Economy car is a term mostly used in the United States for cars designed for low-cost purchase and operation. Typical economy cars are small ( compact or subcompact ), lightweight, and inexpensive to both produce and purchase. Stringent design constraints generally force economy car manufacturers to be inventive. Many innovations in automobile design were originally developed for economy cars, such as the Ford Model T and the Austin Mini .
190-462: The Hillman Imp is a small economy car that was made by the Rootes Group and its successor Chrysler Europe from 1963 until 1976. Revealed on 3 May 1963, after much advance publicity, it was the first British mass-produced car with the engine block and cylinder head cast in aluminium . This unorthodox small/light car was designed for the Rootes Group by Michael Parkes (who later became
380-639: A Formula One driver) and Tim Fry . It was manufactured at the purpose-built Linwood plant in Scotland. As well as the Hillman marque, there was a series of variations, including an estate car (the Husky ), a van and a coupé . The Imp enjoyed modest success in both club and international rallying . Rootes introduced a homologation special called the Rally Imp in 1964. It featured many modifications over
570-484: A transversely mounted , water-cooled two-cylinder , two-stroke based on a DKW design, driving the front wheels. It had aircraft derived monocoque construction, with an aerodynamic ( drag coefficient ) value of 0.30 – not bettered until the 1980s. It was later developed into the Saab 93 , Saab 95 , and Saab 96 . It was produced until 1980, switching to a V4 four stroke engine in the 1960s. The mechanicals were used in
760-653: A 600 cc inline two-cylinder two-stroke engine. Also, in the 1920s, Ford (with the Model T in Manchester, England), General Motors (who took over Opel in Germany and Vauxhall in Britain), expanded into Europe. Most Ford and GM European cars, especially economy cars, were technologically conservative and all were rear-wheel-drive to a smaller European size, with improvements focused mainly on styling, (apart from
950-530: A 750cc water-cooled engine followed later by the post-war rear-engined 1949 Little Jimmy prototype by Craig Miller that would make use of a Volkswagen-based twin-cylinder engine. It was originally envisaged by Rootes the 742cc Coventry Climax FWMA inspired engine would be available in three sizes, 800cc, 875cc and 998cc. However it was not to be as through a combination of engineering production costs, Apex’s increased weight and size, together with experimental dry-liner 998cc engines being unreliable, resulted in only
1140-418: A European rather than American scale. These featured a variety of innovative in-house designed engines of less than one litre capacity. They were popular in the 1940s due to their high fuel economy during fuel rationing because of the war. There were a wide variety of two-door body styles; Sedan, Convertible Sedan, Coupe, Convertible Coupe, Covered Wagon, and Station Wagon. Also, there was a successful sports car,
1330-719: A Simca. Although it was targeted at the supermini size class, the Sunbeam's Avenger underpinnings meant that it was slightly larger than its intended rivals, and overlapped with the Horizon model. For this reason, the Sunbeam was only available as a three-door derivative. Basing the car on the Avenger's platform allowed for the car not only to use as many existing components as possible, but also to put it in production in Linwood quickly and at minimal investment. The Avenger's wheelbase
1520-579: A Sunbeam Imp sports sedan (ZT-86-20) completed the First American Rodding Magazine sanctioned endurance run and broke a world record in the process, previously set by Erwin George “Cannonball” Baker in 1933, driving from New York City, to Los Angeles, California, covering 3,011 miles in 48 hours, 9 minutes, 54 seconds at an average speed of 63.7 mph. The Imp gained a reputation as a successful rally car when Rosemary Smith won
1710-601: A V-shaped connecting rod . For this arrangement to work, it is necessary for the connecting rod to flex slightly, which goes completely against normal practice. The claim was that each engine had only seven moving parts, four pistons , two connecting rods and a crankshaft. This was connected to a two-speed epicyclic gearbox , to simplify gear changing, and a chain to the rear wheels. Solid tyres were used, even though these were antiquated for car use, to prevent punctures and very long springs used to give some comfort. Before production could start war broke out and from 1914 to 1918,
1900-511: A broader range of customers. On the interior side, the "GL" version was the first car to sport printed "melded" fabric from Cambrelle on its seats. These have been considered similar to the Avenger in their comfort. Until the R424's launch, most Chrysler UK products were sold in export markets under the Sunbeam brand of the former Rootes portfolio. Chrysler, however, was striving to cut down on
2090-548: A car builder by offering the then small Hillman Minx back in 1931. However, the Minx had since grown larger and was well established as a medium-size family car by the time the Imp was introduced. For the Imp, Rootes pioneered the use of an aluminium engine in a mass-production car. This process proved to be more complicated than simply substituting an aluminium design for a familiar and well-understood cast-iron design. Rootes had to build
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#17327984833372280-424: A car to sell for six thousand pounds and designing that for a high-volume production, where you have all the quality issues under control, is a hundred times more difficult than designing a McLaren F1, or even a racing car. It is certainly the biggest challenge I've ever had from a design point of view." The history of the automobile after many experimental models dating back at least a hundred years, started with
2470-542: A consultant engineer to Adler in December 1930. In the first months of 1931, Ganz constructed a lightweight economy car or peoples car, prototype at Adler with a tubular chassis, a mid-mounted engine, and swing axle independent rear suspension . After completion in May 1931, Ganz nicknamed his new prototype Maikäfer (German for cockchafer ) which is a species of beetle. In July 1931 he was also consultant engineer to BMW on
2660-629: A folding rear bench seat, automatic choke which was rare on compact cars outside the United States until the 1970s, and gauges for temperature, voltage and oil pressure which have been largely omitted since the 1950s in favour of emergency lights. The engine proved flexible and very easy to tune. It was an overhead camshaft design, which permitted better air flow than a standard OHV engine. As with all engine heads, it could also be flowed and ported to allow better airflow at high engine speeds. Useful improvements in power could be gained by replacing
2850-608: A four-headlamp Sunbeam with the newer dashboard. Production of the Imp stopped in 1970 because Todd Motors required the Imp assembly line to build the Hillman Avenger . Todd Motors only had two final assembly lines at Petone , so the Avenger and the Hunter shared one line and the larger Chrysler Valiant was built on the other. Imps were assembled by Rootes Australia in their Port Melbourne factory from 1964. The following models were produced: Between August 12 and 14, 1964,
3040-617: A halt before serious production had started because of World War II. The KdF, was the Nazi state propaganda organisation to promote holiday and leisure activities of the population, approved of, and monitored by, the state. The 'price' of the free or subsidised activities was extensive Nazi ideological indoctrination. When the German car industry was unable to meet Hitler's demand that the Volkswagen be sold at 1,000 ℛ︁ℳ︁ or less,
3230-471: A high ground clearance, to deal with these conditions effectively. It had an under stressed 177 cu in (2.9 L) engine. It set the template for American vehicles being larger than comparable vehicles in other countries, which would later on have economy cars scaled to their narrower roads with smaller engines. In 1912 Edward G. Budd founded the Budd Company , which initially specialized in
3420-462: A huge cost which was partly met by raiding the DAF's accumulated assets and misappropriating the dues paid by DAF members. The Volkswagen was sold to German workers on an installment plan where buyers of the car made payments and posted stamps in a stamp-savings book, which when full, would be redeemed for the car. Due to the shift of wartime production, no consumer ever received a "Kdf-Wagen" (although after
3610-648: A low priced car, and along with the Chevrolet 6, showed how the U.S. was diverging from the rest of the world in its ideas about what constituted a basic economy car. In 1928 Morris launched the first Morris Minor (1928) in Britain to compete with the Austin Seven. Also that year German motorcycle manufacturer DKW launched their first car, the P15, a rear-wheel-drive, wood-and-fabric bodied monocoque car, powered by
3800-477: A mainstream economy car. In many countries at various times, mainstream economy and maximum economy have been one and the same. From its inception into the 1920s, the Ford Model T fulfilled both of these roles simultaneously in the U.S. and in many markets around the world. In Europe and Japan in the 1920s and 1930s, this was achieved by the much smaller Austin 7 and its competitors and derivatives. From
3990-404: A mere 150 cc (100 cc for two-strokes) in 1949, dimensions and engine size limitations were gradually increased (in 1950, 1951, and 1955) to tempt more manufacturers to produce kei cars. It wasn't until the 1955 change to 360 cc as the upper limit for two-strokes as well as four-strokes that the class really began taking off, with cars from Suzuki Suzulight (front-wheel drive based on
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#17327984833374180-629: A million units in 13 years. Known internally within the Rootes Groups as the APEX project, the Imp came about because of the fuel shortage caused by the Suez Crisis in 1956. Petrol was rationed in the UK, sales of the heavy cars for which Rootes was known had dramatically slumped, and there was a huge market for small economical cars with low fuel usage. The BMC's Mini had already taken advantage of
4370-583: A new, computerised assembly plant on the outskirts of Paisley , in Linwood , in which to assemble the Imp. The UK Government Regional Assistance policy provided financial grants to the Rootes Group to bring approximately 6,000 jobs to the area. Linwood had become an area of significant unemployment because of redundancies in the declining shipbuilding industry on the nearby River Clyde . The investment also included an advanced die-casting plant to manufacture
