Fancy a Cooper but on a budget? Try this for size! Just arrived here at Chuggaboom is this pretty Stiletto finished in Polar White with Blue Stripe featururing the all-alloy 875cc Imp-derived engine with twin carburettors. These little coupes are now quite rare and sought-after by the classic racing fraternity. Having driven it for the past few days as my local "hack" I can see why! Surprising performance, a wonderful gear-change, super-positive steering and great brakes. Huge fun in a small package.

Introduced in 1963, project Apex or the Imp as it became known was a compact, rear-engined saloon car built by the Rootes Group in direct competition to the BMC Mini already in production for 4 years. One of its key selling points was an all-alloy 875cc engine mounted in the rear; an engine developed by Rootes from a Coventry Climax fire pump engine that had enjoyed some success on the racing scene. Rootes made great play of this promoting the Imp Sport alongside a picture of the Vixen Imp, Formula Four Championship winner at that time. Three body styles were offered: saloon, coupe (Californian or Sunbeam Stiletto) and estate (Husky) and luxury was offered with the upmarket Singer Chamois with false front grille, twin headlights and upmarket interior. The success of the model demanded Rootes to invest further in aluminium technology and a new computerised assembly plant was built at Linwood near Glasgow employing thousands of former ship-yards workers. Sadly quality suffered and there were numerous strikes with 31 recorded stoppages in 1964 alone!

Our Stiletto was registered in July 1968 and whilst we know little of it`s early history the car was purchase in 2008 by a collector in Reading who subsequently fettled the car for a little light track use. Later bucket seats were added but other wise the car is largely original. Today it presents as the typical "mechanics car". The paint-work is bright albeit with some blemishes but under the boot (rear-engined, of course!) is where the little heart of this car lives. Free-revving and ready for action, the tuned 875cc is just a joy. Around the twisty lanes of West Wiltshire is where the Stiletto excels and genuinely its ability to embarrass much more modern machinery is grin-making.

The car comes with sundry bills and many old MOT Certificates as well as a current one to April 2013.

A little car with big smile factor. We love it!