have taken the market away from the Mini, if only Roots had the money!!! Great report. Cheers Bob, PS My brother had a George Hartwell tuned 998cc Singer version in the late 60's. Lucky man he was.
Same year as the one i owned back in seventies .... easy to work on...unlike our farm mini van😱 my gamekeeper mate used have his seats in rear always down so dogs could jump over through open rear window🐶🐶 much more fun to drive than mini.... ie snow.. forest tracks etc👌👌👌
One of my uncles had a Super Imp, another had a Husky estate and a third rallied a Singer Chamois. Great fun little cars, sadly their bad initial reputation was never really shaken off, pity. Many Imp owners thought they were far better than a BMC Mini, and they were a very popular choice for the small classes in motor sport.
👍Great video. If extra development time had been available for the Imp and better quality control implemented, it could have been a very different story? Sales of 500,000 is not exactly a disaster but this may have been in the millions if the concept had been fully realised? I was brought up near the Linwood plant. Still remember the horrible day that closure was announced and all the job losses.
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I had a 1972 Sunbeam Stiletto, red with a black vinyl roof. The Stiletto had twin headlamps and the sport engine with twin carbs. A great car.
Been waiting to watch this video with my dad as he had one as his first car. He thoroughly enjoyed it. I think these little cars are fab, unusual and charming. Quite fancy a go of one as I think it would be immensely fun to hoon around in 👍🏻
My first car. A gold one. Cost me £400. It wasn’t a good car but I loved it. Like a lot of Imp’s it had coolant problems. I even remember the reg number HFN 730L. Love the video Matt.
My ex- father in-law had a 1969 Imp (from new) Travelled all over country with my Girlfriend, then wife, in that small back seat. got wrote off when someone hit him in mid 80's. Great cars. Most imps suffered head failures, gear linkage failure and piss poor heating. Would make a great EV resto-mod car.
I had one of these for a couple of years with no mechanical problems at all.. Actually a neat little car that drove well but I had to get rid of it because it was becoming a serious rust bucket despite being looked after. The developing rust problems of the car are very obvious from the video here.
Some years ago I met an engineer who had worked in dealer support for Rootes. He reckoned the Imp's poor reputaion for reliability was almost entirely down to the attitude of the dealers. It was a cheap car, so they didn't make much on selling them, and probably resented having to support them. It was one of the first all-alloy engines, and so required special antifreeze. Either the dealers wouldn't stock it, or the mechanics couldn't be bothered, so they often used the nasty methanol then commonly used in cast-iron engines. To make matters worse, the cylinder head required re-torquing at the first service. Getting at the bolts at the front of the engine bay meant removing various ancillary bits and pieces to gain access, so lazy mechanics skipped that bit of the job. In due course this would cause the head to warp and blow the gasket. I suspect there was some truth in what he said, as Coventry Climax engines in other applications from fork trucks to racing cars never manifested these problems.
I have heard exactly the same accounts about antifreeze and not properly torquing headbolts from some of the older guys I used to work with who ran Imps back in the day. When they came out, I wonder how many mechanics even had a torque wrench?
As a young man back in the late 1960s, I rather fancied myself as "skilled and efficient" driver (not a boy racer!) in my 1600cc, six cylinder Triumph Vitesse. You can imagine my chagrin then when driving on a twisty rural road in Scotland one day, I found myself following a Hillman Imp and try as I might I could not keep up with it through the bends. I'd close the gap on the straights, but the superior handling of the Imp allowed it to negotiate the bends at speeds I was definitely uncomfortable with in my Vitesse (with its swing axle rear suspension). That gave me a healthy respect for the little Imp, which has only increased after watching this video!
Blimey this takes me back.
I had an early imp with auto choke and pneumatic throttle, it was a nightmare!
However in 1969 I changed it for a dark green 1967 Singer Chamois, manual choke and cable throttle, I absoulutely loved that car. I fitted Koni shock absorbers all round and purchased a sound proofing kit from one of the adverts in a Motor book.
My wife, who at that time was my girlfriend, had a brother who lived in Cornwall 256 miles from where we lived
We would leave at midnight on a Friday and travel down, full tank of petrol (6 gallons) there was no motorway back then, it was A4 A33 A 303 and A30 never ever needed to stop for fuel
Unbelievable mpg on a long run.
The difference between the early Imp and the Chamois was really quite drastic . I suppose I should add I changed oil and filters, plugs and points about every six months and used a coolant that contained an inhibitor.
