LBC on a Stick

[tony barnhill]

Friend of mine who owns a local foreign car salvage yard told me today that sometime over the summer he's going to replace his "car on a stick" with a Miata or more modern sports car....he asked me if I wanted the old one. Here are a couple of photos...what do you think I told him?

Actually, she's not in bad shape for hanging out on that stick since sometime in the 70's...other than the door some redneck hot with birdshot & the broken quarter window, the body' straight & pretty rust free! The Coventry Climax engine is missing but the transaxle is there - no interior but the dash is complete...

Oh, its a Hillman Minx (I think)

 

[Steve]

Tony that's an Imp......Called the Sunbeam Imp over here I think? Great little cars, reputedly better than a Mini.....

 

[sammyb]

Those were very hot rally cars. Not particularly fast, but quick/nimble. Rear engine made them great for Alpine-like hairpins and traction in the snow.

 

[Ken G]

Yes, but .... Some friends had one, and we were off on a trip in the depths of winter, me in my Mini and they in the Imp. After having been parked through a frigid day, they found the accelerator pedal kept sticking down, with alarming results. It had a long cable along the bottom of the car from the front to the rear engine; clearly water had got into it and frozen!

Ken G, 1925 Rover 16/50 (San Francisco)

 

[mccalebr]

My best freind's mom had one. As a kid (late 60s) I remember several of us sitting in it and a family friend, Fred the Plumber, backing up to the front bumper, squatting, and lifting the front a good 6 inches off the ground and rotating the car 90 degrees so we could pull out the drive. Fred had another trick where he'd hand tighten all of the fixtures in a bathroom and never a leak.

Ray

 

[kennypinkerton]

Seems like I watched one of those on Sports Car Revolution last year... The driver wrung the crud out of it on a race course, with the poor 80 year old owner riding shotgun and looking like he was gonna stroke out at any second. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

 

[mailbox]

[ QUOTE ]
other than the door some redneck hot with birdshot & the broken quarter window,

[/ QUOTE ]

If you have ever shot an LBC on a stick and thought "Man, that the biggest turkey I ever saw" you might be a redneck. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[piman]

Hello all,

just a point, the engine is a Hillman engine not a Coventry Climax although I believe Hillman had some assistance from CC.

Alec

 

[tony barnhill]

[ QUOTE ]
the engine is a Hillman engine not a Coventry Climax although I believe Hillman had some assistance from CC.

[/ QUOTE ]

Think this sums it up:

"And what an engine it was! For the basic layout, Rootes engineers called upon Coventry Climax, one of the most renowned engine designers in the world. Coventry Climax engines powered some of that period's most successful Formula 1 cars, including the Lotus 18 and the Cooper T51. Coventry Climax was eager to capitalize on its racing success and sold Rootes the production rights to a state of the art overhead cam 750 cc four cylinder engine. Rootes proceeded to modify the design to make it suitable for the Imp by opening it up to 875 cc, laying it over on a 45 degree angle, increasing the compression ratio to 10:1, and die-casting the block and head in aluminum."
<u>Poor Man's Porsche, English Style</u>, by Allan V. Lacki.

 

[pigpen]

Get it, fix it, and drive it like you stole it! Check out the Imp Club website for information. There is a swelling of Imp interest here in the Pacific Northwest...as well as several other hot spots in the country.
I have a '65 that is in good shape and is a better drive than the '62 Mini Cooper I had...
Tom

 

[Super 7]

I love those things. There was a very solid red one in OR for sale a few years ago. I should have bought it...

They don't come along every day.