myth buster
Debunking the most common old wives’ tales
ROOtes’ iMP COUPÉs 1 THEY WERE MORE AERODYNAMIC
Uh, no. Despite their sleeker, lower appearance and raked-back windscreen and rear window, the Hillman Imp Californian, Sunbeam Stiletto and Singer Chamois are actually less aerodynamic than the saloons. The drag coefficient for a saloon is 0.385 Cd; for a coupé it’s 0.395 Cd. So much for streamlined, sporty looks!
2 THEY WERE MORE POWERFUL THAN THE SALOONS
Again, sadly not – the coupés had exactly the same power as their saloon equivalents. That meant that the Sunbeam had marginally more oomph than the Hillman and Singer (51bhp as opposed to 42bhp), but there was no difference in power between saloons and coupés, regardless of marque.
3 THEY HAD OPENING REAR WINDOWS
Afraid not. The Imp saloon’s opening rear window – one of its best-known features – was never extended to the coupés; they had to make do with a simple folding rear seat instead.
4 THEY INTRODUCED THE ‘CALIFORNIAN’ NAME
That’s a full house of ‘nos’. The Hillman Imp coupé was the Californian, a moniker that also appeared on a Sunbeam variant. However, the name was first used in 1953 on a Hillman Minx fitted with a rather Art Deco-ish triple-piece rear screen. It was intended to appeal to Americans… only, it didn’t. The Imp Californian merely revived the designation. Oh, and the Sunbeam Stiletto isn’t a shoe reference; it is, of course, a small blade weapon. Whereas the Rapier is a larger bladed weapon. richard Gunn