Perhaps I was lucky but my little "Shrimp" was a joy to own.
Thanks for the video took me back to my youth 😉
I always preferred the Imp and its variants to the Mini - the engine and steering were just so crisp.I owned a Mini Ritz - the poorest finished car I have ever had. Ate door handles for breakfast when BL abandoned the original exposed door cable pull. I passed my test in Jersey on a Californian so could fairly compare.. On the rear engine theme the really svelte number was the Simca 1000 - a small 4 door car with typically French comfort seats and de luxe interior if you got the right model. Great video Matt. Congrats!
Up here in the northern Sweden there was a man who drove an Hillman Imp in ice racing back in the 1970ths, it was very quick at the start and he dominated his class viping the Volvos, Saabs and VWs on the tracks! What engine he used I'm not sure of. Folke Riström was/is his name and he was/is from Råneå outside Luleå.
Light weight - around 700kg or less plus 110-120bhp from a race 998 with the engine behind the driven wheels for good traction seems like a good recipe for an ice racer
My dad used to rally one in Scotland back in the day.
1970ths I love it. 🤠
A little Australian Imp anecdote. In the early 1970’s my aunt had a pub, in suburban Sydney, and I often worked there in the drive through bottle shop. One of the employees was a uni student and he owned and ran an Imp. We used the Imp to do local liquor deliveries. Back seat down and load through the rear window and off we would go delivering booze.
Great video. 5:53 Actually the metal strips on the engine lid are NOT to tie luggage on to but merely to protect the lid's paint from damage while loading boxes etc in through the rear hatch. Nice that the Imps are now getting the recognition they deserve. My first car was a Mini but a couple of yeas later in 1980 I bought my first Imp and instantly realised what a superior car it was. especially in terms of ride quality and interior space. I've had one ever since. Like most Imp owners I have moderns too but every time I drive the Imp I am reminded how ahead of its time it was in terms of driving dynamics; it's a tactile, involving experience. Nice too that a lot of younger people have taken to them - many of them are unaware of the early teething troubles and their buying experience therefore not prejudiced by it. Instead they view the car afresh, seeing a great looking car with surprisingly fresh and undated styling which is economical, practical and fun to drive, a great combination. Parts too are readily available. Great value - buy one now as prices are on the up!
I think you me and every other imp owner and enthusiast were saying the same under our breath ie the earlier cars rear load strips, i dont think id fancy tying anything to the engine cover :D Don't know why chrysler ditched them (not like they were a big cost factor) as they were so handy to perch a carboard box on while you changed your grip to lean forward over the cover and through the hatch
Over the years of driving an imp I've noticed there are 2 kinds of people that come over to talk to me. Theres the ones who tell the same old story about needing to put a bag of sand or cement in the front to make it handle. And there are those who absolutely love it and tell you happy memories from years gone by.
After 13 years of owning it I've had 0 bags of sand or cement In the car. But plenty of happy memories.
I remember reading that when The Duke of Edinburgh visited the factory soon after production started, they hadn't really got started, so the stream of vehicles emerging from the factory were quickly driven round the back, to join the queue and come out a second, third and fourth time 😀 But it gave the impression things were going well
I always thought of the Imp as a bit of a joke when I was a youth - but, the more I’ve learnt about them, the more I’ve come to appreciate just what a little gem of a car it was. It’s fault was sticking with a rear engine when the market was clearly moving on, and of course the well documented build issues. But, as a little car, it’s a fantastic thing.
The reason the rear engine& box was chosen was to give it the practicality that has been demonstrated in this video. Plus there were cost considerations that ruled out the front engine front wheel drive, such as the added complexity of the all in one casting of engine & gear box, and the drive shafts with CV joints.
The Imps had quite a reputation in the Rally scene.
When I was a lot younger we lived in a flat above my grandfathers garage in Lanarkshire, just down the road was a blacksmith called Jimmy McRae's. Jimmy used to mess around at that time entering local car rallies, hill climbs etc.
I can clearly remember him working on Hillman Imps with my brother in our family garage and myself and all of my brothers travelling to various rallies as his "mecanics".
The imps were entered in many rallies and were quite successful.
From these humble beginnings, Jimmy's son's Colin and Alister became champions.
Yip the Imp, blew head gaskets by the dozen, melted pistons for a passtime, universal joints were rubber doughnuts, but they were fiesty little cars.
They changed to Mini's in the late 60s as they were front wheel drive.
