How many of us can lay claim to knowing the designers of a car,not me for one but in days gone by car designers were seemingly part of a cars selling point,names like Colin Chapman of Lotus,Lofty England of Jaguar and of course Alex Issigonis of the Mini fame,must rank very high on anyones list.
The Rootes Car Co, (scotland) Hillman Imp.designed by Tim Fry and Mike Parkes,who was the chief engineer.
Tim was only 24 when he designed the Imp,Mike was 26 and already a well known Ferrari F1 driver.
I have known about the Imps designers for very many years but never knew how close I was to being able to meet Tim Fry,read below.
Tim Fry has a South African connection too,after his work was finished at the Rootes Car Co,he went on his own and started his own design company named Small Fry,it was quite sucessfull.
Tim and his wife Karin, moved to the Cape Town suberb of Mowbray,he designed his own home on an Autocad program which his wife told me he self taught himself to use.I only found out they had a home here after Tims death,his wife contacted me and drove through to Hout Bay with her daughter and some of Tims works for me to see.
That is as close as I ever got to meeting a famous car designer,well done Tim. Mike Parkes was sadly killed in a road car accident some years back.
www.smallfry.com
Tims Hillman Imp,I wonder where it is now?
R Mc B
The Rootes Car Co, (scotland) Hillman Imp.designed by Tim Fry and Mike Parkes,who was the chief engineer.
Tim was only 24 when he designed the Imp,Mike was 26 and already a well known Ferrari F1 driver.
I have known about the Imps designers for very many years but never knew how close I was to being able to meet Tim Fry,read below.
Tim Fry has a South African connection too,after his work was finished at the Rootes Car Co,he went on his own and started his own design company named Small Fry,it was quite sucessfull.
Tim and his wife Karin, moved to the Cape Town suberb of Mowbray,he designed his own home on an Autocad program which his wife told me he self taught himself to use.I only found out they had a home here after Tims death,his wife contacted me and drove through to Hout Bay with her daughter and some of Tims works for me to see.
That is as close as I ever got to meeting a famous car designer,well done Tim. Mike Parkes was sadly killed in a road car accident some years back.
www.smallfry.com
History
Smallfry was founded in 1971 by Anthony Smallhorn and Tim Fry (hence our name). Tim designed the Hillman Imp motor car (which challenged the Mini) whilst in his early twenties. He went on to head the Advanced Engineering and Advanced Styling teams at the Chrysler Rootes Group before setting up his own design consultancy
Tims Hillman Imp,I wonder where it is now?
R Mc B
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