 | The Killeen CarsThe story of Tom E. Killeenand his K-Series cars. |
 Next: Fraser Le Mans GT Previous: K8 (?,?) |
| The Killeen CarsThe story of Tom E. Killeenand his K-Series cars. |
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Next: Fraser Le Mans GT Previous: K8 (?,?) |
This chapter also shows the sort of design work going on by the third largest of British car manufacturers in comparison to Tom's inspirational by small volume creations. This story has never before been fully told.
In 1962, a meeting took place between representatives of the Rootes Group and Jensen Motors Limited. The possibility of manufacturing a true sports version of the Hillman Imp was discussed. The Imp was launched on 3rd May 1963, but had been in development since 1959. An Imp based sports car had originally been suggested by Craig Miller who was chief engineer at Rootes. It was code named the Apex and had been designed by Tim Fry and styled by Bob Saward with finishishing touches by Ron Wisdom all of whom had worked on the original Imp project. On the Jensen team was the consultant designer Tom Killeen, who had his own rather radical ideas about small sports cars and was later involved in a number of his own Imp engined designs, in particular the K19 Scorpion and its prototype the K18 Mirage. ]This is speculation and needs proof.] Jensens were already taking on sub-contract work for BMC manufacturing the Austin Healey body and carrying out assembly of the Sunbeam Tiger for Rootes. For this reason they were asked to undertake a design study of the Asp (at the time referred to as Project Apex-B2) on the basis of producing 500 units per week. The car was to be made of steel and fitted with either the standard 875cc Imp power unit or a larger 998cc version.
The Asp was however not a monocoque, despite Killeen's patents and strong opinions on this subject. The chassis consisted of a perimeter frame with a steel member down each side which rose up towards the rear of the car to meet a rear transam similar to that on the Imp. The Imp suspension was used unmodified at both the front and the rear, but in the form which was to be later applied to the Mk II Imps in 1964.
Some time later in 1971 a true fibreglass monocoque, the Clan Crusader, came out designed by ex. Lotus engineers. The Ginetta G15 of 1967 by the Walklett Brothers had a similar chassis to that proposed for the Asp but had Triumph Spitfire front suspension with unequal length twin wishbones.
The specialist body makers, Williams and Pritchard of North London made the original Apex steel body, and were asked to produce a set of moulds so that the car could be made from reinforced glass fibre as an alternative. Fortuitously Len Pritchard had previous association with Climax engined cars, since he had produced a number of special alloy bodies, for example a Mark 6 Lotus which was designed by Peter Kirwan-Taylor, designer of the Elite. The first Elite prototypes were constructed in a workshop owned by Williams and Pritchard.
Like the early Imp prototype, the Asp was subjected to extensive tests at the Motor Industry Research Association (MIRA) wind tunnel during 1964 and 1965. These were ordered by Ken Sharpe and Leo Kuzmicki. Among other design decisions, the optimum position of the outlet duct for the front radiator was determined to be at the top rather than underneath. A 1/4 size scale model was used, just as for the Imp Saloon (see photos in Geoffrey Rootes' Dream for Linwoood by R.J. Allan (Bookmarque Publishing 1992)). A drag coefficient of 0.312 was measured on the model which was equivalent to 0.34 on the full size car due to size scaling effects and small inaccuracies in modelling, especially around the underside. With the hard top removed on the full sized car the predicted drag coefficient lept up to 0.45 with the same frontal area of 15.04 square feet. Experiments were also made to determine the best position and size of the heater air intake, and for the position of the oil cooler in the engine compartment.
[where is the Asp model used at MIRA ?]
[original press photo, Coventry Museum]
[new photos Classic Cars feb'94]
Extensive road testing was also done at MIRA, under cover of darkness to avoid unwanted rumours appearing in the motoring press.
The Asp contained a number of innovative features. It had pop up headlights which, although available on some larger sports cars, were somewhat a novelty at the lower end of the car market. Tim Fry had moreover specified that they should be vacuum driven so that they would be faster in operation than if an electric motor were used. That wouldn't have presented any particular difficulties, but apparently the engineers and testers considered it to be ``a plumber's nightmare''. The prototype car's engine is reported to have been originally a 998cc liner less aluminium one (see the Henshaw brothers' book APEX - the inside story of the Hillman Imp). This used deep cast iron piston rings which ran directly on the aluminium bores. It was an idea developed by an engineering firm in Bath. To keep the engine cool, given that such a car was expected to be driven at high speeds, a large front radiator was installed.
It is believed that only one prototype Asp sports car was ever made. This was a convertible one, but there was also a full scale mockup of a hardtop one [T&CC 1982 pp27-29] [???]. The prototype car was painted in British racing green, and allegedly given a Ferrari badge on the front to confuse photographers. Tim Fry recorded that the car was quite fast - almost certainly because of its reduced weight as compared to the Imp.
Photos from Coventry Transport Museum [check]
For possible additional information see Scrimp below.
[T&CC 1982 pp27-29]
[photo Impressions rear cover 6/99, APX 193]
[same car Impessions front cover 9/99]
The Asp project continued until the end of 1966, but was dropped after only two cars were built [probably only one] (one hardtop and one open), due to lack of resources. Feedback from America furthermore indicated that it would have been too small to compete in the country of Detroit monsters. Sales of the Lotus Elite in the USA were very slow for similar reasons. It is a great pity that the design was not taken up by an independent specialist manufacturer, as it would almost certainly have been a successful small sports car for the home market and southern Europe.
