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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.
Rootes Group was under-capitalised and unable to survive industrial relations problems and losses from the 1963 introduction of a new aluminium-engined small car, the Hillman Imp. By mutual agreement, from mid-1964, Rootes Motors was taken over in stages by Chrysler , which bought control from the Rootes family 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.
From 1977, the 180 was sold as a 'Chrysler-Simca' in most European markets (except Britain), and after the sale of Chrysler Europe to PSA it was rebadged again as a Talbot. Also launched in 1970 was the Hillman Avenger (1970-81), a medium-sized family car which fitted between the Imp and the Hunter in Chrysler's British range. The model sold ...
Hillman was a British automobile marque created by the Hillman-Coatalen Company, founded in 1907, renamed the Hillman Motor Car Company in 1910. The company was based in Ryton-on-Dunsmore, near Coventry, England. Before 1907 the company had built bicycles. Newly under the control of the Rootes brothers, the Hillman company was acquired by ...
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]
The Hillman Hunter was rebranded as the Chrysler Hunter for the UK market in September 1976, receiving at the same time a four headlight frontal treatment similar to that of the Hunter GLS model and the Humber Sceptre. [17] In order to try to prolong the model life an improved level of equipment included a central console and a voltmeter. [17]
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 ...