The Hillman Imp was assembled in Linwood in Scotland (just outside Glasgow). About 20 miles from my home. The very first Hillman Imp is in the Glasgow Transport Museum in Scotland. The engine was notorious for overheating. They went through more head gaskets than miles on the clock :) It's amazing to see something on the channel that was built on my doorstep!

Forget the tales of woe! My late sister-in-law bought one new in 1965. She was one of those drivers for whom the throttle pedal was a switch - on or off. She thrashed it mercilessly around Central London where she lived and did 1000 mile round trips to visit family in Scotland. Problems? Zero! She paid out to have it regularly serviced at the main dealer and was repaid with flawless reliability.

I worked at a dealership that sold them new. They were great little cars. Very easy to work on. I passed my driving test in one back in 1974. How time flies.

Launched in May 1963, you have here what looks like a 1968 Mk 3 model. Much improved on the original but watch out for the water pump, they remained troublesome throughout production. Chrysler had a big stake in Rootes in 1968 but whenever they spent money improving them, sales would continue to fall. Nearly all parts are available except (I think) the cylinder heads. Reconditioned this and that or newly made items. How this little Imp started after 30 years I found amazing although they were always good starters. Fantastic video. I've just today (1st August 2022) stumbled across it randomly on KZfaq. I remember both my Imps used to stall before being warmed up. If you come to a stop, the engine would stop but start up right away. Once warmed up it's all okay. So don't worry if this happens because it's quite normal. It's annoying but normal. Anti corrosive coolant needed for aluminium alloy engine. Speedometer cables sieze every 15,000 miles (or at least that's what I found) Rotoflex coupling live a cheap and cheerful life at around 30,000 miles and the water pump, well, they either last for ever or lay down and die squeaking and leaking every now and then. The copper brake lines must have replaced the original steel ones fitted in the Scottish factory which quietly rusted merrily away. And don't forget the universal joints on the swinging arms. If these or the Rotoflexes fail at speed it can be disasterous. Check them carefully. The release bearing on the clutch was not a bearing but a carbon thrust disc which would sometimes offer musical squeaky noises when pressing the clutch. The heater pipes take an interesting roote over the wheel arches and the sills. Don't just drag them out. You need to pull some thin rope with them or you're in trouble! There's a by-pass hose on the engine which is to aid faster warm ups. This runs from near the thermostat housing, around the radiator and to the brass branch which aids filling the water system up like an air bleed valve. I could go on but my tea is nearly ready. Cheers.

Lovely little Car with the steering wheel, on the correct side for once :)

Being a Brit born in the mid 60's it is great to see one of these on your channel. The Hillman Imp was a familiar sight on our roads when I was a kid. She is in lovely condition, the paint work is amazing for her age. Nice little car indeed!

My mum had a white imp in the late seventies. I seem to remember she was always having clutch issues with it?. A bumpy ride but a fun little car. Because it was so small it always felt like you was traveling at 100mph but the reality was it was very slow. Fond memories I do miss it thanks Mustie 👍❤

Hiya, I'm a native of North Wales (grew up in Llandudno) and my Dad & Uncle, ran a very well known Garage Business all their lives (after being de-mobbed). They generally hated the Hillman Imps as they were so compact and they couldnt get their muscular arms in to work on them. I became a Toolmaker but a mate of mine had one (and I was co-opted to help him as and when). Things to be aware of: the early ones were quite prone to blowing head gaskets but if you machined the head and block properly and make them truly flat and parallel and use a decent gasket compound (I always used Hylomar), you 'almost' don't need a head gasket. In Racing circles, they didn't use them in some cases. Cooling flow, is 'critical' to them, any overheating and you'll blow the head gasket. The Mk-I's were notorious for doing this; the Mark-II's were better (but not perfect). Skimming (machining) the head and block faces need super critical (anally retentive) fixturing on the machine to avoid warping any surfaces and machined. I always used a heavy body flycutter with 'honed' HSS bits The Brake pipes are most definately not Copper by the way. Copper would be unworkable and unsafe due to work hardening properties; they almost certainly are Cupro-Nickel alloy. The engine was a Coventry Climax engine (Coventry Climax being a forklift company). Research the engine, they had a varied and and interesting history. You tune the living daylights out of them too. In full race trim, they could be taken up to 100+ bhp and in a road legal car (for Rallying), they were downright scarey. I know of many who had them and crashed them. Rear wheel drive with the engine extending beyond the back wheels, needed experienced handling. I owned one and also managed to lose the damn thing into a stone wall - but they are great fun to drive hard and competitively.

