I had a metallic red Sunbeam Stiletto in 1970, an H reg 1969, pretty quick & good economy, it had the uprated Imp engine, twin carbs, bucket seats & sports instruments, it was still on the road when I checked last year..
Nice cars and beautiful people. The Couple driving the Convertible were -- and are very good looking! The Lady is still a Ten. All the stories were indeed fabulous: The Rapier and the cute daughter making a big splash in Tito's bsckyard. The Regime was in fact relatively open. It would be impossible to go to Est Germany or the URSSR in such a relaxed manner. Great Video, Fantastic Families -- the type of Persons that we would love to meet snd socialise with.
Gone but Never forgotten. Talbot Alpine, sunbeam Rapier were good cars as were many others. I liked Rootes Group. Many of them had character and style AND in competition.
And they got cheaper to run as they got older. they rusted very quickly so save weight and better fuel economy the best thing they ever built was the Sunbeam Tiger . yep
What a lovely documentary ! Thank you ! I had a ride in the big Super Snipe shown here. I was 10 yrs. old at the time and my Canadian parents were visiting the Old Country. They visited Lord Harold Fulwood who was Lord Mayor of Wolverhampton. He took me for a ride in this big beauty and I can remember being impressed by how well it compared in things like style, progressive engineering etc. to my dad' 1951 Cadillac. All that more than 6o years ago !
To be honest, I'm guessing that it's the same car as the documentary mentions that it was purchased from a former Mayor. No matter, it looks exactly the same even if it isn't the same automobile.
@@johndunbar7504 John, sorry if this bursts the bubble, but it's unlikely that it's the same actual car. Reason being that Alderman (not Lord) Harold Thomas Fullwood (note two 'll's, not one), who was the 93rd Mayor of Wolverhampton and served in that role 1952/3, is most unlikely to have bought a secondhand car. The Super Snipe's registration number (FDY 281) identifies it as having been first registered in Hastings, East Sussex, over 200 miles from Wolverhampton and whilst it's possible that he could have travelled all that way to buy the car new, it's not probable, given that he could have bought one locally. By the way, Wolverhampton still does not have a Lord Mayor, though it has applied for the status; currently, only 23 cities in the UK have Lord Mayors.
After driving my mates super minx the difference in quality was very apparent within minutes from my Ford Corsair, no shakes no rattles No body shell flexing at all it felt so solid sadly us youngsters at the time didn't know how good Roots cars where they where too good to go down but sadly they did
My first car was a 1964 super minx handed down from my parents in 1977. It was a station wagon in Celtic blue. It was no rocket, it had only 1600 cc engine, but it was reliable and economical. I recall that the brakes were quite good for the time, being disc brakes on the front. The handling was reasonable, it had an anti roll bar at the front. I think Hillman were a bit underrated. Dad had a 1952 then a 1960 minx and they were reliable too, provided you serviced them regularly. Great memories.
Truly, after WW I, in 1918 the UK was no longer a real World Power. It wss no longer profitable to have an Empire, a big Navy, a huge Army. The Problems regarding the Airliner COMET were comparable to the idea of rushing the R101 Airship into Service in 1930. In a long-haul Trip to India. Yes, to India ! And no ptevious trials were realised ! The Airship crossed the Chanel into France, crashing a couple of hours latter. Killing in the process every single person aboard. Namely, a Cabinet member, the Air Minister Lord Thomson. Just one year earlier, the Graf Zeppelin made a Tour around the Wotld. The same Airship provided Passengers and Cargo Service between Germany and Brazil for 5 years (1932/1947). Not even a single accident taking place.... It was properly put together, the Germans had the expertise and the experience. The problem with the British Industry was the result of a lack of investment, poor planning and unsound managemernt. It was indeed a pity. The Comet was a great Airplane. LIKE THE R 101, it was rushed into Service, killing a lot of people. And Killing the Future of the British Commercial Jet Industry. , .
Have Humber Super Snipe MK3 1952 myself, here in NZ, bought it about 6 month ago, it was sitting for about 22 years, and it took me near 5 month to make it road worthy again, a good car, really good and solid. built to last.
My mate had an imp, he got boxed in on both sides in a car park at work (on purpose by some of the other staff for a prank) so he opened the back window and climbed in, all 6’7” of him, it wiped the smiles off their faces though!
I used to fetch welding gas from opposite the old Humber car plant in Coventry , then owned by Peugeot , a massive place , in a valley , now all gone , it must have employed thousands of people , & the product was well made , I knew 2 families around here that had the big old Humber saloon cars , not light built , but solid & classy .
1:52 That is a husband of a sort that we need more today. "I love my car, no we won't buy something else just because you want a car made around a pram we would use for a year or two".
My Dad had one of these when I was learning to drive. It could leave most other vehicles standing (of course this was 1970's NZ). Loved it, although it would blow head gaskets on a regular basis....
Two Hillmans in the family in the mid-1960s -- a Husky and a Minx. The Husky was a barebones sort of car, but the interior and coachwork on the Minx was above the standard of the time. Lots of fond memories.
My father was Rootes through and through. Had a succession of Minx’s, followed by two Hunter’s and then numerous Rapiers, predominantly the Arrow version. For my 18th birthday he bought me a year old Hillman Imp. Whilst I should have been grateful, this car had serious water pump problems and you were never sure that it was going to start on a damp day either.
Yes my partner had exactly same issues regarding starting. The butt of music hall jokes! Still the Imp was light enough to push if you had a couple of willing helpers - especially if they were passengers trying to get to work on time!!
