Flexing a classic first car - the rear engined RWD Imp
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- čas přidán 9. 03. 2022
- Flexing a RWD, rear engined classic first car. If we hear about Singer cars in 2022 we probably think of the 'Reimagined' Porsche 911s that have been beautifully back-dated. The old English car manufacturer of Singer is probably lesser known today, despite being part of the once-world leading Rootes group.
Thanks for stopping by The Late Brake Show.
The OG Singer is subject of this Generation Flex video, because it is a rare choice for a first car these days. Yet Zack in Essex wanted an Imp or Imp derivative since he was 15. His parents were into Minis, but he kept seeing these cheeky alternatives at car shows.
If you haven't heard of our new playlist called Generation Flex before, the basic premise is to celebrate young drivers and owners (under 25) of interesting, retro or modified cars, fronted by our very own young driver, Miles, aka the ManDelorean.
For more info on the Singer, the Imp and to find out about Jonny's own history with them, then head over and join our Patreon gang: / thelatebrakeshow
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Filmed by Edited by: Phil Vaughn Pritchard www.philvfilms.com/
Thumbnail by: Matt Tarrant www.matttarrantdesign.com
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Jonny Smith Creative content maker, car presenter & car pervert for hire since '98
Website: www.carpervert.com
Instagram: / jonnycarpervert
Twitter: / carpervert
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#rwdfirstcar #singer #modifiedhillmanimp #thelatebrakeshow - Auta a dopravní prostředky
What a lovely Chammy. Looks totally ace on those wheels and all that wear and tear. Isn't it fabulous to see a youngster with a passion for something like this?
So glad this series is being continued, massive props to Zack for stepping up to showcase his car. Lovely patina and glad that has been preserved around the modifications. I am not a huge fan of mods but he's done a really nice job on that, and it looks really special. And Miles you're doing an excellent job, you are clearly improving your screencraft and you have a good, honest style, keep it up you're doing great!
Thank you 🙏
@@zakturner2426 Great job on the suspension, that must've taken a lot of tinkering dialing it in. The brakes were a good choice too, I can't imagine driving around these days with drums up front, even in a car as light as this. Loved the speaker box, what a great way to sneak in modern audio without hacking up the interiour. Briliant.
Casually rolling into a filming session in a Delorean never gets old!
Never!
Obviously it's necessary to go back in time to review these older cars 😉😁
Nice job Miles, keep the videos coming!
It's fantastic to see the younger generation bring enthusiastic about cars, this Imp is a credit to the owner and I love the re-purposing of his Grandads' suitcase.
Yeah that's the coolest Bluetooth speaker in existence for me 👍
I have a 68 imp, me and dad are slowly restoring it
Great to hear that, all the best with the build.
Great job Miles. What a lovely example of a fun little car. Watching this made me want to drive it! Loved the exhaust note too.
Well done!
Great car very cool for such a young lad.
Love the look of the Imp. The wheels and stance are perfect. How great is it to listen to two young guys chatting about chokes and scrapyards. Love the quote "9 times out 10 it doesn't start" Brilliant just brilliant. Well done Miles 👍
Yep they were way more chilled than I was at that age, I've had a chat with Miles and he's a really charming young man with a passion for cars that don't have to be perfect. @MilesOnCars
I thought was a imp.but says singer on badge
@@lewiscarr8592 it’s an example of badge engineering, my friend, the same as BMC did with the Mini. A Singer Chamois is an Imp badged and trimmed and painted to appeal to a different market segment.
What a gorgeous Shabby Chic Chammy. Bought my Triumph Vitesse aged 15 in 2017. Rebuilt the engine then got it back on the road. Similar colour and paint quality to the Chamois as well!
Fantastic to see the younger generation still picking cool cars! Fair play 👍
Im sure miles will get better at being on camera and interviewing as he makes more of these episodes. You can tell a few minutes into the episode he already got more comfortable!
Agree. These things can take time.
My mum's car when I was 16. She drove to Spain (1,000 miles) and back a couple of times. I was a passenger and she got in to top by 28mph up hill and down dale. Navigation was provided by the AA who would print off instructions on side perforated computer paper. It made a stack 150mm thick for Spain and if you went off route you were completely lost! Thanks for the memories!!
What a beauty!! If I saw this in the street I would stop, have a look around and walk away feeling happy that I'd seen it. I can't think of many modern cars that I can say that about.
Good job Miles! Getting more confident with the camera. Keep it up fella.
Thank you!
'Imp'ossible not to love this vid! Great presenter, great guest and cool car.
