DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Stock dual circuit master cylinder. 19.05mm. There is also a larger bore “high performance” version at 20.64mm but I kept the stock item.

I got given some door cards in the rare red/black combo which are in much better condition than what's in the car.

Cool.

So my new years eve was spent cleaning them up and swapping them over.

Party animal!

You can see that sorry state of what's on the car. Quite rippled, stained and the black insert on the drivers side has been making a break for it..







I cleaned the new ones up. They are not perfect but much better. A bit warped from the hardboard having been wet at some point. I gave them a tweak here and there, sat a weight on them overnight while damp etc.





Then swapped them over. Much better!!





While in a tidying mood I masked and applied more glue to some of the vinyl in the footwell that hadn't stuck properly..



Then a job I have been putting off. New leds for the speedo and rev counter. As much as I liked the quirkyness of the rainbow effect led lighting I initially installed I soon grew bored with it and wanted something more in keeping. They were also insanely bright which I had soon discovered was not ideal for night driving. So a few weeks ago I had fitted the led controller in place. I could now dim them using a remote and this improved matters. I could also set them to flash mode - ideal for drivers with epilepsy

But the rainbows still had to go. I had searched aliexpress for really thin flexible led strip in green and found something suitable. It was time to pull the two gauges out and swap the leds.





All re-installed. Its hard to get a good clear shot on my phone but they look great and much smarter. I now need to get a green bulb or cover for the oil gauge.



So that's this year over for updates

Next year I'm planning on machining up a new plastic bush for the top of the steering column as the existing worn one has a touch of slop and rattles on rough surfaces. I also want to make a new gear knob that screws in place rather then the push fit original item that's a bit loose.

It has been a very interesting year to follow you and the car, thanks for the efforts!

Wishing you and your wife a happy New Year (you are possibly there already?) and a very healthy 2026.

Retropower have been commissioned by Gordon Murray to build a motorbike engined Imp. Will be interesting to see their approach and what engine/gearbox they pick.

Your car got a brief mention on the latest Smith and Sniff podcast.

Haha so cool eh. I've had a few people mention this now and I've since been chatting to Jonny about it.

As for retro power.. Yeah will be interesting to see what they choose. Gordon will have no shortage of cash to let them throw at it!

Inspired by the pursuit for exceptional quality sound system that a friend of mine has been working on in his Jag Xjs I have decided I to put some serious time and effort into my own setup.

I started with some alloy I cut and bent to shape. Drilled some holes. Welded bits together and sifted through my collection of large O-rings (often saved from customers oil filter changes - very useful strong O-rings)





The alloy was shaped to suit a cylinder which is held tight by an O-ring at each end.



This cylinder was nothing less than a mighty Ultimate Ears UE Boom 3 Bluetooth speaker system !!!

The mount is bolted via a rivnut to the dash support and tucks away neatly.



Barely visible but within easy reach.



It actually sounds really good. The bass is better than you might expect and this is a fine stepping stone until I sort out a bigger system in the future. Most of the time I have the window down listening to the exhaust notes anyway.

Finally - this photo makes me giggle. Two classic Honda powered machines. The Honda Big Red would not even be considered a large quad bike these days.

Been building bikes, too?

Oooooohhhhh yes - it's lovejoy that! I'd seen it when it was doing the rounds on the socials.

Two bits of exciting news. .

Firstly - I've bought a Honda goldwing bike. £500 I couldnt refuse. It's fantastic, if slightly scary fun. I've not ridden bikes properly since my only bike I've owned in the UK, a 125cc Honda for commuting.

But it's surprisingly very easy to ride once I learn to ignore the 400kg weight! it shrinks cud handles beautifully. So bloody fast though. Too fast for this learner so I'm taking it easy for now and really dialling in the low speed skills.

Secondly...

This little imp has been featured by Hemmings in the states...

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/the-im ... qWsKK25YTA

That's a BIG BIKE! 400Kg....
Article is a gem, a really nice precis of your endeavours.

Cheers. Yes its well written with lots of detail eh!

Back in the early 70's we had a few good adventures in Imps, esp early early blats to Santa Pod to do the weekends of drag racing, and fast scoots to north Wales, have a pint and back even quicker.

The 70's in the UK were years of freedom it feels.

8000 rpm engine rebuilds (frequent), squat suspension and crappy crossply tyres added a lot too, always good to see an Imp in the UK and here, farther afield; we didn't have the money for much else. (apprentices)

Have to say, this thread has been one of the most enjoyable ones here on DDK for me, thanks for the effort, i know how much time they take.

It's great to hear folk enjoy the read of this little 'baby 911' considering it's not a real porsche

I hear so often from folk when our and about that their first car was an imp. Basically the cheapest car you could get. But pretty amazing stock setup and tuning potential for a car that was so cheap at the time and are actually still very very cheap to buy!

The original Imp gear knob is a push fit onto the gear stick and has always been quite easy to twist off. The loose feeling is a bit off putting when driving spiritedly and I've been wanting to make a threaded knob for ages. This first one is temporary as I have plans for a different style in the future.

I removed the gear stick which is a 2 minute job from inside the car. Into the lathe and I threaded it with a die.

Some 50mm stainless bar was then machined as closely to a sphere as I could freehand.





Got it pretty round and polished it smooth. Came up good.



Much weightier than the original plastic item and the shift really does seems to benefit from that bit of mass. So much nicer to handle.



On Friday night there was a big classic car cruise before a weekend of shows. We met up at a local hall about a half hours drive from ours. A mate had his Impala along. Lovely car. A little bit bigger..



Car cruise was bloody amazing. Huge amount of people lined the roads on the 45km circuit. Families were out with the sofas on the front lawns, sofas on the pavements, farmers sat on their tractors, farm trucks, 4wds on roadsides, a whole retirement home was out on folding chairs, painted signs, school kids cheering, loads of fruit orchard workers with tables out of their various accommodations, chilling out with music, young couples in the evening sun drinking wine etc. It was such a great turnout. I'm amazed.

I was also blown away at the response from people over the little Imp. I guess it really stood out in a cruise that was predominantly big Aussie or American cars and hot rods. So many older folk jumping with joy and shouting out "its a Hillman Imp!!! "

I wish I'd got Hannah to take more photos. These are screenshots from one short video she took..







After the cruise it was off to Coastal town of Mapua for fish and chips. Got this cool shot. The Valiant that parked next to us was once considered a big car but not really any more it seems.



On the Saturday we went to the Nelson car show. Really good eclectic mix. This shot is an example..



One of my favourite cars at the show was this Corolla. They used to be everywhere when I was a teen. This is the first one I've seen in ages and pretty damn clean too.