Fascinating that, at the time this film was made the opinion was that locating the Imp and Jowett factories 'so far' from the Coventry core of car component manufacturing was a critical factor in their demise. These days we think nothing of sourcing components from China
of course I had an Imp, then a chamois sport, and I also had a spare engine and box built up to be ready for head gasket and synchro failures, an engine and box could be changed by one man in an hour and a half, nice engine which is why they used to get thrashed by young drivers, a lot of fun for those who could keep them on the road.
Loved my Imps. Both of them! The fool! (Pirelli Cinturatos transformed the handling from the old crossplies.) Lost the fan belt (and hence everything else) on the M11 at 80mph.
First car was a Humber Vogue Sports (only made in Australia). Bought it when I was 15 in 1985. Served me well for a decade. Loved it so much I couldn't get rid of it when I bought an MGB to replace it. Still have it in the garage, waiting to be put back on the road.
Ah the Hillman imp. If you had one now but developed a bit further, say a 5 speed box, use the 998cc engine obviously with current engine management, put the radiator in the front and sort the ventilation out, you would have a car that would be impossible to beat
Owned two Humber Hawks and well satisfied. Tried a Singer Gazelle and a Super Minx, host of problems!. My present vehicle is a Honda Civic Del Sol, 210000 miles..
The last Hillman Imp model looks like the German NSU Prinz 1000. NSU also no longer exists. VW buyd NSU and DKW and a new (old) brand was created from both: Audi. de.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSU_1000#/media/Datei:EM_NSU_Prinz_5868.jpg
In the early 1950s, Stirling Moss, plus three other drivers took a Super Snipe on a marathon drive through fifteen European countries in some four days. Rootes should also be remembered for the Sunbeam Alpine sports car (Bond drove one in the film of Dr No), which Carroll Shelby converted into the Sunbeam Tiger. Shelby is quoted as saying that he actually preferred the Tiger to his other creation the (AC Ace-based) Cobra. Rootes borrowed American styling for both the Rapier (Studebaker Hawk) and the Imp (Chevrolet Corvair).
A very informative video.. Previously I had no idea that the Imp was based on the Chevrolet Corvair. I had always assumed it was a direct attempt to copy a car from USSR . The ZAZ-968. It looks almost identical in size too. retrocarsportal.blogspot.com/2010/10/zaz-968-m.html
I have always yearned for a Hunter. I seem to recall a rather sporty version that I lusted after, but as I was far too young (leagally anyway!) to drive at the time, it never happened.
What beautiful cars, I bought a Rapier for £50! Its had no starter motor or reverse gear. So starting was with the starting handle and I couldnt park anywhere I had to reverse! I was only young and could afford to have her repaired 🤷🏻♂️
I had a Sunbeam in the '80, it fell every day apart, every day something broke or didn't work anymore, after 3 years only the body was still original, most part were exchanged under warrenty / guarantee! My garage went crazy about my Sunbeam, they called it "Dark Side of the Moon" they didn't ever experienced any ray of light of this car even if the colour was a bright yellow (it was also called "A Yellow Submarine" refering to the very high cost of maintenance after warrenty period! After 3 years teh dealer offered me a some of money to buy it back from me and I happely agreed and I bought a Mazda 323 which I had for 16 years and drove without any problem during all these years, afterwrads it went to Africa were I think still may drive along!
It is quite amazing how varied and huge Britain's industrial base was in the past , a bit hard to believe now days when they have virtually nothing left , just the same here in Australia , we have absolutely nothing .
I was once the proud owner of a many owner imperial. A wonderful car for a young man about many towns. The best part was closing the back door and having to step back to the seat. The fold up seats in the back were bony but it did mean a lot of room between the seats.
I guess that most owners of these vehicles, with the possible exception of the Minx, have passed away now. Wonder what happened to their cars. Hope their families kept them. Although a car, keeping one for so long and growing up with it, it becomes part of the family.
I have a 63 Super Minx Automatic, good car, reliable as is My Rapier S111A, I love that Barbara Pearson in this video withe her Imp. wish more people were like her, such a care free attitude, good on her, they dont make em like that anymore, people today are so materialistic and boring now.
@Steve Prince We used to be in the '2nd hand furniture business' and some times in order to get a bit more in we ended up with the back doors open. - On a Mk1 Transit that 'sucked' the exhaust in like mad, - if you opened the windows you were ok, cold in the winter, but at least ok.
@Steve Prince Ah yes those were the the days, lovely on a hot summers day, but could be a bit draughty in the winter, all our 'Transits' had the standard 'open out' doors, but we had a Bedford 'CA' type with sliding doors, they were ok but if you braked hard sometimes they slid shut with a bang. - Ah the days before 'clunk-click every trip' as the ad went. A dairy had some 'funny' looking 35cwt Transits, - living in the country as we did in those days, electric 'floats' couldn't last the 'round'. These Transits were odd in the fact that the drivers door was a sliding one and yet on the passengers side they had the standard 'open out' type. As for a body, apart from the cab, the rear part was just like a normal 'milk float', I seem to remember they were 'Automatics' as well. 2 daries vied for custom in our village, 'The Express', and 'The United Dairies', - both now but a memory alas. As for 'fairground rides' - well if the 'Health & Safety' lot had been around then they would have banned them all from operating. Plus DVLA probably wouldn't have allowed their 'Tractor & Triple Trailer' units on the road either, how they got away with some of them even in those days beats me.
Our late father served his apprenticeship at Rootes group.He had to sell his 1955 Vincent Black Shadow when I came along with my mum being pregnant with me.He even fitted a Steib sidecar to the bike but my mum had difficulty getting into it.So he part exchange it for a Hillman Minx,this would be early Sixties as I was born in 61.
What a pity, the Hillman Imp's number plate was put onto a Mercedes that has been off the road since 2007, at least the Humber, Sunbeam and the two Hillmans are still with us. Wish I could have the wonderful Super Snipe, alas it makes my Series 5A version look quite plain, which of course it's not!