My first car was a Hillman Imp when I was 17, that though was 43 years ago! Great little car and I think it’s great when young people pick up on old cars and put their styling twist on it, I like the lowered stance and wheels. For the indicators being on the right on a right hand drive car is the correct way. It’s only when British manufacturers got taken over by European makers that they just used their left hand drive columns. The Japanese also being RHD kept the indicator stalks on the right for many years.
Young'uns,... Indicator stalks on RHD cars are meant to be on the right side of the column - it's only on the left of modern cars because the manufacturers got design exceptions so they could use the same LHD column in RHD cars, to 'save costs', and make more profits.
Isn't that motor related to the Coventry Climax used in a lot of race cars of the '60's ? The Suitcase mod is genius, perfect for other classics, without ruining the panelwork. Looks like this classic has found the right owner, correcting things first, growing with experience on the road, ready for the long haul of being the cars current caretaker.
Well done Zack, your car is epic! What a great first car to have, love the look of it. Wheels are perfect for it 👌 Well done to Miles too, nice lad, knows what he’s talking about too.
It’s great to see a young man in a old car it’s not loud a showy . Great job miles
Thanks Miles and Zack for a great TLBS episode, and thanks Jonny for putting them out there. What a great car - looks like so much fun! "Drives better than the Delorean" gave me a genuine LOL moment too. :)
I like the mixture of originality and Zack’s inventiveness to make such an old car still usable. Hats off to Zack.
LOL! My first car was an 850 Mini van my Dad bought new in 1970 for £405. I had to rebuild it from the ground up, with the help of a welder who had worked on the set of The Italian Job.
Srsly, this is a delight. Have fun!
Oh my goodness...
Watching this has transported me back nearly 40 years to MY first ever car - a royal blue metallic Hillman Imp.
Plus points (from a faded memory, admittedly...)
Cracking, raspy engine note - at least once I'd actually got it to start...!
Really light steering - even more unnervingly so once the car was above about 40mph...
You'd never worry about having your petrol siphoned off since the filler cap was under the bonnet - though, who thought that having the petrol tank as effectively your frontal crash zone must've been bonkers...!! 🤣
Brilliant episode - grew up rallying tuned 998cc Imps - what a fine car to play with.
My parents had one. I used to love the lift up back window. The first hot hatch 🤣
Great video 2x👍
I love what you're doing for Miles. Huge respect Jonny.
Thank YOU for taking the time to watch. 👌🏽
I had a 1966 imp as my first car at 17 years old that i completely restored from ground up starting when i was 14!!! It had a cage, buckets, harnesses, spax adjustable shocks and monte carlo springs, engine bored to 930cc with a high lift cam, big valve head, sccr jack knight gearbox, painted it bottom half rover mid pageant blue and top ford ice white, sat on 13" minilights over fiesta mk2 discs on the front and drums on the rear. Still the coolest car ive ever owned and ive owned a 500bhp corsa b 😅😅
Great job Miles (and Zack, of course). I was rather taken with the idea of getting an Imp when I was 17 and preferred them to the Mini simply because of their quirkyness and RWD. It's great to see a properly used car rather than a garage queen too so well done, Zack. You mentioned the estate and the van, the latter of which was news to me. Some viewers may recall the fastback Imp ('California'?) which was like a coupe version, if such a thing could be envisaged. Some models had four headlights at the front which basically took up half of the width of the car! Keep up the great work 👍
Awesome little car and even better to see the younger generation enjoying some of the old classics and keeping them on the road. 👍👍
Good work, lads.
Absolute fun video, Miles pulls up looking like a young Doc Brown and I loved Zack's solution for the speaker housing. I hope the amp goes to 11. Keep them coming lad's.
Wow what a first car! I always loved the look of the Imp, never knew about the Singer Chamois. Great video guys, and well done Miles a very natural interview. I hope the lad continues with the restoration and that we can revisit it too!
That was a great video. Nice to see a young chap endorsing an old classic. My father had an imp in the 70’s - EJO 515E - I’ll never forget the registration. This guy is an inspiration to young people who want to get into the classics scene with not too much outlay. I bet that imp will look fantastic when it’s resprayed
That’s a beautiful car, you don’t need to go fast to fun
Love miles hosting this. Look forward to more episodes!
Good man. Brilliant vehicle, nicely modded for modern driving conditions. Power was no problem back in the day, mine (a Super Imp - no wood) ran rings round 848 cc Minis, although my heater had to go too.
Cheers Zack and Miles, loving the look of that. Style and attitude synchromeshing very nicely.
