Author Topic: Industrial Birmingham  (Read 38638 times)

JudithM

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3861
Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #121 on: July 31, 2019, 01:06:01 PM »
There is a pre-cursor to this post on the Salisbury Transmission Ltd Thread worthy of a visit first: http://www.birminghamforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=15244.msg699439#msg699439
The Hillman Imp was launched in 1963 as competition for The Mini but it's design was flawed, it was a rear-engine rear-wheeled drive layout but the engine was so far back it's effect was to lift the front wheels and make steering a lottery, my mate had one and his solution was to put a 2x2 slab in the front boot.
So here's my advice to the designer to improve the car next time, don't put the engine at the back, put it at the front that way you get a proper boot and you improve the handling.
So will my advice be heeded? I doubt it, if the designer was 40 at the time of launch he'd be 96 now and I suspect past caring.
Some may remember Hillman was part of the Rootes Group together with Singer, Humber, Commer and Sunbeam - the latter had a version known as the Tiger - that had a V8 engine and a Salisbury drive unit and had performance to rival an E Type.
Salisbury unit? Back to the Salisbury Transmission Ltd Thread, right?! - yes.
Peg.
P.S. I know what you're thinking - If the Imp was so bad how come 1000's were Sold? All I can say, is There must have been an awful lot of 2x2 slabs sold during the Imp years!
Peg.

The Hillman Imp was the go to car for most of my friends when they'd learned to drive.  Most of them seemed to have one at one point or another. in fact there was one car that belonged to 3 different friends.  This would have been around the early/mid '80's, so perhaps they were very cheap at the time.
"I know tomorrow's gonna taste like cake"

Spud

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 90257
Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #122 on: July 31, 2019, 01:37:04 PM »
The first Car I had was an Hillman Imp . It caught fire
The Only Free Cheese is in The Trap

Peg Monkey

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2665
Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #123 on: July 31, 2019, 02:17:54 PM »
.......  This would have been around the early/mid '80's, so perhaps they were very cheap at the time.
Hi Judy, there was one version of the Imp which, at the time, Rootes claimed to be the cheapest small car on the road, my mate had one and, if I remember correctly, he had repeated faults with crude rubber discs (which became nicknamed donuts) which drove the back wheels.
There was a luxury version of the car known as the Singer Chamois.
Peg.
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Peg Monkey

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2665
Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #124 on: July 31, 2019, 02:22:49 PM »
The first Car I had was an Hillman Imp . It caught fire
Hi Spud, we all remember our first car (in my case a Ford 5cwt Van) sounds like yours was even more memorable.
Peg.
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Peg Monkey

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2665
Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #125 on: August 05, 2019, 09:41:28 PM »
I not sure when the first 3 wheeler appeared on our roads but most men of a certain age will know of the Morgan 3-wheeler(1932), which had all it's private parts on show at the front, primarily because it was powered by an air-cooled motorcycle engine as was the diminutive Bond Minicar, another 3 wheeler, powered by a Villiers 125 2-stroke air cooled engine, both of these cars are featured on Wikipedia, so what has the Bond got to do with this thread? The prototype was designed by Bond from premises in Berry lane, Longbridge, but actual production was at the Sharp's Commecials factory Preston, Lancs. 24,482 were built between 1949-66, when first conceived the 3-wheeler Bond took advantage of various lower taxes imposed on 3-wheelers at the time compared with 4-wheelers, but parity, when duties on 4-wheelers came down, meant the Bond no longer had a price advantage and was actually more expensive than a Mini.
Peg.   
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Sidecarsid

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 100
Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #126 on: August 06, 2019, 06:32:14 AM »
Hi Peg.
The motorcycle engine you refer to in a Morgan was a 998cc V twin J.A.P. Engine built by a small company in Stechford, just down the hill from the Stechford Rail station and opposite the Parkinson Cowan factory. I happened to spot the original J.A.P plaque on the outer wall of a  building while going to work in Common Lane Washwood Heath
 travelling on a no 11 bus.
Re the Bond mini car. There was a man who lived across the road from my folks house who owned one of these mini cars, he was 6ft+tall and to watch him every morning climbing into the engine compartment to kick start the engine was most entertaining as every time he did a swing on the kick start pedal it looked as though the car was eating him as the long bonnet was going up and down with him underneath it.It was quite comical to watch.[/size]

JudithM

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3861
Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #127 on: August 06, 2019, 01:08:13 PM »
The boyfriend of one of my neighbours had a Bond Bug for a while.  Funny little thing.  Orange.  Were they all Orange?
"I know tomorrow's gonna taste like cake"

Ian Dalziel

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1336
Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #128 on: August 06, 2019, 03:33:27 PM »
The Morgan 3 wheeler club meets the last Wednesday of the month at the Clent Club. One of them drives home past our house at approx 10.00pm and sounds more like a V8 than a V twin - magnificent.


Also, a chap in Clent regularly drove a 1950s Bond 3 wheeler until recently.
Let's make the best out of a bad situation.

Peg Monkey

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2665
Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #129 on: August 06, 2019, 07:23:37 PM »
...... he was 6ft+tall and to watch him every morning climbing into the engine compartment to kick start the engine was most entertaining.
Hi Sid, Bond maintained the kick-start feature was only for emergencies, saying the car could be started from the driving position, the cars were first built 1949 long before the first electric-start motor bikes (first one I saw was a Honda in 1966) so it begs the question how were they started from the driving postion? They must have had a crude lever/cable arrangment.
Either way I doubt they were very popular with the fairer sex!
Peg.
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Peg Monkey

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2665
Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #130 on: August 06, 2019, 07:34:47 PM »
.......  Were they all Orange?
Hi Judy, yes they were, I think Rothman's purchased 4 white ones for promotional purposes, if you do see a different colour it's a re-spray.
I remember reading a review just after the Bug's launch 1970, the reviewer described the car as looking like a giant demented wedge of Red Leicester, it was quite nippy, Reliant owned Bond Cars by then and they were fitted with a Reliant 4 cylinder engine. The car didn't have doors, just polythene side screens (so nil side impact protection) and to get in you lifted the whole front section.
Peg.
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Peg Monkey

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2665
Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #131 on: August 06, 2019, 07:47:53 PM »
The Morgan 3 wheeler club meets the last Wednesday of the month at the Clent Club. One of them drives home past our house at approx 10.00pm and sounds more like a V8 than a V twin - magnificent.
Hi Ian, I can't help feeling good looks and sex appeal were not at the top of the designer's list of priorities, but I suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or in your case the ear!
I can't believe they're still being made, in fact it was rummoured one would be fitted with a Harley engine but I think it was a sales ploy for th US market, I don't think it came off.
Peg.
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.


 

Terms of Use     Privacy Policy