No mention of the Avenger, which was a huge success. Perhaps that went counter to their argument. I bought an Avenger shortly after this film, they were still knocking around on the roads then. Now there are only about 200 left on UK roads, one of them being right beside me now. A lot of the engineering mistakes of the Imp were corrected on the Avenger, in particular the handling was spot on, it didn't overheat, and they tested it thoroughly before release. Hillmans rusted, but no worse than Fords, Vauxhalls or Austins of the same age, and possibly rather less than some of those.
Also the singer gazelle and the Hilman hunter and the Sunbeam s the police used the avengers in Somerset thy always had a funny pedel in first gear and if you weren't carefull they would take of jerking I always pissed my self laughing when my dad tryed drinking from a can of tango as he pulled away at a stop sign the return spring on the carb was way to soft and I new Avery swear word sat in the back and the words don't take the piss boy ha ha he hade the one with a Chrysler badge and grill the gl model he traded it in for a Austin princes cheese wedge
I had an Avenger 1600 GT with twin carbs and it was a fantastic car that went like stink . Brings back many happy memories , you could get two girls in the back seat :)
video99.co.uk- "No mention of the Avenger" - correctly so because it's a Chrysler Hillman, not a Rootes Hillman. It has no heritage from the Rootes Group except the Hillman name and chief designer Roy Axe who transferred to Chrysler when they bought the empty shell of the Rootes Group a decade earlier.
@ferkemall ALL Imps really needed some weight on the front, - the 'camber' on those front wheels wore out tyres faster than anything. They 'badged' some as Sunbeams, - I thought they had a different name - although I can't remember it.
@@PreservationEnthusiast Personally I think their biggest failing was they hadn't got the balance right with that engine in the back, - VW never had that problem. Also that 'ally' engine was a flop from the start. A friend of mine had one of the van versions, - (he was a carpenter), - and kept all his tools under the 'bonnet', - didn't even keep it 3 months, - worst van he ever bought he said.
@@jimmyduncan7650 Ah yes, now the first name certainly 'rings a bell', as for the second name wasn't that the 'fast-back' version with only 2 seats. I'm pretty certain the van was called 'the Husky', also I believe you could get the van with a single large side window - a sort of estate version with folding rear seat, but I can't remember if it had a different name or just the word 'estate' after the usual name. Wasn't their also one called 'The Californian' - aimed at the 'American Market'.? I have never seen a 'soft top' version, unlike the 'mini', although they were 'conversions' by small firms and not 'factory' produced I think I'm correct in saying.
Had an MK9 Jag with a strong 3.8 in it, a long time ago. Late at night, Its Stately Grill must have appeared like an unwanted sentinel in their rearview mirror as they tried to rid me at over 100 mph.
A great pity to think what we once had regarding car industry. The japanese came along with some very clever engineers who looked at the designs of others and made the item better. There is no doubt that we basically handed the car and motorcycle industry over on a plate.
I remember Micheal Edwards sacked the night workers at Rover because they were asleep..........6 week strike caused a 3 day week at the dealership where i worked. Nearly lost my house because things were so tight for a few months. The unions were lazy bastards with no idea about costs and production. They used to assemble the XJS Jaguar so it wouldn't run as a dig to the management. One of their favourites was to leave the plastic bag on the air filters. We rolled over back then, and in the current state of things, we would roll over again given the opportunity.
We used to get a bag of unfitted parts in the boot of the Morris Marina's.........many a time they arrived with a disc brake on one side and drum on the other. No one gave a shit back then.
That was the consensus in the automotive publications back then, that the Japanese were taking British designs and then engineering some quality into them like things not leaking oil, electrical components that worked for decades and parts you could run out and actually buy. I had a TR-3, TR-4, Hillman Husky, Metropolitan, several Morris Minors, a BSA and a Triumph Bonneville and then later a bunch of Toyotas and while I loved the British stuff, I loved getting from Point A to Point B and back to Point A without all the drama even more. Still, the charm of the British stuff does it for me.
steve harrod - "we basically handed the car and motorcycle industry over on a plate." You're actually closer to the mark than you know. For example, Isuzu began manufacturing cars in Oct. 1953 by assembling CKD kits of the Hillman Minx, under licence. Gradual migration to full local production (no imported parts) was achieved in 4 years 0 days. Within a few more years, Isuzu was migrating to designing its own new models - Bellel, then Bellett, then Gemini. By that stage, the Brits had almost completed digging their own grave.
When I did my engineering degree, the engineering department had bits of Hillman Imp, which were used to illustrate engineering design flaws, there was at least one example for each flaw.
One of Rootes most popular cars did not appear in this video, the Sunbeam Rapier and the Hollbay version of it. Rootes really started to go down hill when Chrysler/Talbot took over one of the first cars they produced was the Hillman avenger and that caused chaos and factory strikes over concerns of build quality and shoddy workmanship.
Let us not forget the lovely Humber Sceptre with the 1725cc engine. This was from the days of badge engineering so they were all the same car under the skin.
Super Snipe or Imperial, both great cars, also my Hillman Minx mark lll loved that car, was coerced to let my sister have it....... your right, it got wrecked :(
Lord Rootes son had no business acumen. My Grandfather worked for the from the early twenties until their sale to Chrysler. My uncle had a dealership, and died in an IMP during a crash. The Imp was made in Scotland as the Labour government forced them there. Strikes began on week two by Commie agitators. Their Corvair? My father had a Rapier, mechanical tinkering lead to the engine catching fire.
So British can build solid reliable cars. Just not cheaply. The elder couples shown, are incredible as to durability of their marriages. They don't build em like they used to.
As a kid, I saw lots of Sunbeam Rapiers. But I've only just realised that the styling is very much a scaled-down Studebaker Golden Hawk. Why didn't I notice that before? Probably because I only knew the Hawk from pictures.