My dad worked at the Linwood factory...so seeing this video was all nostalgia for me. :)
Really good to see some Rootes Group content! And not only that, but a positive take on the Imp. So many reviews concentrate on the many disasters which plagued its development.
My mate had one , but I think they suffered from cylinder head problems 🤔, they were a neat little car , a mini with a boot at the front , I had 3 minis in my day all suffered with the same inherent problems, Subframe rot and general deterioration of the body, but they where fun to drive 🚗 😀
I've been getting rather nostalgic for my '66 Super that I passed my test in back in '73. Rebuilt engine, gearbox, fitted the official Monte Carlo lowered road springs plus other suspension mods. Huge fun to drive. Sold it to my BiL when I got a hand-me-down company Alfasud around '83, he kept it for 18 months then sold it to banger racers after he broke reverse IIRC. One of three cars that had only scrap value when I sold them but are now desirable - the others were a 205GTI 1.6 and a 306XSI 8V.
Make that '...back in '72'.
Loving this episode. My parents had just about every model Imp that there was back in the 70s, apart from the van version. My first car was a Sunbeam Imp Sport, in white so looked just like the car you're testing. Well white and rust brown. I loved it. Just watching you sat in it brings the whole experience back, right down to the smell of plastic seats and rubber floor mats. I think they're lovely little cars.
This takes me back. Had such fun with my imp. Also learnt how to change the head gasket (essential knowledge) and how to remove the engine and gearbox without jacking up the car. Record for occupants was 7. 4 in the back with the seat folded down. 3 in the front. Brilliant car!
Love the style of the imp. One of the many underated British cars that could have come to more.
Another car of my youth after a couple of years of a bad start, they became known for reliability and long-lasting, had a very loyal fan base it’s quite amazing that the car is more or less forgotten now, the engine was used in all kinds of sports and activities probably one of the reasons why theres not so many of them around now, but with government intervention, it will go down as the car that finished off roots
I had a Hillman IMP fifty years ago in 1973 and packed it fully and drove off to Sydney about 500 miles away. I drove it for two years whilst studying. It had more room than the more common Holdens and Falcons of its time. I loaded it with a big bass amplifier and two guitars other speakers record player, books and clothing for two years. Amazing what would fit in. After I graduated it took three days to get home to Victoria as the aluminum head had cracked but thankfully in those days there was not much freeway and so I had to stop many times along the journey at creeks to fill up the radiator................ It brought back mixed memories.
I brought one of the last new imp supers in 1976 ... Exported it to West Germany (Army), drove that car all over Northern Europe, loved it, only problem I had was the engine running hot, which turned out to be mud yes mud in the radiator fins flicked up by the back wheel... back flushed with a hose through the outside of the rad fixed it. A sad day when I sold it.
I still hanker over that car... great drive ... never got bored with it.
Ps you mention computerised engine production...no...this was a coventry climax fire tender engine from the late 1940s way ahead of its time.
How refreshing it is to have a reviewer who really does like the IMP for what it is and not refer to the political malaise that surrounded it and caused so much negative press at the time of its launch! What you drove is a genuine example of the IMP that was and still is a better car than the BMC Mini! If the Company had been given both the time and money it was promised by the government of the day the IMP would have been even better than at launch, along with the subsequent upgrades that were planned! With the the introduction of Chrysler, the whole design and development of the IMP & other models changed (in my mind for the worse- I was in the department at the time! ). The basic problem was the management did not understand the UK market or the need for such small cars!
A 64 Imp was my very first car and I passed my test in my mum's Imp Californian. This car appears to drive so well and is crying out for a restoration to make a perfect example. I would love to have my Imp back.
What an enjoyable and informative video this is. Thank you. I bought a Singer Chamois Sport in 1967 (MAD 912F) and eventually got rid of it in the early 1980s. Buying it was a choice between a 998cc Mini Cooper and the Chamois Sport. I much preferred the gearbox and the general comfort of the Chamois and the car also came with a brake servo and reclining front seats (very important in those days!).
I used to do all my own servicing in those days and regularly used to drain the cooling system and refill with the Rootes recommended anti-freeze to prevent corrosion of the aluminium engine. Fortunately I never had any trouble with the head gasket blowing but seem to remember I often had to have new king pins fitted to the front suspension in spite of regularly greasing them.
Your video brings back happy memories of driving the car to far corners of the country for our holidays, back seat down and laden with suitcases, bags and a large Bearded Collie dog.
