One un-imp-ressed owner

You mention that you are looking forward to ‘celebrating’ the Hillman Imp (CCW, 1 March). As a former owner I can state quite categorically that there is absolutely nothing to celebrate about this, the most unreliable of cars, except perhaps its cute looks that seduced me in my 17-year-old naivety.

Mine broke down or malfunctioned almost every weekend I went out in the thing. Overheating, cylinder head

gaskets, water loss, mis†ring… I got so pro†cient at replacing the cylinder head gasket that I could do it in a little over half an hour. I always knew that a massive cloud of white vapour would cover the road behind me a few seconds after the water temperature gauge went over.

I used to drive not so much with my eyes on the road ahead or on the speedometer, but on the temperature gauge. This habit lasted for many years after graduating to more reliable cars.

Another cause of the problems was the heater pipes running from the back to the front through the sills. I used to carry a plastic †ve-gallon drum of water because I couldn’t †gure out why it lost it so quickly.

The last time it dried up I was halfway from Yorkshire to London and so fed up with the car that I just drove on with the intention of leaving it by the roadside if it melted down. It didn’t. Even now in my mid-seventies I could not put up with the modern ‘stop/start’ system because I would think that the car had broken down.

Now I drive a Jaguar S-type – a modern classic without any of the old car problems – but quite a few modern ones, though!

❚ Paul WhitŽeld, Alicante, Spain

Rootes reckoned that the Imp was ‘an inspiration in light car design’, but Paul WhitŽeld for one is not a fan.