Despitethe detail differences, today’s small city cars are almost universally variations on the same theme; squashed-looking five-door hatches with three-pot engines, many of which are built on the same platform. Rewind back to the late 1950s though, and things were very different. BMC may have grabbed the headlines with its f ront-wheel-drive Mini, but Rootes was well underway with what would become the Hillman Imp – acar that contrasted with the trends of the day thanks to an all-alloy OHC engine driving the rear wheels. But while it was Rootes’ great white hope, setbacks and hurdles meant the Imp was ultimately a tale of what might have been. And as we sit on the cusp of its 60thanniversary, it’s a story worth revisiting.
For the Rootes group, the mission statement was clear. By the mid- 1950s, small-engined compact cars were a lucrative business but the company only produced medium and large vehicles. To redress the situation, Project Engineer Michael Parks and Co-ordinating Engineer Tim Fry were given a blank sheet of paper to work with. The design would be led by the need to accommodate two adults and two children, achieve both 60mph and 60mpg, and be fun to drive. A rear-engined layout was preferred, which aligned with the growing number of economical ‘bubble’ cars coming in from mainland Europe.
SPECIFICATIONS
The initial result was a tiny 2+2 effort, thought to have been powered by an air-cooled Villiers flat-twin (though some sources suggest an engine of Citroën 2CV origin). It looked outwardly similar to the bubble cars of the time and was unflatteringly referred to in-house as ‘The Slug’. It didn’t go down well with members of the Rootes board, who made it clear they were not interested in allowing the company to produce something that so obviously resembled a bubble car. They were also fearful that such an austere vehicle would diminish Rootes’ carefully cultivated upmarket image.
However, the board was still keen for a small car to be produced – adesire that was only accentuated by the Suez Crisis of 1956, which saw petrol rationing return to Britain and meant that folk were
