1963 Hillman Imp Pre-production Standard

1963 Hillman Imp Pre-production in Young in Heart, Short Movie, 1963

Class: Cars, Sedan — Model origin:

1963 Hillman Imp Pre-production Standard

00:00:30 Vehicle used by a character or in a car chase

Comments about this vehicle

Author	Message
dsl ◊ 2018-01-31 00:02	Sequences at start and end of film, very avant-garde footage for its time, with the woman doing most of the driving, not the bloke. Most/all footage taken near Ullapool. Brief excerpt reused in From Scotland With Love. Pre-production Imp registered in Jan/Feb 63 in the WHS series - as /vehicle.php?id=515394 . These were known internally as the L-series fleet, numbered L1 upwards and the first Linwood-made cars and registered locally to explain the xHS plates; most of the early ones were manual assembly before production lines were fully operational. Not sure how many were made but VHS 771 and 772 were L12 and L13 (both black, but a white painted Imp with the usual crash test side markers and VHS 771 plate was used for the official concrete block crash test at - I assume - MIRA), VHS 817 (blue) and 818 (maroon) were L17 and L18, and WHS 156 (red or blue - only seen in b/w photo as mid-tone) and 157 (white) were L21 and L22. Other references are that L1 and L2 were used for extensive road testing in northern Scotland from June 62 as the first two production prototypes and L1 (black) was written off in early 63 after a testing roll-over. VHS 409 (L number unknown but early) was a mid greeny-blue scooped on the cover of UK magazines "Small Car" (later became "Car") April 63 issue - http://www.flickr.com/photos/retromotoring/1968404046/ . WHS 168 (red?) was the first press publicity Imp (but may have been a succession of cars, not just one; most magazine road test cars were Coventry plates), WHS 171 (red?) was given 100,000 mile almost non-stop durability testing in Scottish highlands. The first official production Imp was Loch blue and presented by Rootes direct from factory for display by Glasgow Museums and has IMP 1 plate, no wing mirrors and now has only 879 miles on the clock - (in background of /vehicle_540792-Rolls-Royce-Phantom-VI-1972.html at new Glasgow Transport museum, and photo from previous display at old Kelvingrove Museum http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y235/Section1/swiki/i1/imp01.jpg ). Second Imp made was 4533 KV, presented by Lord Rootes to Lord Lee, chairman of Coventry Climax and fitted with one of 20 Climax 875cc engines.
the sad biker ◊ 2018-01-31 00:54	dsl wrote the woman doing most of the driving, ??
dsl ◊ 2019-02-09 00:42	^ interesting idea. Rosemary joined the Rootes works rally team in 1962 so would have been on the payroll. And it gives extra publicity potential.

Author

Message

dsl

◊ 2018-01-31 00:02

Sequences at start and end of film, very avant-garde footage for its time, with the woman doing most of the driving, not the bloke. Most/all footage taken near Ullapool.

Brief excerpt reused in From Scotland With Love.

Pre-production Imp registered in Jan/Feb 63 in the WHS series - as /vehicle.php?id=515394 . These were known internally as the L-series fleet, numbered L1 upwards and the first Linwood-made cars and registered locally to explain the xHS plates; most of the early ones were manual assembly before production lines were fully operational. Not sure how many were made but VHS 771 and 772 were L12 and L13 (both black, but a white painted Imp with the usual crash test side markers and VHS 771 plate was used for the official concrete block crash test at - I assume - MIRA), VHS 817 (blue) and 818 (maroon) were L17 and L18, and WHS 156 (red or blue - only seen in b/w photo as mid-tone) and 157 (white) were L21 and L22. Other references are that L1 and L2 were used for extensive road testing in northern Scotland from June 62 as the first two production prototypes and L1 (black) was written off in early 63 after a testing roll-over. VHS 409 (L number unknown but early) was a mid greeny-blue scooped on the cover of UK magazines "Small Car" (later became "Car") April 63 issue - http://www.flickr.com/photos/retromotoring/1968404046/ . WHS 168 (red?) was the first press publicity Imp (but may have been a succession of cars, not just one; most magazine road test cars were Coventry plates), WHS 171 (red?) was given 100,000 mile almost non-stop durability testing in Scottish highlands.

The first official production Imp was Loch blue and presented by Rootes direct from factory for display by Glasgow Museums and has IMP 1 plate, no wing mirrors and now has only 879 miles on the clock - (in background of /vehicle_540792-Rolls-Royce-Phantom-VI-1972.html at new Glasgow Transport museum, and photo from previous display at old Kelvingrove Museum http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y235/Section1/swiki/i1/imp01.jpg ). Second Imp made was 4533 KV, presented by Lord Rootes to Lord Lee, chairman of Coventry Climax and fitted with one of 20 Climax 875cc engines.

the sad biker

◊ 2018-01-31 00:54

dsl wrote the woman doing most of the driving,

[Image: rosemary_smith-valerie_morley-1967dec.jpg]

??

dsl

◊ 2019-02-09 00:42

^ interesting idea. Rosemary joined the Rootes works rally team in 1962 so would have been on the payroll. And it gives extra publicity potential.

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1963 Hillman Imp Pre-production Standard

1963 Hillman Imp Pre-production in Young in Heart, Short Movie, 1963

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