Yak

These have now been fitted on both 12" standard size rims and also the larger 13"
size, tests have been done with a commercial brake supplier.

The car is a very sound Hillman Imp Deluxe and built in 1971.

Now under reconstruction, the owner asked the panel shop who are re painting the car to fit the sound seal he had purchased.



Look closely, yes the entire floor, seats and back shelf now have a flexible sound sealer in place.
Just look how well and neatly the guys have done this job.

I asked the boss about how many hours it too, his reply was ' Don't ask! '

The inside of the doors, front and rear wings and wheel arches may follow next, the idea is to upgrade the ride and silence as much road noise as possible.

Roy

The car is near finished and it will be taken away by its owner tomorrow with a low bed trailer.Once he has it at home he will sort out the roadworthy and licence side in his local town.

We managed to fit a set of Ford Fiesta disc brake calipers and Ford KA discs to the front of this Hillman Imp.



This represents a years work.

How easy was that, a good question I keep asking myself.

Roy

I have been involved in the Hillman Imp since I was seventeen years old, as my first car was a Balmoral Grey Hillman Imp Mk1.

That set me on the track I am still on today, for sure there have been some stops along the way but over the years the Imp has always been in my mind.



My first Imp and on a holiday in Austria, circa 1966 I would guess?

You may not of heard of such a device, let alone ever seen one!

I used to own one once, it was on the floor of my Imp and the carburetor foot control on my first car a 1963 Hillman Imp, my start as a driver when still 17.

Brian told me to donate the money to Terence Tracey and the JoLon Imp adventure.

 That car will be driven from Johannesburg to London, then Coventry for the 50th anniversary events around May 3rd 2013.

Thanks Brian!

Roy

Check here to view one of the web sites on the intended run.

http://jolonimp.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/jolon-imp-2013-sponsor-template-ht-july-20121.pdf

Further funds are still being sought, please remember that 15% of whatever you donate will be given to three major charities.

At the moment the total rebuild of the 1971 Hillman Imp Deluxe has reached the re fitting of the door glass, not my favourite job as they had specialists fitting glass when the car was new and its now a learning process,.


Coppaslip as was applied originally.

So just when you understand the process on the first door the second door goes so much faster and then you forget all about it as there may not be another job like this for some years?


The stop bar has to be in the correct position to make sure the vent window opens just far enough.


The frames were blasted and cleaned then sprayed with DTM black gloss paint.


Fitted and working well, even the original rubbers are in good shape.

One Hillman Imp vent light refitted, its a days work to do one and the wind down window in the same door.

How easy can this be?  try it and see!

Roy

This was always a fairly rare car, with production spanning just three years and only 6100 or so made, this car was then exported to Mozambique, I assume as a Rootes Car Co export and not a personal export?
as the speedometer reads in kilometers and not in miles per hour.


Click on the image to enlarge it.

Seen here I am taking advantage of a break in our cold winter weather to air and dry the car out.

The car was sold by me about four and a half years back, it has spent most of that time parked outside near Cape Town, the paint has taken a hammering and the nice silver wide rim wheels were painted as we can see but otherwise the car has survived, sort of.

The engine is the cars original and numbers match, from Richard at the Imp Club in the UK I am told the car came off the Rootes Car Co production line 3rd of February 1967, the Californian was announced in 1966 but only sold from 1967 and this car was one of the first.

Nice to have such a restoration project on my hands again!

Roy

In stock now and we include the top oil control seals.



At  R750 a set they are less expensive than some I have seen and we still include the oil control seals.
About GBP 43.00 right now plus postage.

Rpoy

Now a design that's over fifty years old, once the early Mk1 problems were sorted out, the fan assembly works fine, as long as its kept clean.


I was asked the other day was that the petrol tank filler cap? the reply was No, the petrol tank is at the other end of the car.

Check that huge Lucas generator, all it puts out is a bout 20amps at 12v dc, enough for normal service of course.

Roy

The car is a rare 1967 Imp Californian.

The rear side window rubbers  arrived from our suppliers today and are perfect fit.


This is the retro type and will not accept the original Rootes Car Co, painted metal insert which covered most of the rubber.



The supplier tells me these are the last pair he had and has no plans to make anymore.

They should last another fifty years I guess?

There is no glass fitted at this stage as we need the re trimming  job finishing inside the car first.

Roy

This 1971 Hillman Imp Deluxe was pre sold to the client who then specified what he expected to have the car end up like, the car has been known to me some sixteen years, in storage the entire time and still a one owner car. The car was a personal Import by its lady owner, she licenced  the car into her name when she brought it to Cape Town and since then it has still been in her name!

The car will sport a new 998cc engine, also it has a full interior re trim with some parts being finished in real black leather, this includes the steering wheel.

The bright bits went on yesterday, the addition of stainless trims really shows off the cars lines and at last ( a years process to date) we can see the car starting to look like its finished.


Prices? well to give you an idea the re chrome work on the bumpers cost over R6000 alone.


The strip of rubber that seals between the car body and the bonnet was GBP12.00 and we still had to get it here and pay shipping, duty and vat on that.



The Lucas lights front and rear are all new, cost? I hate to ask? yes that dust needs cleaning of the front suspension arms, so my first task today, yes it was just dust!

Roy

The car turns out to be a Hillman Imp which was made in Scotland in 1971 but later sold new as a 1973 car on 01/01/1073.

Sounds simple but first the cars width and height needed to be understood.


This is the second Imp we have used the same jig on, the other car was the sprint car we shipped to Scotland in 2012.





This way up the car can really be serviced  and painted correctly underneath, its just so much easier this way up!


The car was originally painted in the rather nice lighter shade of Chrysler metallic blue you can see on the bulkhead, the car will be returned to its natural paint shade again, Rootes code # 145.

We are now into week three of the strip down and clean, all suspension parts were bead blasted and spray painted with DTM gloss black, the underside of the car and wheel arches have been given the same treatment.

Day three of cleaning the engine bay, first the sprayed on tar had to be removed by hand, this far just the cleaning has taken four applications of Castrols engine cleaner, the entitre engine bay will be spray painted back to its original metallic blue.

Roy

The rear springs require compressing before we can connect  the shock absorbers.


This car is now sold, the process will still take some months but we are well on the way to the next stage and turning the car back the right way up.


The pictures will enlarge if you click on them.

The engine bay has been re painted to its original paint shade and before it was sprayed with a black tar covering, I think it looks a lot nicer now?

Roy


 

The Imp came out with black painted gear shift and hand brake levers, nothing wrong with this as the car was built to a price which would attract the market looking for a lower priced small car.


Click on the image to enlarge it.

With the advent of the rebuild of a 1971 Hillman Imp and to a high standard, we went posh and had the parts chrome plated, very nice too!

Roy