Engine Punk

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 do...

Could this be the last surviving Siva Mule? (Photo : Johnathan Twyneham) Before the Hillman Imp-based Siva Llama was the even rarer Mini-based Siva Mule. This particular one is a survivor that belonged, about 12 years ago to a young chap called Jonathan Twyneham. I've lost touch with him but would really like to know if this car made it back on to the road. I remember he was having lots of problems getting the thing to go but as it's Mini-based that shouldn't prove a problem. It's the rare Siva Mule bits that are important and this car looks largely complete - except for the headlights. Headlights are a sore point for me. My Llama has rectangular Mk1 Escort units fitted to the outside of the bodywork, not neatly flush fitted as in the photos. Even with this lash up, the bulbs are wedged up against the inner wing. It's obvious that the Llama was designed to have much shallower headlamp units and when I come to do my body off restoration of my Llama...

I was looking for a better picture of a GP Centron (I'm sure I've got one somewhere) but found this instead. It was taken at the Kit Car Show at Stoneleigh in c.1984 when I was a student at Coventry (Lanchester) Polytechnic (now Coventry University). I have the vaguest of feelings that a Centron turned up at the same show but if I took a photo of it I can't lay my hands on it. Written on the back of the print (in crayon) is VW Special - a state of the art statement of the obvious - and that's all I know about. But what sort of VW Special?. Someone's gone to a lot of trouble over this, which I'm sure is a one off. Okay it's ugly, but it's practical. Those are Beetle side windows and that's a Beetle windscreen. The front headlamps could be off a Mk1 Escort as they look suspiciously like those on my Siva Llama. I wonder about those doors. How are they hinged? Why is the handle down so low? Could it be that they are gull wing doors? If anyone anywher...

Some black and white publicity photos of the Siva Llama turned up on eBay a few weeks ago. I watched them after being tipped off about them by Graeme Pearson the editor of the Imp Club magazine. I didn't bid but they've found a good home though because they now appear on Franka's site. The registration of the car depicted is a new one on me. I have a short list of known cars and hope that this one is an unknown survivor. There's something that inspires camaraderie between the owners of obscure motor cars. At the ARCC (Association of Rootes Car Clubs) Rally at Blenheim Palace in 2000, I met an affable chap from the Clan Crusader owners club called Jim McEwan. I was attending with my Siva Llama at that particular show and he was fascinated by it. Jim was the club historian for the Clan Crusaders and we had a long and enthusiastic talk. Over the next 18 months or so, he sent me a number of articles that featured a Siva Llama. These weren't just photocopies -- th...

It's happened again. Each time I blog about Siva Llama's, another one turns up. I stated on VT 22.1 that the total of known survivors was 4. Well I was wrong. There are in fact 5.  This Portugese Siva Llama looks remarkably well looked after This example features on Franka’s website which is well worth visiting if just for all the information on the many Imp specials that exist. She has even tracked down information on the Whomobile, Dr Who's hover car that was really an Imp powered trike underneath some 1970's space age glass fibre. Thanks for digging up this splendid example of a Siva Llama, Franka.  The rear tailgate looks like a professional moulding and the thick rubber seal would suggest its window is glass. It was spotted by an “Imp enthusiast from Porto , Portugal ” in the town of Porto near the gardens of “Palácio de Cristal” ( Crystal Palace ), on 25th April 2008 . It’s a very smart van version like mine although mine doesn’t have a tai...

As found it looked a little forlorn but compare with the "after" picture below. Photo Tony Suckling It seems that just by writing about something I really stir things up. If you follow my Anarchadia book blog you'll know that real life is starting to follow the fictional world of The Horsepower Whisperer and The Wormton Lamb and probably rejoiced to hear that - from now on - all my books will feature brilliantly sunny weather. Well, now I'm stirring things up with Vintage Things. I blog about them and more come out of the wood work. If ever I fit ICE to my Llama I'll need speakers that big. Photo Tony Suckling This Siva Llama belongs to a doctor who has owned the car from new. He’s commissioned Tony Suckling in Kent to get the car going again and, through the wonders of the interweb, Tony found me to ask a few questions about Siva Llamas. It’s a 1975 car so a few months younger than mine and it looks like it’s the same colour. Mine’s been resprayed but...

Unlike previous Vintage Things, I've actually got one of these. I've had my Siva Llama for a few years now and it's currently awaiting removal of the body to allow the chassis to be shot blasted. It's a van variant - would you believe - and I've got all the hardtops and doors. It's just that it wasn't very well put together when it was built and somebody cut windows into the van sides. This wouldn't have been a problem if they'd got the measurements right. On one side they cut the hole too big and riveted in a strip to fill a gap of about 2 cm. They must have got this strip out of the bit they'd just removed. I bet the language was choice. I'm not sure how I'll deal with this when respray time beckons. Anyway, I never bothered with the doors or hardtops. It was always sunny wherever I went and the people always smiled and waved so I never felt the need. Don't judge this claim by the accompanying photos. Some of them might look ...