Only in superficial appearance because Raymond Loewy Studios company was hired to design a new body style in both cases. There are no shared components & no corporate associations. Lord Rootes had his mind set on export, and hired a consultant to style his new cars to fit the North American market. Studebaker seemed to be the trend setter at the time.
My 1st wifes grandfather had a S/Snipe, he was a farmer and used to take 2 pigs at a time to the weekly livestock auctions, - just fitted in nicely. Luckily it was an ex town mayors car and had the glass divider behind the driver, as it stank in the back. So grandma had to sit in the front and moaned like hell.
Neil Anderson. .. He had his ways and you either 'liked it or lumped it'. There was the time he bought 2 geese home and they 'cornered' gran - she had to climb a haystack to get out of their way. Or, when he drove his pre-war tractor with a trailer of hay behind it down our local bit of motorway, and was stopped by the police for doing 4mph, but since none of them could drive it they had to let him go with a warning.
@@mosesberkowitz3298 Sometime around 1969, and the tractor is still around - preserved, together with his brothers one of the same age. I think they bought them together, only difference was his brothers one had a massive winch and 'land anchor' on the back (he did tree-work and made Chestnut fencing). They were both 'real characters' - I used to talk to them for hours, - the stories they could tell about life around the early 1900's always fascinated me.
Hillman Imp, shocking tuck in front suspension and endless cooling problems from the rear engined trans axle unit. I was able eventually to be able to pull out the gerabox and trans axle within a very short period of time, strip and rebuild and be back on the road the same day. But a car I hold in great affection.
Nearly bought a brand new imp when I first started work £750 . The heater was an extra £30! Can you believe that a heater wasn't standard. Bought a 2nd hand Escort for the same money
Rootes Group always produced good, solid, cars - until the Imp, that is. Having bought a new one in 1969, I can say, without equivocation, that it was the worst car - and there have been a great many cars, both new and used - that I've owned in 60 years of driving. Not so much an Imp, more of a dog. Lest you think I don't like their cars, I've owned three Minx, of various Marks - all completely reliable - and worked for Rootes at the Whitley design centre. What I'd really like is a Humber Sceptre or perhaps a Series V Super Snipe/Imperial...
![The Wall Song ร้องข้ามกำแพง | EP.213 | กรีน อัษฎาพร | 3 ต.ค. 67 [1/5]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/3KrlLbCsadI/mqdefault.jpg)
The legend that is, John Peel narrating. RIP.
TheStwat aka Stuart Wright .Yeah well said Stuart. I think you might need to see a doctor.. just sayin.👍👍
So nice to hear his voice again
Adorable scenes I was just as fascinated by the couples still together after all those years as I was with the cars.
My dad had a Hillman Minx back in the early 60’s. Probably one of very few in East Tennessee.
I had a metallic red Sunbeam Stiletto in 1970, an H reg 1969, pretty quick & good economy, it had the uprated Imp engine, twin carbs, bucket seats & sports instruments, it was still on the road when I checked last year..
I also bought a Metallic burgundy Stiletto, Roots Group, Manchester, Wonderful little car.
Nice cars and beautiful people.
The Couple driving the Convertible were -- and are very good looking! The Lady is still a Ten.
All the stories were indeed fabulous:
The Rapier and the cute daughter making a big splash in Tito's bsckyard.
The Regime was in fact relatively open.
It would be impossible to go to Est Germany or the URSSR in such a relaxed manner.
Great Video, Fantastic Families -- the type of Persons that we would love to meet snd socialise with.
Gone but Never forgotten. Talbot Alpine, sunbeam Rapier were good cars as were many others.
I liked Rootes Group. Many of them had character and style AND in competition.
And they got cheaper to run as they got older. they rusted very quickly so save weight and better fuel economy
the best thing they ever built was the Sunbeam Tiger . yep
What a lovely documentary ! Thank you ! I had a ride in the big Super Snipe shown here. I was 10 yrs. old at the time and my Canadian parents were visiting the Old Country. They visited Lord Harold Fulwood who was Lord Mayor of Wolverhampton. He took me for a ride in this big beauty and I can remember being impressed by how well it compared in things like style, progressive engineering etc. to my dad' 1951 Cadillac. All that more than 6o years ago !
That's remarkable... you traveled in the very same car all those years ago :). Glad this has been of interest.
To be honest, I'm guessing that it's the same car as the documentary mentions that it was purchased from a former Mayor. No matter, it looks exactly the same even if it isn't the same automobile.
@@johndunbar7504 John, sorry if this bursts the bubble, but it's unlikely that it's the same actual car. Reason being that Alderman (not Lord) Harold Thomas Fullwood (note two 'll's, not one), who was the 93rd Mayor of Wolverhampton and served in that role 1952/3, is most unlikely to have bought a secondhand car. The Super Snipe's registration number (FDY 281) identifies it as having been first registered in Hastings, East Sussex, over 200 miles from Wolverhampton and whilst it's possible that he could have travelled all that way to buy the car new, it's not probable, given that he could have bought one locally.
By the way, Wolverhampton still does not have a Lord Mayor, though it has applied for the status; currently, only 23 cities in the UK have Lord Mayors.
I miss John Peels wonderful voice and delightful character. Taken from us, like the cars, far too soon!
After driving my mates super minx the difference in quality was very apparent within minutes from my Ford Corsair, no shakes no rattles No body shell flexing at all it felt so solid sadly us youngsters at the time didn't know how good Roots cars where they where too good to go down but sadly they did
My first car was a 1964 super minx handed down from my parents in 1977. It was a station wagon in Celtic blue. It was no rocket, it had only 1600 cc engine, but it was reliable and economical. I recall that the brakes were quite good for the time, being disc brakes on the front. The handling was reasonable, it had an anti roll bar at the front. I think Hillman were a bit underrated. Dad had a 1952 then a 1960 minx and they were reliable too, provided you serviced them regularly. Great memories.