I used to own a 1970 Sunbeam Stiletto in signal red with a black vinyl roof and black Ambla interior. The Stiletto had twin headlights and the Imp Sport twin-carb engine. The rear window did not open. I enjoyed the car, it was very zippy, high revving and would do 80+ on the motorway. At high revs it was prone to throwing off the water-pump belt.
Just being pedantic for a moment, the rest of Rootes Group most definitely wasn't all at Ryton. A large portion of it was at Humber Road, Stoke, Coventry. Indeed, the Humber Road plant was the original, being opened in March 1908; Ryton was built in 1939 as a shadow factory for aircraft production. Rootes had other shadow factories in the Stoke area too, that also converted to car and component manufacture in the post-war period.
My grandad had two Imp's and my dad had one too. Neither of them gave any trouble despite the bad press that they got.
Interesting that you mentioned the Suez crisis and how expensive petrol becomes at the time, because my grandad bought a Bentley Flying Spur (?) extremely cheaply and stuck it in his garage for a few years before he used it regularly
A teacher of mine had a new one in 1964. An aunt of mine had a Singer Chamois with lovely wooden dash and wooden side panels. Both had cylinder head gasket problems. A colleague in 1973 had an Imp and another in 1976 had a Sunbeam Stilleto. Our newsagent had a Hillman Husky in the early 70's. Great cars for their day. On another subject I have an 18 month old Kia Picanto 2 in Honey Bee which I love, but not as much as my 1966 Morris Minor 4 door in trafalgar blue.
The head problems were due to poor head torque. They need to be bolted down at least twice even three times. After the head had been lifted. Caused problems from new.
Drove one as a student in the late 70s. Bought used, it was a 1973 model, with round speedo dials and slightly different controls than the one in the vid. After reconditioning the engine, ostensibly abused by the previous owner, it gave me trouble-free service, save for having to do basic maintenance. Things would fail like the water-pump and the carb but fairly inexpensive rebuilt units were readily available. Weak points were the steering king-pins which would wear and needed replacement. I never experienced a blown head gasket or overheating, while I drove it on the motorways up and down the country doing trips of or in excess of 250 miles at a time, carrying my stuff. True I was a careful driver never pushing it beyond its limits thought the little 875 cc engine was very spirited for its size. Looking back it was such a fun car to drive.
A very attractive car and noticeably more powerful than an 850 mini, but driving one with 2 friends up the M1/M6 to Manchester in the late 60s/early 70s taught us just how unstable they were in strong crosswinds. We were young and keen drivers but trying to keep it in a straight line in rain and heavy traffic was extremely tiring - and nerve wracking. We swapped drivers several times on that journey. My mini was much better planted - even with a broken rear subframe.
Fantastic little cars. Lovely little engines, always happy to rev to stupid speeds, and great handling. Rather unusual weight distribution (tyre pressures - front 18psi, back 32psi), but I never managed to get the back to step out, no matter how hard I pushed mine. Also, a beautiful exhaust note - very similar to Hubnut's Foxanne.
ORK958R, you're still missed after all these years.
Such a shame the Rootes Group marques never had the following that Ford, BMC, and Vauxhall had. If they had, there'd be far more around.
To Visions Of Here. You mentioned the Rooted group never had a big following, like BMC or FORD. Just like the Liberal Democrats or the Green Party , in political terms. Which does seem to suggest the British public is a bunch of wimps, who are too timid to try anything new!
Got 8500 rpm out of mine
It's a good looking little car, super efficient practical design. It would have been rare to see one in the 1960s in the US. I like it.
Most of the "lads" who used to thrash these had a couple of bags of sand up front to avoid a meeting with a large tree on the outside of a bend. The engines always had problems with over heating and most of the guys I knew were running almost neat antifreeze in them to help with the boiling point. The only advantage was that you could remove the rear cross member and pull the lump out on a trolly jack, which I did a couple of times. The Ford Escort Mk1 took over as the lads "thrashmobile" and the Imp was then classed as another British also ran.
I never found the need to load the front of my Imps, they handle perfectly as they came from the factory. Nor did I have overheating problems, the trick is to treat the water pump as a service item and replace it every three or four years.
We had a blue one only for a few days because the dealer serviced it as we were about to go on our annual holiday, unfortunately they used just water. That was the end of that, I think they swapped it for an Avenger....
Pushed hard they would go straight on. I used two bags of lead shot. Never did anything with wheel camber. Loved it.
