The Hillman Imp is a small economy car that was made by the Rootes Group and its successor Chrysler Europe from 1963 until 1976. Revealed on 3 May 1963, after much advance publicity, it was the first British mass-produced car with the engine block and cylinder head cast in aluminium.
1968 Hillman Imp 2-door saloon
1965 Super Imp (Australian)
1967 Hillman Imp
1970 Hillman Imp
The Rootes Group or Rootes Motors Limited was a British automobile manufacturer and, separately, a major motor distributors and dealers business. Run from London's West End, the manufacturer was based in the Midlands and the distribution and dealers business in the south of England. In the decade beginning 1928 the Rootes brothers, William and Reginald, made prosperous by their very successful distribution and servicing business, were keen to enter manufacturing for closer control of the products they were selling. One brother has been termed the power unit, the other the steering and braking system.
The Rootes Maidstone on Mill Street, Rootes' factory building c. 1948
William Rootes, founder
A Bristol Blenheim bomber
Hillman Minx Series IIIC. The "Audax" Minx (Series I to VI) was designed by Raymond Loewy.