4560-484: A nightwatchman named Stebbins (who later became the Mayor of Detroit ) and was the only product available to the company to produce. Although cars were becoming more affordable before it was launched, the 1908–1927 Ford Model T is considered to be the first true economy car, because the very few previous vehicles at the bottom of the market were 'horseless carriages' rather than practical cars. The major manufacturers at
4750-712: A nine-hour day to $ 5.00 for an eight-hour day , to combat low workforce morale, and employee turnover problems because of the repetitive and stressful nature of working on the production line, and more radically, to turn his semi-skilled workers into potential customers. The Ford Model T was the first automobile produced in many countries at the same time. It was the first 'World Car', since they were being produced in Canada and in Manchester, England starting in 1911 and were later assembled in Germany , Argentina , France, Spain, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Brazil, Mexico, and Japan. At
4940-569: A one-off basis. The engines often sporting the Twin Weber twin-choke setup. A number of sidecar crews raced Imp-equipped outfits at the Isle of Man TT races, best placement being Roy Hanks in eleventh place in the 1976 TT 1000cc Sidecar. Imp-engined outfits are still regularly championed in classic racing. Andy Chesman won the 1972 World Hydroplane championship using an Imp engine. He bought Imp specialist company Greetham Engineering and designed
5130-505: A pneumatic throttle linkage and an automatic choke, both of which were replaced by more conventional items on the Mk II. The Mk II also had improved front suspension geometry, and several trim and detail changes. Although the car was constantly improved over its production life, there was no single change as significant as those in 1965. Among the changes were an added water pump, cylinder head with larger ports and valves, and 'Mark II' emblems on
5320-582: A regular occurrence, as was the case in many parts of British industry in the 1960s and 1970s. Approximately half a million, half of this number coming in the first three years of production. Unassembled cars were exported for assembly in Australia, Costa Rica, Ireland, Malaysia, Malta , New Zealand, Philippines , Portugal, South Africa, Uruguay, and Venezuela. New Zealand cars were assembled as Hillmans by Chrysler/Hillman importer Todd Motors for several years from about 1964. The model returned, this time as
5510-572: A replacement for the carriages of the rich, or simply a dangerous toy, that annoyed and inconvenienced the general public. For example, the 1908 children's book The Wind in the Willows , pokes fun at early privileged motorists. The automotive industry in France were the world leaders during this period – the Locomotives Act 1865 (the 'Red Flag Act') had obstructed automotive development in
5700-400: A small car according to his design. The prototype of this new model, which was to be called Standard Superior , was finished in 1932. It featured a tubular chassis, a mid-mounted engine, and independent wheel suspension with swing-axles at the rear. At about the same time from 1931, two years prior to Hitler's accession to power, Ferdinand Porsche founded Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche GmbH -
5890-530: A small car for Peugeot . The 1911 Peugeot Bébé Type 19. It had an 850 cc 4-cylinder engine. The Citroën Type A was the first car produced by Citroën from June 1919 to December 1921 in Paris. Citroën had been established to produce the double bevel gears that its logo resembles, but had ended the First World War with large production facilities, from the production of much needed artillery shells for
Hillman Imp - Misplaced Pages Continue
6080-467: A steady increase in demand for cheap cars to 'motorise the masses'. Emerging technology allowed economy cars to become more sophisticated. Early post-war economy cars like the VW Beetle , Citroën 2CV , Renault 4CV , and Saab 92 looked extremely minimal; however, they were technologically more advanced than most conventional cars of the time. The 4CV was designed covertly by Renault engineers during
6270-524: A strict rally version of the Sunbeam. The resulting "Sunbeam Lotus" was based on the Sunbeam 1.6 GLS, but fitted with stiffer suspension , a larger anti-roll bar and a larger transmission tunnel. The drivetrain comprised an enlarged, 2,172 cc, version of the Lotus 1973 cc Type 907 engine, a 16V slant four engine (the Sunbeam version being the Type 911 , along with a ZF gearbox , both mounted in
6460-463: A strong emphasis on good packaging and roadholding, with independent front suspension and rack and pinion steering, and American influenced styling. It was produced in different body styles including a 2-door and 4-door saloon, a 2-door convertible, a 'woody' estate car / station wagon, a van with a rear box and a pick-up truck. 1.3 million had been built by the end of production in 1971. It was designed by Alec Issigonis . The 1947 FR layout Toyota SA
6650-530: A total of 55,807 had been built. The Anglia was restyled again in 1948 . Including all production, 108,878 were built. When production as an Anglia ceased in October 1953, it continued as the extremely basic Ford Popular entry-level car until 1959. The Ford Prefect was a differently styled and slightly more upmarket version of the Anglia launched in October 1938 and remained in production until 1941, returning to
6840-575: A total of three registration plates and corresponding tax discs each to operate more discreetly. The Sunbeams, alongside the TASS unit, were eventually replaced by the Tactical Vehicle Crime Unit's Ford Escort XR3is and Ford Sierra RS Cosworths in the late 1980s. After the takeover, PSA decided that keeping Linwood running would remain unprofitable in the long run and that the facility would have to be closed. This would also mean
7030-503: A very competent small car. Another problem that contributed to the reputation for poor reliability was the lack of understanding of the maintenance needs of alloy engines by owners and the motor trade in the 1960s. Regular failures of the Giubo couplings also occurred. It was overshadowed in popularity by the Mini . The company's huge investment in both the Imp and the Linwood production plant
7220-580: A water-cooled four-cylinder boxer engine driving the rear wheels through a four-speed transmission. It had a similar engine and radiator layout as the Fiat Topolino that was launched at about the same time. To save room and weight a dynastarter was used, which doubled as the axle of the radiator fan. It was regarded as the "Austrian Peoples' Car" and was affectionately referred to as the Steyr "Baby". Professor Porsche had, despite rumors, not been involved in
7410-562: A wedge head to increase the 998 cc engine to 125 bhp with twin 40DCOE Weber carburetors . He also fitted a spacer on top of the wet block to accommodate longer cylinder liners, increasing capacity to 1220 cc. At the BP-sponsored Windermere records week in October 1972, he raised the R1 Class water speed record to 89 miles per hour (143 km/h). He was killed in 1998 in a power-boat accident, still holding
7600-656: The Austin Motor Company together forming the British Motor Corporation . In 1913 the British Trojan company had its prototype ready for production. It had a two-stroke engine with four cylinders arranged in pairs, and each pair shared a common combustion chamber - a doubled-up version of what would later be called the " split-single " engine. The pistons in each pair drove the crankshaft together as they were coupled to it by
7790-460: The Honda Beat and Suzuki Cappuccino , and even miniaturised MPVs. Chrysler Sunbeam The Chrysler Sunbeam is a small supermini three-door hatchback manufactured by Chrysler Europe at the former Rootes Group factory in Linwood in Scotland, from 1977 to 1981. The Sunbeam's development was funded by a UK Government grant with the aim of keeping the Linwood plant running, and
Hillman Imp - Misplaced Pages Continue
7980-536: The Opel Laubfrosch (Opel Treefrog), was a small two-seater car introduced by the then family owned auto maker Opel, early in 1924, which bore an uncanny resemblance to the little Torpedo Citroën 5 CV of 1922. On an even smaller scale, European cars, such as the 747 cc Austin Seven , (which made cyclecars obsolete overnight. ) The Austin 7 was considerably smaller than the Ford Model T. The wheelbase
8170-614: The Paris Motor Show in October 1967, with the introduction of the sporting Sunbeam Stiletto. The coupe body had also appeared, with less powerful engines, in the Hillman Imp Californian announced in January 1967 and the more luxurious Singer Chamois coupe. The Imp was a massive and expensive leap of faith for Rootes. The company did not have recent experience building small cars, even though it started off as
8360-510: The Porsche company to offer motor vehicle development work and consulting. Together with Zündapp they developed the prototype Porsche Type 12 "Auto für Jedermann" ("car for everyone"), which was the first time the name "Volkswagen" was used. Porsche preferred a 4-cylinder flat engine, but Zündapp used a water-cooled 5-cylinder radial engine . In 1932 three prototypes were running but were not put into production. All three cars were lost during
8550-549: The Saab Sonett sports cars. Also in the immediate postwar period, the monocoque FR layout Morris Minor was launched in 1948. To reduce costs it initially reused the pre-war side-valve 918 cubic centimetres (56.0 cu in) Morris 8 engine instead of an intended flat-four. Later, after the 1952 formation of British Motor Corporation it had the Austin designed 948cc and later 1098cc OHV BMC A-Series engine . It had
8740-734: The Soviet Union sold the economy car Zaporozhets (and in the 80s, its successors, ZAZ-1102 , and VAZ-1111 ) on the world market. In the mid-1980s, the Yugoslavian Zastava Koral (Yugo), was being sold as the cheapest new car on the U.S. market. South Korea's Hyundai models also sold well in the U.S., and have gone on to be successful around the world. Since the 1990s, the automotive industry has become extensively globalized , with all major manufacturers being multinational corporations who use globally sourced raw materials and components, with most moving assembly to
