Imp and the Impossible
By LESLIE ADRIAN
IN an outburst of imitation which the two pioneers, Citroen (since 1932) and BMC (since 1959), must find uncomfortably flatter- ing, their rivals all over the world are suddenly introducing cars with front- wheel drive. German Ford got in first, though with a car which makes nothing of the potential compact- ness of this layout. Last autumn, Fiat's asso- ciate, Autobianchi, followed up with something much more like the BMC formula (east-west engine, short tail), and now Peugeot has joined in. Renault had already announced its second f.w.d. model, an ingenious cross between a
saloon and a station wagon. By the autumn, Triumph will have announced its own variation on the theme (the engine and drive unit will also be used later by Saab in Sweden). Simca is reported to be testing a new model, too, and even in the US the fashion is catching on; there are special engineering problems in building a high-powered car with f.w.d., but Oldsmobile is working on them.
This is an impressive list; and clearly the cus- tomers, especially in Europe, are of the same mind. The year 1965 has always been predicted as a bad one for cars in Europe, and is proving so. But while most manufacturers are in trouble (even Mercedes has lost sales), Citroen, without a sirtgle new model, is doing well, and so is German Ford. British Ford is losing European sales, but BMC is doing very well. Volkswagen, with its ageing rear-engined `Beetle,' is suffer- ing worst. They should try spelling it with an 'a.'
It is easy enough to argue for the new ortho- doxy—quick, safe cornering, 'a flat floor, lots of leg-room in a compact car, good performance in snow and mud; and the engineering complica- tions are, after all, the manufacturer's headache. Nor is it surprising that not only Volkswagen is in trouble. Neither Renault, with a much more modern rear-engined car, nor Rootes, which almost perversely ignored the new fashion with its Hillman Imp, are finding the going easy. A friend who has owned two f.w.d. cars and now drives an Imp, suggests that there are good argu- ments on the other side.
'From the driver's point of view,' he reports, 'it is a mixed bag. The cornering is not quite what I had before and the Imp does blow off course a bit in side winds. On the other hand, I get a tighter turning circle than is possible with f.w.d., the engine is quiet for a small car (though the tyre noise isn't), and the extra weight at the back gives good braking when the roads are slippery. My previous cars, with most of the weight on the front, were liable to skid. Incidentally, I fancy that the empty "box" at the front is also a safety factor—it would be a buffer in a head-on crash:
'But the real advantage of the Imp is what you can pack in it. We have three small children and two dogs; and we have found that the easiest way to drive small children a long way is asleep.
'In an ordinary saloon car, it simply can't be done. A station wagon seems the obvious answer; but with the seats folded, you have one flat space to stow children, dogs and luggage—which could be a lethal mixture in an emergency, unless you fit some gadget to tie the luggage down.
'But the Imp has a folding rear seat. We have added a strong plywood flap to extend the plat- form, and it makes an ample bed for the three of them. The floor is still clear for dogs, and there is still the boot in the nose (admittedly a small one) for one big suitcase and numerous oddments. Even with the seats up, there is a big trough in which we have found that a child ,—even the two smallest—will sleep happily on a folded eiderdown (it is just too narrow, alas, for a carrycot).
'Using all these variations, we find it easy to take the family, plus dogs and light luggage, awaY for a short stay. Last year we took the, family, less dogs, but with more luggage, to Rome. As I write we are just back from the Marne, where we drove with two extra adults—four in all, and three children—in tolerable discomfort, using a roof-rack.'
I imagine that a determined designer could build all these advantages into a front-engined car if he wanted to. Do car manufacturers want to, though? My friend, thinking innocently that it might help Rootes to sell a car which has been something of a marketing headache, told them what he had been able to do with it after one simple modification. They were both sur- prised and uninterested—a remarkable combina- tion, when you come to think about it.
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