It is amazing how huge the British car industry was once like everything about Britain and its hard to imagine that once they were a world power .
Truly, after WW I, in 1918 the UK was no longer a real World Power.
It wss no longer profitable to have an Empire, a big Navy, a huge Army.
The Problems regarding the Airliner COMET were comparable to the idea of rushing the R101 Airship into Service in 1930.
In a long-haul Trip to India. Yes, to India ! And no ptevious trials were realised !
The Airship crossed the Chanel into France, crashing a couple of hours latter.
Killing in the process every single person aboard. Namely, a Cabinet member, the Air Minister Lord Thomson.
Just one year earlier, the Graf Zeppelin made a Tour around the Wotld.
The same Airship provided Passengers and Cargo Service between Germany and Brazil for 5 years (1932/1947).
Not even a single accident taking place....
It was properly put together, the Germans had the expertise and the experience.
The problem with the British Industry was the result of a lack of investment, poor planning and unsound managemernt.
It was indeed a pity.
The Comet was a great Airplane. LIKE THE R 101, it was rushed into Service, killing a lot of people.
And Killing the Future of the British Commercial Jet Industry.
, .
Have Humber Super Snipe MK3 1952 myself, here in NZ, bought it about 6 month ago, it was sitting for about 22 years, and it took me near 5 month to make it road worthy again, a good car, really good and solid. built to last.
My mate had an imp, he got boxed in on both sides in a car park at work (on purpose by some of the other staff for a prank) so he opened the back window and climbed in, all 6’7” of him, it wiped the smiles off their faces though!
Wish they made quality programs like this today instead of the childish crap they churn out now !!
I used to fetch welding gas from opposite the old Humber car plant in Coventry , then owned by Peugeot , a massive place , in a valley , now all gone , it must have employed thousands of people , & the product was well made , I knew 2 families around here that had the big old Humber saloon cars , not light built , but solid & classy .
1:52 That is a husband of a sort that we need more today. "I love my car, no we won't buy something else just because you want a car made around a pram we would use for a year or two".
My Dad had one of these when I was learning to drive. It could leave most other vehicles standing (of course this was 1970's NZ). Loved it, although it would blow head gaskets on a regular basis....
Two Hillmans in the family in the mid-1960s -- a Husky and a Minx. The Husky was a barebones sort of car, but the interior and coachwork on the Minx was above the standard of the time. Lots of fond memories.
Wasn't the Husky more of a van with side windows?
that Hillman Super Minx convertible (CRE 176A) ACTUALLY HAS a Current Tax Disc! i do believe that guy actually got her going again!
digitalrailroader I’m his neighbour and yes he’s restored it!
My father was Rootes through and through. Had a succession of Minx’s, followed by two Hunter’s and then numerous Rapiers, predominantly the Arrow version. For my 18th birthday he bought me a year old Hillman Imp. Whilst I should have been grateful, this car had serious water pump problems and you were never sure that it was going to start on a damp day either.
Yes my partner had exactly same issues regarding starting. The butt of music hall jokes! Still the Imp was light enough to push if you had a couple of willing helpers - especially if they were passengers trying to get to work on time!!
Fascinating that, at the time this film was made the opinion was that locating the Imp and Jowett factories 'so far' from the Coventry core of car component manufacturing was a critical factor in their demise. These days we think nothing of sourcing components from China
of course I had an Imp, then a chamois sport, and I also had a spare engine and box built up to be ready for head gasket and synchro failures, an engine and box could be changed by one man in an hour and a half, nice engine which is why they used to get thrashed by young drivers, a lot of fun for those who could keep them on the road.
Loved my Imps. Both of them! The fool! (Pirelli Cinturatos transformed the handling from the old crossplies.) Lost the fan belt (and hence everything else) on the M11 at 80mph.
First car was a Humber Vogue Sports (only made in Australia). Bought it when I was 15 in 1985. Served me well for a decade. Loved it so much I couldn't get rid of it when I bought an MGB to replace it. Still have it in the garage, waiting to be put back on the road.
What a wonderful couple
Fantastic detailed car
Ah the Hillman imp. If you had one now but developed a bit further, say a 5 speed box, use the 998cc engine obviously with current engine management, put the radiator in the front and sort the ventilation out, you would have a car that would be impossible to beat
Love the picture of the Imp I once owned being assembled by hand. It's all done by robots now doing a better job.
Owned two Humber Hawks and well satisfied. Tried a Singer Gazelle and a Super Minx, host of problems!. My present vehicle is a Honda Civic Del Sol, 210000 miles..
I love the Hillman Imp
The last Hillman Imp model looks like the German NSU Prinz 1000. NSU also no longer exists. VW buyd NSU and DKW and a new (old) brand was created from both: Audi.
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSU_1000#/media/Datei:EM_NSU_Prinz_5868.jpg
In the early 1950s, Stirling Moss, plus three other drivers took a Super Snipe on a marathon drive through fifteen European countries in some four days.
Rootes should also be remembered for the Sunbeam Alpine sports car (Bond drove one in the film of Dr No), which Carroll Shelby converted into the Sunbeam Tiger. Shelby is quoted as saying that he actually preferred the Tiger to his other creation the (AC Ace-based) Cobra.
Rootes borrowed American styling for both the Rapier (Studebaker Hawk) and the Imp (Chevrolet Corvair).
A very informative video.. Previously I had no idea that the Imp was based on the Chevrolet Corvair. I had always assumed it was a direct attempt to copy a car from USSR .