8930-790: The Tulip Rally in 1965. That led the Rootes Group to produce a special rally conversion of the Imp under both the Hillman and Singer marques, known as the Imp Rallye . In 1966, after winning the Coupe des Dames, Smith was disqualified under a controversial ruling regarding the headlamps of her Imp. The Imp was also successful in touring car racing when Bill McGovern won the British Saloon Car Championship in 1970 , 1971 and 1972 . Imps were also successful racing cars. The privateer team of George Bevan dominated
9120-570: The World War II German occupation of France , when under strict orders to design and produce only commercial and military vehicles. Between 1941 and 1944, Renault was under the Technical Directorship of a francophile German installed former Daimler Benz engineer called Wilhelm von Urach who turned a blind eye to the small, economy car project suitable for the period of post war austerity. The design team went against
9310-413: The camber was later reduced by lowering the pivot points. Gradually increasing in popularity in the UK, Mark I sales in 1963 were estimated at 33,000, and increased to 50,142 in 1964. However, Imp sales decreased in 1965 to 42,663. Reliability problems had quickly surfaced, mainly due to poor cooling of the rear engine, and the public image of the car was becoming negative. That was extremely worrying for
9500-548: The "Sunbeam" name was used on all British Rootes products, including the Imp and the Husky. The coupe bodyshell is similar to the standard body but features a more shallow-raked windscreen and rear window which, unlike that on the standard bodied cars, can not be opened. The attempt at a more sporty design did not translate into better acceleration or top speed figures and the aerodynamics of the standard saloon are actually slightly better. The new body style made its first appearance at
9690-583: The 1913 Oxford. By 1925 Cowleys and Oxfords were 41 per cent of British private car production and limousine and landaulet bodies for 14/28 Oxfords were supplied ex-factory. Morris then added a commercial vehicle operation and bought Wolseley Motors the following year. Cecil Kimber, a Morris employee, founded MG (Morris Garages) aiming to sell more Morrises. After the Second World War Morris Motors, having swept in Riley , merged with
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#17327984833379880-478: The 1920s reflected increasing competition from newer designs for the relatively unchanged and increasingly obsolescent Model T. In 1923 Chevrolet developed a new car to compete with the Model T, the Chevrolet Series M 'Copper-Cooled', air-cooled car, designed by General Motors engineer at AC Delco Charles Kettering , (who invented the points/condenser ignition system that was in use until the 1980s). It
10070-443: The 1920s. It spawned a whole industry of 'specials' builders. Swallow Sidecars switched to making cars based on Austin Seven chassis during the 1920s, then made their own complete cars in the 1930s as SS. With the advent of Nazi Germany the company changed its name to Jaguar . The Seven continued to be produced until the late 1930s along with an updated and restyled closed body, known as the "Big Seven" until World War II, but still on
10260-480: The 1930s before this technology was generally applied to economy cars. The cyclecar was an attempt in the period before 1922 in the post-First World War austerity period, as a form of "four-wheeled motorcycle ", with all the benefits of a motorcycle and side-car, in a more stable package. In 1920 Trojan in Britain made its first series of six cars from a works in Croydon and the final revised production version
10450-715: The 1932-34 BMW 3/20 successor to the BMW 3/15 model. It featured transverse leaf independent front and rear suspension and an updated overhead-valve cylinder head version of the Austin 7 based engine. After a demonstration of the Adler Maikäfer by Ganz, the German Standard Fahrzeugfabrik company (unrelated to the British 'Standard' company), then purchased a license from Ganz to develop and build
10640-557: The 1940s and into the 1960s, the Volkswagen Beetle played both roles throughout much of the world, particularly in Germany and Latin America – due to high fuel consumption, British, French, Italian, and Japanese models, all with better fuel economy, were able to capture the maximum-economy position in their home countries. By the 1970s the hatchback had become the standard body type for new economy car models. From 1960-1994
10830-463: The 875cc engine being standardized at the cost of imposing a constraint on the Imp as a one-capacity car that competitors like the Mini did not experience. One alternative solution considered before being dropped was to develop a new taller block giving the engine a longer stroke whilst retaining the 875cc engine's dry-liners, however this would have been an expensive procedure and would have only been worth
11020-800: The British Saloon Car Championship (later known as the British Touring Car Championship ) in the early 1970s. Driven by Bill McGovern , the Bevan Sunbeam Imp won the championship in 1970, 1971 and 1972 with limited factory support. In UK club racing the Imp variants became highly successful in the under 1000 cc Special Saloon category. Notable exponents of the Imp in racing include Ian Forrest, Harry Simpson, Ricky Gauld, John Homewood, Roger Nathan, Gerry Birrell , Ray Payne and Chris Barter. To this day Imps still compete on historic rallies in
11210-405: The Chrysler Sunbeam was launched on July 23, 1977, to a positive reception by the British automotive press. An advertising campaign featured Petula Clark singing " ...put a Chrysler Sunbeam in your life. " There were initially three engine sizes; 0.9, 1.3 and 1.6 litres, and three trim levels available - base "LS", better-equipped "GL" and the most expensive "S". To reduce in-house competition,
11400-444: The Crosley Hotshot. The styling of 1951 Crosley Super Sport is very similar to the 1958 Frogeye/Bugeye Austin-Healey Sprite . Production peaked at 24,871 cars in 1948. Sales began to slip in 1949, as the post war American economy took off, and even adding the Crosley Hotshot and a combination farm tractor-Jeep-like vehicle called the Farm-O-Road in 1950, could not stop the decline. In 1952, only 1522 Crosley vehicles were sold. Production
11590-450: The First World War, and by the time Ford made his 10 millionth car, half of all cars in the world were Fords. It was so successful that Ford did not purchase any advertising between 1917 and 1923; more than 15 million Model Ts were manufactured, reaching a rate of 9,000 to 10,000 cars a day in 1925, or 2 million annually, more than any other model of its day, at a price of just $ 240. The need for constant reductions in price through
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#173279848333711780-453: The Ford and a much more modern design than the ageing Austin Seven, which meant it became the UK's bestselling car by 1939. U.S. Industrialist Powel Crosley Jr. with a long track record in diverse car products and other consumer products such as phonograph cabinets, radios, and home appliances with his company Crosley , started production of cars from 1939 (switching to war production in 1942-45) until 1952. They produced small economy cars of
11970-444: The French army. Andre Citroën was a keen adopter of U.S. car manufacturing ideas and technology in the 1920s and 1930s. Andre Citroën re-equipped his factory as a scaled down version of the Ford River Rouge Plant, that he had visited in Detroit Michigan . It was advertised as "Europe's first mass production car." The Type A reached a production number of 24,093 vehicles. The Opel 4 PS, Germany's first 'peoples car', popularly known as
12160-471: The German Lloyd with a DKW type engine) and then Subaru 360 , finally able to fill people's need for basic transportation without being too severely compromised. Early generation keicars on the market were mostly rear-engined, rear drive RR layout cars. From the end of the 1960s Keicars switched to front-engined, front-wheel-drive FF layout . This market has thrived ever since, with the cars increasing in size and engine capacity, including sports cars such as
12350-418: The Gestapo in June 1944, and deported to Buchenwald concentration camp. The Gestapo transferred him to Metz for interrogation, but the city was deserted because of the advancing allied front, the Germans abandoned their prisoner. In November 1945 the French government invited Ferdinand Porsche to France looking to relocate the Volkswagen project as part of war reparations. On 15 December 1945, Porsche
12540-431: The Imp garnered significant attention from the motoring press. In 1962, the Small Car & Mini Owner magazine published an article titled "Enter the AJAX!", particularly noting the all-aluminium water-cooled rear engine. The same year, the Daily Express published an article titled "It's the new 'baby'", calling it "the first baby car ever built by the Rootes Group". In June 1963, the Motor Sport magazine commented on
12730-402: The Imp has a semi-trailing arm independent rear suspension system. The relatively costly and sophisticated solution, atypical for small-car design at the time, was insisted upon by its designers after lengthy testing of a Chevrolet Corvair with swing axles . To attain balanced handling, the Imp actually used swing axle geometry at the front, but that initially led to too much understeer , and
12920-410: The Imp name to the Rootes Group in exchange for a new Humber Super Snipe motor car. The namesake was to emphasize its small-size, and to help it sell as the obvious competitor for the Mini. The water-cooled four-cylinder power unit was inspired by the Coventry Climax FWMA engine, featuring an all-aluminium alloy overhead camshaft, combined with a full-synchromesh aluminium transaxle. This combination
13110-526: The Imp was seen by Rootes as a potential second car for families with the means to acquire one. In this incarnation, it was a somewhat revolutionary, high-quality small car, with some above average features. Later the concept evolved into a kind of ultra-economy car with some cheaply and poorly executed, design features as a utilitarian vehicle, like some of the Eastern European marques of the time like Škoda , and later Lada , which were relatively low-cost economy cars , popular with British consumers. At one point
13300-429: The Joneses." Later in 1937, the Art and Color Section was renamed the Styling Section, and a few years afterward became one of the GM technical staff operations as the Styling Staff. It was funded by high-interest/low-regular-payments consumer credit, as was the 1920s boom in other consumer durable products. It marked the beginning of mass market consumerism , that had been enabled by the efficiency of mass production and