What a load of rubbish....same old story passed on over the years by people that havnt owned an imp. I've never met a single imp owner that has done this.
Owned a Stiletto and never used a 'bag of sand'. That's nonsense. Car never overheated except when it lost the water-pump belt.
Really enjoyed this one. My first car, in 1974 was a white 1968 Imp Deluxe. Superb car to drive but very unreliable. Head gasket went annually probably due to a warped head I couldn't afford to have skimmed, third gear disengaged on the overrun, sills rotted, heater failed, radiator leaked, heater valve siezed, plus a few other things. And I only had it for two years 😀 But still have happy memories of it, and it taught me plenty about car maintenence and repair!
Head gasket failure was common because too small gap between cylinders. Solution (a fellow owner told me ) was to torque the bolts to double what it said in the book. This worked fine.
@@geoffwoodgate7450 If only I'd known that fifty years ago ! :)
5:50 Those chrome strips were not to enable load carrying on the lid ... they were there to help prevent scratching the paint as you dragged luggage in and out of the rear window.
When I was a child a friends father had one of these. He went camping with a roof rack tent. Pull up, sort the tent lift the roof rack and drive out. I loved it.
Thanks for the video.
Drive Dad's Car, near Matlock, has a lovely turquoise model available to drive (though ironically broken down on my visit!)
A 1976 maroon Imp was my first car - as a 17yo in 1982.
Memories..the choke on the floor, lift up to operate.. Lovely handling, great steering. Very, very noisy.. Loads of room inside and felt very solid. Rust nibling away at the rear arches all the while.. Brilliant, clever, car.
Remember this car wasn't just the Hillman Imp, various models included the Singer Chamois, Sunbeam Imp Sport, Hillman Husky (estate), and the coupes Californian, Chamois and Sunbeam Stiletto. There was also a van.
There was rear engined foreign competition, Fiat 850, Simca 1000, Renault 8.
Amazing video, I’ve always been a massive fan of the classic mini, but seeing this video really makes me want to experience the Hillman Imp.
These are great little cars. Back in the 70's an Uncle had one, and when they came to visit us for a week we all got in it fir days out. Him, his pregnant Wife, my Mum, me, two sisters. Dad was at work and my brother sat in the front with my Auntie! No airbags, no belts, no efs given.
Love the Dymo tape on the instrument console, so you know what every switch does. Probably not fitted as standard, but very period! Great stuff! Love and peace.
What a great video. A mate of mine owned an Imp when we were teenagers and I had an old VW. I was astonished at how much better the Imp handled - really no contest in fast cornering!
Agree with everything you say about the Imp - a good one is a wonderful thing, streets ahead of a mini.
I had a very bad one bought using my student grant back in the early 80’s. Despite being completely worn out it never actually stopped, but in the end it was doing less than 100 miles to the pint of oil and was very good at smoke signals.
You mention the smoothness of the engine and its quietness from its rear location. They can be amazingly quiet if you install another three feet of sound insulation, in the form of all your worldly student belongings crammed into the back on the folded rear seat.
It’s a shame there are so few left now.
Looking on How Many Left there could be upwards of 1300 left in various models and derivatives like the van and estate.
I had an Imp I the early ‘80s,; the engine had previously been ‘souped up’ by my friend Rick for his sister. When this became available I had a go in it and it felt like a ‘Go Kart’ to drive, so I bought it.
I found this much more enjoyable to drive than the Mini and had really good experience in this car.
Sadly, now in the 2020s driving I’m in an anodyne superbly efficient modern car, but driving is not the same today.
My Dad had two of these when I was a lad and I remember him teaching my Mum to drive in one of them with me bouncing around in the back. Gotta love a horizontal speedometer!
Just finished Joseph Lloyd's take on the Imp so i was most excited to see the Furious Driving Take on this little car, and I was mightly impressed, I think these are fun looking cars and look a lot of fun to drive.
My grandad had two Imps and a Sunbeam Stiletto and I remember being lifted through the rear window as a toddler in the late 70s to ride in the "boot". His only new car ever was a Mini but my grandma made him sell it as she didn't feel safe in it. They had a Beetle in the 60s and a Skoda 120 Super Estelle in the 90s so must have enjoyed the interesting handling.
Had two in the late 70's ,early 80's, an imp and a sunbeam stiletto, loved them.
The Sunbeam Stiletto was my favorite of the range.
