A Rootes product, but ironically never built in Rootes territory in Coventry and Warwickshire, the Imp was built at a new factory in Linwood, in Scotland. Nonetheless, Rootes was a local company and the Imp excited the interest of Reg Bull of Nuneaton, who took photos of the car at its launch – he was also moved to take pictures of the new car around Ansley. It’s worth pointing out that the engine, too, was local – designed by Coventry Climax and derived from a racing unit – this car had pedigree. Rootes also had a good reputation for producing well-made cars.
Family ownerships
My Dad owned an Imp around when I was born. He bought it off a work colleague… and still spoke to him afterwards! It was apparently a good little car, quite nice to drive… and nice enough for my Granddad and Aunt to also own an Imp at various points in their lives. Building it in Scotland lead to reliability issues however. Some of the logistical difficulties were highlighted in a retorspective Motor article from 19861 where it’s explained how the engine blocks were cast in Linwood, machined in Coventry… then sent back to Scotland to be put in the cars.
Whether this had an effect on my Dad’s car, who knows, but it had some slightly comedic breakdowns. It managed, apparently, to leave all the coolant on the M6 the first time we went anywhere in it, on the way to Blackpool. A window also shattered, for no apparent reason, when the car was parked and, more excitingly, the gear leaver fell off.
The gear lever falls off
The Imp was parked at the front of my Dad’s work car park, and when he selected reverse gear, and it came off in his hand so he couldn’t get out. Fortunately, as a small light car, he could get someone to lift the back up and pull it back out of the space (not sure even my car could have that done now), before driving it in first gear to the workshop at GEC, which had a pit, where he and his friend (who had sold him the car in the first place, so was motivated by guilt?) fixed it.
When my Dad sold it, it was for £800. The chap who bought it had gone to Highfield Road beforehand to watch the football game, with the cash in his pocket. In modern terms this would have been thousands of pounds, and a slightly more cavalier attitude than I’d take!
1 Quoted in AROnline.
Comments
My first car was a a peach coloured Hillman Imp with a fetching piece of pub style Axminster on the floor. I lost count of the number of times I veered into oncoming traffic while I was scrabbling about trying to control the choke, handily placed on the floorpan at the base of the gearstick. It had a tendency to get blown off the road in high winds too, what with there being no weight whatsoever in the front. It was a sad day when my next door neighbour wrote it off by reversing into it. Still, I made £300 off the insurance and carried on driving it anyway.
My Imp was a white one – JAC 797L while my older brother had a dark red Singer Chamois – basically an up market Imp. Although not as popular as the mini the engine was far more advanced, being based on the Coventry Climax engine. It had an all alloy engine with overhead camshaft.
My Imp was a 21st birthday present, inherited from my granddad. I loved the car but I had quite a few problems with it. It had numerous replacements of the water pumps; problems with the automatic choke; it leaked around the windscreen; and lifted off at the front in winds. I remember having to stop and put large rocks in the front to hold it down!
I recall travelling with a colleague in his Imp in summer. Because the radiator had become blocked with oil residue, the engine would overheat in traffic resulting in us having to have the heater on full blast with the windows open to try to keep the temperature down.
My boyfriend at the time had one. He was 6′ 6″ and had to fold up to get in it!
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