Hillman Imp: Scotland's Mini?
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- čas přidán 21. 05. 2019
- The Hillman Imp is perhaps one of the most unlikely icons to emerge out of the motoring industry during the 60s and 70s. It’s rocky road to production and during assembly never really hampered its relatively impressive sales figures.
The Imp was designed to rival the hugely popular Austin Mini and in 1963 manufacturing began. Rootes Group chose Linwood in Scotland to build their little economy vehicle and it's perhaps this geographical position that has helped the Imp overcome its problems and become a “working class hero” in its own right. A classic.
Read more at www.influx.co.uk/features/hil...
#influx #hillmanimp #impcar #scotland #adrianfluxinsurance #adrianflux - Auta a dopravní prostředky
In 1969 I became the proud owner of a 1967 Singer Chamois FJX 375E .. In dark green with a thin white stripe down its sides and a black interior
I loved that car.
In the time I had my Chamois I replaced the shock absorbers fitting Koni all round (I remember they were red, but more importantly they improved the ride dramatically)
I ordered a sound proofing kit out of a magazine, it was tailor made, and I spent a weekend applying to panels front, back and sides
took out the seats and carpets fitted sound proofing felt to the floor panels and before I could put the carpets back I had to make spacers so that the seats and seat belts could be reinstalled. I made these myself, most conveniently I was a centre lathe turner back in the day!
The end result was unbelievable (it was like a little Rolls Royce lol)
I spent another weekend replacing the King Pins only when I had finished did I realise how much they had tightened up and once pumped full of grease the steering was both precise and as light as a feather.
Knowing of the overheating problem, I removed the thermostat (the heater was never any good anyway) the thermostat was housed at the back of the engine and I was lying under the car reaching up to undo the cover, when whoosh, I was soaked I remember thinking lucky the coolant that came out wasn't hot ❗️
Twice a year I used to grease the king pins change plugs, points, air and oil filters, along with a gallon of Duckhams Oil *anyone remember that name?
My favourite journey, a couple of times a year, was with my girlfriend, when we would visit her Brother and his family for a week in Cornwall 256 miles from Maidenhead to St Agnes, no motorway ... A4 .. A33 .. A303 .. A30 ..
we would leave around midnight and travel through the night, with a six gallon petrol tank that little Singer would cover the distance with fuel enough to spare on a full tank, no problem .. it really was a great car ..
In all I had that beautiful little car for about 6 years .. but the memories stretch into decades .. BTW the girlfriend became the wife
and we have been married 48 years ..❤️ ..
I would like to say, thank you very very much for all you great guy's that have saved these from the scrapper. These car's have always been very special to me. Beautiful car's. A fantastic design. A real classic.
Really great film. You can see the owners love them, which is superb.
Absolutely! Thank you!
Dad had three imps and then we got an imp van ,loved them all especially hanging out of the back opening window on the 70s summer days that seamed to go on forever when your young
Good to see these little gems still going strong.
I am nostalgic for my own one (CSM 997C) which I bought in early 1974 for £120 - and cost me £120 at it's first MOT !!!
Yes, it was not the most reliable, but was still good fun, and surprisingly practical too with the opening rear window.
I can still remember the smell of when coolant would spurt out of the hoses which ran along the sills but leaked at the heater valve.
Thanks for this wee video.
My first car back in 74 £200 had it four years magic...
If this wasn't the worst car ever built I want to know what was ! Totally unreliable and dangerous.
My Dad had one in the late 70s early 80s.It was the first car I drove after passing my test.One night I had a fireworks display coming from the exhaust. I had blown the big end bearings.Dad blew something when I told him.It was a fun little car to drive though.
Awesome car! I believe the Ginetta G15 uses a lot of components from the Hilman Imp as well.
Loved the Imp from the age of 8 when my Dad sat me on his knees and let me steer our Imp.
I had a 1970 one that I bought in 1980. Needed to keep heavy stuff in the front so that it didn't just skid alarmingly when I braked. A warped cylinder head ended it's careering. I'm now wondering how CZcams knew I had one of these and recommended this video to me. Seems you can't even remember things without being tracked 😉
Its great when they all park outside the old factory offices
550kg. 43mpg driven fairly hard over Glen Convinth and Blackfold, two-up. 44mpg at steady 75 Edinburgh to Lancaster with five people and luggage. 1963 green machine! When fitted with Cooper S points would easily rev to 7000 but with electronic ignition the standard engine could be taken round to 8000rpm for overtaking. Would plug through any amount of snow. With competition brake linings, stopping could be awesome since it didn't matter how hard you braked there was still plenty weight over the back wheels.
It was also my first car Coventry climax engine.had great fun in it. Easy to work on put builders breeze blocks under engine take rear bumper and panel off then push car away from engine.takes 20 mins.
