From: Bert Palte
>> I recently discovered a *rear engine* rear wheel drive Sunbeam at a
>> local auto wrecker.
> This must have been a Sunbeam Imp (or Hillman Imp, or Sunbeam Chamois or
> whatever, whatsay badge engineering??) Actually, this was the car with which
> the London-Sydney Marathon in 1969 was won.
> I have driven many examples but have never owned one myself.
Hillman Imp, Sumbeam Stiletto, Singer Chamois. The Stiletto was
sporty, the Chamois luxurious, and the Imp, well, ordinary. My father-in-law
to-be had a Chamois, lovely car, but it spent more time in the workshop thanon
the road. Originally the Imp had an air-operated throttle - a pump at the
pedal connected to the carb by a plastic pipe. It was soon superceeded by a
cable as people found the operation too light.
The winner of the London-Sydney Marathon was a Hillman Hunter, an altogether
more conventional four-door front engine rear-wheel drive family saloon. I
think the same car in the hands of the same driver also won the re-run 25 years
later. Or am I thinking of the London-Mexico??
PaulH.
|