Hillman Imp Super

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The Hillman Imp was a small, compact, rear-engined saloon car manufactured from 1963 to 1973 under the Hillman marque by the Rootes Group.

The Imp was assembled at a purpose-built plant at Linwood, near Paisley, in the West of Scotland. Its main rival on the home market was the BMC Mini. The Imp was overshadowed in popularity by the Mini which in the mid '60s was the 'in' thing to have, whereas the Imp never enjoyed such status as a fashion statement. The Imp was initially available in three basic body styles; a Saloon, a Van and a Coupé, plus an Imp Super with improved levels of trim and fittings . In addition to these there were badge-engineered versions for Singer and Sunbeam.

For the Imp, Rootes pioneered the use of an aluminium engine in a mass-production car. This was an 875cc all-aluminium power unit, adapted by Rootes from a Coventry Climax FWMA fire pump engine which had enjoyed some racing success, but was significantly different in areas such as cylinder head design. It was mounted behind the rear wheels and canted over at 45deg, keeping the centre of gravity low to optimise road-holding and fitted with a 4-speed manual all-synchromesh transmission.

At launch the innovative design of the Imp was underdeveloped, mechanical and cooling system problems were commonplace in the early cars mainly due to the lack of understanding of the maintenance needs of alloy engines. Although solutions were quickly found, the initial troubles damaged the Imp's reputation and popularity trailed off. It still sold thanks to its competitive price, distinctive styling, and cheap running costs, but sales never lived up to expectations for what had become a very competent small car.

Rear-engined cars generally suffer from oversteer handling characteristics and to counteract this the Imp had a semi-trailing arm independent rear suspension system, a relatively costly and sophisticated solution for a small car at the time. For the sporting motorist the Imp engine was flexible and very easy to tune, although in doing so the engine proved somewhat more fragile than the Coventry Climax model from which it had been derived. The Imp enjoyed modest success in both club and international rallying. Notable successes included the 1965 Tulip Rally in which the works Imps of Rosemary Smith and ‘Tiny’ Lewis finished first and second overall.

Dating from January 1973, this Hillman Imp Super had three former keepers before joining the Stondon Collection in 1997. Two old MOTs from 1992 and 1993 record the mileage as 53,990 and 54,752 at that time, a figure which is not likely to have risen much since as the car has been on static display these last 18 years. A current V5C and older V5 are also included but there are no other documents with this lot.