Vintage Thing No.133 - the Impaler

Also known as the Batmobile, the Impaler polarises opinion. Most people "get it", but a minority hated it. This just serves to prove that even in the 21st century there are a few people still without a sense of humour.

Without the Imp behind it you could be forgiven for thinking the Impaler is mahoosive

The Impaler - also for obvious reasons known as the Batmobile -  was owned a few years ago by the likeable Hughes family from East Lancashire. They bought as a running car but there was a lot wrong with it when they got it. The engine was sealed into the bodywork so inaccessible for maintenance. Fortunately, Paul runs a drag racing V8 Imp (more of that another time maybe) and by the time this car graced the scene at the 2011 Imp National Rally in Bangor, North Wales, it was quite useable - if not entirely practical.

Next time I'll get a less cluttered background but at least you can see how small it is

Apart for the walling up of the engine, whoever created the Impaler in its original guise knew what they were doing.

Rolling sculpture

The bonnet is a scarily organic medley of Imp and Morris Minor, all accomplished in steel, and the heavily frenched headlamps are mounted at the end of what we believe to have been old fire extinguishers.

Those really are Cadillac fins

The tail fins are from a '59 Cadillac and the roof is from an Austin Westminster, which presumably means there's a convertible one of those running around somewhere...

The driver's side door was fittingly of the suicide variety (i.e. hinged at the rear) and the sunroof was necessarily always open if you wanted to drive it because of the lack of headroom.

"And so we say goodbye to our super heroes in their Impaler, capes fluttering over the cunningly fashioned cape rack."

The cut down windscreen was perspex and was technically a flyscreen anyway as you looked over it rather than through it. A Batman and Robin outfit for the crew was advisable - some might even say necessary.

The engine and running gear were all Hillman Imp so it should have been great fun to drive although I forgot to ask how heavy it was - being all steel I'd guess it's heavier than standard.

As night falls, the Impaler looks even more sinister

The Impaler is one of those cars that the more you study it the more you see and is a bad ass motorcar with more attitude and road presence than its modest dimensions normally allow.