@Rich-on6fe
The fundamental difference between an old-world, linear-broadcast documentary program and one now made for YouTube is that one of these things is made by someone in a hurry, with a 'broadcast career', who has no special interest, enthusiasm, knowledge or motivation to get it all correct and authentic. The other is made by someone who is the core of a community of people with a common interest. The word passion is massively, hugely, over-used however it is appropriate here to distinguish the two. Thanks for sharing with us your passion. It's really cool that you're doing this because you think it is interesting and want to share that.
@andrewbyatt349
Bought a sky blue 1964 one in 1970 when I was 16 for £40! It was a part exchange trade in that was slightly unloved! My dad took me out in it to practice. Fantastic car that I pased my test in very soon after on my 17th Birthday! Having no cash I had to learn all about cars by working on it myself! I crossed a spark plug thread in the alloy head so had to whip it off and take it to a machine shop. Only time I didn't do everything myself. It was great as you undid the rear bumper and disconnected a couple of bolts then you could simply push the car forwards leaving the engine and gearbox exposed. The engine was a really beautiful alloy unit. I bought an aftermarket straight thru exhaust but even as a Glaswegian teenager it was too loud and people wanted to race me at traffic lights when they heard it! It was a stock engine so not capable of racing so I replaced the regular exhaust. I did buy alloy wheels and wide tyres that added to the already excellent handling. To this day the Hillman Imp is still a source of Scottish pride.
@bonhambley714
Hillman Imp was my first car. I loved the opening rear window. I once transported a 550cc motorbike for a friend by part dismantling the bike and then the pair of us picking the bike up, tilting it sideways straight through the opening rear window! The car handled it fine. I used to transport my German Shepherd dog in the back. However, I have to admit things were a little too compact for that LoL Overall, a decent fun car. At the time i owned mine, there were still lots of the classic VW Beetle still on the roads, so i never saw the rear engine configuration as an issue really.
@peterstecks7660
My tuppence worth My father had three brand new Imps. We loved them. Nippy. Handled well - apart from the inside front wheel hopping at speed. Front steering King Pins rusted, even when the grease nipples were regularly filled with grease. Bugger to get out. The clutch friction plate and particularly the carbon thrust bearings failed perhaps a bit more often than they should...? Easy to replace though as we built a wooden trolley to support the engine and we could remove the motor in less than half an hour. No winch needed. We also had the top of the rear mounted radiator leaking, and my father repaired this by removing the rad and soldering it properly. The valve clearances were done via shims, not by adjustable rockers like many conventional engines of the day. I still have a tin with some spare shims. The single exhaust silencer was vulnerable. The one we had on a Singer Chamois burnt through and was replaced within the first year under warranty. We asked if they could just give us the replacement for us to fit, but they refused. They said that they had to fit it. They had the car for a full day, and we noticed it was making a rattling noise on the way home. There were three fixings. The clamp round the manifold, An A bracket at the rear, and a strap at the front. They had tightened the manifold clamp, but hadn't even fitted the nuts on the A bracket or the strap. When we took delivery of the car we drove 300 yards from the salesroom before running out of fuel. We had to walk to a nearby petrol station and buy a fuel can to get home. The dealers in the 60's were mostly cowboys. Despite ALL these issues, we really did love the Imps. If anyone fancies one there's a fully restored one on eBay right now for £20,000. Absolute bargain... :-) 🤣😂🤣😂🤣
@Henry_Jones
Fun fact. MG Abingdon where the MGB and Midget were built never had a strike in the 70s which is pretty amazing. There was no moving assembly line there. Instead workers did their jobs in stations and would push each car to the next station for the next group to do their jobs. It was much more team oriented and workers had more freedom to do their jobs and double up with coworkers. Youd think BL management would go there to see what they were doing right but no, instead they closed Abingdon in 1980. A vid on that factory would be good.
@gaz66chris
as a car nerd that was born in the 70s and grew up with 70s 80s cars, its really good to have you around!