Lol he suits that Delorean. Even has Doc Browns hair!
Nice video guys , well produced , works . Thx
My first car was a 1966 Austin Mini Countryman. My Father bought all new English ash trim and put a lot of work to make it look and fit perfectly. I am 38 And I still have it Because it means a lot to me
This vid gave me the kick in the arse I needed to get back to working on the ke70, it's head gasket time! Thanks!
Love the singer btw, really sweet ride.
It's great to see you young whippersnappers getting into the cars us old farts were thrashing about when we was young. Looking forward to seeing more. The biggest issue when these were new was bad maintenance. People didn't understand how to look after an alloy engine. The coolant was often replaced by water which, of course, ended up causing corrosion and engine failure. They gained a reputation for unreliability and many blew up.
Good job Miles. More videos please. Really enjoyed this. I love the fact with this series you never know what’s coming next.
A great article. The Chamois was a lovely version with that Singer character. My first car as 17 year old was a 1971 Imp Super - I paid £45:00 for it in the late 1980s! My dad was a Rootes/Chrysler Service Manager who had worked on Imps so keeping it in good shape was not an issue. They really were an advanced but misunderstood car and that engine was a peach until the head gasket leaked. This one has so much potential and looks good on the wider rims. Try the Stiletto - now that was a good driver's car.
great little motor and wat top young bloke Zack is .. gave me a few giggles when describing parts of the car
We cut the roof off one of my Imps back in the day, looked really good, very much suited the looks of the car.
When the dude is as tall as the car is long 🤣 Seriously though, this is the first time I learned about this car. Thanks!
Love it... right up my street this type of video.. I used to have an imp back in the day... 2 head gaskets to take up the warp lol.. (Phil - Lancashire)
my first car was a 1969 hillman imp, bought for £125 in 1980 with a years ticket, i learned to drive in it and passed my test 5 month later when i sold it, as it burned more oil than petrol lol, it wasnt worth spending money on it so i filled it up daily with any machine oil i could find in the maintenance dept i worked in, selling it for what i paid. the car had other issues like one day i couldnt get reverse, the next day 2nd gear, you never knew what you would get, and in the short time i owned it did plenty of repairs myself, but happy days, i loved that car, it had a real personality, and you got a surprising amount of seat space compared to a mini (which was my next car).
Smiled all the way through this, so that is good. Thanks you fellows. Loved the idea of using Grandad’s old suitcase. 👍😀
Nice looking car, good job Mile's the mandolorian. My dad's mate has an imp in bits on his drive awaiting rebuild. We saw a young guy with a proper tricked out imp at the classic car show one year. I'm sure it was on air ride . I must have a pic somewhere 🤔
These lil guys were built a few miles from my home! So much love for all the iteration of the imp. Absolute gems. And special to Renfrewshire 😏
Good to see these old cars being kept going by the next generation!
Back in the day I had a yellow and black Sunbeam Stiletto, 998cc engine fitted, twin 40 DCOE Webers with long chrome intake trumpets, ported big valve head, hot cam, tubular steel inlet and exhaust manifold, loud big bore exhaust, it made 75 bhp at the wheels on Jon Mowatt's rolling road near Basildon, Essex and would run all day at the 8K rev limit, J Mowatt said it bas the best sounding Imp engine he'd heard and it would 'sing' to him while running at high rpm on the dyno. I lowered and uprated the suspension with adjustable shocks, fitted competition brake linings and installed a big Girling vacuum brake servo, 13" dia x 6" wide Minilite alloy wheels, wide low profile tyres, wide arches front and rear, this car had the twin headlamps and sloping rear roof and was a beautiful mint car with it's black wheels and grille and Ford Daytona Yellow paintwork. I installed better seats and lightened the car wherever I could. The Stilletto ran super smooth and went like stink and sounded fantastic with 100 mph coming up quickly and a 0 to 60 time in the low 7 second region, had super handling with lots of easy to control oversteer, flat smooth idle with impeccable throttle response and great road manners, I sure wish I still had that car!
What a lovely little survivor 👍 kudos to the lad for keeping it on the road, nice to see a younger person with a passion for older cars 👌
Loved this guy. Not trying to keep it 'original', but making it usable and then using it. Being different too rather than a Vx Corsa with stripes.
Wicked car. To the owner, your spare isn't pointless. If you get a puncture on the front, move a rear to the front and the spare on the rear
Happy motoring sir 😎😇
I had a 67 Imp when I was 17 and I used to race everyone back in the day. I used to rev the nuts off mine. A truly great little car !