My Dad had one ! 105JUB it went to a nurse that was going to work in Africa and she wanted a red one like this one! First car with an 'auto' choke which meant it always stalled until it was warm... Thanks Mustie for making great videos . Ive learnt a lot ! Plus you transported a 65 year old guy back to a time when he was an 8 year old boy !

Hey Mustie, huge fan! Your vids helped me when I kicked the opioid habit last year, just want to say thanks! And LOVE that Celica!

My wife had one of these in the early 1970's. The information that I have says that the engine, 875cc in it's standard form, was developed from half of a Coventry Climax engine used on fire pumps. The belt lap angle on the water pump meant that you had to run the belt fairly tight to avoid slippage. I found this to be the Achilles heel of the car as it quickly wore the pump bearings. I ended up fitting water pumps regularly. Enormous fun to drive and as others have said, in the right hands very nimble. I suspect that the "copper" brake pipes are really "Cunifer" made from a copper nickel alloy. It was very popular in the late 1960's and into the 1970's and I used rolls of the stuff to make replacement pipes on all sorts of cars. It's big advantage was it's corrosion resistance. There were kit cars in those days where two Imp engines were fitted in a Vee formation with the cranks connected by a roller chain. I'd love another Imp.

That Imp is in beautiful condition!! I had a new one in 1967 PKB 147F. Lovely neat gear change, never sloppy.

That is so adorable. I like the slant four. Nice. Your new trailer(s) make life so much easier.

Treat this baby with respect. The Imp gained a reputation as a successful rally car when Rosemary Smith won the Tulip Rally in 1965.. The water-cooled four-cylinder power unit was based on the Coventry Climax one of the most famous racing engines.

My Uncle owned one of these cars, and my cousin and I drove around parts of Wales (The Country) in it as teenagers. We are now both 65 !! It was a nippy little car and fun to drive, good times. My uncle was not happy when my cousin scraped the passenger side door on a rock that was sticking out of the side of the road. Back then some of the roads over there were only dirt tracks and not the improved roads of today.

I had the Singer version of the Imp, it was called a Chamois, in British Racing Green. The engine was based on the old Coventry Climax engine, 875cc if my memory serves me correctly. Going forward from the engine was the clutch, then the transaxle and then the gearbox. the whole of the rear Xmember came out with 4 bolts and the engine assembly slid out backwards. I used to keep a paving slab in the front luggage space to keep the wheels square to the road! It handled well, I could take a 90 deg left turn in to a side road at 30mph. Happy spannering, a brilliant little car!

These were built in Scotland. My uncle rallied these in the mid to late sixties. Lots of memories. They were notorious for head gaskets being one of the first all aluminum engines. The later models moved the radiator to the front of the car.

The car I learnt to drive and pass my test in 1968, I also owned one a couple if years later ,great fun to drive and race against the Mini of the time. Always remember to put a bag of sand in the front to keep the wheels on the ground, and as a teenager the folding back seat was ideal for some 'back seat Olympics '

Back in the early 60`s our next door neighbor was in a car pool with 2 other men. They worked for Lockheed Aircraft Company. The car they all shared was a Hilman Minx. 3 cylinder two stroke with 3 coils, 3 sets of points and four speed on the column transmission. Cool car at the time.

Nice! The Lucas mark on the distributor made me recall the following - Q - "Why do the British drink warm beer?"A - "Because they have Lucas refrigerators!"

I learned to drive on the Hillman Imp in my - and its - native Scotland. By the time my father bought his 1966 Super Imp, the overheating issues had been resolved, and the automatic choke and pneumatic throttle had been replaced with conventional systems. But they were still not robust: the first car needed a new clutch and water pump within 24000 miles, and the next one, two years younger, burned its valves. But they were sweet and nimble little cars to drive, and the twin carb version was even nicer.

