The 1950s were an exciting time in the motoring world in Australia, as a plethora of motor vehicles, both locally built and either fully imported or assembled here from completely knocked down kits became available.
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In the small car division, the British cars comprising Morris Minors, Austin A 30s, Standard 8s and 10s, Hillmans etc. were popular and increasingly affordable with the VW Beetle stirring the pot, things were getting really interesting.
With the arrival of BMC’s Morris Mini 850 in 1959 and its subsequent performance variants, the small car market was on a roll.
This did not escape the attention of the normally astute board of the Rootes group, probably best known for their tough and sturdy, if somewhat dull, Hillman Minx saloons.
So, the penny dropped and they decided to get onto the Mini’s coat tails, with their own ‘mini’, and the cheery Hillman Imp was conceived.
Rootes started with a clean sheet, right down to a brand new factory at Linwood in Scotland, not exactly the epicentre of automotive excellence.
Unlike the Mini, Rootes settled for a rear engine layout driving the rear wheels, perhaps impressed by VW’s success with this tail happy configuration.
Their choice of the engine was a gem, on paper at least, being specially designed for Hillman, by none other than Coventry Climax.
The all aluminium engine was an 875cc, four cylinder with an overhead camshaft, cantered at 45 degrees to keep the centre of gravity as low as possible and enhance boot space, a ‘win win’ combination.
With a compression of 10:1 it delivered an impressive 47 bhp, a far cry from the contemporary VW’s and the Mini’s , with their mid 30s’ horsepower offerings.
The gearbox/trans-axle unit was also in aluminium, and despite all this weight saving down at the tail end, the Imp was less than IMPressive in the handling department.
After initial strong sales, ongoing reliability problems plagued the early Imp’s, as potential buyers turned back to the VWs and Minis, both known for their inherent toughness.
Mark 11 models sported a larger 998cc. engine and assorted improvements such as a new water pump design and a conventional accelerator cable replacing the previously flawed pneumatic linkage, but it was all too little, too late.
The parent company was on its last legs and taken over by Chrysler Europe in 1967, with over 440,000 Imps having been being built up until 1976, with many survivors now being quite collectible amongst loyal fans.