Hell, you don't need the blocks... those engines are light enough for one person to carry with ease. I recall doing that many times when changing clutches and doing other "upgrades" on my Imps.
An aunt of mine had the Singer Chamois... a very underrated car
I’m 14 now and since the first car show I ever went to maybe when I was 4 or so, my dream car has always been an imp
aidansloss39 unm
My mate Richard an Apprentice with me had one of these and loved it , done his courting with his wife to be they loved this car!!!!!!
Maybe it got them and kept them close as they (the cars!) are small haha
My dad had a Hilman Husky, when I was a baby. I was laid on some blankets on top of the engine cover and went to sleep there during car rides.
I had the good fortune to work for the Rootes Group in the mid 1960's in the engineering department/design/styling/experimental department! I had a fair bit to do with the IMP at that time Spending many hours on the Belgian Pav'e at MIRA. testing different suspension setups and tyre combinations as well as the body structure! I also had my design for the uprated dash in the MK3 IMP reach production!
I had the Singer version. I used to put a bag of cement in the front boot to hold the front end down and I fixed a bar from the engine to a part of the Chasis to stop the Coventry Climax engine from shaking at high speed. Those were the days.
Good video with some really good examples of Imps...when I got to England in 1973 I bought myself a 3.8 S- Type Jaguar as they were so cheap compared to prices in Australia and it was a great car although heavy on fuel and when the 1973 Arab-Israeli War came along the price of fuel almost doubled overnight so I sold the Jag and bought myself a Hillman Imp for 50 Quid and I have to say I had more fun driving the Imp than the Jag as you could really throw the Imp around on corners and they were a great handling little car & I wish I still had one, but unfortunately they are very rare in Australia these days!!
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Beautiful wee cars
My mum had two of these. First one was dark green and brilliant. The second one was a light blue sport edition. Bloody thing could almost lift the front wheels, much to my wee mums surprise.
Chuckable handling little cars imp's...memories of my sis's ex taking me for a spin in his tuned imp back in the late 70s
Love these little cars... excellent edit once again👏🏼
Thank you!
Keep them coming.
Nice little film. Thanks
Had singer chamois twin headlamp towed a mark 1 Corrina for seven miles just with rope around rear boot but done head gasket in but they were famous for head gaskets blown without towing anything I loved that wee car for some strange reason Hillman limp built at roots factory
This was my first car
I had one. An excellent little motor.
My first car Singer Chamois Sport, JDO 244F, loved it, cost me £350 in 72. Really wish I still had it.
brilliant my dad had one took us all ova Britain in the 70s without a hitch
Had a Singer Chamoix Sport. Twin carbs could corner like a go kart and run rings around minis.
First car I ever drove at the age of 15. Super quick steering and more comfortable than a Mini.
Brilliant video.
lovely film...bought my Fiat X19 off a guy near Sterling who was concentrating all his passion into these....I can see why.
I had a Fiat X-19 for a short while.... Great car when it was running.... Dodgy wiring and rust, so much rust. I can fix the wiring, but that rust was amazing.
Had one 1974. Blew the head 3 times. Happy days !!
Had one I liked it alot
Drove one in the 70's very nippy little cars!
My first car!
My second car,a 1969 Sunbeam imp,Turquoise Metallic, 25,000 miles,one lady owner,a brilliant little car,I remember duelling with an 850 Fiat,that car could shcoot.
My friends all had minis,I was the odd one out,but in reflection this little car was superior to a mini in so many different ways.
I miss her,should have kept her.
Now in NZ you can't find any for sale.
And if you could they are very pricey.
These seemed to disappear quite quickly. In about 1968 my pal bought a brand new imp van. It was very cheap. There was no purchase tax on vans back then but you weren’t allowed to put windows in for a year or so. Also there were speed restrictions on vans.
Brilliant vid there mate I had one great car don 👌👌👌👌👌👌👌
Great video remember the Imp s being transported by rail through Grangemouth to the docks for export as a youngster . The guys in the video don't they know the Double solid white lines ruling in the highway code they still can be prosecuted for those offences. Just saying .
It must be a weakness for 'mature' scotsmen. I also wanted an Imp when I was in my 20's, I bought one and it was so unreliable - it taught me dexterity, hitting and/or removing the frequently jammed starter motor, and cost a bomb to fix what turned out to be a warped cylinder head.
Despite that, I still want one, a good one, like yours!
Thanks for the video, looking forward to seeing more on the mighty Imp!
Yep, warped cylinder head. I had one of those on my ten year old imp that lasted me months.
Very nice car
Fantástico.
👏🏽🌹👏🏽🌹👏🏽🌹👏🏽
When I was young, I really wanted to buy IMP for rally. It was 1971 or something and I I liked the style. When I went to the dealer they had really many used and quite new ones. I believe hundred or so. No other make had that much used cars for sale. In spite of that, the prices were so high that I couldn’t afford them. Luckily, I believe. IMP had very bad reputation in Finland. Then I purchased Saab 96 which was a good choise. It was like train in bad winter weather even when I had summer tires. But those were Michelin X which were really good in winter except if you had mirror ice. Then only studded tires would survive. After many Saabs I changed to Volvo in the 80’s and have been very satisfied.