The ZAZ-968. It looks almost identical in size too.
retrocarsportal.blogspot.com/2010/10/zaz-968-m.html
humber super snipe,a thing of beauty
I owned a 1974 Hillman Hunter GLS, one of the best cars ive ever owned.
I have always yearned for a Hunter. I seem to recall a rather sporty version that I lusted after, but as I was far too young (leagally anyway!) to drive at the time, it never happened.
@@elportogrande They`re very rare now, fast car in it`s day.there are some videos on yt, mine was Firedance red with black vinyl roof.
The front end of the Hillman Imp looked like the front end of a 1960 -66 Chevrolet corvair
Yes it did and the Corvair was a nice looking car and not the dangerous car that Ralph Nader's made it out to be.
@ferkemall but didnt they correct that eventually?
The Imp never had anti roll bars as standard or as an option.
What beautiful cars, I bought a Rapier for £50! Its had no starter motor or reverse gear. So starting was with the starting handle and I couldnt park anywhere I had to reverse! I was only young and could afford to have her repaired 🤷🏻♂️
No starter and no reverse??? Can't believe they were so primitive!! Urgh!
I had a Sunbeam in the '80, it fell every day apart, every day something broke or didn't work anymore, after 3 years only the body was still original, most part were exchanged under warrenty / guarantee! My garage went crazy about my Sunbeam, they called it "Dark Side of the Moon" they didn't ever experienced any ray of light of this car even if the colour was a bright yellow (it was also called "A Yellow Submarine" refering to the very high cost of maintenance after warrenty period! After 3 years teh dealer offered me a some of money to buy it back from me and I happely agreed and I bought a Mazda 323 which I had for 16 years and drove without any problem during all these years, afterwrads it went to Africa were I think still may drive along!
FDY 281 Humber lives on and still taxed !
John Peel....RIP.
Ah the memories, the imp, the first police car I ever got a lift in aged ten . . back to school .
My headmaster had a super snipe in the late fifties majestic
It is quite amazing how varied and huge Britain's industrial base was in the past , a bit hard to believe now days when they have virtually nothing left , just the same here in Australia , we have absolutely nothing .
Loved the Imp, remember the Sunbeam Stilleto version? I had
a Hunter GT for a while, all those dials on the dash ...
Hunter GT was fabulous, all gone now, but I remember them fondly 😀
@@alexrankin1046 I have one
Hillman imp was our first family car in 1972
Ahh ......it’s good to hear John Peel
We had a Super Snipe in the 50's I still have the maintenance manual ours had large chrome pram like shapes on the two rear windows
I was once the proud owner of a many owner imperial. A wonderful car for a young man about many towns. The best part was closing the back door and having to step back to the seat. The fold up seats in the back were bony but it did mean a lot of room between the seats.
It's what you call a "pillarless" look when both windows are wound down.
@ferkemall Cool, and the Capri was Britains answer to the Mustang. Lovely looking car.
Super Snipe so much space for a family of 4
I guess that most owners of these vehicles, with the possible exception of the Minx, have passed away now. Wonder what happened to their cars. Hope their families kept them. Although a car, keeping one for so long and growing up with it, it becomes part of the family.
Lovely looking cars. I've heard of Hillman and Humber, but because I'm not from England, I've never seen one.
Weirdly, I once saw a rusted out '57 Humber for sale in Salisbury, NC.
I own a minx in Australia
The lady (Mrs. Barbara Pearson) is right, the Imp is a handsome set of wheels.
Australia had Imps, even a GT model. I never owned an IMP and cant remember about their reliability etc but they were quite popular.
First day spent getting to Dover.........nothing changed since then!!!!!!
I have a 63 Super Minx Automatic, good car, reliable as is My Rapier S111A, I love that Barbara Pearson in this video withe her Imp. wish more people were like her, such a care free attitude, good on her, they dont make em like that anymore, people today are so materialistic and boring now.
Nice people featured in the video... arguably more interesting than the cars
My Dad had an imp.
I havn't seem a imp for decades
I dig the Super Snipe- a new one to me. The imp front end looks lifted straight off a Corvair.
@Steve Prince We used to be in the '2nd hand furniture business' and some times in order to get a bit more in we ended up with the back doors open. - On a Mk1 Transit that 'sucked' the exhaust in like mad, - if you opened the windows you were ok, cold in the winter, but at least ok.
@Steve Prince Ah yes those were the the days, lovely on a hot summers day, but could be a bit draughty in the winter, all our 'Transits' had the standard 'open out' doors, but we had a Bedford 'CA' type with sliding doors, they were ok but if you braked hard sometimes they slid shut with a bang. - Ah the days before 'clunk-click every trip' as the ad went. A dairy had some 'funny' looking 35cwt Transits, - living in the country as we did in those days, electric 'floats' couldn't last the 'round'. These Transits were odd in the fact that the drivers door was a sliding one and yet on the passengers side they had the standard 'open out' type. As for a body, apart from the cab, the rear part was just like a normal 'milk float', I seem to remember they were 'Automatics' as well. 2 daries vied for custom in our village, 'The Express', and 'The United Dairies', - both now but a memory alas. As for 'fairground rides' - well if the 'Health & Safety' lot had been around then they would have banned them all from operating. Plus DVLA probably wouldn't have allowed their 'Tractor & Triple Trailer' units on the road either, how they got away with some of them even in those days beats me.
I had a Singer convertible a 1964 i think, great car never let me down
Interesting. Did you hear the church bells ringing about the 3 minute mark? Hardly nowadays, they’ve all shut too.
Our late father served his apprenticeship at Rootes group.He had to sell his 1955 Vincent Black Shadow when I came along with my mum being pregnant with me.He even fitted a Steib sidecar to the bike but my mum had difficulty getting into it.So he part exchange it for a Hillman Minx,this would be early Sixties as I was born in 61.
