Model: Singer Chamios (Hillman Imp)
Year: 1967
Mileage: Unknown
Tax: Sorned (Tax Free)
MOT: Non
Location: Uxbridge, West London, UB10 0QH
Price: £700 ono
Contact details: zero seven 904555220 chrisratford /at/ hotmail.com
The time has come to sell my Imp. I have acquired a new toy so this needs to go to make space in the garage. I have owned this Imp since Nov 2006 and driven it around a fair bit. It used to be my daily car and has been out to the Alps with me once. Since going to uni I have not had the time or will power to do much with it so it has been sat virtually unused for the last 3 years. I mot’d it every summer and used it to go to the nationals and a few other events but was too busy this summer to re mot it when it ran out back in July.
The wheels are 13 x 5.5” Alleycats with almost new 175/60 Falken ZE-912 tyres on the rear and older 175/50 Dunlop SP on the fronts. They could do with a repaint and lip polish as they are looking quite tatty.
Brakes are the Fiesta disc conversion on the front and standard drums on the rear.
Cooling system is a front radiator setup with electric water pump and header tank located in the engine bay. This has always been super reliable and never overheats but it needs a thermostat installing somewhere. The electic water pump is operated via a switch on the dash so you can heat the engine up quickly.
The bodywork is very poor. The actual shell still seams fairly solid but the visible panels are all suffering from rust. It should pass an mot as it is but it looks very tatty. One sill was replaced last year but it is still in primer awaiting the front and rear aches to be finished properly. It is not a very good job because I did it and I suck at bodywork. The paintwork is dull and faded but should look much better with a good polish. I attacked one side of it a while ago for half an hour with a polisher and it came up much better.
The engine was a fair runner from what I can remember. It is however a standard 875 bottom end with a 930 head to lower the compression as it was an engine I built to supercharge. Sport cam and multi hole timing sprocket. It was running with a set of twin 1.5” SU carbs which are included in the sale but I took them off as they could do with a decent rebuild. It currently has a Solex fitted instead. The exhaust system is an odd design that I made to relocate the silencer to where the water pump used to be in order to make space for the supercharger. There is no silencer included for the layout though as I have kept it to fit on my new car. Also included is a Janspeed small bore manifold and silencer but it needs a small repair as it was bent slightly following a slow speed rotoflex failure. Fuel pump is a Facet electric one. The engine is hung from the parcel shelf rather than using the normal rear mount. This makes working on the engine a lot easier and engine removal is possible in 20 mins.
Gearbox was sweet as a nut when last used. It has the old (round holes, not flat plates) competition Lotus donuts fitted to both sides now.
The suspension is Spax adjustable dampers all round. The front springs are very short, stiff jobs with a custom front damper mount to allow the car to be run very low whilst maintaining some damper travel. The rear springs are cut standard springs. Also included is a set of the shorter Monte springs which I have never tried.
The interior needs some attention. I had it stripped out with no carpets and just two bucket seats. No seats are included as I have kept the buckets. It has a nice steering wheel, slightly out of place rev counter with shift light, extra temp gauge that is a bit temperamental and proper inertia seatbelts. I do have a good complete carpet set and rear bench seat for the car that are included but they are currently back in Gloucestershire so will need to go collect them at some point. Also back in Gloucestershire is another engine in pieces, spare gearbox and a few other spares that will be thrown in with the car.
The car is very much a project in need of some tlc. You could mot it straight away and drive it as it is which is what I did and loved doing, but what it really needs is a good strip down, a good bit of bodywork repair and a repaint.
I’d like £700 for it if possible but open to offers. Collection obviously should be with a trailer or towed. The last time I drove the car was 3 months ago and it ran ok but it no longer has a silencer so not really possible to drive it back.
Sorry about the photos. I left my camera in Gloucestershire so had to use an old one with a rubbish film lens that was too long to get and good complete car photos!
These are from a year or 2 ago. It looks the same except for being rustier and a bit more faded.
