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Published on 29 March 2020

Yes, I just sold a GT, a very rusty one... and an excellent rust free imp 3 shell to a guy in Tasmania... just waiting for all of the shyte happening so he can get it freighted down there. He has read my thread about my imp's journey from Tassie, hopefully he will add a thread on his rebuild... transferring the GT stuff into the good imp shell.... I think Eiffel Tower motors just fizzled out on the Sonic imps... as much as I love imps, they are not good in the hot Aussie climate with such long distances to travel being the norm... they eventually worked quite well in England, down leafy lanes and short trips... but the unforgiving nature of the pommy motorists and the short opening time of the factory... they were still 6 months away from being ready when Lord Rootes was informed that Prince Phillip was attending a 'Grand opening' on the 3rd of May 1963 (then only 6 weeks away)... so, they gave all of the employees an imp to test... naturally, they all drove up and down the coast, not around town (in traffic)... so the staff said the imp was awesome. It wasnt until they were handed over to the general public who drove them in traffic, did the cooling issues and ham fisted mechanics pull the head threads out of the blocks... gaining the bad reputation the imp has had to endure to the end of time.... even tho the later imps (in England) eventually became quite awesome with better motors/heads... gearboxes, door locks. We never saw any of that. Anyway, the initial bad reputation meant they would never be seen as anything other than a joke... the sale of the Rootes Group to Chrysler, who had no time for this pyssie little car that could fit in the trunk of one of theirs... sealed the imps fate. I had one of my imps all fitted with dummy EJ22 motor and auto gearbox, but had to move and have no work space... so that project is still here but stagnant. The EJ22 is about twice as heavy, the gearbox heavy too... the killingback imp shows it works ok, but the motor in the back seat area makes it only a 2 seater and track only. The motorcycle engine imps make them pretty wild... but again, the motor is within the cab. The imp has a slant motor leaning over at about 60 degrees (again by accident) ... the original design was for an upright engine, but the back parcel tray meant there was no way for an upright motor to fit.... so, they had to lean it over. The imp sumps all had a cut and weld of the bottom angled section because the sumps had been made before they realised and had to alter them. The imp would have been a great contender for a rotary, or a flat four.... but the design was done, the Rootes Group was faced with a corporate takeover so there was no further development... all that changed was color and trim after about 1968... so they ran out what bits they had and unplugged the life support.