13490-402: The Linwood plant until it closed in 1981, after just 18 years in use. The Ryton assembly plant continued in operation until December 2006, when production of the Peugeot 206 was switched to Slovakia . Being a direct competitor to the BMC 's Mini , it used a space-saving rear-engine , rear-wheel-drive layout to allow as much luggage and passenger capacity as possible in both the rear and
13680-665: The New York Motor Show in January 1915, William C. Durant the head of Chevrolet (and founder of GM), launched the Chevrolet Four-Ninety , a stripped-down version of the Series-H, to compete with Henry Ford's Model T, and went into production in June. To aim directly at Ford, Durant said the new car would be priced at US$ 490 (the source of its name), the same as the Model T touring. Its introductory price
13870-454: The R424 fitted in well with the new Chrysler lineup and came across as fairly modern. Nevertheless, a constraint in the development process took its toll on the initial look of the car - as the C2's (Horizon's) headlamps were not available at the planned launch time of the R424, the small car was given the lamps of the pre-facelift Hillman Avenger, which required the characteristic recessed mounting in
14060-653: The Rootes Group who were trying to compete with the Mini, production of which totalled 1,190,000 during the 1960s. The Mark I was introduced as a 2-door saloon , which appeared in two models; the Basic and De Luxe. In October 1964, a luxury edition was introduced, known as the Singer Chamois. Following the initial problems that affected the Mark I, the Rootes Group decided to re-introduce the Imp with significant changes both mechanically and cosmetically. The Mk I Imps had
14250-526: The Rootes brand palette (which at that time existed solely by means of badge engineering ) and introduce a pan-European image using the Chrysler brand as the only one for the whole range. The result was naming the car, "Chrysler Sunbeam", and the Sunbeam brand was discontinued, with the remaining Rootes Group models also rebranded as Chryslers in 1976. After a remarkably short development period of 19 months,
14440-553: The SA and the later Publica and Corolla . In the post war austerity of the late 1940s, when most of the Japanese population could not afford a car, but could afford a motorcycle , the Japanese codified a legal standard for extremely economical small cars, known as the keicar . The aim was to promote the growth of the car industry, as well as to offer an alternative delivery method to small business and shop owners. Originally limited to
14630-720: The Standard Superior was introduced at the IAMA (Internationale Automobil- und Motorradausstellung). It had a 396 cc 2-cylinder 2-stroke engine. Because of some criticism of the body design, not in the least by Josef Ganz in Motor-Kritik , it was followed in April 1933 by a slightly altered model. In November 1933, the Standard Fahrzeugfabrik introduced yet another new and improved model for 1934, which
14820-644: The Steyr 55 and went on sale in 1940. A total of 13,000 Steyr "Babies" were sold. The production of Steyr cars was discontinued during World War II , after bombing of the factory. After the war, the factory was rebuilt and specialized in Austrian versions of the Fiat 500 and Fiat 1500. Today the Steyr factory produces the BMW X models for Europe. The pre-war European car market was not one market. Trade barriers fragmented it into national markets, apart from luxury cars where
15010-636: The Sunbeam's image, a " hot hatch " version of the Sunbeam was launched at the 1978 British International Motor Show and Paris Motor Show , called "Sunbeam Ti". On sale in the UK from June 1979 priced at £3,779, it was based on the former Avenger Tiger (the name hailing back to the Sunbeam Tiger ), a sporty version of the Avenger. The 1.6-litre (1,598cc) engine fitted to the Sunbeam with twin Weber carburetors delivered 100 bhp (75 kW; 101 PS). It featured sporty two-tone paint and body kit, and
15200-469: The Trojan Utility Car went onto the market at £230, reducing to £125 in 1925, the same as a Model T Ford . Nothing was conventional. Rather than a chassis the car had a punt shaped tray which housed the engine and transmission below the seats. This is a similar idea to the chassis-less design of the contemporary 1922 Italian Lancia Lambda luxury car. The transmission used a chain to drive
15390-541: The UK until it was mostly repealed by the Locomotives on Highways Act 1896 . The high wheeler was an early car body style virtually unique to the United States. It was typified by large-diameter slender wheels, frequently with solid tires, to provide ample ground clearance on the primitive roads in much of the country at the turn of the 20th century. For the same reason, it usually had a wider track than normal automobiles. The first car to be marketed as an 'economy car'
15580-585: The UK, with the Vokes' car often making it onto the podium in the HRCR Clubmans Rally Championship. The Imp was also successfully raced and rallied in other parts of the world, notably Asia, where drivers including Andrew Bryson and Pardaman Singh regularly won saloon car categories into the 1980s. The 998 cc Imp engine was also used in three-wheeled racing sidecars in the 1970s and 1980s. Exhaust systems were naturally constructed on
15770-579: The Western Allies. In 1948 Hirst recruited Heinrich Nordhoff to run Volkswagen GmbH and in 1949 ownership was handed over to the West German government. The Volkswagen Type 1 'Beetle' was to become the most popular single design in history. Its production surpassed The Ford Model T on February 17, 1972. It was withdrawn from the European market in 1978. The Volkswagen Beetle was an icon of
15960-633: The World Rally Championship - in 1980 , Henri Toivonen won the 29th Lombard RAC Rally in one, and, in 1981, the Sunbeam Lotus brought the entire manufacturer's championship to Talbot. Six Sunbeam Lotuses were acquired by Greater Manchester Police for their Traffic Area Support Services (TASS) unit in 1980 in a bid to combat car crime across Greater Manchester , operating alongside the Ford Capris being used by GMP at
16150-509: The ability to cruise on the autobahn for long periods reliably. This cruising ability and engine durability was gained by high top gearing, and by restricting the engine breathing and performance to well below its maximum capability. Production was restarted after the war by the British Army Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers , under Major Ivan Hirst after it was dismissed as valueless for war reparations by
16340-468: The aluminium engine casings, and a stake in a brand new Pressed Steel Company motor pressings works, which manufactured all the new car's body panels. The location of the plant led to significant logistical issues for the manufacturing process. Linwood was over 300 miles (480 km) away from Rootes' main factory at Ryton-on-Dunsmore , but the engine castings made in Linwood had to be sent to Ryton to be machined and assembled, then sent back up to be put on
16530-477: The anticipated post Second World War U.S. car market recession hadn't materialised. The MacPherson strut , probably the world's most common form of independent suspension, evolved in the GM Cadet project by combining long tubular shock absorbers with external coil springs, and locating them in tall towers that directed the vertical travel of the wheels and also formed the "king pin" or "swivel pin axis" around which
16720-513: The automotive industry, at the instigation of those that he had ferociously criticized. He was eventually released, but his career was systematically destroyed and his life endangered. He fled Germany in June 1934 – the same month Adolf Hitler gave Ferdinand Porsche the brief for designing a mass-producible car for a consumer price of 1,000 ℛ︁ℳ︁. Production of the Standard Superior ended in 1935. The Standard company
16910-428: The basic Hillman Imp was the cheapest new car on the British market, which increased low sales figures for a time. Over the life of the car, Rootes (and later Chrysler UK) produced four body styles. The original saloon was introduced in May 1963 and ran through to the end of production in 1976. It has an opening rear window, making it effectively a hatchback . The opening rear window is intended to make it easier to load
17100-486: The best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one - and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God's great open spaces. The Ford Model T was a large scale mass-produced car; that very innovation, along with the attributes it required a simple inexpensive design, that allowed it to be
17290-555: The car at Ludham Airfield, close to the Lotus facility in Hethel, Norfolk , where the almost-complete cars were shipped from Linwood. Final inspection, in turn, took place in Stoke, Coventry . In road trim, the type 911 engine produced 150 bhp (112 kW; 152 PS) at 5,750rpm and 150 lb⋅ft (203 N⋅m) of torque at 4,500rpm. In rallying trim this was increased to 250 bhp (186 kW; 253 PS). The Sunbeam Lotus
17480-454: The car in the new democratic West Germany , where it would be a success. From 1936 to 1955, Fiat in Italy produced the advanced and very compact FR layout Fiat 500 "Topolino" or "little mouse", the precursor of the 1950s Fiat 500 , it was designed by Dante Giacosa . The inline four cylinder 569 cc 13 + 1 ⁄ 2 hp engine was placed right at the front of the chassis with
17670-455: The car we want. And he said: 'Alright, get on with it then!'". The early stages of development presented "The Slug", which had clear similarities to a bubble car. However, the Rootes design board were not satisfied with this approach, and ordered the design team to press forward. That led to the next stage of the Slug, which appeared more utilitarian with appropriate styling. Extensive road testing
17860-542: The cars were in very short supply for the next year or so. On the 4CV's launch, it was nicknamed " La motte de beurre " (the lump of butter); this was due to the combination of its shape and the use of surplus paint from the German Army vehicles of Rommel's Afrika Korps , which were a sand-yellow color. The VW featured a 1.1-litre, rear engined air-cooled 'boxer' flat four with rear-wheel drive, all round fully independent suspension, semi monocoque construction and
