SPORTY IMPS
Keen drivers read in The Motor how ‘the Imp can be hurled into corners at speeds which would be suicidal with most saloons’ in 1963. The Competition Department created a 998cc engine Works version and the firm gained immense publicity from Rosemary Smith’s victory in the 1965 Tulip Rally. The special-order Hillman Rallye Imp and the Singer Rallye Chamois debuted later that year. The conversion price was a steep £302, but included desirables like twin carburettors, a tachometer, and stronger springs and dampers.
Autocar regarded the Rallye as ‘a ladies’ car designed for a man’s sport’; clearly the 1960s were another world away. Its press demonstrator also starred in the ITC series Man in a Suitcase. For those needing a more straightforward performance version the Sunbeam Imp Sport and Singer Chamois Sport debuted in 1966. Louvres on the rear valance distinguished them from the standard Imps in addition to twin Stromberg CD125 carburettors, a new cylinder head, special pistons and a modified exhaust system.
The Sunbeam cost £665 9s 4d and the upmarket Singer was £30 more with a top speed of 90mph and 0-60 in 16.3 seconds. Car thought that it offered ‘a hell of a lot extra to the sort of man for whom the journey grows longer, the family more demanding and the pulse rate perhaps just a trifle less urgent with the passing years’ when it evaluated a Sunbeam opposite a Morris Cooper in 1966. 1968 facelifts saw modified interiors and quad headlamps for the Chamois Sport. The last of 4149 Singers departed Linwood in 1970 – Rootes rarely exploited the marque to its full potential. However the Sunbeam remained as the Sport with sales of 10,336 before its 1976 demise.
Inevitably, the Imp attracted the attention of several tuners. Alan Fraser of Kent commenced work on a modified 998c version in late 1965 producing nine victors during the 1965 racing season. A Motor Sport test of the ‘Fraser Imp’ managed 105mph but Rootes ending its financial support in 1968 spelled its demise. Most famously, Hartwell’s of Bournemouth – long associated with Rootes – created a line of racing models. Its engineer, Ray Payne, suggested using Imps, which led to Team Hartwell.
By 1965 Hartwell offered Stages 1,2, and 3 tuning for 875cc Imps plus Group 4 for the 998cc models. Its further models included the Sunbeam-based Imp GT and the
Hillman-derived Clubman featuring the 1.0-litre plant with a Weber 40 DCOE carburettor.
Bill Mcgovern won the British Saloon Car Racing championship at the wheel of a Sunbeam tuned by George Bevan of Orpington from 1970 to 1972 inclusive – proof, if more proof were needed, of the Imp’s potential long after Chrysler abandoned its development.