Thanks again for the great video. Hillman Imp, nice blast from the past
My Dads 1st car was one of these - GFR 208 D in autumn gold. Actually bought whilst we were on holiday in Blackpool!! And he had yet to pass his test lol - Mum Dad and us 4 kids squeezed in there and went all over the north west for a couple of years - Freedom was ours.
Super little car with great patina! My uncle had a engine company and extracted huge amounts (relatively speaking) from the Imp engine giving him great success in local motor sport events
I love Rootes Group! I have always had a strong fondness for the Sunbeam Alpine, which I have occasionally seen even in recent years on local US roads. I prefer the look of the IMP, maybe partly because the Mini has become almost a bit trite like a VW Beetle. The style is definitely one of "form follows function". Some might think it is "cute", but I like its angular good looks. I'm not sure how this could possibly cope in modern American traffic, but if I ever found one that needed a powerplant replacement, this would make a fantastic electric daily driver. Its too bad that Rootes caved to the British government's impractical demand of situating the plant at Linwood so far away from Coventry, but everything is always so clear in hindsight. Definitely a car that excites me!!!!
Thank you for this very enjoyable & watchable video on this car. Because of guys like yourself,the car's from yesterday won't be forgotten today. 😊
Had two - the second I modified engine wise - R22 Cam, 38mm Stromberg carb - Straight thro Silencer you coud hear from a mile away - modified front suspension and better tyres- it cornered on rails - built my own electronic ignition for it and it revved to some ridiculous level - 8000rpm plus with no limiter.
I like these and find them very interesting and something a bit different. Thanks for featuring this and thanks to owner for allowing it.
Great kittle cars, my first car was a 1968 Singer Chamios (Imp with twin headlamps) that I paid £75 for in 1981, drove it for 6 monyhs on L plates (always with a qualified passenger) and then passed my test afer 4 lessons (the minimum the intructor would do). I loved that car took 4 of us away camping in the Lake district. Would rather like one now but the prices have gone silly for a good one. My second car was also an IMP a later 1974 one that I bought assuming it would be a better car, it wasn't, it had been abused and not looked after.
Travelled from Suffolk to north Wales in the back of my sister's Imp more than once!! I was 18 at the time I can confirm the back is snug Mat
Brought back some memories, my first car was a Hillman Imp, you could side mount a Datsun 120y motor in the back to give it more grunt!! With the wide wheel base it handled really well with cornering, many were used here very successfully in the Rallying world.
I had a friend in late 70s have a hillman imp Californian.can’t remember much that it looked better than standard.heating problems if I’m remembering right.Matt can’t wait on your welding job on the freelander.
Another great review Matt, they were a good car, very practical for a small car with a rear engine.
A local bus driver in our home village had a SINGER version of this car, think it was called a ‘Chamois’ really just a badge engineered Imp.
The engines sound really smooth and free revving, a bit like Rover’s K series engine, funnily enough they had the same overheating and Head Gasket failure issues I believe as well.
Although I’m a Mini fan firstly I think the IMP was the better car out the two, at least from a practicality and storage point of view.
There’s probably far fewer of these still in existence than the Mini.
Singer chamois had a different "coupé" rear body style I think?
I used to get taken to my central Edinburgh school in one of these by the local doctor, he also owned a pristine Rover P6 which was also sometimes an option. Other days my late father took us to school in our Mark 2 Jaguar. Those were the days, sadly long gone.
Thank you for a good Laugh. I owned a Hillman Imp. Sorry but all your praises do not go with the car I owned. It was a very bad starter. The king pins only lasted 12 months between replacement & the cross pin in the diff unit slid out & cracked the casing. This, My father & self fixed by bracing the casing with a piece of machined angle bolted & Araldited in position. I lived with it for 3 or 4 years. Going on long journeys in hot weather was not its forty. It was much better in cool weather. The hydraulic clutch never played up in cool weather, but it did in hot. The one bit that did always work on mine was the pneumatic throttle. Yes it did drive well. To me, it was an almost car. One that was a lot of trouble. At that time the best small car to have was the notch back Ford Anglea.
I love this small stylish and unique car..Thank you for this very informative episode.
It's good to see the Hillman Super Imp. The only Rear engined car I've driven was my OHs Škoda 1.36 Rapid.
My dad learnt to drive in 1964 in an Imp. 27 years later I learnt to drive in a madza 121 (later kia pride) and taught by the son of my dad's instructor.