18050-415: The cars — a 600-mile (970 km) round trip. This was addressed by a complex schedule of trains shifting completed cars and raw castings south, and trains loaded with engine- gearbox assemblies and many other Ryton-sourced goods running north. To aid with balancing the logistical costs of this operation, body pressings for the Hillman Avenger were also made at Linwood, but transported south to Ryton on
18240-478: The company had been acquired by Chrysler, to become part of Chrysler Europe . A year later, ahead of the 1968 London Motor Show , the recommended retail prices of most Imp models were reduced for the domestic market by more than four per cent, despite the general price inflation affecting the UK. Chrysler stewardship was blamed by some for the demise of the Imp in March 1976, after fewer than 441,000 had been built, but
18430-405: The company made tools and gauges for the war effort. In 1914 Ford was producing half a million Model Ts a year, with a sale price of less than US$ 500 . This was more than the rest of the U.S. auto industry combined and ten times the total national car production of 1908, the year of the cars launch. Also in that year Ford made headlines by increasing the minimum wage of his workers from $ 2.83 for
18620-435: The component trains. This schedule remained in operation for the duration of Linwood Imp production. The local West of Scotland workforce, recruited mainly from the shipbuilding industry, did not bring the distinct skills necessary for motor vehicle assembly, and Imp build quality and reliability suffered accordingly. However, industrial relations were also an issue in production. Industrial disputes and strike action became
18810-504: The design of the Renault 4CV, and Porsche cautiously went on record saying that the car would be ready for large scale production in a year. Lefaucheux was a man with contacts, as soon as the 4CV project meetings had taken place, Porsche was arrested in connection with war crimes allegations involving the use of forced labour including French in the Volkswagen plant in Germany. Ferdinand Porsche , despite never facing any sort of trial, spent
19000-403: The design or production of the 50. Moreover, the little Steyr offered better seating and luggage space than Porsche's Volkswagen with shorter overall length, a large sheet metal sliding roof and was available with hydraulic brakes (instead of the early Volkswagens' cable-operated ones). In early 1938, the car was revised. It got a more powerful engine and a longer wheelbase. The new model was called
19190-408: The early 1920s running gear, but with a slightly enlarged chassis and widened track. In the late 1920s, General Motors finally overtook Ford, as the U.S. new car market doubled in size, and fragmented into niches on a wave of prosperity, with GM producing a range of cars to match. This included a Chevrolet economy car that was just an entry-level model for the range of cars. It was only a small part of
19380-488: The emerging designer, Dante Giacosa . It was powered by a 1,089 cc four cylinder overhead-valve engine . Drive was to the rear wheels through a four-speed gearbox, and for the period, its comfort, handling, and performance were prodigious, making it "the only people's car that was also a driver's car". The Steyr 50 streamlined small car was introduced in 1936 by the Austrian manufacturer Steyr-Puch . The car had
19570-539: The end of the Avenger and Sunbeam model lines. The Sunbeam also overlapped in size with the Simca-based Chrysler Horizon, while the Avenger upon which it was based overlapped with the Peugeot 305 , both of which were launched in 1977 and were newer, front wheel drive designs. The decision was quite reasonable, given the advanced age of the former and the fact that the "C2-short", in development,
19760-611: The entire Chrysler Europe operation was not a success and two years later it became part of Peugeot . The Imp was one of Britain's longest-running production cars with a 13-year run, despite lower sales in its later years. Its place in the Chrysler UK range was taken the following year by the Chrysler Sunbeam , a three-door hatchback based on the Avenger rear-wheel drive underpinnings. Both cars continued to be produced at
19950-604: The extra cost of tariffs could actually make cars more exclusive and desirable. The only way for a car maker to enter another national market of a major European car making country, (and their colonial markets of the time), was to open factories there. For example, Citroën and Renault opened factories in England in this period. This situation only changed with the post-war growth of the EEC ( European Community ) and EFTA . The British RAC (Royal Automobile Club) horsepower taxation system had
20140-457: The first car to exemplify the ideals of the economy car. Although it followed the Panhard mechanical layout, it used an epicyclic gearbox more like later automatic gearboxes , rather than the Panhard type manual gearbox , which in a developed form is still in common use today. The innovations involved in making it a successful design were in its production and materials technology; particularly
20330-455: The first production car – the 1886 Benz Tricycle . This began a period that was later known as the Brass era which is considered to be from 1890 to 1918 in the U.S. In the UK this is split into the pre-1905 Veteran era and Edwardian era to 1918. The U.S. Veteran era is usually dated pre-1890. In the 1890s and into the first decade of the twentieth century; the motorized vehicle was considered
20520-528: The first steel-bodied four-seater saloon to sell for £100; previously the only four-wheeled car to sell for that price had been the two-seater tourer model of the Morris Minor. The Model Y was reworked into the more streamlined Ford 7Y for 1938-1939. This was restyled again into the 1939 launched Ford Anglia . Initial sales in Britain actually began in early 1940. Production was suspended in early 1942, and resumed in mid-1945. Production ceased in 1948 after
20710-426: The former Chrysler Europe effective January 1, 1979, and in the course of the year announced all former Chrysler Europe products would be rebranded to Talbots starting August 1, 1979. The Sunbeam was simply rebadged in the strictest sense of the word, with the Chrysler badge on the bonnet replaced by one that read "Talbot", but retaining its grille with a prominent Chrysler pentastar until 1981. In order to boost
20900-489: The front fascia. The GLS version had a vinyl roof as standard. There was only one body style for the Sunbeam, that of a three-door hatchback . The car was literally a hatchback, with the rear hatch formed out of a single piece of glass as seen previously on the Hillman Imp. This required a high rear sill, which, while increasing structural rigidity made the loading and unloading of luggage rather difficult. Although it
21090-492: The front of the car. It used a unique opening rear hatch to allow luggage to be put into the back seat rest. It was the first mass-produced British car with the engine in the back and the first to use a diaphragm spring clutch . The baulk-ring synchromesh unit for the transaxle compensated for the speeds of gear and shaft before engagement, from which the Mini had suffered during its early production years. It incorporated many design features which were uncommon. Among them were
21280-456: The front wheels could turn. It was elegantly simple, with just three links holding the wheel in place - the strut itself, the single-piece transverse lower arm, and the anti-roll bar that doubled as a drag link for the wheel hub. MacPherson took his ideas to Ford instead. They were first used in the French 1948 Ford Vedette . Next in the 1950 British Ford Consul and Zephyr (British mid-size cars,
21470-557: The good ergonomic quality of its dash-board/fascia, and its replacement reflected similar trends in other new and modified UK vehicles at a time of "production rationalization". The more modern arrangement on the Imp was seen by some as a missed opportunity. The initial problems damaged the Imp's reputation and popularity trailed off, with half of all production being from the first three years. It still sold thanks to its competitive price, distinctive styling, and cheap running costs, but sales never lived up to expectations for what had become
21660-488: The infamous Ryder Report led to the effective nationalisation of Chrysler UK's major competitor, British Leyland . Chrysler management decided that the company should therefore also benefit from state aid, and pressed the government for it by threatening to close the UK operations. The government agreed to a state grant reported at £55,000,000 to fund the development of a small car, to be developed in Chrysler's UK facilities and manufactured in Linwood. The development of
21850-537: The introduction of the 1935 monocoque Opel Olympia , and the Macpherson strut by Ford in the 1950s), until the late 1970s and early 1980s. In 1931 the DKW F1 was launched. This was the first successful mass-produced front-wheel drive car in the world. It was priced at 1,700 ℛ︁ℳ︁ . (The British 1928-30 Alvis cars 'FWD' models had handling problems and only 150 were made. The British 1929 BSA
22040-571: The investment had the Imp been a success. A few long-stroke engines were built and evaluated, the work not completely going to waste as they would go on many years later to be bored out up to 1150cc and used to great in effect in competition by the likes of Paul Emery, Andy Dawson, Ian Carter and others. The later 998cc engines in the Rallye Imps meanwhile would on the other hand make use of expensive wet-lines and were not really intended for road use, rather only for competition and further tuning. It
22230-454: The lowest labour cost countries. Today, a majority of major manufacturer offers economy cars, including at least one truly small car that may fall into subclassifications such as subcompact car , supermini , B-segment; city car ; microcar ; and others. Gordon Murray , the Formula 1 and McLaren F1 designer, said when designing his new Murray T.25 city car: "I would say that building
22420-516: The luxury Singer Chamois (launched October 1964), and the Sunbeam Sport (launched October 1966), with a more powerful twin-carburettor engine, were offered with varying degrees of success. For marketing reasons the Singer variants were sold as Sunbeams in many export markets, even before May 1970 when the Singer marque was discontinued altogether by Chrysler UK. In some markets, such as France,
22610-498: The manufacture of pressed-steel frames for automobiles. This built on his railroad experience. In 1899 he had taken his knowledge of pressed steel to the railroad industry. He worked with the Pullman Company on a contract for Pennsylvania Railroad , building the first all-steel railcar. In 1913 in the UK, the 1018 cc "Bullnose" Morris Oxford was the first model launched by Morris Motors . Only 1302 were made. The Oxford