The body moulds which had been made by Williams and Pritchard were in fact sold to the Alan Fraser racing team. There were close contacts between Fraser and Rootes and it was thought at the time that he might put the car into production. This never happened, but a Group 6 racing car (K9) was being built by Fraser around the same time to another design by Tom Killeen. Some might say this bore a passing resemblance to the Asp. It may more correctly have been born from a relationship accidentally brokered by Rootes and Jensens.
Figure: Morris Evans test drives the Asp.
The prototype convertible Asp was taken to Tenerife by Alan Fraser when he left the world of performance cars and, after running an F5000 team for two years, took up running an animal sanctuary. He also took with him a Gp 6 Imp and a Tiger - all distant memories of his tremendous achievements for the Rootes Group. The Asp there underwent a number of small changes. The photograph shows the remaining Asp now owned by a motoring journalist, Christian Manz, in Portugal in 1992. It is registered TF-27472, is still painted British racing green, has Minilite wheels and racing number 5 on the sides.
[photo of Asp in Portugal/ now Madrid ?]
[drawing of Asp in Henshaw's book p123]
[some more photos of design studies from Bob Saward]
Specification:
[Note: 10/10/2011 Ben Boult mentioned a connection with Airflow of Northampton. Need to follow this up]
This car was built by a company called Wilkinson Automotive Developments in Hertfordshire in 1965-66. It was commissioned by Alan Fraser with a view to producing a production sports car built from Rootes components. Apparantly Alan Fraser had commisioned several prototypes at this time, his chosen car was designed by Tom Killeen, and was K9.
This is what Neil Beadle (Colchester, England) told Franka Steinhuis 21/6/2011. He is looking for more information about this Imp based prototype car a friend of his built in the mid-1960's. He answered Franka's questions and gave her permission to put these photos on my site for the purpose of gaining information.
Scrimp was a nickname given to the car by Mr. Wilkinson, it was never an official name, I don't think the car ever had a proper name. Yes, Mr. Wilkinson who built the car is a very good friend of mine.
Mr. Wilkinson had a small number of staff working for him at the time as far as I know. I will ask him for more details when I see him next.
The car was delivered to Mr. Fraser as a non runner, as far as I know. One of his engine people made the engine run backwards as the Imp engine and box was reversed in the car (i.e mid-engined instead of rear engined).
The car has a steel monocoque chassis with aluminium panels. It was British Racing Green.
The wheels I think are Hillman Imp, although I may be wrong. The rear lights were Hillman Hunter. I think the brief was to use as much from the Rootes parts bin as possible. I will ask Mr. Wilkinson more about where the parts came from when I see him.
Mr. Wilkinson and I would love to know what happened to the car. It does seem as if no one has heard of it.
Robin Human noted in Aug'2011: Mr Fraser referred to this car as the 'CUB'. Robin supposes this was because it was Alan Fraser's ``small'' car project compared to his other Monster Tigers. Robin believes the car ended up in Tenerife along with some of the Imps and Tigers.
[Information provided in my Fraser History book material]
Other information indicates that the convertible Asp project, code named Cub, was radically different from the original Imp based idea. It was to have a mid-mounted engine. Like K9 (see next chapter) the car would be used in long distance driving and there were worries about the durability of an inverted Imp transaxle. It was therefore decided to run an Imp engine backwards, which required a special camshaft and drive for the oil pump. The job was contracted to Ian Carter who was an Imp engine epscialist. Another problem was with the suspension layout and it has been suggested that the de Dion rear suspension from K9 was modified to fit the Cub.
An interesting account of this project was published on Franka's Web site in 2011: html://.../scrimp.html. Because I currently have no further information, the text follows almost verbatim.
The car was built by a company called Wilkinson Automotive Developments in Hertfordshire in 1965-66. It was commissioned by Alan Fraser with the view to producing a production sports car built from Rootes components. Apparantly Alan Fraser had commisioned several prototypes at this time, his chosen car was designed by Tom Killeen.
This is what Neil Beadle (Colchester) told Franka on 21/6/2011. He [Wilkinson] is looking for more information about this Imp based prototype car a friend of his built in the mid 1960's.
``Scrimp'' was a nickname given to the car by Mr Wilkinson, it was never an official name, I don't think the car ever had a proper name.
Yes, Mr Wilkinson who built the car is a very good friend of mine.
Mr. Wilkinson had a small number of staff working for him at the time as far as I know. I will ask him for more details when I see him next.
The car was delivered to Mr. Fraser as a non runner, as far as I know. One of his engine people made the engine run backwards as the Imp engine and box was reversed in the car (i.e mid engined instead of rear engined).
The car has a steel monocoque chassis with aluminium panels. It was British Racing Green.
The wheels I think are Hillman Imp, although I may be wrong. The rear lights were Hillman Hunter. I think the brief was to use as much from the Rootes parts bin as possible. I will ask Mr. Wilkinson more about where the parts came from when I see him.
Mr. Wilkinson and I would love to know what happened to the car. It does seem as if no one has heard of it.
Robin Human in Aug'2011 noted the following.