What a pity, the Hillman Imp's number plate was put onto a Mercedes that has been off the road since 2007, at least the Humber, Sunbeam and the two Hillmans are still with us. Wish I could have the wonderful Super Snipe, alas it makes my Series 5A version look quite plain, which of course it's not!
Great video. Thanks for posting. :)
No mention of the Avenger, which was a huge success. Perhaps that went counter to their argument. I bought an Avenger shortly after this film, they were still knocking around on the roads then. Now there are only about 200 left on UK roads, one of them being right beside me now. A lot of the engineering mistakes of the Imp were corrected on the Avenger, in particular the handling was spot on, it didn't overheat, and they tested it thoroughly before release. Hillmans rusted, but no worse than Fords, Vauxhalls or Austins of the same age, and possibly rather less than some of those.
Also the singer gazelle and the Hilman hunter and the Sunbeam s the police used the avengers in Somerset thy always had a funny pedel in first gear and if you weren't carefull they would take of jerking I always pissed my self laughing when my dad tryed drinking from a can of tango as he pulled away at a stop sign the return spring on the carb was way to soft and I new Avery swear word sat in the back and the words don't take the piss boy ha ha he hade the one with a Chrysler badge and grill the gl model he traded it in for a Austin princes cheese wedge
Drove an Avenger at work. Useless in the wet and the door panel moved inwards when you inserted the key to unlock the door.
I had an Avenger 1600 GT with twin carbs and it was a fantastic car that went like stink . Brings back many happy memories , you could get two girls in the back seat :)
video99.co.uk- "No mention of the Avenger" - correctly so because it's a Chrysler Hillman, not a Rootes Hillman. It has no heritage from the Rootes Group except the Hillman name and chief designer Roy Axe who transferred to Chrysler when they bought the empty shell of the Rootes Group a decade earlier.
I had an avenger staitionwagon I went real well
I still have my Imp and I plan to restore it.
@ferkemall ALL Imps really needed some weight on the front, - the 'camber' on those front wheels wore out tyres faster than anything. They 'badged' some as Sunbeams, - I thought they had a different name - although I can't remember it.
@@christopherlovelock9104 I've busted up a few Imps, you can take one apart with an angle grinder in an hour or two. Terrible cars!
@@PreservationEnthusiast Personally I think their biggest failing was they hadn't got the balance right with that engine in the back, - VW never had that problem. Also that 'ally' engine was a flop from the start. A friend of mine had one of the van versions, - (he was a carpenter), - and kept all his tools under the 'bonnet', - didn't even keep it 3 months, - worst van he ever bought he said.
@@christopherlovelock9104 I think the other versions were Singer chamois and Sunbeam Stiletto.
@@jimmyduncan7650 Ah yes, now the first name certainly 'rings a bell', as for the second name wasn't that the 'fast-back' version with only 2 seats. I'm pretty certain the van was called 'the Husky', also I believe you could get the van with a single large side window - a sort of estate version with folding rear seat, but I can't remember if it had a different name or just the word 'estate' after the usual name. Wasn't their also one called 'The Californian' - aimed at the 'American Market'.? I have never seen a 'soft top' version, unlike the 'mini', although they were 'conversions' by small firms and not 'factory' produced I think I'm correct in saying.
Had an MK9 Jag with a strong 3.8 in it, a long time ago. Late at night, Its Stately Grill must have appeared like an unwanted sentinel in their rearview mirror as they tried to rid me at over 100 mph.
My sister was killed in an Imp. We managed to repair the Imp, after she was cut out. Strong little cars. Mind you they didn’t half rust.
A great pity to think what we once had regarding car industry. The japanese came along with some very clever engineers who looked at the designs of others and made the item better. There is no doubt that we basically handed the car and motorcycle industry over on a plate.
I remember Micheal Edwards sacked the night workers at Rover because they were asleep..........6 week strike caused a 3 day week at the dealership where i worked. Nearly lost my house because things were so tight for a few months.
The unions were lazy bastards with no idea about costs and production.
They used to assemble the XJS Jaguar so it wouldn't run as a dig to the management. One of their favourites was to leave the plastic bag on the air filters.
We rolled over back then, and in the current state of things, we would roll over again given the opportunity.
We used to get a bag of unfitted parts in the boot of the Morris Marina's.........many a time they arrived with a disc brake on one side and drum on the other. No one gave a shit back then.
That was the consensus in the automotive publications back then, that the Japanese were taking British designs and then engineering some quality into them like things not leaking oil, electrical components that worked for decades and parts you could run out and actually buy. I had a TR-3, TR-4, Hillman Husky, Metropolitan, several Morris Minors, a BSA and a Triumph Bonneville and then later a bunch of Toyotas and while I loved the British stuff, I loved getting from Point A to Point B and back to Point A without all the drama even more. Still, the charm of the British stuff does it for me.
steve harrod - "we basically handed the car and motorcycle industry over on a plate."
You're actually closer to the mark than you know. For example, Isuzu began manufacturing cars in Oct. 1953 by assembling CKD kits of the Hillman Minx, under licence. Gradual migration to full local production (no imported parts) was achieved in 4 years 0 days. Within a few more years, Isuzu was migrating to designing its own new models - Bellel, then Bellett, then Gemini. By that stage, the Brits had almost completed digging their own grave.
When I did my engineering degree, the engineering department had bits of Hillman Imp, which were used to illustrate engineering design flaws, there was at least one example for each flaw.
@ferkemall I didn't know that one!
Donald Sayers I recently saw a green Hillman Imp in New Jersey & my father had a Hillman Minx in Jamaica in the 60s
Well, that's pretty much sums it all. So much for all the bash-the-workers rethoric (not that they were innocent, far from it).
