Hillman Imp Car

I owned the same Hillman Imp, FSW 858J, for nine years. It was great fun and full of character. I spent many a happy hour driving it, maintaining it and polishing the bodywork together with the aluminium engine. Of course, it did break down from time to time, but other than new spider joints, a new radiator, several new radiator hoses, a new clutch, a new clutch-release bearing, an accelerator cable, a carburettor, a few batteries, numerous fan belts, a few alternators, new king-pins, a replacement steering rack, four new shocks, two new headlamps, new engine gaskets, a new dip-stick and of course the usual “wearables”, it never went wrong. Oh yes, it leaked like a sieve and rusted along the leading edge of the (front) boot, rear wheel arches and under the driving seat. Also the heater and screen de-mister never worked. I once had a small electrical fire and you could open the locks with your fingernail. It was a fantastic car, how I miss it!

— Keith Green

Yes I drove an Imp once in 1964. It was caught in a side wind and I nearly lost control. It turned out that the tyre pressures were wrong. Also the pedals were tiny and close together. I didn’t rush out to buy one.

— Howard J.

My first memory of the Hillman Imp was just prior to its official launch in 1961/2(?), when I was working in Paddington. During one lunch-time, I was in Sussex Gardens making my way back to the office, when a Hillman Imp turned out of a side road in front of me. I quickly recognised it, having recently seen a sneak photo in Motorsport magazine, taken in Europe during its road-testing. I followed and, with my camera already on the passenger seat, managed to get a quick shot throught the windscreen when the traffic paused at the lights, then it was gone. In the late sixties, then working in Crawley, one of my colleagues had a 1963 Imp and his clutch was slipping badly. A week or so later we got ourselves organised to replace the clutch plate and actually managed to do the whole job in our lunch hour! Removal of the rear panel and bumper allowed easy access to the complete motor and, with a couple of wooden blocks and wedges below the sump, we supported the complete engine while releasing some the bolts around the gearbox housing, plus disconnecting the electric harnesses, water hoses and fuel line, and then simply rolled the car forward a few feet, leaving the engine ‘standing’ on its wooden supports. This allowed us to release the clutch assembly and fit a new clutch plate. From memory the clutch plate was only about 6" diameter for what was quite a perky 900cc motor! They increased it to over seven inches in 1965 I recall!

— Duncan Tribute

Jeff Torrington’s book The Devil's Carousel perfectly encapsulates everything that was wrong about the Imp. I serviced and maintained many of the Linwood classics. Most owners were dissatisfied with the reliability and performance of the car, but paradoxically many loved its idiosyncrasies.

— Morris f

I remember buying my first Hillman Imp in 1973 for £30. It did not have an MOT at the time but cost little to get it passed. I only bought it as transport while I was rebuilding my Mini Traveller, but it was such good fun that once the Mini was back on the road I sold it and kept the Imp instead. After spending a lot of money building a 998cc engine for the Imp it was sadly written off in a road accident. I bought the car back from the insurance company, to get the engine back, and then bought another one with a standard engine, but which had disc brakes, front-mounted radiator and Minlite wheels. Once my 998cc engine was in place I had my ideal car for autotests, slaloms and production car trials. My girlfriend was not over-impressed with hot water pipes going through the passenger seat footwell, especially during the hot summer of 1976, but she did not complain in the winter! Apart from the crankshaft breaking, water pump seizing up and head gasket blowing, it was the most fun car I have ever owned.

— Mike Pusey

My friend had a left-hand-drive Imp when we were at University. He replaced the large steering wheel with a small racing wheel that could not be seen above the dash from the outside. I used to hold the old wheel in the passenger seat as if driving. You did get some strange looks if the wheel appeared to come off whilst driving! We also managed to have seven of us in there at one point, and driving through Leeds in the early 80s when the police presence was highly visible was a bit dubious. We did get followed, so we stopped out of sight of them and I have never seen seven people get out of a small car so quickly!

— JO

How can I forget going from York to Manchester on the new M62 in a friend's Hillman Imp? As we crossed Scammonden Reservoir the cross winds blew the Imp straight across all three lanes. Very exciting! Fortunately there was a lot less traffic on the M62 in the mid 1970s than there is now.

— Christine

I own an Imp, and have done so for 40 years, in fact I now own three! One is the oldest road going MkI in NZ. Bought the Sport new in the UK in 1967 and shipped to NZ a year later. All they need is a careful ear to listen to the noises and a bit of sympathy when using spanners and they last for years and give good service. Nowdays they are rare. So rare,that they are advertising for my business. I have some very exclusive cars but not at super-car prices. Wouldn't change them for a Nipponese clonemobile with all the bells and whistles.

— Brian Baylis - aka Mr Imp

I do but never drove one. Laurie's wife would have no other, he disliked its unreliability, keeping a spare one, and the aluminium head. He told my son that it was essential to have a high percentage antifreeze to avoid corrosion. Neil bought it and followed the advice but after a time the head gasket blew. I fixed it, we sold it. A droll side to the Imp was seeing a work colleague open the rear window to retrieve his briefcase.

— Arthur Boyd-Barton