22800-466: The market in 1945. The car was face lifted in 1953 from its original perpendicular or sit-up-and-beg style to a more modern three-box structure. It was sold until 1961. The Anglia, Popular and Prefect sold well for a long time despite their old fashioned technology using transverse leaf springs and beam axles for front and rear suspension, side valve engines and only partly synchromeshed three speed gearboxes. They sold on price because of limited car supply on
22990-485: The marketing strategy - "A car for every purse and purpose" of GM head Alfred P. Sloan . Harley Earl was appointed as head of the newly formed GM "Art and Color Section" in 1927. Harley Earl and Alfred P. Sloan implemented planned obsolescence and the annual model change to emphasise design as an engine for the success of the company's products. This moved cars from being utilitarian items to fashionable status symbols - that needed regular replacement "to keep up with
23180-489: The minimum necessary requirements for a highway-worthy car, constituting the most economical car possible . However, whether that consensus could be a commercial success in any given country depended on local culture. Thus in any given decade, every country has had a rough national consensus on what constituted the minimum necessary requirements for the least expensive car that wasn't undesirable, that is, that had some commercially attractive amount of market demand, making it
23370-580: The more basic versions of the two-door Avengers were dropped at the same time in the UK market, and the Chrysler Horizon was only available in five-door form. The Sunbeam sold well, but was not a runaway success. In spite of the ability to keep the UK business afloat, Chrysler was still making losses both in Europe and at home, and, facing the possibility of complete bankruptcy, decided to sell Chrysler Europe to PSA. The French company took control of
23560-548: The moving production line. Until this time, manufacturers of consumer goods were concerned, by the possibility that the market would be fulfilled and demand would dry up. The seller's market in new cars in the U.S. was over, as customers wanted choice. The 'one model' policy had nearly bankrupted the Ford Motor Company. By the end of production in 1927 it seemed outdated, and was replaced by the Model A . The Ford Model T
23750-403: The need to use as many British components as possible, led to the decision to use the rear-wheel drive Hillman Avenger as the base for the new vehicle, rather than the more trendy front-wheel drive constructions of Chrysler's French subsidiary, Simca . The Sunbeam was, unlike the larger Horizon and Alpine models which were launched by Chrysler in the mid to late 1970s, never sold in France as
23940-903: The new Autobahns that were to be built. They had been planned under the Weimar Republic , but he stole the credit for them. Many of the design ideas were plagiarised from the work of Hans Ledwinka , the Tatra T97 and Tatra V570 with the Czechoslovakian Tatra (car) company. It was also suspiciously similar in many ways to the Josef Ganz–designed cars, it even looked very similar to the Mercedes-Benz 120H prototype of 1931. The Nazi Kraft durch Freude (German for Strength through Joy , abbreviated KdF) "KdF-Wagen" or "Strength through Joy - Car" project ground to
24130-562: The new car started in January 1976, under the codename Project R424 . The technical side was the responsibility of the engineering team in Ryton, while the styling was the responsibility of Chrysler's Whitley design studio in Coventry , led by Roy Axe (who left the UK for Chrysler's headquarters in the US before the car was launched). Many constraints, such as a very tight schedule, low budget and
24320-420: The next twenty months in a Dijon jail. The 760 cc rear-mounted four-cylinder engine, three-speed manual transmission 4CV was launched at the 1946 Paris Motor Show and went on sale a year later. Volume production with the help of Marshall Plan aid money, was said to have commenced at the company's Parisian Boulogne-Billancourt plant a few weeks before the Paris Motor Show of October 1947, although
24510-457: The opportunity, with production starting in 1959. Although the project officially began in 1955, the market for small cars was soon recognised and it was evident that the project would evolve into Rootes' first small, economical car. Seeing an opportunity, Mike Parkes and Tim Fry offered to design the car: "Well, Mike Parkes and I were very good friends. So we went to the director of engineering, B. B. Winter, and said to him we could design you just
24700-568: The other. The innovation of the moving assembly line , was inspired by the 'dis-assembly' plants of the Chicago meat packing industry, reduced production time from twelve and a half hours, to just an hour and thirty-three minutes per car. Black was the only colour available because it was the only paint that would dry in the required production time. The continuous improvement of production methods, and economies of scale from larger and larger scale production, allowed Henry Ford to progressively lower
24890-408: The outside, with the exception of the doors, which were straight from the two-door Avenger, the R424 was given an all-new body, styled very much in line with Chrysler's new, angular "international" style, conceived by Axe, which was first presented with the debut of the 1975 Simca 1307/Chrysler Alpine , and was later also represented by the 1977 Simca/Chrysler Horizon ( Project C2 ). This ensured that
25080-490: The post-war West German reconstruction known as the Wirtschaftswunder . The 375 cc Citroën 2CV had interconnected all round fully independent suspension, rack and pinion steering, radial tyres and front-wheel drive with an air-cooled flat twin engine and four-speed gearbox. It was some 10 to 15 MPG (Imperial) more fuel efficient than any other economy car of its time – but with restricted performance to match. It
25270-461: The press' reaction to the Imp who strongly favoured the Imp in terms of its engine, gearbox and competitive price; at launch, the standard model cost £508 1s 3d, while the deluxe version was £532 4s 7d. The name "Imp" was originally the name of an engine produced by Ailsa Craig Ltd. , a manufacturer of marine engines. In 1962 the company was acquired by Warsop Fram Group, and all of Ailsa Craig Ltd's assets were up for sale. The Warsop Fram Group traded
25460-411: The price of the Model T throughout its production run. It was far less expensive, smaller, and more austere than its hand-built pre-first world war contemporaries. The size of the Model T was arrived at, by making its track to the width of the ruts in the unsurfaced rural American roads of the time, ruts made by horse-drawn vehicles. It was specifically designed with a large degree of axle articulation, and
25650-559: The project was taken over by the German Labour Front (Deutsche Arbeitsfront, DAF). This was the national labour organization of the Nazi Party , which replaced the various independent trade unions in Germany during the process of Gleichschaltung or Nazification. Now working for the DAF, Porsche built a new Volkswagen factory at Fallersleben, called "Stadt des KdF-Wagens bei Fallersleben" ( Wolfsburg after 1945), at
25840-449: The radiator behind it. This allowed for a sloping front and good legroom when combined with lowered seating. This also allowed Fiat to lower the roofline. Although nominally a two-seater more were often squeezed in behind the seats. Initially it had quarter elliptic leaf spring rear suspension , but with an axle locating trailing arm , that was upgraded to stronger semi-elliptic to cope with overloading by customers. The front suspension
26030-446: The record. Economy car The precise definition of what constitutes an economy car has varied with time and place, based on the conditions prevailing at the time, such as fuel prices, disposable income of buyers, and cultural mores. It typically refers to a car that is designed to be small and lightweight to offer low-cost operation. In any given decade globally, there has generally been some rough consensus on what constituted
26220-404: The saloon body with extended rooflines were tried, but never offered to the public. Instead, buyers choosing the estate had to settle for a van-derived car with somewhat unusual styling. Both the van and estate ceased production in 1970. In an attempt to interest a wider public when sales figures fell well short of the intended 100,000 cars per annum, several badge-engineered derivatives, such as
26410-621: The same size as the Cadet), which owed more to the Cadet than just the MacPherson strut suspension, and caused a sensation when they were launched. In 1953, a miniaturised economy car version, the Anglia 100E was launched in Britain. These early 1950s British Fords used styling elements from the U.S. 1949 Ford 'Shoebox'. As Europe and Japan rebuilt from the war, their growing economies led to
26600-471: The same time period, as a Datsun Type 11 that may have been pirated, at the start of their own automobile industry. It was also produced as a BMW Dixi and BMW 3/15 in Germany, Rosengart in France with French styled bodywork, and by American Austin Car Company with American styling, (later American Bantam) in the U.S. It displaced the motorcycle and sidecar combination that was popular in Europe in
26790-611: The secondary function of excluding foreign vehicles. It was specifically targeted at the Ford Model T, which the then government feared would wipe out the fledgling indigenous motor industry. It crippled car engine design in Britain in the inter-war period, causing British car makers to produce under-square, low revving, long stroke engines. It was abolished after World War II as part of the British export drive for desperately needed, hard foreign currency, because it made British cars uncompetitive internationally. The technologically conservative 1930s Morris Eight , Ford Eight (Ford Model Y which
26980-541: The side of the doors. The Imp was never officially badged nor referred to as the "Mark III". However, changes were made to the range when the Rootes Group was fully acquired by Chrysler Europe , and so that version is sometimes referred to as the "Chrysler Imp". After Rootes Group's acquisition by Chrysler in 1968, the entire range was revised, except for the Stiletto. The instrument panel and steering wheel were redesigned. The large speedometer previously positioned behind
