Introduction
As well as the 2 RHD Imps imported from the UK, Alan Fraser built a small series of 4 other racing Imps for HH in their workshops in Tenerife. This is one of those cars.
• Condition: Running
• Procedence: Import
• Price: On demand
The Model
The Car
The Model
The Hillman Imp was designed by two young engineers, Mike Parkes and Tim Fry, as the answer to the all-conquering Austin/Morris Mini. This is the same Mike Parkes who went to Ferrari as an F1 and sports car driver, then to Lancia as a development engineer on the Stratos.
Parkes went to Coventry-Climax to supply the engine for the Imp, being the main supplier of racing engines at every level (including F1) in the UK at the time. No surprise that the Imp was soon the object of race tuners, inmediatly competitive in the 1 litre class.
The most famous tuner and official Rootes Group factory team in the British Touring Car Championship was Alan Fraser Racing. Based in Scotland and iconically featuring the scottish flag on the roof, the inmacualte preparation and presentation of the Fraser cars, driven by saloon car legends of the time such as Peter Harper, Tony Lanfranchini and Nick Brittain, made them became legends and ferocious competitors.
In a strange ending, in 1970 the Alan Fraser Team was invited to participate in an end of season race in Tenerife, Gran Canaria, taking its two Imp racers and a Sunbeam Tiger. Alan Fraser and Peter Harper both had houses on tenerife and connections with the Rootes Group’s importer/distributor HH. The cars were all sold to HH, and stayed competing in the Canary Islands for many years to come.
The Car
As well as the 2 RHD Imps imported from the UK, Alan Fraser built a small series of 4 other racing Imps for HH in theis workshops in Tenerife. This is one of those cars, built by Alan Fraser in period and always a race car, always painted in Alan Fraser Racing colors, entered by Equipo HH. It is not a replica, but a period car built by Alan Fraser Racing to it’s own specification.
Badged as a Sunbeam, the car has had 2 owners in its lifetime, its original driver and more recently an enthusiast friend who has rebuilt the car using all original components. It hardly needs saying that as a racing car which has lived in the Canary islands all its life, the Fraser is totally rust free.
The rebuild was both sympathetic and carried out to the highest standard, with a view to prepare the car for historic regularity rallies. To this end, it has been fitted with a passenger seat, timing equipment and road registered as a historic vehicle.
