We are pleased to announce that a Proteus 106 sailing catamaran will be built in South Africa soon.

The order means we are now sourcing the required okoume marine plys required and should have them here in about a month?

http://ckdboats.blogspot.com/2013/12/proteus-106-catamaran-build-details.html

This order is the plys and MDF removable stations, plus epoxy, the customer will supply his own meranti wood and glass cloth himself, shipping as a flat pack of CNC cut plys and boxed 25ltr drums of epoxy is then easy for us.

The program will be updated as we proceed.

Plans and detailed design information can be sourced from Angelo Lavranos at www.lavranosyachtdesign.co.nz

lavranos@ihug.co.nz

Hillman Imp engine number 1574 dated 1963

Todays picture shows a very early example of the Imps overhead camshaft design as taken from the lead from Coventry Climax (stickers in stock).  At just 875cc and this motor still is on that standard bore, there was plenty of power for a car that weighed just 710kgs.

There were around 440,000 Imps made between 1963 and 1974 so this really is an early unit.

Click on the image to enlarge.

The engine was rebuilt using stock parts to underline that the engine (this one) is now fifty (50) years old, once upon a time fifty seemed to be old but that's not the case anymore? This actual motor was gifted to me but in such a dirty condition that it took two days just to wash the dirt off with water soluable cleaner. Then another two days in the bead blaster cabinet until we had the parts looking as close to new as they can be.

In truth the sum of the parts were good, new piston rings and crank bearings, gaskets and so on soon had the engine on its way to what we can see today but it was still a weeks intensive work.

This engine design was just the ticket for tuning shops, so much so that the Rootes Competitions shop started producing their own kits, then moved into the larger 998cc bored engine.

See if this link will open for you, there are a great selection of Imps in it, many I have been involved with .

https://www.google.co.za/search?q=hillman+imp+cape+town&client=firefox-a&hs=saB&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=np&tbm=isch&imgil=Fwx3Aa7LxR8K2M%253A%253Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fencrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com%252Fimages%253Fq%253Dtbn%253AANd9GcSE9ERz8m3TXLZeSomGTf6bUjINm9oGkv5p0ZQG4gfNAOE1zL84UA%253B510%253B340%253BxKMVSBbJvHN6UM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fblogs.timeslive.co.za%25252Fwheeldeal%25252F2013%25252F03%25252F25%25252Fthis-hillman-imp-is-driving-from-joburg-to-coventry%25252F&source=iu&usg=__beLzrw8BjrYiO0DAPrZxXu_Qzow%3D&sa=X&ei=K9tUU-GEJqjC7Aa32YCwDg&ved=0CHcQ9QEwDA

Roy

Henry the pigeon checks out progress

Henry was a part of the family, he even slept in his own room but as we know kids and pigeons soon grow up and the lad flew off when he was fully grown.

Click on the picture to enlarge it.

Henry was free as long as he lived with us, with doors and windows open he could and did follow us around the house and in my case into the workshop.

He is checking out the new side window rubber just fitted, Imported and quality, worth the effort and the cost.

With the 1971 Hillman Imp Deluxe Mk3  we are now re building well on the way to a new paint job, we have a full set of window rubbers on order.

Roy

Singer Chamois Sport barn find

I am looking for such a car, ok this one is not in a barn, looks more like garage turned junk store?
This one is near complete with just one piece of stainless body trim on the engine cover missing.

This one looks quite good for its age, the licence plate tells me its from year 1967, so would be 47 years old right now. Hillman Imp versions will also be considered.

With or without engine and mechanicals!

Roy