@samuraifool912
Hi Great video. Love the imp although never owned one. I have worked on a couple and Driven them. But Re Union power in Uk in 60 & 70's. Being a Printer and Having to Be a Union member. (E.g. Closed Shop.) A Strike could be called at any moment, over any issue however small. The F.O.C. or 'Father of the Chapel' ( Yes we were all Brothers, few Sisters at that time), In the N.G.A. (Shop Steward to most..!) He would Call a Meeting, Blowing a Whistle, due to Noise from Presses..! If the Sun was Shining, we would Walk out. And Woe Betide any who voted 'NO.!' Most Nipping off to the Local Pub, to have a Few Pints, Grumble. Then head back to Sleep it off on Pallets, until problem Sorted. Sometimes an Hour, Shift, couple of Days or at worst in my Experience '6 Fudging Weeks'. ( with wife n New Mortgage to pay.) Hence 1980 I came to Australia. And found a Friend Driving a bloody Imp..!! Thanx for your efforts. Cheers kim in Oz. 😎
@I_am_Phil_Lee
A major problem was the convoluted supply chain issue that you described, and there was a lot of truth behind the unions being unjustly blamed for problems when actually they'd been pushed into problems by management who didn't want to pay them to sit around waiting for parts. This was a different era, and there was no way the infrastructure existed to reliably move partial vehicles around the country to have bits bolted on. There was also a political component to the government wanting to provide jobs for the former shipbuilders in and around Glasgow - if there was no work, they might well move, and swing the balance in seats where the government had a slim majority. It suited the tories very nicely to have a few seats with thumping great Labour majorities and a lot of seats with slim tory majorities because it is parliamentary seats, not votes, which win elections. No altruism required or present. We had a couple of Minis and a bit later a Singer Chamois, and both were good cars, the Singer much more refined than its Mini contemporary (and, to be fair, the more basic Imp). The engine and particularly the gearbox were damned near bulletproof (credit to my mother for extreme testing of the clutch and gearbox - I really wish there had been more refinement in small engined automatics back then!) and the weight distribution was fine with the engine where it was, and rear-wheel drive was the norm then, so anyone thinking of driving hard learned to handle the superior handling (yes, I still prefer it). The Mini, by contrast, was relatively crude and handled like an oversized rollerskate, or maybe a go-cart (or soap-box racer as Americans call them). Don't forget that the single best-selling car of all time with the longest production run was a rear-engined RWD model by VW against which the Hillman/Sunbeam/Singer models make a far better comparison and showing (the Beetle had a horrible weight distribution, with the engine even further back). In the end, it came down to that subtle and unpredictable thing, fashion.
@blahmooblah789
I am always IMPressed with how much detail you have in your videos. Thanks for the great content!
@geo.53
Served a Toolmaking apprenticeship at the Linwood plant 1969 to 1974 then moved overseas since so this was interesting to view,brought back many memories.
@drevo50
Fascinating, as always. I fear that one day you will be making a video on the closure of the final British car factory. I have the awful feeling it won't be too many years away....
@peterwarneford-bygrave1490
The 875 Coventry Climax (Imp) engine was also used in a de-tuned version by Reliant Cars in the mid 1960’s and called the ‘Bond 875’ a three wheeler, a very quick lightweight car, handled well too.
@jamesstuart3346
Growing up across the pond I never saw a real Imp, but my Dinky model was a real treat with opening bonnet & boot
@simonhodgetts6530
Thank you, as always for such an entertaining and informative video! I always enjoy your content! I also remember Quentin Wilson’s The Cars The Star series - entertaining at the time, but compared with modern day YT car content, sadly lacking! For a car nerd like myself, content like yours is old car gold! I can now bore people senseless with even more car facts! Thanks again……..👏
@derosabike
Enjoyed the contrast of style in your extra's video and hearing your take and insight on the industry, as well as your research into making the video etc. I appreciate the amount of work that goes into producing these, thank you.
@diecast_MikeEspo
Unbelievable information, I think it looked very cool 😎. Costs , profits , pay scale , money , slow downs , unions , and strikes . History repeats itself . Good video .
@nickjacobs1770
Great videos as always. A note about the Nissan factory. It is the most efficient car factory in Europe. When it opened, they recognised only one union, which wasn't a union involved in car making at the time. This caused a lot of problems between unions at the time.
@wickiezulu
TBH Rootes were too small to start anew and were not helped having to deal with the Acton strikes from 1959 to late 1961 (also known as the Honeymoon strikes) at British Light Steel Pressings during its expansion period, which may have played a role in management overlooking the Imp's problems during its development. See the history section in the Hillman Owners Club for more background.
@nethalus
What you need to know about Quentin is that as a car dealer, he was prosecuted numerous times for clocking, ie winding the miles back, the beeeb are also well known for not fact checking, and dumbing down. Rootes also nailed together Avengers very badly.
@LittleCar