Hi Mustie, wow! haven't seen one of those for years and I'm 70 now. That is a collectors car now in the UK and probably worth a bit of money. Bob UK

My first car was a Hillman Imp. It cost $300 second hand in 1967. Mine soon had an apparent blown head gasket and I learned about engines on this car. I eventually figured out it had a crack in the casting around the cylinder sleeve. I was able to get a rejected block from a friend's father who had a Hillman dealership. I re-built the engine fom the ground up and balanced and ported it. It became a fantastic car. The engine would rev freely to 8,000RPM, the stock motor was flat out at 5,000 RPM. It handled well once you understood what understeer was and was a great car! The engine is all aluminium (except for the cylinder liners) and requires care with a torque wrench when working on it! If you hand tighten things by feel the aluminium will warp. If you torque everything properly it is great! It was 12 volt and the little hole in the back was for a crank handle. If you had a flat battery, it came with a hand crank so you could start it.

I learned to drive in one of these. Them me and 3 friends went on a road trip around Scotland. Our bags were in the small boot and on the roof. That sweet little engine didn't miss a beat, even when we had to reverse up the steepest slopes. Thanks for posting this, it brought back some good memories. Peter

The split screen Morris Minor is the gem here.

Nice to see a video on British motors when I’m sitting here in Eastleigh, UK!

I nearly fell out of the passenger side of an Imp when i was about 7, luckily my Mum grabbed me and hauled me back in, door just swung open on a corner! great memories, thank you.

When you started drilling out the corrosion from the water pump you triggered my PTSD from a childhood trauma involving a root canal. Had to take a sedative to calm myself down after that bit. They made those cars pretty well IMHO.

Hey Mustie, the Hilman Imp was an attempt by the Roots Group to counter the mini. Not great cars but quirky all the same. The engine was adapted from a light weight water pump engine on a fire tender - the 'Coventry Climax'. Alloy heads used to warp if you looked at them funny!! Also have valve shims that were a pain in the ass to set up. My brother and I used to work on his regularly chasing cooling issues, the heater matrix is in the front under the hood. They were so light on the front, skittering around, that we put a paving slab or two in the front to keep it on the road. Oh what fun!! Thanks for sharing.

My Mum had an IMP here in Australia and it broke down 2-3 times a week and I remember seeing my mum come home to turn into the garage and watching the RHR wheel take off down the road after the wheel bearing collapsed. In 1974 I think it was.

Cool to see an old British car like this not many American car guys are familiar with! Very well kept car for sitting so long!

Awesome Mustie, The Hillman Imp, an absolute classic British Car! An era in time of simple motoring! More videos PLEASE!!!

Fun fact, the all alloy Coventry Climax engine used in the Imp was originally designed to run the pumps in a fire engine 🚒

You are working on something very British! It even has the steering wheel on the proper side!! There were loads of these on the road when I was a kid. There was a cashback model called an Imp Californian and a more upmarket version marketed as a Sunbeam Stiletto.

Great to see this video. I passed my UK driving test in this model back in 1968. Happy days!

My late grandad worked in the Hillman factory. Built just about every engine that ended up in one.

Fantastic to see you work on a British car. Love the story of the launch of these. The Linwood factory in Glasgow was built with government support. The components were all made in Coventry at Roots main factory. When the Duke of Edinburgh went to open the new factory they didn’t have enough cars to show the factory working. Instead they took the few finished cars they had, loaded them onto a transporter and brought them back into the factory out of sight of the dignitaries. They put them back on the production line to make it look like they were making more cars. Roots group were taken over by Chrysler in the 1970’s and they were then taken over by Peugeot in the 1980’s. The last Roots factory in Coventry closed when Peugeot 206 production moved to Eastern Europe in the early 21st century.

I came years ago to find a video to help fix my flooded snowblower and here I am today.

I had a 64 Hillman Imp, dark green colour, back in the late 60's, great little motor.