Four litre Super Snipe a family runaround.....Yes please.
One of Rootes most popular cars did not appear in this video, the Sunbeam Rapier and the Hollbay version of it. Rootes really started to go down hill when Chrysler/Talbot took over one of the first cars they produced was the Hillman avenger and that caused chaos and factory strikes over concerns of build quality and shoddy workmanship.
Let us not forget the lovely Humber Sceptre with the 1725cc engine. This was from the days of badge engineering so they were all the same car under the skin.
I've got a hillman California, humber super snipe mk4
And it’s Peely in session!!!
Co-incidentally, my primary school head teacher also had a Sunbeam Rapier - in metallic green
Most were.
her reg BMW 529L ended up on a Mercedes that hasn't had MOT now since 2007
ian mcgarrigle... aaaaaaand not in the brand it was meant for? Tsk, tsk, tsk...
I havent got time for People tiddling about at traffic lights....... Made me bloody laugh........ What a character Barbara is..... love her
Super Snipe or Imperial, both great cars, also my Hillman Minx mark lll loved that car, was coerced to let my sister have it....... your right, it got wrecked :(
He has to get "in it, to work on the rear" I know the feeling..
Lord Rootes son had no business acumen. My Grandfather worked for the from the early twenties until their sale to Chrysler. My uncle had a dealership, and died in an IMP during a crash. The Imp was made in Scotland as the Labour government forced them there. Strikes began on week two by Commie agitators. Their Corvair?
My father had a Rapier, mechanical tinkering lead to the engine catching fire.
It's really a shame they didn't survive. Can you imagine where the Tiger could have gone? It already had a 289 V8 in the mid-60's.
I had a 59 Consul which was also a cold car :)
What a Car and machine.
So British can build solid reliable cars. Just not cheaply. The elder couples shown, are incredible as to durability of their marriages. They don't build em like they used to.
As a kid, I saw lots of Sunbeam Rapiers. But I've only just realised that the styling is very much a scaled-down Studebaker Golden Hawk. Why didn't I notice that before? Probably because I only knew the Hawk from pictures.
I was thinking a jr sized Lark
The Sunbeam Rapier body style was a scaled down copy of the Studebaker Hawk.
Only in superficial appearance because Raymond Loewy Studios company was hired to design a new body style in both cases. There are no shared components & no corporate associations. Lord Rootes had his mind set on export, and hired a consultant to style his new cars to fit the North American market. Studebaker seemed to be the trend setter at the time.
Moving Imp production to Scotland was a 'political' move ignoring sound economics.
THE REGISTRATION ON THE IMP BMW 529L., IS NOW ON A GREEN MERCEDES
My first car was an imp
Where is the Jowett?
Sadly the car numberplate now belongs to a Mercedes so the Imp probably no longer exists.
Excellent vedio. Any contacts of person owning the hummber..
Its still registered,all details are on DVLC UK site
1:17 He is not denying it. :)
Of course not. He's been married a long time and knows to follow the edict: And a wise man said... nothing!
You never try starting a car with stale fuel after 23 years
1:46. Photo taken with a Brownie box camera.
What about the vauxhall vx490
My 1st wifes grandfather had a S/Snipe, he was a farmer and used to take 2 pigs at a time to the weekly livestock auctions, - just fitted in nicely. Luckily it was an ex town mayors car and had the glass divider behind the driver, as it stank in the back. So grandma had to sit in the front and moaned like hell.
Neil Anderson. .. He had his ways and you either 'liked it or lumped it'. There was the time he bought 2 geese home and they 'cornered' gran - she had to climb a haystack to get out of their way. Or, when he drove his pre-war tractor with a trailer of hay behind it down our local bit of motorway, and was stopped by the police for doing 4mph, but since none of them could drive it they had to let him go with a warning.
@@christopherlovelock9104 OMG that's funny---4 mph! In what year was he driving the pre-war tractor?
@@mosesberkowitz3298 Sometime around 1969, and the tractor is still around - preserved, together with his brothers one of the same age. I think they bought them together, only difference was his brothers one had a massive winch and 'land anchor' on the back (he did tree-work and made Chestnut fencing). They were both 'real characters' - I used to talk to them for hours, - the stories they could tell about life around the early 1900's always fascinated me.
Hillman Imp, shocking tuck in front suspension and endless cooling problems from the rear engined trans axle unit. I was able eventually to be able to pull out the gerabox and trans axle within a very short period of time, strip and rebuild and be back on the road the same day. But a car I hold in great affection.
I used to run a 998 conversion on the standard cooling system without any problems. As for the suspension, a £5 factory kit transformed the handling.
In 1955 £800 could buy you a house
Nearly bought a brand new imp when I first started work £750 . The heater was an extra £30! Can you believe that a heater wasn't standard. Bought a 2nd hand Escort for the same money
I'll finish it for you..... "Which was a more reliable car"
@@steffanhoffmann8937 Ford, had a number of 2nd hand Escorts and Cortinas. Any problems were easy and cheap to fix
I have a Jaguar S Type 2006. A British car as you can see.
©2020, Christian Greetings from Stgo., Chile.
Rootes Group always produced good, solid, cars - until the Imp, that is. Having bought a new one in 1969, I can say, without equivocation, that it was the worst car - and there have been a great many cars, both new and used - that I've owned in 60 years of driving. Not so much an Imp, more of a dog. Lest you think I don't like their cars, I've owned three Minx, of various Marks - all completely reliable - and worked for Rootes at the Whitley design centre. What I'd really like is a Humber Sceptre or perhaps a Series V Super Snipe/Imperial...
yep
I HAVE 8 CATS,, 4 BLACK,, 2 GINGER TABBY,, 1 GINGER,, 1CHAMPAGN,,