![]() The current owner inherited it more than 10 years ago and undertook LE JOG in it in his father’s memory, with the car being awarded the Concours de Confort et d’Equipement.Ī few years later a new restoration was needed, and the car was returned to its original Forest Green colour, with more attention paid to giving it a period look. They were intended as second tier works cars, for loaning to promising privateers, and for events where official factory entries weren’t allowed.įHP was bought by the current owner’s father directly ‘ex-works’ from Rootes in 1967, and used by him on the Scottish and Circuit of Ireland in 1968.Īfter selling it, in later life he tracked it down and had it rebuilt with no expense spared, and used it for a last fling on the Neath Valley stages. Originally factory entered for David Pollard (’65 RAC, ’66 Scottish and ’66 Gulf London), FHP 906C was one of a series of Imps prepared by the Rootes Competitions Department under the supervision of the foreman, Jim Ashworth. Rootes was taken over by Chrysler Europe in 1967 and production ended in 1976 after around half a million had been built over its 13 year lifespan.Įxtensively developed for Historic Rally Car Register (HRCR), long distance HERO/European historic road rally events, or the Monte-Carlo Historique, this is a highly competitive Super Imp. ![]() In 1966, after winning the Coupe des Dames, Smith was disqualified under a controversial ruling regarding the car’s headlamps, but the Imp was also successful in touring car racing when Bill McGovern won the British Saloon Car Championship in 1970, 19.ĭespite all this, the car suffered from reliability problems and was costly to build. This led the Rootes Group to produce a special rally converted Imp under both the Hillman and Singer marques, known as the Imp Rallye. Its image was further enhanced in 1965 when competition success in the form of a Tulip Rally win came courtesy of driver Rosemary Smith. Rootes built a new plant in Linwood, Scotland to build the new car and press reaction was very favourable. This was mated to an all sychromesh four-speed alloy transaxle, an advanced combination in 1963 (Mini designer Sir Alec Issigonis had recently described the fitting of synchromesh on all forward gears as ‘impossible’.) The engine was canted over at a 45° angle to keep the centre of gravity low and optimise road-holding. The water-cooled four-cylinder engine was based on the Coventry Climax FWMA fire pump engine, featuring an all-aluminium alloy construction, and an overhead camshaft. But this is exactly what the Rootes Group did in 1963.ĭesigned as a rival to BMC’s 1959 pace-setting Mini, the Imp employed a layout unused by British manufacturers until this point, and managed quite a number of other firsts too. The chances of it succeeding would be slim to say the least. ![]() To learn more about how and for what purposes Amazon uses personal information (such as Amazon Store order history), please visit our Privacy Notice.If a mainstream motor manufacturer launched a small utility car with a rear-mounted highly advanced engine in 2021, car buyers wouldn’t know what to make of it. ![]() You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie Preferences, as described in the Cookie Notice. Click ‘Customise Cookies’ to decline these cookies, make more detailed choices, or learn more. Third parties use cookies for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalised ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. This includes using first- and third-party cookies, which store or access standard device information such as a unique identifier. If you agree, we’ll also use cookies to complement your shopping experience across the Amazon stores as described in our Cookie Notice. We also use these cookies to understand how customers use our services (for example, by measuring site visits) so we can make improvements. We use cookies and similar tools that are necessary to enable you to make purchases, to enhance your shopping experiences and to provide our services, as detailed in our Cookie Notice.
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