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The Hillman Imp is a small economy car that was made by the Rootes Group and its successor Chrysler Europe from 1963 until 1976. Revealed on 3 May 1963, [6] after much advance publicity, it was the first British mass-produced car with the engine block and cylinder head cast in aluminium.
The new factory was officially opened in May 1963 and the new rear-engined Hillman Imp went on sale the next day but there were difficulties with industrial relations and, soon, the Imp's reliability. The Imp's heavy development expenses and slackening sales to USA brought about losses for the Rootes group in both 1962 and 1963. [24]
Hillman when purchased had been making large cars. They introduced a straight-eight soon after Hillman became a subsidiary, but it was withdrawn as the Depression deepened. Their 2-1/2 and 3-litre cars were re-styled in the mid-1930s and renamed Humber Snipe and their small Minx was made the mainstay bread and butter member of the Rootes range.
Hillman Imp. Despite being released with high hopes and getting much positive media attention at the time of its launch, the Hillman Imp was a commercial failure that was largely responsible for its parent group, the Rootes Group, getting into financial difficulties and being taken over by Chrysler to become part of Chrysler Europe in 1967.
Adrian Evans (d. 1992), a structural engineer and the car's designer, built a series of cars called Davrian from 1965, based on components from the Hillman Imp, including the front and rear suspension, the 875 or 998 cc (53.4 or 60.9 cu in) [1] aluminium alloy Hillman Imp engine which was Coventry Climax-based [2] and the Imp transaxle.
The BS Nymph was a fibreglass monocoque British buggy based on running gear from the Hillman Imp, including its rear-mounted 875 cc engine.While meant by Chrysler UK to enter series production to the tune of 4000 cars per annum, the Chrysler corporation discontinued the Imp before the Nymph was released.
Singer Motors Limited was a British motor vehicle manufacturing business, originally a bicycle manufacturer founded as Singer & Co by George Singer, in 1874 in Coventry, England. Singer & Co's bicycle manufacture continued. From 1901 George Singer's Singer Motor Co made cars and commercial vehicles.
Tim Fry (25 August 1935 – 17 May 2004), [1] was an automotive engineer who, whilst in his twenties and working for the Coventry-based Rootes Group, designed the Hillman Imp, in conjunction with Mike Parkes. [1] He subsequently became chief engineer at Chrysler Rootes. He left Rootes and set up the industrial design consultancy Smallfry in ...