I'm 63, seeing this thing brings back memories of packets of bandaid in my toolbox. Big hands and imps don't make a good combo. I hated the things. Heater rarely blew luke warm let alone hot. They rotted well too. Can't remember how many patches I welded on em followed by gallons of underseal 😂 They were the wifey runaround and shopping cart and kiddie transport which is probably why most of em were poorly maintained. Maintenance budget was saved for dad's Mk2 1600 E Cortina 😊. How times have changed. Can you imagine presenting wifey with this instead of one of those suv things to haul the kids to school today❓ They were in general a very popular little car back in the day. The fast back version was the Hillman Californian or the Singer Chamois. No matter my opinions of this little thing, it proves cars back then were mechanical items that were much easier to repair, keep going by dad's everywhere on driveways. 🤣 Every kid had a dad or friend who had a dad that would fix a car. Cars today are travelling laptops that sometimes even dealers can't fix. So much for progress. We live in a greed driven world where you pay good money for cars but manufacturers refuse to transfer ownership rights included in the sale price. Try changing the battery in a land rover key fob❓

G'day Mustie 1, you are now the New England expert on Hillman Motors products. A fine quality Scottish Automobile. The Imp came out in 1963 and was quite advanced for its time. Remember that when you go to O'Reilly's for a new water pump, tell them that you have the Imp and not the Hunter. You do not want to confuse them.

Back in the day people used to race these in a class with minis. They were sucessful on the track, if not very popular on the road. My Aunt had one as her first car, and my best friend, when I was 17, had one which ran beautifully as it was maintained to a high standard by his father, who knew his engines.

I worked on brand new Hillman Imps in a Chrysler dealership in the UK back in the seventies - I also owned several as daily drivers. Brilliant little cars. Thanks for the nostraligia trip!

I had a Hillman Imp Van in 1972 in Edinburgh Scotland I would be about 17 I got it to find out how engines worked it was a nonrunner but I worked hard on it (No Google) and got it to run then someone stole it and trashed it Go figure this brought back some nice memories Thanks Mustie1

I had an Imp based Husky in the late 70`s. Reg no. MHW220F. It was really reliable and never let me down. The only thing that let it down was the rubber doughnut in the drive shafts. At the time I couldn't get them so I very reluctantly traded it for a Mk2 Cortina but that is another story regarding Fords propensity to rust!!!

My aunt used to have one of these here in Finland. It was snot green in colour. It was a hilarious little car with a really distinct running sound. My dad used to also drive rally on one of these and he was also the spare parts manager for Hillman&Sunbeam here in my town. Our yard used to be full of these old Rootes Group cars.

OMG it’s in such good condition. We rebuilt my brothers every other weekend. My first proper car engine at 13 years old….47 years ago. What a little beauty. My brother then sold out to Ford and Capri’s. But there’s still a little bit of my heart & history. Nice work. Xxxx

One of my first cars back in the 70's. I still have a workshop manual that I bought to help me with all of my repairs.

Imps were well liked cars, fun to drive and quite quick. Their water cooling only had a small header tank so could overheat before you knew you had a small leak somewhere, causing head gasket leaks and the alloy head ground flat again. Great wee cars.

This brought back a few memory's, I haven't seen an Imp in a few years now. I know there are rebuild kits for the water pump because a friend of mine rebuilt his about 10 years ago (now sold). I had a quick look and they are still available so that should not be an issue. I have a suspicion looking at the badging on this one that it might be from the 70's rather than the 60's.

I watch several car channels on YT and you are by far the most methodical and well planned.

Wow Mustie, this brings back fond memories of my 1968 Hillman Imp GT with a 998cc twin-carb with headers that I rebuilt as an apprentice motor mechanic in 1979. I remember that little car once the engine a 45-degree Coventry Climax could power that tiny car to 105 mph making it faster than the Mini 1000cc at the time. Back in the early 1980's The Imp GT was a very rare car here in Australia. Seeing you play with this little car just takes me back to a time I raced my 1968 Imp GT. I remember it had a nice loopy idle at 1,250 rpm and a redline of 10,000rpm very easily. Originally the Coventry Climax engine was designed as a fire water pump engine. Overheating these engines would cause the cylinder head to crack between the spark plug holes and cost over $1,000 back in 1979 to have the head welded and the spark plug holes re-cut and helicoiled. It was a fun little car to drive. If I remember rightly, you could buy a water pump rebuild kit to fix them.

