1963 hillman imp delux

[Shawl]

Just bought this new project. It's an early car registered on 7th July 1963. Aim to start it once my Caledonian is finished later this year. A first and last imp.

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[bks974c]

Love the early cars - good luck with the restoration.

Didn't think overriders were fitted to the early cars

Scott

[Grahame59]

Looks a good project Paul. The rust streaks probably make it look worse than it is.

As the wipers are missing I'd advise fitting some ASAP, even if knackered. Or remove the arms completely. As it stands, if someone switches the wipers on accidentally, the arms will ruin the screen. Just a thought.

[ImpManiac]

Lovely! What a great project! I like the idea of a first and last Imp collection.

IM

[Shawl]

Cheers guys. Yes be nice to see them together once finished.

The over riders were an optional extra from 1963 so they could well be original especially as this is a deluxe model which was the top of the range at the time. I have managed to track down other Rootes assesoried from 1963 in the form of single front and rear fog lamps. I must check to see if it had seat belts fitted.

It needs a lot of work.

[impmann]

The bumpers we found in Skye had over-riders but I discounted them as being original at the time. Perhaps they were, then

First and last Imps - yup, that's our fleet! Although Skye is an early '64... You can't get much later than Pele!!

Nice project.

[pubcrawler]

I have managed to track down other Rootes assesoried from 1963 in the form of single front and rear fog lamps.

I thought rear fog lights weren't around until the 70's

[tim sears]

The Imp that The Duke of Edinburgh drove at Linwood had overriders, you can't get much earlier than that, and so does my 63 MK1.
Tim

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

Front fog and drive lamps were available early on , no rears though

[Shawl]

Here are some more photos.

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Now that I think about it the lamps are yellow and white so wonder if they are a front fog and spot?

[tim sears]

She even has the door handles the right way up.When you get a minute have a look at the engine sump to see if there is a date stamp.

[Shawl]

Hi Tim, will do. Yes funny that the door handles are that way. I bought Autocar from 3rd May 1963 and a couple of launch brochures on Ebay last week and noticed that the handles went the opposite way to my other imps. When this arrived on Friday the first thing I noticed was that the handles were in the same position as the brochure. I assume that the original position then? Paul

[tim sears]

Hi Paul

My 63 has the handles like this .I guess they changed them for health and safety reasons when passengers used them for a foot rest and the door flew open.

Tim

[The Nun]

Well worth restoring just because of its age, and keeping original looking too

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

Interior door handles are wider on these really early cars IIRC