The Rootes Group: A Brief American History | Collections

[@vladgladkov237]

Thank for video

[@AutoAtlantica]

Thanks for watching!

[@rrshadow2]

Wow! I've never seen a Cricket with rostyle wheel!

[@AutoAtlantica]

The owner loves Rostyles. Some Avenger models in the UK had them and he wanted to recreate that look.

[@markhealey9409]

Very interesting history of Rootes,Chrysler UK,etc. I was very surprised to learn that Imps were briefly sold in the US! I never saw any there when I lived in Pennsylvania from 1972. Do you know which years Imps were sold there? I remember seeing quite a few mid 60s Hillman Minxes in the State College,PA area,in the 70s.

[@AutoAtlantica]

Yes, the Imp was briefly sold here I know of one or two survivors.

[@andrewwmacfadyen6958]

There wasn't a problem with quality the issue that caused the Imps decline in sales after two years it was cylinder head gasket failures. There were other issues such as the clutch was too small in the early cars and the lack of lubrication points for the steering king pins but these were rectified before the MK2 was introduced in 1966. The head gasket failure issue was similar to that MG-ROVER would encounter with the Rover K engine. It probably could have been fixed (it was on Imp engines built for racing) but Rootes didn't have money and Chrysler wouldn't spend the money.

[@AutoAtlantica]

And those are major quality issues. To make matters worse, Rootes Group cars simply weren’t engineered to cope with climate extremes in the U.S.