I would think the vast majority of classic car enthusiasts are familiar with the little rear-engined Hillman Imp, and its badge-engineered siblings the Singer Chamois and Sunbeam Imp Sport. Introduced to the world in May 1963, air-cooled rear-engine layouts were already well established across a wide range of cars, including the world’s first car built by Daimler Benz in 1885, most famously adopted in the definitive rear-engined car, the VW Beetle, of course, it’s sportscar cousin the Porsche 356, several Renaults such as the Dauphine and the R8, NSU Prinz, various avant-garde Tatra’s, the Chevrolet Corvair and Tucker 48 in the USA, the FIAT 500 and 600, and a number of others. Missing from this by no means comprehensive list is any British-made car, and indeed the Imp was the first and remains the only mass-produced rear-engined car from the UK – although a few specialist manufacturers used the same layout; indeed, used the Imp as the base for own cars, most notably Ginetta with the G15 – as did the three-wheeled Bond 875 and Clan Crusader.
Just a few rear-engined classics.
The popularity of this type of layout continued through the 1960’s but gradually faded and only Porsche has stubbornly stuck to it through several incarnations of the 911, having gradually engineered out any road-holding issues.
So to the Imp – Britain’s Porsche. Well, OK, not quite….
Designed to compete with BMC’s Mini and it’s numerous variants, the rear-engine layout was used to enable the provision of maximum interior and luggage space in a small car (the Mini was, of course, famously space-efficient for its size). While its engine layout wasn’t particularly unusual, its openable rear window was, as was the folding rear bench seat, automatic choke, aluminium engine block and cylinder head among other features not common in small cars at the time.
Built at Rootes’ new Linwood factory in Scotland, the Imp was the company’s first small car. It was well received by the motoring press and became a sales success, initially at least, before the quality problems that seemed to bedevil British manufacturers began to rear their ugly heads. The Imp also performed strongly in rallying and touring car events, which gave it a significant image boost.
Before long, Rootes indulged in what was then common practice by introducing badge-engineered versions of the Imp in the form of the Singer Chamois and Sunbeam Imp Sport, and in January 1967 launched the car we have for our Prime Find this week, the Hillman Imp Californian (Rootes had raided their recent past for the name, taken from the Hillman Minx Californian from the early 1950’s), a coupé-bodied version of the Imp that looked sportier and faster, but actually wasn’t.
Priced at £71 more than the Hillman Super Imp, at £650, it certainly looked the part, with its lowered suspension and roofline, steeply raked windscreen and fastback, but with a maximum speed of just 80mph (130kmh) it was hardly a pocket rocket, mainly because it had the same engine as the standard saloon, rather than the Imp Sport.
Nevertheless, it received praise for its road manners and looks, and the Imp Californian was soon followed by a more luxurious Singer Chamois Coupé and sportier Sunbeam Stiletto – which did get the Imp Sport’s engine – and so by late-1967 buyers could choose between Hillman, Singer or Sunbeam versions of both the saloon and coupé. Small fastbacks were not a common sight in the UK, so these coupés really only competed with each other for sales.
Our Prime Find is a very smart looking 1968 car in bright red with black vinyl upholstery. It looks terrific, not least because it has been subject to a full restoration and repaint, as well as having much mechanical work done and the interior re-trimmed. The odometer reading is just 39,000 miles, although it doesn’t say whether this is documented – it would be remarkably low if correct. There is also no reference to the restoration work having been documented, but doubtless a call or email to the dealer would clear that up – I’d be surprised if there wasn’t a record of the project.
Despite all this work, the dealer – based in Northampton, England – has put a price sticker of just £8,995 on this very pretty little coupé, now a rare sight on UK roads and even more so across the channel. Finding verified sales and production figures has been difficult, but c.6,100 Californians were sold in the UK of a total of c. 10,300 produced between 1966 (manufacturing started in September ’66 although the car didn’t go on sale until the following year) and production ceasing in early 1970, by which time sales of the Imp itself were also in decline. By way of comparison, it’s thought 4,239 examples of the Singer Chamois Coupé and 9,680 Sunbeam and Chrysler Stiletto’s were built.
Of the 6,100 Californians sold in it’s home market, 42 remain on UK roads, with another 36 SORN’d – numbers which have remained reasonably steady in recent years and compared to some of our recent Prime Finds, are relatively healthy. There is strong club support for all variations of the Imp from both the Hillman Owners’ Club and the Imp Club, and fairly comprehensive spare parts availability.
While perhaps not as desirable as the Stiletto – arguably the ultimate incarnation of the Imp – this Californian looks like a very cool car indeed and whoever buys it will probably not need to carry out anything other than routine maintenance for quite some time. The dealer claims it drives “without fault” and they will also give it a fresh MOT, even though this is not a legal requirement, given the car’s age.
As per our usual practice, we’ve borrowed a few of the many photographs from the dealer’s website, and you can see their full advert here .
With our Saturday instalment of Prime Find of the Week, we’re offering our services to the classic car community, by passing on our favourite classic car for sale from the week that passed. This top-tip might help a first-time-buyer to own his first classic, or it could even be the perfect motivation for a multiple-classic-car-owner to expand his garage with something different. We’ll let us be inspired by anything from a cheap project to a stunning concours exotic, and hope that you will do the same.
Just remember – Any Classic is Better than No Classic! We obviously invite our readers to help prospective buyers with your views and maybe even experiences of any given model we feature. Further to that, if you stumble across a classic which you feel we ought to feature as Prime Find of the Week, then please send us a link to primefindoftheweek@viaretro.co.uk