You hit it on the nail when talking about that opening rear window being used for lumbar transport. I remember my friend's Imp, and we transported many a full length of 4x2 stuck out the back window, with the passenger holding onto it in the front 🙂

It is great to see one of the cars I worked on in the Rootes Design studio in Coventry back in the mid '60's It was my design that was chosen for the instrument panel and the seat & door trim patterns! There were other derivatives of the IMP that did not see the light of day, in particular a two seater sports car similar to the Lotus Elan), due to the takeover of the Rootes Group by Chrysler of America (who just did not understand the Imp concept) Who at the time produced the Toronado ( a 7 liter V8 front wheel drive two door coupe)! That appears to be a very straight and solid example and is definitely worth preserving. All the mechanical parts are available on the internet. It might be worth considering changing the radiator to the front with an electric pump & fan, which is one way of getting rid of any overheating problem! I think it is actually a 1975 model & not a '65, due to the trim and the alternator!

The first car I owned in here in the UK was a used Hillman Imp.I worked in construction and in the winter months I would put a bag of cement in the front trunk for extra weight in icey conditions.A very easy car to work on mechanically.

Brings back memories. I used to drive one whilst a student in the UK in the 70s. Having been a careful driver I never had any problems with overheating but the mechanics were generally unreliable and needed constant attention to keep going. Most parts were abundant and fairly easily replaceable. Most frequent to go were the steering king-pins. I had to swap the carb and the water pump for reconditioned units handing in the originals in part exchange. To adjust the valves I had to pull the whole engine out as there was no room to lift the valve cover with engine in-situ. I did that with basic hand-tools and the engine could be pulled out backwards once freed with the rear cross-member removed. There was a lot of blow-by to the point that the air-filter got wet by blown oil up the crankcase vent connected to the air-filter housing. To cure that, being very naughty, I disconnected that duct from the air-filter and vented it to the atmosphere.

passed my driving test in 1975 in a gold Imp Super, they were fantastic wee cars when looked after but could be very temperamental , especially cylinder head gaskets, A trick with some of the guy's who wanted that bit more of a "planted" front end when cornering was to put a bag of cement in the front boot and soak it so it went solid, they did have a tendency to get a bit light on the steering once you got over 60. they could be tuned up pretty fast, the engine was based on a Lister i believe, and there were a few variants that used to race round the local tracks like Ingleston, sadly no longer there, but always been really proud of our wee scottish car, so pleased and surprised to see this video

I remember Hilman Imps well - they were v common here when I was a kid (I'm 50 and live in the South-East of England, just outside London). Very few and far between here now though - especially in that good condition. Probably worth a fair bit to an English enthusiast. My guess is that many parts will be common to other British cars and therefore still readily available via u.k. websites - maybe even for cheap. Copper brake lines certainly were normal here during that time and I think they are not uncommon now, due to our wet climate and salting of roads in winter. If I can give you any more info - plase shout - big fan of your channel and appreciate your taking the time to make such great content. Thank you.

Had a Hillman Imp ,my second car, bought in Wigan, Lancashire, 1970. Travelled all the way from U.K. to Dubrovnik, still then Yugoslavia, now Croatia, with 3 lads and camping equipment. First time on the Adriatic Coast.

Britain's Corvair - these things competed with the original Mini. Quite successful in racing too from what I remember. Very cool to see it firing up so easily after being sat for so long.

The imp is not a 1965 model. That trim on the outside was 1973 ish, dashboard is 1973+. The copper brake pipes were a replacement for the steel ones that rusted out. The heads tended to warp on these but the engine could be race tuned and go like stink. There is supposed to be a metal shield between the carb and exhaust. The system was 12v. Fuel tank in the bonnet. Do not hit anything (I did), fuel pours into the passenger compartment. Beware of the heater matrix coolant pipes that go on both sides from the back to the front. The tend to kink over the rear wheel arches and occasionally split/leak. Other warning. Before replacing engine make sure the clutch piston rod is pointing backwards towards the cylinder (mounted on the engine). If you forget and get everything installed then it is a complete engine out job to flip the pin over. I used to chew up clutches and could take the engine out, put in a new clutch and reinstall in only a few hours. No need for an engine hoist. Just make a wooden stand and pull out by hand.

These were great little cars! Good to see one being worked on. The Coventry Climax engine was first designed as mobile water pump or generator. Used in a lot of small cars in the 60’s even race engine’s; quite tuneable apparently!