My first ever car. I love them.
Me too !
I do like the raw objectivity which lets him say 'this is better than the Delorean' in some respects - real appreciation for the engineering results rather than perceived status of the cars
Love this! Love all the upgrades and modernisations.
This brings back old memory's I use to work on this cars a lot in my day as a mechanic I fitted more head gaskets to these cars than you could shake a big stick at 😎👍
Three water pumps & two clutches (Laycock) and it’s still not lunch time, and don’t forget the doughnuts.
1976 , 17 years old this was my first car. I had to bypass the heater because it leaked , did I pay for it in the winter when the windscreen would freeze on the inside. Great video, brought back many memories .
What a fun vid and car. The speakers are genius and on those wheels it looks amazing. Cheers for the vid.
A mate who was in the REME used to service tanks in the falklands and he said they used an imp engine as a starter motor.
Lovely unique looking car - The bullet proof 875 engine - 37 bhp and nearly 50 lb torque but the 0-60 time is quite decent, really - not exactly santa pod but y' know what I mean! I love the ford style wheels - well cool looking. And 1966 - a good year - We won the cup and I was born! :)
Bulletproof are you having laugh. Head gaskets , big ends, timing chain, need i go on . worked on many Imps ,great when working on the odd occasion, but not often like that .
@@ronsimpson261 There are various reliability mods for performance engines, and don't forget that the Imp engine was often tuned to high outputs, and driven hard.
I drove a rally-prepped one many years ago, and it was a beast--easily more than double the quoted 39 BHP of the earliest (slowest) models.
@@RupertReynolds1962 The standard imp was not a reliable car . 44 yrs in the trade says they are a pita , but fun to drive . owned several .
@@ronsimpson261 Most cars had problems back then.
I'm not saying the Imps were particularly reliable, but my guess is that, if you had several, you knew a few things you just need to get right (such as antifreeze/inhibitor all year long because it's an ali engine), plus a few tweaks to make them reliable enough for you.
Everyone told me Minis were too fragile. So I built a 1380 that was a GTi-beater at any half-sane speed :-) It wasn't even expensive to do, because there were just a few tweaks. Once I'd done the tweaks, that car did over 20k miles in a year (commuting to a new job) with only oil, pads, tyres and adjusting the valve clearances. Only Mini I knew of with a pre-engaged starter (modified Firenza starter from a breaker's).
@@RupertReynolds1962 Good to hear the reply's! I am not an expert but I am just relaying what I heard - Thank you for your input! :)
This review is Brilliant !! Two young chaps loving this quirky iconic car 👍
Thank you for watching Nigel
My first car was a Singer Chammy, Reg HRG 695E Fantastic fun. Spent almost every weekend doing something to it to make it run faster. I got a 995 Block, head and cam upgrade, electronic ignition, straight through exhaust and manifold and so on.. used to rev so easily.. tended to throw the water pump belt when changing gears at high revs. Went through a couple of gearboxes due to seal leaks and broke the crank doing 80 on the motorway.. But so easy to pull the engine and repair. When I see this car it brings back memories, maybe I should try and get one but I don't have the space at the moment, a very underrated car, it was miles ahead in handing and performance of the fords and other crap on the road in those days and much easier to work on than tight little Mini.
What a cracking car, love it!
Fantastic!
Keep up the good work :)
Bravo! What a cool car , as a committed gearhead , I've never heard of this car, and Miles is a great host , keep em coming
My mother had a Chamois of the same year when I was 18 - I drove it miles. As you said the achilles heel of these cars was the water pump. Drivers did not realise that the engines required a special kind of anti-freeze partly because of the aluminium and partly because it lubricated the seals on the water pump. They put standard anti-freeze in which caused the water pump seals to fail, the water leaked out and the engine seized. Looked after properly these cars were really reliable and good fun to drive. Rootes wanted to compete with the Mini and so designed the front suspension with loads of positive camber to give a lot of understeer. Once the camber was sorted, some decent tyres fitted and some ballast in the front they would have more neutral handling -much better than the Mini.
Lots of character and personality in this car. I can relate to when I was near this age, trying to keep my Saab 99 alive and looking presentable with a small budget.
Saab 99s are fantastic and, sadly, seldom seen.
Great presentation. Bought back memories of the Imp I owned in 1967............lowered and on wide wheels also.
Great looking car, can't beat deep dish steels. Have fun restoring it and putting your mark on it dude. Cool vid chaps 🤘
fantastic looking car, full props to you Zack. Your going far with your approach to life, your car choice speaks volumes about your character. Great work. Miles smashing the presenting job again, you will be on the BBC before you know it.
