substitution

sub panel repair process

sub panel repair patch

sub panel, RHS upper face, rotted edge

sub panel has been fully blasted and primed. doesn’t look so horrific now!

severely corroded part of sub panel shown on top of standard Hillman Imp rear seat folding panel. profiles of ribs almost identical.

3 ribs worth of metal removed from standard seat back to adapt for repair section for sub panel

welding not complete but basic shape and fit correct. top face hasn’t been sandblasted yet either.

new metal let in on LHS. managed to save outer edge of original panel too : )

sub panel, RHS upper face, rotted edge

sub panel, RHS upper face, rotted edge

repair patch for sub panel

sub panel repair patch

sub panel repair process

sub panel repair process

 As mentioned in earlier posts (first you will need & mind that gap) I was sandblasting the ‘sub-panel’ prior to welding in new metal. I thought this would all need to be shaped by hand but right in front of me was a solution. I bought the rear end of a scrap Hillman Imp many years ago to get the wheelarch panels to replace the corroded ones on my Imp. Well this purchase included the folding part of the rear seat. The covering is not there but the metal panel has ribbed sections almost exactly like those on the sub-panel. I need about 3 ribs worth on each side and have cut a section out to use as a repair on the most corroded side of the sub panel.

dashed dreams

After all the pictures of rust it may be a relief to see something a bit more aesthetically pleasing….

As touched on in The Story my Imp had a few non standard features as well as the body mods. It has rather a nice little wooden dashboard housing some auxiliary clocks. I don’t have any ‘before’ pics apart from the one taken from outside through the passenger door aperture but here are some of the restored item.

It is not perfect but – considering parts of the veneer were missing and a strip which I found lying in the footwell was re-used – I am pleased with the results. I spent many hours working on this (some time in the early nineties) and initially thought it was only fit for the bin. The black marks are where dampness had discoloured the wood and some parts would not sand out : (   It has been stored under my bed in bubble wrap for years and the varnish might have faded somewhat but I can;t be sure. I used Rustin’s two pack furniture varnish for it and thought it was a great product.

As with the ‘sub panel’ this is a one off part but could be replicated without too much difficulty so further down the line I’ll provide exact dimensions in case anyone would like to copy it.

some black stains that can't be sanded out. 2 screw holes on glove box door apparently held a little plaque re the conversion

glovebox door had fallen off but is solid wood rather than ply so refurbished well. black stain in centre of aperture wouldn't sand out but I wanted to preserve as much of original dash as I could.

 

 

 

this end was most badly damaged. top part of veneer from handle back was rescued from debris on floorpan. piece borrowed from back of dash for veryical section

 

still have the 4 central guages but large one in glove-box door long sine gone - a clock perhaps?

 

this end was less damaged than the glove-box end

mind that gap

half an Imp!

 

 

These shots show where the ‘sub-panel’ pictured in ‘first you will need….’ would fit on an Imp. This is not my Pick-up, its half an Imp I use as a paint tins store. It is stood up on its end. The shots show how the panel bridged the gap where the rear seat would be thereby bringing the area flush with the existing rear parcel shelf……

As mentioned before I am currently cleaning this panel up, it will then be repaired and I’ll move on repairing panels in the reverse order to which the Pick-Up was originally constructed. That’s the plan anyway.

the sun sets on my past

A final image for time being. Hopefully this sun setting heralds a new dawn for LBW 245E.

 

pre digital memories

After the last instalment’s boring pictures here are some ‘money shots’ ;  ]

 

the vendor’s mother was glad to see the Imp leave

I love this view

journey home in Nov 88. had to change truck to full lift from suspended tow as front wheel bearing blew

this view not quite so attractive. Note terrible sill repairs

another Batmobile like profile

my friend John looks concerned back in June 00

my car also had modification made to interior – I managed to repair this dash!

picking up the unknown quantity from the vendor’s house in Paisley Scotland Nov 88

rear end looks like Batmobile

 

 

 

 

first you will need…..

Hi world. I will go into a lot more detail over the coming weeks and years about the history of this car but tonight I thought I’d start with the first body panel you would need to create to make a copy of the only genuine Hillman Imp pick-up in the world. My little car was built by the Rootes Competition Dept in England in ’65 & ’66 and registered for the road in early ’67. The starting point was a 1965 Mk1 Hillman Imp Deluxe – chassis no. B419094536 HSO – which was transormed into a little pick-up style vehicle by cutting away the rear half of the roof & the rear pillars then inserting a metal floor for the load carrying area and closing of the cab area with another metal panel.

 The first problem the builders would have encountered was creating something to span the area in front of the rear wheel arches to raise it to the same level as the existing load area behind the rear seats. Well the pictures below show this panel which is severely corroded at the edges but can be repaired. I am currently blasting the rust of it and intend to repair this first then work back repairing the body in the same sequence the artisans who built the car might have used.     

 

 

load area sub panel

load area sub panel

underside of ‘load area sub panel’