My first car, loved it. Im 6ft3 and there was loads of room. Couldnt even fit in a mini. Went all over the country in mine,but overheating was sometimes aproblem.
having owned skoda estelles i would probably enjoy the imp too
I’ve always loved the Imp. Built on the world’s longest production line. Powered by an engine that fought the Blitz!
Great video, lovely to see an Imp. I think you are right when you say that they are underrated. How about a group review with a Mini and an Anglia?
One of my late dad,s many cars, very happy days traveling around in it as a child.
I used to have a Singer Chamois, and, later, a Sunbeam Stiletto (a sporty, fastback coupe version of the Imp). Both excellent cars, but the Stiletto really was a joy to drive, as it came with decambered front suspension, wider wheels and a much peppier engine (twin Strombergs, sportier cam and multi-branch exhaust) - definitely better than a Mini.
One weakness, applied to all variants, was the method used to implement the universal joints in the rear axle - rubber doughnuts - which used to eventually degrade and fail, with resulting sudden loss of drive. (The Lotus Elan used a similar arrangement, and I think you can now buy properly engineered replacements which don't involve rubber for that car...)
Wish I still had the Stiletto...
Love Rootes cars, but more particularly the later Minx and Hunter. Dad had one of each - both became rust buckets but loved all the same.
And with the family surname on the boot!
Nice review.
Keep up the good work, Matt!
I loved my Imp but I did have head warping problems and eventually I moved on to a Super Minx estate, I loved that too. How cool having your name on the boot.
Had a HUNTER ,loved it no rust
I owned a ‘66 white Super Imp from ‘69 to ‘70. My first car as a new driver. It was great fun!
What a great little car, love the original patina on this. Nice Video..
Our neighbor had a sea foam green. I thought it was a an interesting car when I was a kid abroad. It has a huge greenhouse and the rear glass hatch is practical. Peculiar and handsome design.
One of my earliest memories is being woken up by me rolling off the rear seat of my grandparents Imp when my grandad had to hit brakes hard.
My grandpa had two Imps: a mustard yellow D-reg Mark 1 like the one you're driving, and then a bright red H-reg Mark 2 (with the circular gauges) after that. I remember the floor-mounted choke. I hadn't realised just how offset the pedals were. My grandpa was 5'11" and it must have been a tight squeeze for him to fit in behind the wheel and to have room to control the pedals. I'd forgotten that the rear seat folded forwards, though I remember the butyl rubber toggles for holding the rear seat back upright.
Scary to think that 2-door cars in those days didn't have any way of locking the seats to the floor.
H&S would have kittens at the sight of the exposed alternator / fan-belt pulley complete with what look like razor-sharp cooling fins to take you fingers off :-(
Always loved the Imp but never owned one. I have actually just bought down the Imp books I bought from my mother's loft and stuck them on ebay so a double blast of Imp nostalgia as I had a quick read while taking the images for ebay.
Thank you very much, I enjoyed this video. I'm American and only learned of the Imp a few years back when a UA-camr in the United States had acquired one in need of some repair. And I was fascinated with the cleverness employed throughout the car as well as the with the engine. I was hoping that you might address the model name of "Super Imp" as other videos that I've enjoyed have all been the "Imp", never a Super Imp. I'm not seeing this video car being different than the Imp's I've seen, so I'm wondering if the "Super Imp" simply relates to having a more powerful engine.
I must confess I rather like that car. The only Imp I've ever been in though was in fact a derivative - the Sunbeam Stiletto, which a mate 'tweaked'. It certainly made good progress... and let's not forget the Husky, of which I seem to recall Eastern Electricity having a few.
My brother had a red van version in the mid '70s. It was already a banger by then but I remember the way it flew around the country lanes where we lived. A lot of fun for not a lot of money.
My late father had one😃we loved it.Great memories thanks for the vid very cool.👍👍👍👍👍👍
The first car i ever got in to as a kid was the exact same one in white, my dads friend in stoke on trent owned it, he loved that thing. must have been around 1981, have fond memories of this an a bright yellow ford capri.
You are right, the imp was better than the mini in every way.
That noise takes me back to the one and only new car my dad bought, a 1971 hillman imp estate (husky) and a very reliable car that on a regular basis traveled from Norfolk to Kent or Wiltshire to see the families
hi there, i remember these in 1968, the engine was quite hard to work on if major repairs were needed,but great to drive
For Folk who never built cars before they did very well.
Logistics were questionable at best but BMC did manage some ludicrous assembly practices as well.
Amazing story of this 1967 Super too.