Great video, really enjoyed it.
Pleased to say I owned one once, ahead of its time with easily removable engine. I did have a concrete block in the boot to hold the front down,
Good to see the yoot dem a keep touch with true old skool. Muss av to big it up 👍🏿
These two fellas give me so much hope for the future.
What an awesome little car.
Top work Miles and Zack!
Singer chamois Sport had the twin carb, expected this too but it's original. Worked on Hillman imps an imp Van's. Friend of mine has played with his climax lump, bodywork is A1 Handles real nice, I like this Great project 🤝🏻
My first car was 1 1957 Hillman Minx, my second car a 1964 Singer Chamois, a main dealer's demo car, bought late 1964 for £540 with 2,000 miles on the clock. Drove all over Europe in it to visit Grand Prix races with a mate. Sold it at 43,000 miles so that I could buy a TVR 1800S.
Love when people pick something unusual to muck about with!
What a lovely car. In the frontal shots driving on the road it looks somehow like a comical 60's Mustang. ^^
My first car was a 1966 tartan red Imp that my dad gave me when he moved on to a Sunbeam Rapier. A great little car when it worked but it suffered from the usual Imp problems - leaky cylinder head gasket, a new water pump every 2 years and the oil leaks meaning it did its own oil change. The clutch finally went at 98,000 miles and it wasn't worth replacing it so it never quite made 100,000. I must have liked it because I replaced it with another one. That was a Chrysler and it never felt as solid as the Rootes one.
When I was 18 I drive my Mum's imp, which she couldn't get on with. Managed to hold the speedo needle on the stop on the motorway. Great fun but lethal as an old knackered car. Upgraded brakes, shocks, wheels tyres is a great idea, glad to see this one enjoyed.
Quick thing on what you said about indicators, yes they are on the correct side for a right hand drive car in an imp, ie like you attain to it's better, as you can signal while changing gear. I'll put this simply, if a car is designed in a country that drives on the left the indicator will be on the right ( hence your Japanese mx5 is like the imp) Most cars nowadays are developed in left hand drive countries so the indicator is on the WRONG side over here. It's because they just move the whole stalk assemblies over instead of making 2 different mirror image sets, it's that simple :)
My second car was a Sunbeam Imp mainly because everyone had Mini Coopers & Esses . Ended up with twin Webers plus a cam , a bit of head work plus extractors with the silencer strung across the back ah la rally style . The end result would blow cooper s minis to the weeds. A cheap lowering method was to remove the rubber packer on the top of the springs , instant negative camber together with a set of slightly stiffer and lowered springs meant it handled well . Oh , my first car was a bog standard Hillman Imp , gutless wonder .
Good effort boys !
I always liked the Hillman Imp from when it was launched in 1963. Great looking motor and still is. My Dad nearly bought one, but went for a Vauxhall Viva instead! Spent many a happy hour spannering my mates Imp when I was at Uni in the early 70’s, head gaskets, doughnuts, clutch, auto choke - all the usual faults😂 watching this video makes me want to find one 😀You have done all the right mods on your car Miles and it looks and sounds brilliant, fantastic stance on the road 🤩👍😎
The indicators are the correct side for a right hand drive car. Once upon a time most cars were that way round. Mk1 escort etc. European assembly and influence changed then to the wrongside. Hence why many Japanese cars were correctly fitted to the right because they also are righthand drive
This was my first car in the late 70's. I remember one weakness with the breaking throttle cable, which ran from the accelerator pedal along the centre tunnel to the carb in the rear and would often snap. You could always limp home using the floor mounted choke!
Your rite, swop the cables over on the card and drive back like your flying a helicopter.
You're right, been there, done that, returning from a night out in Manchester with 6 people in the car! lol
@@MarkCrossley0 I used to keep electric wiring block and a screw driver in the car to join the cable break, just like joining up electric wires!
That poor Minor. Looks like it's had a fair bit done to it too. Seems a shame for it to be sat :(
It was odd! No drivetrain or floor pan, just a modified shell sadly.
Cylinder head has a warp factor even Scotty would envy! Couldn't even take an upgrade from 875 to 998 cc on retail models.
Cool car with bags of character 👍 nice one lads.
So refreshing to see young people into old cars
Great episode buddy!
Keep them coming.....
😎🚙🚙🚘🚙🚙😎
My dad rallyed these known as Sunbeam Imp in Finland in the sixties. Lovingly called "Sumppi".