The Rootes Group’s Imp, offered first as a Hillman, represented economical motoring for four adults in a comfortable and lively package. It was just the ticket when fuel-supply issues resulting from the 1956 Suez oil crisis forced motorists to look for cheaper, more fuel-efficient transport. It deserved to succeed but, as a wholly new design, it suffered from underdevelopment, and poorly managed production issues. It was also made by a workforce unused to the demands of a car industry, and industrial troubles hugely affected its success.
THE SLUG
After the Suez Crisis, Rootes Group planners realised that there was an urgent need for smaller fuel-efficient cars in its then–mainly medium and large car line-up. Britain’s fuel supply was cut by 20 per cent during the crisis, creating a strong demand for cars in the 1000cc class. Bubble cars proliferated almost overnight. Without a small car since the 1930s, Rootes deemed the market ripe for something with more finesse.
Rootes appointed a young Michael Parkes, later an engineer and Formula 1 and sports car racing driver for Ferrari, as project engineer and Tim Fry as coordinating engineer to develop a design that would deliver 60mph (100kph) and 60mpg, while accommodating two adults and two children. The result, ‘The Slug’, powered by a rear-mounted Villiers flat-twin engine, was unenthusiastically received by Rootes Group’s board. It was deemed to be too much of a bubble car. Lord Rootes even refused to set foot in it. The board, to its credit, demanded something more competitive with Austin’s A35 and Ford’s Popular and Prefect models. BMC’s clever Mini