Cheers
Chris Ratford
Year: 1967
Mileage: Unknown
Tax: Sorned (Tax Free)
MOT: Non
Location: Uxbridge, West London, UB10 0QH
Price: £700 ono
Contact details: zero seven 904555220 chrisratford /at/ hotmail.com
The time has come to sell my Imp. I have acquired a new toy so this needs to go to make space in the garage. I have owned this Imp since Nov 2006 and driven it around a fair bit. It used to be my daily car and has been out to the Alps with me once. Since going to uni I have not had the time or will power to do much with it so it has been sat virtually unused for the last 3 years. I mot’d it every summer and used it to go to the nationals and a few other events but was too busy this summer to re mot it when it ran out back in July.
The wheels are 13 x 5.5” Alleycats with almost new 175/60 Falken ZE-912 tyres on the rear and older 175/50 Dunlop SP on the fronts. They could do with a repaint and lip polish as they are looking quite tatty.
Brakes are the Fiesta disc conversion on the front and standard drums on the rear.
Cooling system is a front radiator setup with electric water pump and header tank located in the engine bay. This has always been super reliable and never overheats but it needs a thermostat installing somewhere. The electic water pump is operated via a switch on the dash so you can heat the engine up quickly.
The bodywork is very poor. The actual shell still seams fairly solid but the visible panels are all suffering from rust. It should pass an mot as it is but it looks very tatty. One sill was replaced last year but it is still in primer awaiting the front and rear aches to be finished properly. It is not a very good job because I did it and I suck at bodywork. The paintwork is dull and faded but should look much better with a good polish. I attacked one side of it a while ago for half an hour with a polisher and it came up much better.
The engine was a fair runner from what I can remember. It is however a standard 875 bottom end with a 930 head to lower the compression as it was an engine I built to supercharge. Sport cam and multi hole timing sprocket. It was running with a set of twin 1.5” SU carbs which are included in the sale but I took them off as they could do with a decent rebuild. It currently has a Solex fitted instead. The exhaust system is an odd design that I made to relocate the silencer to where the water pump used to be in order to make space for the supercharger. There is no silencer included for the layout though as I have kept it to fit on my new car. Also included is a Janspeed small bore manifold and silencer but it needs a small repair as it was bent slightly following a slow speed rotoflex failure. Fuel pump is a Facet electric one. The engine is hung from the parcel shelf rather than using the normal rear mount. This makes working on the engine a lot easier and engine removal is possible in 20 mins.
Gearbox was sweet as a nut when last used. It has the old (round holes, not flat plates) competition Lotus donuts fitted to both sides now.
The suspension is Spax adjustable dampers all round. The front springs are very short, stiff jobs with a custom front damper mount to allow the car to be run very low whilst maintaining some damper travel. The rear springs are cut standard springs. Also included is a set of the shorter Monte springs which I have never tried.
The interior needs some attention. I had it stripped out with no carpets and just two bucket seats. No seats are included as I have kept the buckets. It has a nice steering wheel, slightly out of place rev counter with shift light, extra temp gauge that is a bit temperamental and proper inertia seatbelts. I do have a good complete carpet set and rear bench seat for the car that are included but they are currently back in Gloucestershire so will need to go collect them at some point. Also back in Gloucestershire is another engine in pieces, spare gearbox and a few other spares that will be thrown in with the car.
The car is very much a project in need of some tlc. You could mot it straight away and drive it as it is which is what I did and loved doing, but what it really needs is a good strip down, a good bit of bodywork repair and a repaint.
I’d like £700 for it if possible but open to offers. Collection obviously should be with a trailer or towed. The last time I drove the car was 3 months ago and it ran ok but it no longer has a silencer so not really possible to drive it back.
Sorry about the photos. I left my camera in Gloucestershire so had to use an old one with a rubbish film lens that was too long to get and good complete car photos!
These are from a year or 2 ago. It looks the same except for being rustier and a bit more faded.
Cheers
Chris Ratford