Hi Anthony

>The early 1960s Austin A40 was the world's first hatchback.  It wasn't just
>the rear window that opened, it was a whole rear door.  Or hatch.  Except
>that people didn't know the word "hatchback" at that time.

I'll have to have a close look next time I see one. They're not
exactly common these days.

>The Hillman Imp was the car with the opening rear window, which gave access
>to a small trunk (luggage compartment).  The window had a chromed steel
>frame.  The Sunbeam Stiletto, which had sporty "fastback" styling, had a
>fixed rear window set at a shallower angle than that of the Hillman Imp.
>The Stiletto had twin carbs for a little more power.

The coupe was sold as an Imp here, and I bet in its homeland too. I
remember that in Canada the Imp was called a Sunbeam Imp (the Rootes
Group was into badge-engineering).

>n the 1980s I was the proud owner of a Ginetta G15 which was a two-seater
>sports car with Imp mechanicals.  The engine was stroked to 998cc; this plus
>twin carbs and ultra-light GRP body meant that the G15 simply flew!

Sort of an equivalent to the 903 Fiat "850" Sport coupe. I had one of
these with high-compression pistons, and though it was worn and blew
oilsmoke it did 95mph quite easily. BUT you never knew in tight
corners whether it was going to oversteer or slide the front wheels!

>By 1974 the Imp's notorious quality control problems had been ironed out.
>Our family's Imp was a superbly reliable and economical car.  The early
>pneumatic throttle (gas pedal) had been replaced in later versions with a
>cable linkage, which worked well, and so did the gearchange (stick shift).

The Imp I think was one British car which deserved to succeed (unlike
almost every other!). It was interesting, had character, wasn't ugly,
went well and had IRS (the Triumph Herald had IRS too, and showed
well how NOT to do it... and the 6-cylinder Vitesse version was
lethal).
--
Andrew Grebneff
165 Evans St, Dunedin 9001, New Zealand
<andrew.grebneff@stonebow.otago.ac.nz>
Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut