Vintage Thing No.148 - the KNW Imposter

The KNW Imposter, in 1999 at Hatton Country World. It still sits on its Cobra slot alloy wheels.

The KNW Imposter was built by a chap called Keith Hawley using a Siva Llama chassis as a basis. The car was featured in the December 1977 edition of Hot Car magazine. It turned up on a trailer at the 1999 Imp Club National Rally at Hatton Country World where I also had my normal (normal?) Siva Llama.

Keith Hawley hailed from Coventry and must have had some involvement with the motor industry. At the time, obvious comparisons were made with the TR7 and he certainly had a good aesthetic sense. However the design pre-dates the TR7. The KNW Imposter was built in 1972.

He bought the bare chassis for £135 and since this used standard Imp running gear front and rear this meant he had an instant rolling chassis.

Making a one off body in fibreglass is no small undertaking. Keith made a plaster buck and then took moulds off that, after making a scale model. He used aluminium to make the doors and sills and adapted a windscreen wiper mechanism to operate the pop up headlights. At the rear, he used Ford Cortina light clusters.

Keith made aluminium bumpers, front and rear, and covered them in rubber. He built a hefty steel roll over loop into the targa roof frame and made a comprehensively equipped wood veneer dash panel. The interior was trimmed in red leather cloth and featured Targa Recliner seats. He retained the Imp steering rack mounted to the Llama chassis but used a Triumph column to get the lower steering wheel position.

It took him 15 months to complete and cost £1500.

I particularly liked the pop up headlamp mechanism and would be interested to know what involvement the Siva company had, if any, beyond providing the chassis. I expect there may have been some alterations to the Impish pedal box arrangements as well as the driver sits so much further back in the car.

At the show in 1999 the car was for sale but needed a lot of work. Hatton Country World is in Warwickshire so it hadn't strayed far from Coventry. I believe it has since changed hands. At other times known as the Imposter, it would probably need a body off the chassis resto but would certainly be worth doing.

I parked my Llama next to it but couldn't find the owner to speak to

What struck me at the time was how well proportioned it was. It's physically a very small car but you don't know it until you get close to it and you could be forgiven for thinking it was front engine like the TR7.

As for performance, it probably didn't weigh much more than a Llama and had better aerodynamics. With a decent Imp engine in its tail

For more photos and info on this car see the Imps4ever site.

My passing thought is - did Harris Mann know about this car when he did his sketches for the TR7?