mini and hillman imp compared

[handy andy]

anyone seen the back to back to back article on the mini and hillman imp in practical classics march
must admit i found the article heavily biased to the imp
doesnt the writer realize that the mini outsold the imp in very large numbers
only one conclusion thats obvious the mini was the better car

[Matt_Tupman]

I think if the Imp was front engine and available in larger displacements it would have been a far bigger success. It's cleaver great little car though.

[ivor badger]

Mini vs Imp sales = 3 to 1

Tuning and Mini vs Imp = performance £1 vs £10

[1071 S]

Having owned an 850 Mini back in the 60s ..and swapped runs to the pub with a mate with an Imp I would suggest it would have been a somewhat difficult choice... but then I moved up to an S (not stock unfortunately ... Imp ?? Swimp.. But just imagine a Mini with a 1300 CC engine....

Cheers, Ian

[coop12g295]

I did a small estate car mag article with my woodie an anglia estate and a husky imp
which the imp won too.But the guy that did the article for the mag did come with his mate in his husky

[66S]

Back when they were new here in NZ, the Imp (Blimp) was a great looking little car but, if you thought Mini reliability wasn't good, Imps were worse, much worse. The styling was pretty cool and they were actually quite fast on the road, in the right hands.

Al

[Lord Croker]

I have owned both, 6 Minis, 1 Imp, & although there was a great sense of achievement in driving an Imp quickly on winding roads, it always felt like trying to throw a hammer 'shaft first' (& often went wrong!). I guess I also felt a similar sense of achievement after fixing the clutch, head gasket, a broken camshaft, numerous water pumps etc. I only owned the Imp for a year, I have owned my 6th & current Mini for 27 years, I think that says it all from my point of view.

[mab01uk]

They used to give the racing Mini's a hard time in Special Saloons though.
Some interesting info here on Bill McGovern and the Bevan Imp:
http://www.imps4ever.info/racing/races/bevan.html

At the Crystal Palace Sprint last year, recreated.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOu7Urjj0-k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeZxAOFQ_lk

[Lord Croker]

Can't argue with that, I might have liked my Imp better if it had been developed like the Bevan Imps, one of my friends is a former Mini 7 & Miglia champion & when competing in other saloon races he always says that Bill McGovern in 'that damn Imp' was a job to beat!

[foxy52]

They used to give the racing Mini's a hard time in Special Saloons though.
Some interesting info here on Bill McGovern and the Bevan Imp:
http://www.imps4ever.info/racing/races/bevan.html

At the Crystal Palace Sprint last year, recreated.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOu7Urjj0-k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeZxAOFQ_lk

...great article that and super pics.. my aunt in rome had a californian version.. piper cams rule !!!.. ....foxy52

[mk1]

I have only ever driven an imp fast once, it ended up with me wedged side ways in a field gate, unable to move forward or back.

They are quick little cars but will bite you if given a chance. Also very expensive & more unreliable than your average Mini.

M

[BRI MK1]

Many years ago i raced a single seater with a cooper,s engine it was called midget racing on 1/4 ovalls i raced for speed worth and there was a club called marc which we raced against and one of the drivers was paul emery if anybody remembers emery imps. he was very quick but my cooper ,s engine was just as good. good old times brian

[Pandora]

I like Imps - must be a nationalist thing! They are something of a poor mans 911

My pal had a Ginetta G15 - crazy little thing that seemed to get the best out it's Imp mechanicals. It was so good I actually went to look at buying one. It was in Peterborough, near lots of canals. I test drove it along some of those arrow straight roads which run alongside the vanals, and it had chronic bump steer, or something, but it kept trying to jump into the canals!

I didn't buy it, and now they've got really expensive. It was a lovely wee car, apart from it's unfortunate tendancy to attempt to drown the driver - a far nicer finished example than my Pals one

Al

[vegar]

Check out shag.no Birger on here have raced his S for some years, but now converted to imp

[mini13]

I love a good Imp, cracking engines, you need to drive them in a totally different way though.

Its a shame they had design flaws like the backwards cooling system, and they never did a 1300, that would have been a stormer!

[mab01uk]

The advanced for its time, lightweight all alloy SOHC Imp engine (ex-Coventry Climax) was fitted to the Mini's transverse fwd gearbox by several Mini racers in the 1960's and 70's due to its high reving ability and tuning potential in the 1 litre class. One of the most famous Mini racers to use this hybrid set-up was Ginger Marshall who had many successes racing a Mini Van/Traveller in the Modified Special Saloon class during the 1970's.

