Hillman Imp
Hillman Imp. Four years after the Mini the Rootes group finally presented its reply. The Hillman Imp was launched in 1963 and a new factory in Linwood, Scotland was specially created for that. Contrary to the Mini, the Imp was of all-aft layout, with an 875 cc engine conventionally placed behind the rear axle, producing 37 BHP in its tamest form. This all-alloy engine had been designed by Coventry Climax and featured one OHC. In that respect it was far superior to the Mini, but reliability problems did not do much to establish a good position in the market. Nevertheless the car remained in production until 1976 and many different versions (coupe and estate) appeared, also under the Sunbeam badge, a.o. as the Stiletto. It was quite a popular car for touring car races, and many of these are still showing up at Historic Races. One of the designers of the car, Michael Parkes, went further in his career to become a Ferrari works driver and design assistant as well. All told about 440,000 Hillmans left the factory, plus about 20,000 Sunbeams. Shown here are two standard versions and the interior and engine of a racing car, present at the Silverstone Historics in 2005