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| The Hillman Imp of 1963 was compromised, even before it went on sale |
Back in the early 60's, BMC's Mini was selling like hot cakes and the Rootes Group wanted a slice of the action. Work started on the 'Apex' project which resulted in the Hillman Imp, a small car that arrived in 1963, four years after the Mini's launch. This was also the first small Rootes designed vehicle since the Second World War.
On paper the Imp featured a revolutionary design. The engine was a rear mounted 875cc all aluminium unit sourced from Coventry Climax, an engine popular in racing. Hillman's design featured a different cylinder head and was slanted 45 degrees to improve packaging and weight distribution. In an effort to improve handling over other rear engined cars on the market, the Imp's rear suspension featured an independent semi-trailing arm. This meant that the little Hillman was a costly and sophisticated affair in its development.
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| Snazzier models such as this failed to mask the fact that the 'Apex' project was deeply flawed. Government meddling didn't help either |
On the face of it, this deal appeared to make sense but not much thought was given to the logistics of the situation. Linwood was 300 miles away from Ryton. Engine castings were made in Linwood, sent to Ryton where they were machined and assembled and then transported back up to Scotland for final vehicle assembly. Inefficiency was key and time and money was wasted due to this ill conceived manufacturing process.
Another angle the government failed to take into account was the fact that the shipbuilding workforce employed to make the cars had no prior experience in doing so. Poor build quality and less than impressive reliability became the end result. Industrial disputes quickly followed and strikes began - 31 of them took place in 1964 alone.
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| The Imp was rear engined which meant no radiator grille was required. It's believed that this one was the first off the line |
It's a shame that things turned out this way; after all, the Imp was heralded as a revolutionary small car and although the reliability issue improved over the years, the rot had set in. Half of the total production run of just under 500,000 units were sold in the first 3 years alone!
The Rootes Group quickly began launching other models in order to keep the project alive. These included an estate of the Imp called the Hillman Husky, a van called the Commer Imp (Commer was the Rootes Group's commercial vehicle arm) and the Hillman Imp Californian.
The Californian was an oddity... The main difference to the saloon was a more steeply raked profile, in effect to make a coupe. Unfortunately it was even more compromised than the standard car. The Imp's fold down rear seats were now fixed as was the opening rear window. If ever there was a car that could be accused of being style over substance, this was it.
Further badge engineering began with the introduction of the Singer Chamois and Sunbeam Sport, spurned on by low sales volumes. Prices for the Imp were also slashed to encourage people to take a chance on Hillman's baby.
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| The Imp was especially popular north of the border, thanks to its Scottish roots |
The 'Apex' project was ambitious. Unfortunately the Imp never got anywhere near the sales of the Mini. Who knows, maybe if there was more time spent on developing the car, training the workforce and less interference from government, things may have been different...