1970s Special Saloon car racing with almost unlimited mods allowed the Imp engine which was far more technically advanced than the old A series and could be tuned to give reliably more power hence the Mini-Imp engined hybrids. I spent many weekends at the circuits in the 70s watching Ginger Marshalls Mini-Imp challenge the Hillman Imps domination of the class. Eventually both the Minis and Imps developed into Maquire type space frames with fibreglass bodies and Ginger Marshall unfortunately put a Reliant Kitten body on his!

Also Monty Guildford's - Mini-Imp 850:-
viewtopic.php?f=4&p=96287

Some more Mini-Imp details here:
http://www.startline.org.uk/slol21/terrapin2.htm
Quote:
"At that time it was fitted with Allan's Imp engine / Mini gearbox conversion. "It was eminently suitable for hillclimbing where the car runs for just a few minutes, and usually not much more than a minute in anger. Allan had bolted a thick alloy plate onto the bottom of the Imp engine and then cut the gearbox away from a Mini engine. The plate formed a flange which bolted onto the the gearbox. This was fine for hillclimbing but was less than oil tight when we ran a race distance. However, "Ginger" Marshall had, during the 1980's run a Reliant Kitten special saloon with an Imp/Mini Hybrid."
"Ginger's brother was the mechanic and I spoke to him. They had had 5 special blocks cast which included the block itself and the adaptor to fit the Mini box. That gave a relatively reliable oil tight seal. As luck would have it, one of the people who had bought an engine from the Marshalls advertised it a week or two later in Autosport, so I bought it and fitted it, which solved a lot of problems."




^Imp engine on a Mini gearbox conversion in Metro subframe by Ian Carter/Shrigley Engineering.
See more under 'Current Projects' & scroll down for future 4WD Imp Project!
http://www.shrigleyengineering.co.uk/

Imp battles with Mini,Alfa,Lancia at Spa in hscc half hour race. 9,000rpm in top = 118mph going well for 998cc! (More videos on Shrigley Eng website).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7PIqWsSsHE

As a road going engine however, early Imp Mk1 engines did have a reputation for blowing head gaskets, overheating and warping the alloy head, which it never fully lived down even in its improved later Mk2 form. I also remember bolting on plates to get rid of the excessive positive camber on front wheels of Mk1 Imps!

The Imp Engine in detail here:
http://www.imps4ever.info/tech/engine.html

[mab01uk]

Mini v Imp comparison from Popular Motoring 1974:

[618AOG]

I had an Imp Super back in the mid eighties. I had a Mini or two at the time and this Imp was £20 with a buggered engine. He was a 1966D in dark green with black trim (RNK243D) and was bodily very solid requiring very minimal work. A 1966 Mini would have been as rotten as a carrot - the Imp body was far better made and it had proper seats and carpets, winding windows - it was more like an 1100 in terms of how it was built. I bought a tatty Sunbeam Imp Rallye (the 998) for £80 with a good engine and swapped over the prime morsels - engine, Konis, Cosmic wheels and the Motalita steering wheel. Once completed I buzzed around in it for a couple of months - it was a cracking wee car with great handling, nice gearchange and of course it revved like as bastard.
Sold in in 1986 for £450 and found iot again in a scrapyard in 2005. Sadly it was rotten and minus the engine so that's where it stayed.

I rescued the front numberplate and the 'H' from the bonnet lettering. I'd love a late sixties Stilletto in white with the black vinyl roof and the finned wheel trims - a great looking little thing.

[bnicho]

My Dad had an Imp in the mid 70's. He reckoned it was the most unreliable car he ever owned. I can recall the starter failing so left it up the street so he could clutch start it. He used to swear at it repeatedly until he traded it in on a new-new Toyota Corona. I was too little to remember the other faults and Dad is gone now, so I can't ask him.

Aussie conditions tended to kill them. Imps didn't like heat and dust much.

In the end, there are plenty of cars that could be consider "better" in various ways that a Mini. The ADO16 series cars and Mk1 Golf spring to mind. But they don't have quite the same following and are not generally remembered with the same affection.

[ChrisB]

I used to have a 1275cc Mini and a 998cc Imp.

The Imp engine was lightened, balanced, race cam etc and did 0-60 in 10.5 seconds. It was absolutely stunning and the handling was pretty good.

I bought it with an 875cc engine and it was so dull and gutless that I had to pay the £1800 for the race engine to fulfil my speedy side.

Mini did 0-60 in 11.5 seconds but handled far more precisely and I felt more confident in predicting what the car would do.

Overall, in standard 875 Imp vs 998 Mini spec the Mini wins, in 998 Imp vs. 1275 Mini spec I would say they are about even.