As a Brit I must say I am impressed by the deductive reasoning you use on a strange car! Fascinating to come across one of those Imps. In my day they were looked down on - a shame really as they were considered quite nippy. The use of aluminium/aluminum for the engine made it less tail-happy than other rear-engined cars. Best wishes from London!

Nice! Finally a car from my childhood. I remember these on the road here in the UK in the 70s, but they were never that common and they're very rare even here now because they would rust out within a decade. That has been cherished and well maintained before being stored, and then stored well. Impressive.

My very first car was a Hillman Imp. Back in 1981, when I was 17. The aluminium head and block were prone to warping. If you ever remove the head, make sure the engine is stone cold first.

These are great little cars I often see at car shows in the UK. I’ve seen some seriously quick ones going up Prescott Hill Climb, those corner. Like they are on rails. Great video 👌

god i remember seeing them on the road in the UK when i was a kid and you may still see one now and again on the road today.

Hi from England, nice to see you working on a Hillman Limp as it was know by. Prone to overheating, looks very good for its age, you are a genius, keep them coming, thanks.

This was our family car back in the early 70's. IMPs had a huge issue with cooling and you used to see them seized by the roadside all the time. They were race tuned all the time - you could get race parts for them really cheaply. The other car looked like a Morris Minor 1000 - really hope you get to work on that one. They still draw loving glances even now in the UK - especially the Traveller variant with its wooden body.

That brings back memories, I had a friend who owned one in the 1980's. He frequently overheated it, the engines were notorious for head gasket leaks. Spent a lot of time fixing his mistakes. :)

You finally get a Scottish car in the shop! I saw a Hillman Imp yesterday in the Sainsburys car park in Livingston Scotland. Over 440,000 of these cars were made. I grew up in Johnstone and played on the site of the former Hillman factory in Linwood. It is now used for airport parking.

My Dad brought an Imp back in 1972 for my Mum to learn to drive in. It was White with a Blue stripe. A classic indeed. Go for a decent price here in UK. Great video.

Thanks as always for the content Mustie. We had a couple of these when I was young, Dad used to call one the Kettle with Head gasket issues, the other he called an oil burning petrol cooled steam engine. I remember he used to keep 2 bags of cement in the front as they were so light on the front end they would understeer badly.

The Morris minor was and is another great old car or as we call them moggys . The estate had wood mouldings on the outside like a woody. Have fun . Great vids keep them coming . Love how you talk to us like we are there in your garage.

One of my first cars here in the UK was a metallic green Sunbeam Imp Sport with twin Stromberg carbs. Bought it second hand in about 1973, drove it around for maybe 4 years. Loved it! Still got my Haynes workshop manual for it. Great to work on, could get the engine and gearbox out in half an hour. Last year it took me about 3 hours just to get the alternator off my Honda CRV!

It was good to see Mustie1 has used his spanners on a Hillman Imp !. I had a college mate who had one, the head gasket issues were a pain, but he managed to change over to his spare engine each time on a Saturday morning. Removing the engine and putting the replacement back in could be fine tuned to three hours !. They were very popular cars in the UK, with enthusiasts keeping a builder’s bag of sand in the front luggage compartment to stabilise the driving experience !. They are worth a lot of money now.

The brake lines were obviously replaced at some point, copper-nickel alloy tubing was popular for this as it prevented subsequent corrosion.

Didn't see that coming. The Imp was a very popular car in the UK in the sixties. Many suffered from cooling system problems due to owners using the incorrect coolant. Alloy engines weren't very common and owners didn't understand the issues around corrosion caused by the use of water in the cooling system.

Always impressive how gentle an explorer you are. Not so much a mechanic as a mechanical diagnostician!

you amaze me every time I turned to your channel, you are so methodical with everything you do I wish I was like that, I am to old to change, like the saying, you can't teach an old dog a new trick, I enjoy watching your channel

Lovely to see you get this motor running. My first car was a sunbeam stiletto which was a twin headlight sloping back version.