27170-496: The small car was based on the larger Hillman Avenger , also manufactured there. After the takeover of Chrysler's European operations by PSA , the model was renamed Talbot Sunbeam and continued in production until 1981. A Talbot Sunbeam Lotus version was successful in rallying and won the World Rally Championship manufacturers' title for Talbot in 1981 . In the mid-1970s, the British automotive industry
27360-518: The small luggage area behind the fold-down rear seat. The fold-down nature of the rear seat was itself unusual in small car design at the time, being more often associated with larger upmarket estate cars. In 1965 a van badged as the "Commer Imp" was introduced. A coupe, the Imp Californian, was introduced in 1967 at the same time as the van's pressings were used to create an estate car , badged "Hillman Husky". Several estate car prototypes using
27550-427: The solid tyre shod wheels. The 1527-cc engine to the ingenious Hounsfield design was started by pulling a lever on the right of the driver. To prove how economical the car was to run, the company ran the slogan "Can you afford to walk?" and calculated that over 200 miles (320 km) it would cost more in shoes and socks than to cover the distance by Trojan car. The astronomical success of the Model T accelerated after
27740-507: The standard model, the most important of which was an engine enlarged to 998 cc. Notable successes for this model include the 1965 Tulip Rally in which the works Imps of Rosemary Smith and "Tiny" Lewis finished first and second overall. Considered ahead of its time, the Imp nevertheless suffered from reliability problems, which harmed its reputation and led to the Rootes Group being taken over by Chrysler Europe in 1967. The Imp continued in production until March 1976, selling just under half
27930-567: The standard silencer (muffler) with one that impeded the exhaust gas flow less and with better carburettors. However, in adapting the design to suit modern mass-production methods, Rootes had left the engine more fragile than the Coventry Climax model from which it had been derived. The Imp used a derivative of the Climax FWMA engine whereas the Lotus cars used an FWMC engine which had an entirely different cylinder head. Initially,
28120-453: The steering wheel was replaced by a horizontal row of four circular dials/displays of varying detail and complexity, according to the model involved. The right-hand dial, the speedometer, was now to one side of the driver's normal sightline, while one multi-functional stalk on the right side of the steering column replaced the two control stalks that had been directly behind the steering wheel, one on each side. The earlier Imp had been praised for
28310-462: The time had little interest in low-priced models. The first 'real' cars had featured the FR layout first used by the French car maker Panhard and so did the Model T. Henry Ford declared at the launch of the vehicle: I will build a car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by
28500-528: The time. The six cars were modified to appear as regular Talbot Sunbeams, being painted in regular Talbot colours and having exterior Lotus badging removed while also being equipped with a Britax magnetic blue light, two-tone siren horns, police warning signage on the trunk lid and a VHF police radio. Throughout their service during the 1980s, five of the six Sunbeam Lotuses were operated interchangeably across various parts of Greater Manchester, often deployed in high-speed stolen vehicle pursuits and also issued with
28690-662: The use of new vanadium steel alloys. Model T production was a leading example of the Taylorism school of scientific management (also known as Fordism ) and its production techniques evolved at the Highland Park Ford Plant that opened in 1910, after it outgrew the Piquette Avenue Plant . The River Rouge Plant which opened in 1919, was the most technologically advanced in the world, raw materials entered at one end and finished cars emerged from
28880-596: The used car market due to the Second World War, and new car market because of the British government's post war policy of exporting cars. The Morris Eight, introduced in 1935, was a deliberate close copy of the Ford and served as a lower cost, more profitable replacement for the 1928-vintage Morris Minor which had not achieved the hoped-for success. Prices for the Morris started at £112 and it offered more equipment than
29070-466: The war years. But unlike other Japanese car firms Toyota did not partner with Western companies after the war, so it was free to use German designs. Many features of the prototype Beetle were subsequently put into the SA, although the Beetle's rear-mounted air-cooled engine feature was not used. Later on, Toyota revisited the economic principles exemplified by the Beetle when designing the 1950s successors to
29260-566: The war, Volkswagen did give some customers a DM 200 discount for their stamp-books). The project was not commercially viable and only government support was able to keep it afloat. The Beetle factory was primarily converted to produce the Kübelwagen (the German equivalent of the jeep ). The few Beetles that were produced went to the diplomatic corps and military officials. After the war, the Volkswagen company would be founded to produce
29450-635: The war, the last in 1945 in Stuttgart during a bombing raid. In 1932 ASAP-Škoda in Mladá Boleslav Bohemia Czechoslovakia, produced a type Škoda 932 prototype of a streamlined 4-seater two-door car with a rear air-cooled flat-four engine designed by Karel Hrdlička and Vsevold Korolkov. This car's bodywork closely resembled the small car designs yet to come. In Berlin in February 1933, the first production model of
29640-532: The wishes of Louis Renault who in 1940 believed that post-war Renault should concentrate on mid-range cars. Only after a row in May 1941 did Louis Renault approve the project. In October 1944 after the liberation, Louis Renault who was imprisoned on charges of collaboration, died in suspicious circumstances. In January 1945, newly nationalised Renault had officially acquired a new boss, the former resistance hero Pierre Lefaucheux , (he had been acting administrator since September 1944). Lefaucheux had been arrested by
29830-432: The world. These were fully closed roofed bodies, until this time open tourer bodies were the standard body on the market. Budd envisioned pushing his technology even further, and in 1924 he found another visionary in André Citroën . By 1934, they had developed the Citroën Traction Avant , the first unibody , pressed-steel automobile. Budd also pioneered the use of electric arc welding in automobile manufacturing. It would be
30020-496: Was US$ 550 , however, although it was reduced to US$ 490 later when the electric starter and lights were made a US$ 60 option. Henry Ford responded by reducing the Model T to US$ 440 . In 1916 Edward G. Budd 's first big order for the Budd Company was from the Dodge brothers, who purchased 70,000 bodies, mounting the steel bodies onto conventional chassis frames. During the 1920s Edward G. Budd 's pressed steel bodies were fast replacing traditional coachbuilt bodies all around
30210-407: Was Toyota's first true post war design. Although permission to begin full production of passenger cars in Japan was not granted until 1949, limited numbers of cars were permitted to be built from 1947, and the Toyota SA was one such car. It had a 4-cylinder engine, 4-wheel independent suspension and a smaller, aerodynamic body. The project was driven by Kiichiro Toyoda , but most of the design work
30400-425: Was a good looking car with clean modern lines, the tricky luggage compartment and the lack of alternative bodystyles - the reasoning being that the Avenger range already offered saloon and estate variants - ultimately compromised the car's appeal in the UK market. The Sunbeam's main competitor in the UK, the Vauxhall Chevette was produced in different body styles, two- and four-door saloons and an estate, catering to
30590-445: Was a rare failure for him, due to uneven cooling of the inline four-cylinder engine. The most development of small economy cars occurred in Europe. There was less emphasis on long-distance automobile travel, a need for vehicles that could navigate narrow streets and alleys in towns and cities (many were unchanged since medieval times), and the narrow and winding roads commonly found in the European countryside. Ettore Bugatti designed
30780-462: Was a three-wheel competitor to Morgan and the motorcycle combination market, the 1931 four-wheeler was very short-lived. The 1929 U.S. Cord L-29 having been seriously flawed, production ended at 4,429. The 1930 U.S. Ruxton made about 500, production lasted for only four months.) The F1 featured a front-engine, front-wheel-drive layout using a water-cooled 494 cc or 584 cc transverse two-cylinder two-stroke engine with chain drive. This
30970-510: Was available as a two-seater, or van but the chassis was too short to allow four-seat bodies to be fitted. It made extensive use of bought in components, including many from the U.S. to reduce costs. The 1915-1919 Morris Cowley (about 1400 produced) powered by a new US Continental engine was a bigger stronger better finished version of the first Oxford. The post– First World War Oxford was a deluxe version of that, now made plainer, 1915-1919 Cowley. They were larger cars with 50% bigger engines than
31160-409: Was available with a slightly reworked Model A engine, marketed until 1933 (in U.S.) as the Model B. In Europe, it remained in the Ford lineup, as the Ford V8 in Britain in the 1930s which was re-styled and relaunched as the post-war Ford Pilot . They were viewed as large cars in Europe. The 1932 Ford V8 (Model 18) coupe became the car of choice for post-war hot rodders . It was the first V8 engine in
31350-456: Was carried out in Norway in winter conditions, East Africa in the height of summer and in Arctic conditions in Canada by a small team led by Ken Sharpe (Chief Development Engineer, Ryton) Rootes did previously look at building a small car twice, even if both ultimately contributed little to the development of the Imp. The first being the 1938–1939 Little Jim prototype, which featured a conventional front-engined rear-wheel drive layout equipped with
31540-430: Was designed to motorise rural communities where speed was not a requirement. The original design brief had been issued before the Second World War in the mid-1930s. It had been completely redesigned three times, as its market and materials costs had changed drastically during its development period. Engine size increased over time; from 1970 it was a still tiny 602 cc. It was in production until 1990. The Saab 92 had
