{"id":21653,"date":"2011-07-18T14:50:34","date_gmt":"2011-07-18T13:50:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.influx.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=21653"},"modified":"2022-06-21T16:45:06","modified_gmt":"2022-06-21T15:45:06","slug":"hillman-imp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/blog\/hillman-imp\/","title":{"rendered":"Impish Delights"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n

It’s always been a bit of a mystery to us about the enduring appeal of the Hillman Imp.<\/p>\n

Having grown up with our miserable next door neighbour polishing an immaculate version every Sunday for at least fifteen years – from the late sixties to the early eighties – we never saw the appeal.<\/p>\n

In our minds these boxy rear-enders were associated with everything in car culture NOT to aspire to.\u00a0If moody Mr Fluskey drove one, then they couldn’t ever been cool.<\/p>\n

But this weekend we had the chance to have a little drive of a friend of a friend’s Hillman Californian – the fastbacked version of the Imp (Below) – \u00a0now we can see what the fuss is all about.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n

Stories abound of the Scottish built motor’s tendency to overheat at the suggestion of a sustained hill – and build quality and corrosion resistance has never been a value associated with any British made cars of the era.<\/p>\n

But – the car we drove , equipped as it was with upgraded \u00a0running gear and engine mods like a new cylinder head and an exhaust manifold – was intensely fun – and it even looked pretty sexy, too.<\/p>\n

It flew like a little demon. Like an Imp<\/a>, in fact. It’s not exactly a 911, but if you’re more in the market for this sort of price point it will improve your mind-driving fantasies no end.<\/p>\n

And there is, of course, a legion of enthusiasts out there who have dedicated themselves to the bijou, oversteering delights of this car.<\/p>\n

You can find out all you need to know about these from a variety of their sites. <\/a><\/p>\n

If you’re unconvinced of the ability of these little motors to give a satisfying drive, however, then check out the video below.<\/p>\n

We think you’ll agree …<\/p>\n

[dailymotion]http:\/\/www.dailymotion.com\/video\/x93ute_graeme-wight-junior-onboard-hillman_auto[\/dailymotion]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are hooked after a little go in the rear engined wonder…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1779,110],"tags":[953,1113,1135,988,989],"class_list":["post-21653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cars","category-blog","tag-british","tag-british-cars","tag-classic-cars-2","tag-hillman","tag-imp","manufacturers-hillman"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe delights of the Hillman Imp<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Influx takes a look at the Hillman Imp, the Scottish built car with a massive cult following.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/blog\/hillman-imp\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The delights of the Hillman Imp\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Influx takes a look at the Hillman Imp, the Scottish built car with a massive cult following.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/blog\/hillman-imp\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Influx Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-07-18T13:50:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-06-21T15:45:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/hillman_imp_mk2.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael Fordham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@influxmag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@influxmag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Michael Fordham\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/blog\/hillman-imp\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/blog\/hillman-imp\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Michael Fordham\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#\/schema\/person\/a6c91b312024b67eded5a6ab27166bac\"},\"headline\":\"Impish Delights\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-07-18T13:50:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-06-21T15:45:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/blog\/hillman-imp\/\"},\"wordCount\":313,\"commentCount\":7,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/blog\/hillman-imp\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/hillman_imp_mk2.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"british\",\"British Cars\",\"classic cars\",\"Hillman\",\"Imp\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Cars\",\"Influx Daily\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/blog\/hillman-imp\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/blog\/hillman-imp\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/blog\/hillman-imp\/\",\"name\":\"The delights of the Hillman Imp\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/blog\/hillman-imp\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/blog\/hillman-imp\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/hillman_imp_mk2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-07-18T13:50:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-06-21T15:45:06+00:00\",\"description\":\"Influx takes a look at the Hillman Imp, the Scottish built car with a massive cult following.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/blog\/hillman-imp\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/blog\/hillman-imp\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/blog\/hillman-imp\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/hillman_imp_mk2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/hillman_imp_mk2.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/blog\/hillman-imp\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Impish Delights\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/\",\"name\":\"Influx Magazine\",\"description\":\"Cars, Bikes, People, Culture\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Influx Magazine\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cdn-influx-wp.adrianflux.co.uk\/uploads\/2016\/06\/influx-logo.gif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn-influx-wp.adrianflux.co.uk\/uploads\/2016\/06\/influx-logo.gif\",\"width\":300,\"height\":60,\"caption\":\"Influx Magazine\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/influxmag\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#\/schema\/person\/a6c91b312024b67eded5a6ab27166bac\",\"name\":\"Michael Fordham\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/949366349ea2e847fabfcad335f8699e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/949366349ea2e847fabfcad335f8699e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Michael Fordham\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The delights of the Hillman Imp","description":"Influx takes a look at the Hillman Imp, the Scottish built car with a massive cult following.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/blog\/hillman-imp\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"The delights of the Hillman Imp","og_description":"Influx takes a look at the Hillman Imp, the Scottish built car with a massive cult following.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/blog\/hillman-imp\/","og_site_name":"Influx Magazine","article_published_time":"2011-07-18T13:50:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-06-21T15:45:06+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/hillman_imp_mk2.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Michael Fordham","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@influxmag","twitter_site":"@influxmag","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Michael Fordham","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/blog\/hillman-imp\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/blog\/hillman-imp\/"},"author":{"name":"Michael Fordham","@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#\/schema\/person\/a6c91b312024b67eded5a6ab27166bac"},"headline":"Impish Delights","datePublished":"2011-07-18T13:50:34+00:00","dateModified":"2022-06-21T15:45:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/blog\/hillman-imp\/"},"wordCount":313,"commentCount":7,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/blog\/hillman-imp\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/hillman_imp_mk2.jpg","keywords":["british","British Cars","classic cars","Hillman","Imp"],"articleSection":["Cars","Influx Daily"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/blog\/hillman-imp\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/blog\/hillman-imp\/","url":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/blog\/hillman-imp\/","name":"The delights of the Hillman Imp","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/blog\/hillman-imp\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/blog\/hillman-imp\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/hillman_imp_mk2.jpg","datePublished":"2011-07-18T13:50:34+00:00","dateModified":"2022-06-21T15:45:06+00:00","description":"Influx takes a look at the Hillman Imp, the Scottish built car with a massive cult following.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/blog\/hillman-imp\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/blog\/hillman-imp\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/blog\/hillman-imp\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/hillman_imp_mk2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/hillman_imp_mk2.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/blog\/hillman-imp\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Impish Delights"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/","name":"Influx Magazine","description":"Cars, Bikes, People, Culture","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#organization","name":"Influx Magazine","url":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cdn-influx-wp.adrianflux.co.uk\/uploads\/2016\/06\/influx-logo.gif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn-influx-wp.adrianflux.co.uk\/uploads\/2016\/06\/influx-logo.gif","width":300,"height":60,"caption":"Influx Magazine"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/influxmag"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#\/schema\/person\/a6c91b312024b67eded5a6ab27166bac","name":"Michael Fordham","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/949366349ea2e847fabfcad335f8699e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/949366349ea2e847fabfcad335f8699e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Michael Fordham"}}]}},"Feature Image":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21653"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42678,"href":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21653\/revisions\/42678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}