My grandad had Hillman imps, my uncle’s buddy had one he tuned right up. It had four Amal concentric motorcycle carburettors, and a trick exhaust manifold he designed and made himself. It went like snot off a stick. The fellow who he sold the car to wrote it off on the way home. A performance parts manufacturer from Salisbury got hold of the manifold, copied it and sold them through performance magazines here in the UK back in the day.

You did well to get the mighty imp on the trailer.... looked like a close thing for a minute there!! 🤣🤣

This brings back great memories of my grandads Hillman Imp. it was was even the same colour, great little car.🇬🇧 And just to add my mum had a Hillman Avenger to when we was kids.☺️

As a mechanic in North London in the mid late 60s I worked an loads of these. Water pump, head gasket and clutch were the most common problems. As the handling was not very good, It was very light on the front end. Many drivers used to put ballast weight in the front over the petrol tank. This video brought back a lot of memories. Thanks.

I grew up watching these pass by when I was going to school in the UK. Copper brake lines are "kunifer", copper and nickel. Well used over here by every shop. Good luck with it.

My first car. Went everywhere in it. Could last a week on a thimblefull. Brilliant car. Sold it to my mum when she EVENTUALLY passed her test.

Once all the design flaws had been fixed, usually by the owners, Imps made great race and rally cars. Front mounted radiator to cure the chronic overheating, bigger engine with an exhaust silencer slung above the back bumper, stronger gearbox, a kit to give the front suspension some negative camber were some of the most popular mods.. The ultimate was the "Chimp", a Chevron B19 2 litre sports car car chassis with an Imp body stretched to fit.

Excellent video Mustie1, very nice looking old car.

My first, after passing my test, was a Hillman Imp van. It was a beauty just over 46 years ago and if I knew then what I know now, I would have kept it. The choke on the floor was the problem and I had not a Scooby doo!!! Thanks for your service Mustie for saving folks a few quid (bucks) through your work.

I ran one of those and the singer gazelle, a fast back version and I had great fun noodling about through the seventies and early eighties . Beware the winter , these beauties freeze if you park them next to a fridge great video 👍🇬🇧

Hillman Imp wow? I live very close to where the factory was that built them. They had a great tuneable engine in them. The engine is all aluminium alloy, OHC, it was originally designed to be used as a portable water pump for fire engines. It's light weight meant it was used in racing a lot, there were Le Man's race cars that used the engine! In the 60's and 70's it was used extensively, for sidecar racing, and very successful it was in the sport too. The Imp itself suffered from what every British car suffered from in those times, under development and piss poor quality control, they had a lot of labour dispute issues at the factory too, as was the style of the day. Still it was a ground breaking design, way ahead of it's time, just a pity it had so many issues.

Thanks for showing this Mustie. Brings back memories. Our neighbour had one. Seem to remember it being exciting in cross winds. I think the engine was developed from a fire engine pump.

Hillman Imp was my Big brothers first car he bought it and done it up, it was bright yellow ( dont think it was its original colour) he had a lot of fun in it and learnt a lot of valuable skills doing it up. Saw a earlier comment about the engines being used from fire pumps in Green Goddesses to formula one engines, my experience of them, was as a young Gunner in the RAF Regiment on a surface to Air Missile system called Rapier FS B1 B1MLI which consisted of a fire unit with 4 missiles and a Radar Tracker for command guidance, each unit was powered by a Generator with a Coventry Climax engine, we lovingly referred to them as “screamers” cause they ran full tilt for hours on end and were noisey buggers but gave off a hell of a heat in the winter, whoa betide any young gunner on duty not checking the jerry can for fuel and one going down right in the middle of ur stag

Hillman imp like rocking horse muck good little car. Thanks for your video 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

My dad’s first car was a Hillman Imp 1964. He drove a lot of it around northern Finland on fishing trips. I still remember that car even though it was sold out when I was 2 years old. Nice to see that at least one has survived

It's really interesting to see a US master tackle an old British banger he has never worked on before. As a kid I can remember seeing quite a few Hillman Imps in varying states of distress (mainly rotted out due to our damp climate). Great work M1 :-)

I worked on these cars when I was an apprentice , I am now 64. Happy times

I remember these cars when we moved to England from Ireland and I’ve always like them 👍👍👍👍👍

Oh my …..😮 An Imp was the first car I owned in 1976 ❤️