My first car, light blue reg 4223 EH
My first car was a imp under powered but very good handling also very unreliable still I loved it would like another just to rebuild
That Clan Crusader doesn't half remind me of a scaled down Marcos Mantis
Excelente veiculo yo tuve uno modelo secenta y cuatro unico problema recalentamiento pero yo lo solucione
No, not Scotland's Mini - rather Scotland's NSU Prinz ;)
Spot on but the prince was 2 cylinder but right sounded the same bag of spanners my in law had a prince
@@excalibur3702 True for the Prinz 4, but the Prinz 1000 and the TT/TTS were inline fours.
TBH, I was mostly thinking of styling (probably all inspired by the Corvair?!) and compact size for the masses.
My first car turquoise 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊
i tried to find out if they sold it here in Germany, i found nothing.....
they not even tested it for the TV....
same goes for Morris Marina and the Austin Allegro
but they used the Allegro to show how much better French, Italian or German cars are build! in 1975!
Flawed but great wee cars😍
I had a 1964 Imp. Nice looking car but engine in the wrong end. Like trying to throw a hammer handle first. Also petrol tank at the front so potential for a nasty fire in front end shunt.
The nicest Rootes car from that era was the Sunbeam Rapier.
I want one 😁
I love the Imp. But why are you guys crossing the double white lines? Dangerous.......
My uncle had one in Toronto Canada in the late 60’s , you can imagine the looks he got as North American cars in those days where huge.
Just to be a pedant, shocking driving over taking on double white lines.
Scotia Jinker closed road
Warped heeds, and not just the car 😂
Love these little cars, proper want one obviously gonna modify it putting a 1000cc bike engine in 👌
Fitted a new gearbox to mine in 1970
Nah you're supposed to put an imp engine into a Norton cycle frame.
Did not know they’re Scottish
No I didn't know that either. I seem to remember them being a bit of a joke but my best mate learned to drive in one and would not have a bad word said against them
I’ve always like the look of them when they’re lowered and had a bit of TLC on them , but now I like them even more since watching this vid . Thanks
Two car plants one in Coventry and one in Glasgow. I believe all the sports imps came from Scotland.
They have a very bad habit of boiling over
The amount of heads I had to skim on these put me off alloy head and block used to warp when you boiled it
Not the same set up as a 911 porshe were air cooled not water
Paul Davies rear engine rear wheel drive.
It's failing was not because it was made in Scotland , as many said, but it was RUBBISH ! I knew a bloke who had a new one 64 , and it kept overheating, and the dealer could not rectifie it. They ALL did. How could they compete with the Brilliant Mini ?
I used to work in a Rootes Garage when I was a young lad and in my opinion the Imp was one of the worst cars ever produced along with the Wolesley 6/80 There were so many faults I could virtually take an Imp apart with my eyes closed they were always going wrong
Poor maintenance good cars actually.
@@factorylad5071 well I could go on and on about the design faults so many problems with these cars
@@popeyepaul1 Awe cmon now they only sell for the price of a ferrari clutch cable what do you expect?
Great if you want to loose your legs !
Worst motor I ever bought head gasket every week
Bet you didn't skim head or flush out rad or change thermostat?
Barry Plaster Agreed, head gasket gobbler. Skimming the head was only a stop gap; once they'd overheated it was all over. Cute wee car all the same and a great seller back then, I can certainly see why folks are so affectionate about them.
@@MarkMcCluney yes mark I loved my wee green singer chamois yea engine made out of Coke cans wonder it never took of with great big cooling fan though it great at 18 years old plus it had twin headlamps cheers bud the good old day eh
Scapegoat You're right mate. I'm not sure I'd like to return to those days but at least you could fix it yourself if you had to. Now if my wee banger needs work it's twenty quid just to plug in the diagnostic computer before anyone picks up a spanner. On the other hand I don't miss standing ankle deep in cold sewage in the pit! For all their faults, older cars have more charm, no doubt...
@@MarkMcCluney ye mark served my apprenticeship in garage oil up to the elbows heavy commercial light commercial wish I could go back and do it all again loved it could take engine out mark 1 Corrina in 3\4 hour try doing that today I would take you 4 hours just to labor all the sensor wires then 3 hours to take engine out and the whole front of the car off cheers mate
terrible editing
Try fitting a clutch on one.
Bloody awful.
Fitting a clutch in an Imp is a piece of cake.
Why would you want a car that over heats and breaks down, if that good it would have sold millions. In other words a pile of shite
Any car can break down. Often it is due to poor maintenance
You sound jealous.