Shed of the week, Wk 4

THE IMP

In 1955 a small car project was begun by the Coventry based Rootes Group, not so much to come up with an economy car like the Mini, but to provide an idea of what sort of affordable car could be made and what its performance would be. After a few visits to Bob Saward's styling department the group set up project ‘Apex’ led by Mike Parkes and Tim Fry to develop such a car.

On the 2nd May 1963 the first Imp rolled off the production line, manufactured under the Hillman marque.

Rootes produced various basic body styles, the original saloon with an opening rear window, a coupe that was introduced in 1965 and later that year the Commer Imp van. In 1967 an estate badged as a Hillman Husky was also put into production.

The Imp's engine, all 875 cc’s of it was all aluminium and had been adapted from a Coventry Climax fire pump engine. It was mounted behind the rear wheels, slanted over at 45° to fit, keep the center of gravity low and help minimise its effects on the road holding of the car. Superior rear suspension was also added, coupled with a basic front suspension to effectively neutralise the 'tail-happy' handling of the rear engined car.

It also had many innovative features like the opening rear window which was unheard of in hatchbacks in those days, together with the fold down rear seat.

Rootes had to build a new computerised assembly plant on the outskirts of Glasgow, in the town of Linwood in which to assemble the Imp, since planning regulations banned it from further expanding its Ryton plant near Coventry.

The Glaswegian workforce, who were mainly recruited from the shipbuilding industry were not versed in the intricacies of motor vehicle assembly, and Imp build quality and reliability suffered accordingly. Another problem that contributed to the reputation of poor reliability was the lack of understanding of the maintenance needs of the engines by owners and the motor trade in the 1960s.

In 1966 a major revision of the Imp was released, effectively splitting the marque into Mk I and Mk II cars. The Mk I Imps had a pneumatic throttle linkage and automatic choke, both of which were replaced by more conventional items on the Mk II.

The demise of the Imp came n March 1976 and the entire empire collapsed two years later, when it became part of Peugeot.

The Rootes Group produced 440,000 of these extraordinary cars.