My 1st car was a Hillman Avenger, but wrote it off, then a Toyota Starlet, wrote that off too, then I had 3, yes 3, Hillman Imps, loved them, it was like driving around in a glass house.
My dad had an Imp, I’m not sure what was more embarrassing. Pushing the poxy thing every morning to get it to start or getting dropped off at school in the pile of s###!!! My kids have no idea of what we had to go through!!
Lol. Hillman Imp needed the old newspaper trick over the distributor cap, or a thorough clean and ignition sealer to keep the damp out. Otherwise a non starter in the winter. But come one, seriously cool. N'es pas? My Imp had a maximum speed about 65mph ish, anymore and the violent side to side swerve used up more road than was available! Great fun. Happy days when MOT meant slapping some metal over a hole and covering in under seal.
On one of my Imps I overhauled the engine, put a hot cam grind in it, higher compression, twin carbs and extractors, that thing was lethal, did 110 Mph, you needed the whole road, both lanes at that speed, the wind used to get under it and it would float all over the place.
One of my friends (an ex British Champion racing driver and track driving instructor who has owned a few classic cars) told me today that the classic car market is on a downwards run. JD Classics has just gone into administration and is having financial irregularities investigated. This may be an indicator of a downturn in the market. My friend believes there will be a significant drop in classic car prices over the next 12-24 months.
Once prices start to fall it may become so as people look to get out before making a loss. Then the skill is "how low" before buying back in as they will surely recover over time.
Gear selection - I used to go thru synchro's quite regularly, so much so that I had a revolving spare gearbox that I would overhaul while the 1 fitted was wearing out, luckily I worked for a Mitsubishi/Chrysler/Hillman dealership so got cheap parts. (In fact when Hillmans were dropped from NZ in about 1986??? the NZ distributor sent me the whole lot of Imp parts they had at the warehouse FOC.) Tyre wear - Didn't really go thru tyres that much, couldn't really spin the wheels as it would blow the d/shaft rubber donuts, and cornering was best thought about carefully or it could result in off road excursions being as it was a tad unpredictable, the Imp is the only vehicle that I've driven on gravel where the rear didn't slid out, the front actually slid in to the corner, made life interesting.
Bonhams at Goodwood had trouble shifting many cars with reserves not met. The market is looking rather shaky at the moment, with restored series one E types flat floor models fetching around 70K now.
I don't need a Porsche. Would be pointless unless I fit a tow bar and I for a Focus with one of them. Could really do with a van though.
Hmm, my point was along monetary lines.... Sell the porker and get a pimped to death VW Transporter type thing.
Can't whack a van mate. Got a 10 year old Vito running ~250bhp. Cruise control, AC, goes like shit off a stick- love it. It's had a tow bar since I bought it (eight years ago) and I've never used it. The only time my tow bar comes to my attention is when my Bullmastiff chews the plastic protector off it. The fucker!