31730-495: Was developed through the 1930s into the 1938 F8 model and the F9 that was not put into production because World War II started, 250,000 were made. By this time DKW had become the largest manufacturer of motorcycles in the world. Their two-stroke engine technology was to appear in the postwar products of Harley-Davidson , BSA , Trabant , Wartburg , Saab , Subaru , Piaggio , Puch , Kawasaki , Mitsubishi , Mazda , Daihatsu , Honda , and Suzuki . The DKW type of two stroke engine
31920-620: Was done by Kazuo Kumabe . The two-door body was aerodynamic in a style similar to the Volkswagen Beetle . The doors were hinged at the rear (often called suicide doors ). The front window was a single pane of flat glass with a single wiper mounted above the driver. Only right hand drive was offered. Toyota engineers (including Dr Kumabe) had visited Germany before World War II and had studied Porsche and Volkswagen designs (independent suspension, aerodynamic bodies, backbone chassis, rear-mounted air-cooled engines, economical production cost). Many Japanese companies had ties with Germany during
32110-420: Was facelifted with American influenced 'full width styling' of the frontal panels after the war, with headlights integrated into the wings/fenders. The Fiat 1100 was first introduced in 1937 as an updated version of the 508 "Balilla" (its real name was the 508C) with a look similar to the 1936 Fiat 500 "Topolino" and the larger 1500 , with the typical late-thirties heart-shaped front grille, with styling by
32300-407: Was forbidden by the Nazis from using the term 'Volkswagen'. The Volkswagen Beetle would be the longest-lasting icon of this 1930s era. Adolf Hitler admired the ideals exemplified by the Ford Model T , (even though he didn't drive himself), and sought the help of Ferdinand Porsche to create a 'peoples-car' ("volkswagen"), with the same ideals for the people of Germany. This car was to complement
32490-412: Was in charge of development. It had a unibody structure, an over-square over head valve engine, a strut-type front suspension, small-diameter road wheels, a three-speed gearbox, brake and clutch pedals suspended from the bulkhead rather than floor-mounted, and integrated fender/body styling. It was light and technically advanced, but GM's management cancelled it, stating that it was not economically viable -
32680-435: Was in crisis, marred by bad management, frequent strikes and decreasing competitiveness compared to the increasingly successful French and Japanese automakers. It took its toll on Chrysler UK, which was the name given to the former Rootes Group after its takeover by the American-based Chrysler Corporation . In particular, the Linwood facility was generating losses due to many reasons, including underutilised capacity. In 1975,
32870-431: Was independent and was used as the basis of the suspension of the first English Cooper racing cars in the 1940s that became successful in the 1950s. It had a four speed gearbox (when three was common) and all hydraulic brakes. It was a similar size to the Austin Seven but much more advanced. It was exported all over the world and produced at the NSU factory in Germany, Steyr-Puch in Austria and Simca in France. It
33060-441: Was invited to consult with Renault about the Renault 4CV. Lefaucheux was enraged that anyone should think the almost production-ready Renault 4CV was in any way inspired by the German Volkswagen , and that the politicians should presume to send Porsche to advise on it. The government insisted on nine meetings with Porsche which took place in rapid succession. Lefaucheux insisted that the meetings would have absolutely no influence on
33250-418: Was later discovered the largest reliable limit the 875cc engine would tolerate was 948cc, however in the absence of more development neither the 948cc engine nor the envisaged 928cc engine were used, the latter originally being proposed as early as the mid-1960s for a projected Mark III Imp that became a victim of Chrysler’s cost-cutting before it reappeared years later in the Chrysler Sunbeam . The Hillman Imp
33440-420: Was officially announced on 2 May 1963, when HRH Duke of Edinburgh was invited to open the factory in Linwood . After the opening, he then drove a silver Imp to Glasgow Airport . One of the first Imps produced is currently on display at the Glasgow Museum of Transport . Another early example from 1963 is at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu , with the registration 1400 SC. Before and after its announcement,
33630-442: Was only 1,905 millimetres (6 ft 3 in), and the track only 1,016 millimetres (40 in). Equally it was lighter - less than half the Ford's weight at 360 kilograms (794 lb). The engine required for adequate performance was therefore equally reduced and the 747 cubic centimetres (45.6 cu in) sidevalve was quite capable with a modest 7 kilowatts (10 bhp) output. It would also start to catch on in Japan during
33820-443: Was related to the German Ford Köln ), and Standard Eight (Standard, later became Triumph) were named after their RAC horsepower car tax rating. The Ford Model Y had replaced the Model A in Europe in 1932 and ran until 1937. It was a much smaller and lighter car, weighing one third less, with an engine two thirds smaller in capacity than the Model A. The basic Model Y 'Popular' was an important milestone in British economy cars, being
34010-409: Was replaced with four strokes in western economy cars by the 1960s, but lived on in stagnating and cash strapped Communist East Germany's Trabant and Wartburg and Communist Poland's FSO Syrena until the 1980s. In the late 1920s in Germany , Josef Ganz independent car engineer/inventor and editor of Motor-Kritik magazine had been a fierce opponent of the status quo of car design. He became
34200-449: Was shortened by 3 inches (76 mm), and some modifications were made to accommodate the 928 cc Coventry Climax -derived engine, an enlarged version of the 875cc unit used in the rear-engined Hillman Imp , also made in Linwood. Other than that, most components were identical to those of the Avenger. The car took its steering wheel and instrument pod from Chrysler's recently launched award-winning Simca 1307/Chrysler Alpine . On
34390-423: Was shown at the 1922 London Motor Show . An agreement was reached with Leyland Motors to produce the cars at their Kingston upon Thames factory where work on reconditioning ex RAF wartime trucks was running down. This arrangement would continue until 1928 when Leyland wanted factory space for truck production. During the nearly seven years of the agreement 11,000 cars and 6700 vans were made. The car known as
34580-403: Was shut down and the plant was sold to the General Tire and Rubber Company . In anticipation of a repeat of the post First World War economic recession, GM started the "Chevrolet Cadet" project (a compact car intended to sell for less than US$ 1,000 ), that ran from 1945 to 1947, to extend the Chevrolet range downwards in the U.S. new car market. Chevrolet head of engineering Earle S. MacPherson
34770-427: Was slightly longer with one additional window on each side and had a small seat for children or as luggage space in the back. This car was advertised as the German Volkswagen. During the early 1930s German car manufacturers one by one adopted the progressive ideas published in Motor-Kritik since the 1920s. In the meantime in May 1933, the Jewish Josef Ganz was arrested by the Gestapo on trumped up charges of blackmail of
34960-406: Was the 1901–1907 Oldsmobile Curved Dash - it was produced by the thousands, with over 19,000 built in all. It was inspired by the buckboard type horse and buggy, (used like a small two-seat pickup truck) popular in rural areas of the U.S. It had two seats, but was less versatile than the vehicle that inspired it. It was produced after a fire at the Oldsmobile plant, when the prototype was saved by
35150-413: Was to be a significant part of the demise of the Rootes Group . The Imp's commercial failure added to the major losses suffered by Rootes, although the main reasons for these losses were unresolved industrial unrest and the effects of the link with the Chrysler Corporation of the USA. The link was initiated by Lord (William) Rootes in 1964 as a partnership, but he died in October of that year and by 1967
35340-474: Was to be launched. Even though the C2-short programme was eventually scrapped, PSA did prepare their own version, the Talbot Samba (based on PSA's own front-wheel drive supermini, the Peugeot 104 ). The Samba was launched in 1981, signalling the time the Sunbeam would take its final bow. Even though the end was looming, the Sunbeam was afforded a facelift for its final 1981 model year, finally gaining flush headlamps along with an entire new front end, featuring
35530-421: Was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in April 1979, but the road-going version of the rally car was not ready for deliveries to the public until after the rebranding, and thus became the "Talbot Sunbeam Lotus". At first these were produced mostly in black and silver, although later models came in a moonstone blue and silver (or black) scheme. The car saw not only enthusiastic press reviews, but also much success in
35720-494: Was very advanced at the time. Sir Alec Issigonis , designer of the BMC's Mini, had recently described the fitting of synchromesh on all forward gears as "impossible". Besides the engine's unique design, it was canted at a 45° angle to keep the center of gravity low and optimise road-holding. As reported in tests such as The Practical Car and Driver , rear-engined cars generally suffer from oversteer handling characteristics to some extent, and to counteract that as much as possible,
35910-404: Was very sport-oriented, being stripped of equipment that would have compromised its performance (and image). It proved quite popular with reviewers and enthusiasts, and helped to emphasize the advantages of the Sunbeam's rear-wheel drive against more trendy (and spacious) front-wheel drive rivals. Chrysler had also commissioned the sports car manufacturer and engineering company Lotus to develop
36100-427: Was voted Car of the Century on December 18, 1999 in Las Vegas, Nevada. In 1929 Chevrolet replaced the 171 cu in (2.8 L) straight-4 engine that dated from 1913, with the 194 cu in (3.2 L) Stovebolt Six engine that was to last until the 1960s as Chevrolet's base engine. A few years later Ford developed the Model 18 with the 221 cu in (3.6 L) flathead V8 . The same car
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