The Imp never received the recognition it deserved, probably due to reliability issues but then the Mini was hardly a paragon in that respect. Despite its mechanical layout becoming unfashionable the car was far more innovative and sophisticated. It rode better on proper springs rather than rubber cones and its engine was streets ahead of the Mini's rough and wheezy A series with whining gearbox. I drove a friend's Imp a few times and remember it as great fun. Once, I was cruising at a reasonable speed forgetting I was still in third! Such was the fabulous smoothness of that engine!
“B” Reg was my first car. Bought it “used” for £180 as a student back in 1970. Kept a bag of cement in the boot to keep the nose down. Had no functioning heater as all the rubber hoses passing through the door sills had perished before I got the car. Finally got rid of it for £60 in 1973 when I got a Ford Cortina 1300L with my job as a rep. The Imp had a good interior but crap mechanical/electrical reliability. RIP Hillman marque. (Rootes/Chrysler).
Great little car, show have taken the market away from the Mini, if only Roots had the money!!! Great report. Cheers Bob, PS My brother had a George Hartwell tuned 998cc Singer version in the late 60's. Lucky man he was.
Same year as the one i owned back in seventies .... easy to work on...unlike our farm mini van😱 my gamekeeper mate used have his seats in rear always down so dogs could jump over through open rear window🐶🐶 much more fun to drive than mini.... ie snow.. forest tracks etc👌👌👌
I had 3 imp's and I miss them to this day, thanks for doing this review 👍
One of my uncles had a Super Imp, another had a Husky estate and a third rallied a Singer Chamois. Great fun little cars, sadly their bad initial reputation was never really shaken off, pity. Many Imp owners thought they were far better than a BMC Mini, and they were a very popular choice for the small classes in motor sport.
I replaced a Mini with an Imp, and never went back to the BMC product; the Imp was a vast improvement in every respect.
👍Great video. If extra development time had been available for the Imp and better quality control implemented, it could have been a very different story? Sales of 500,000 is not exactly a disaster but this may have been in the millions if the concept had been fully realised? I was brought up near the Linwood plant. Still remember the horrible day that closure was announced and all the job losses.
I had a 1972 Sunbeam Stiletto, red with a black vinyl roof. The Stiletto had twin headlamps and the sport engine with twin carbs. A great car.
I remember watching an awesome little imp at the racetrack powering out of corners cocking a front wheel. Would love to have a drive of an imp.
Been waiting to watch this video with my dad as he had one as his first car. He thoroughly enjoyed it. I think these little cars are fab, unusual and charming. Quite fancy a go of one as I think it would be immensely fun to hoon around in 👍🏻
Love it. My first car. Actually it was a Singer Chamois which was the posh version. Cost me £220.
Very interesting car and review! Really enjoyed it, thanks Matt.
Glad you enjoyed it!
My first car. A gold one. Cost me £400. It wasn’t a good car but I loved it. Like a lot of Imp’s it had coolant problems. I even remember the reg number HFN 730L. Love the video Matt.
My ex- father in-law had a 1969 Imp (from new) Travelled all over country with my Girlfriend, then wife, in that small back seat. got wrote off when someone hit him in mid 80's. Great cars. Most imps suffered head failures, gear linkage failure and piss poor heating. Would make a great EV resto-mod car.
I had one of these for a couple of years with no mechanical problems at all.. Actually a neat little car that drove well but I had to get rid of it because it was becoming a serious rust bucket despite being looked after. The developing rust problems of the car are very obvious from the video here.
Some years ago I met an engineer who had worked in dealer support for Rootes. He reckoned the Imp's poor reputaion for reliability was almost entirely down to the attitude of the dealers. It was a cheap car, so they didn't make much on selling them, and probably resented having to support them. It was one of the first all-alloy engines, and so required special antifreeze. Either the dealers wouldn't stock it, or the mechanics couldn't be bothered, so they often used the nasty methanol then commonly used in cast-iron engines. To make matters worse, the cylinder head required re-torquing at the first service. Getting at the bolts at the front of the engine bay meant removing various ancillary bits and pieces to gain access, so lazy mechanics skipped that bit of the job. In due course this would cause the head to warp and blow the gasket. I suspect there was some truth in what he said, as Coventry Climax engines in other applications from fork trucks to racing cars never manifested these problems.
I have heard exactly the same accounts about antifreeze and not properly torquing headbolts from some of the older guys I used to work with who ran Imps back in the day. When they came out, I wonder how many mechanics even had a torque wrench?