LightAuto
A Simple History of the Rear Engined Passenger
car
Part Six.
Volkswagen introduced the 1500 in 1961. Based
on general design of the Beetle platform but with a completely new body.
The other big difference was the 1493cc engine was more compact allowing
it to be located under a boot or locker at the rear, this being in addition
to the one at the front of the car. Before it was superseded by the 1600
in 1965 nine hundred and forty thousand had been produced. The main differences
between the 1500 and the 1600 were an enlarged engine at 1584cc and disc
brakes at the front for the 1600. The rear suspension of the 1600 was revised
to semi-trailing swing axles in 1967. One point eight million were produced
by 1973 when it was discontinued.
Volkswagen
1500
The fourth and last mass produced Renault
model was the R8 of 1962. This was the year after the first front wheel
drive Renualt the R4 was introduced. The R8 had a box like body shape,
and mechanically was very similar to the Floride and Caravelle but with
a 956c.c. engine, also disc brakes were fitted all round. One point three
million R8's were produced by 1971 when Renualt ceased making rear engined
saloons.
Renault
R8
The year following Renualt's introduction
of their last rear engined saloon. Hillman introduced Britain's first and
only mass-produced model of this layout. The Imp was produced by the Roots
Group to give them a share of the booming mini car sector of the market.
The Rootes Group was a collection of
motor
manufacturing companies owned by the Rootes brothers. The Rootes
brothers were successful motor agents that had graduated to motor
manufacture.
The cars they had been produced up until the introduction of the Imp
were
middle and large sized cars of conservative design. Their existing
models
had evolved over a long period of time and the group had little
experience
of developing new models. As early as 1955 work had been started on
small
car concept, designed by Michael Parkes an ex Farrari development
engineer
and an other engineer Tim Fry, but it was two small being almost a
micro
car. By the end of the nineteen fifties a larger and more refined
design
was taking shape. They stayed with their original idea of a
rear-engined
car. The final design had trailing arm rear suspension and the unusual
feature of a swing axle type of independent front suspension.. Finding
a suitable engine of a refined design proved a problem, until it was
decided
to mass produce an adaptation of the design of the Coventry Climax FWMA
engine. The FW series of engines in various sizes had been used with
great
success in Lotus, Cooper and other racing and sports cars including the
Lotus Elite. The Imp engine was a die cast aluminium water-cooled
inline
four with a single overhead camshaft with a capacity of 875c.c.that
produced
39bhp. The car was not fully developed before production commenced at a
new factory at Linwood in Scotland, with a new labour force. The
resulting
deficiencies in the cars produced gave the car a bad start that it
never
recovered from. Although in production until1976, only four hundred and
forty thousand of all versions were produced.
Hillman
Imp
The NSU Prinz 1000 was introduced in 1964and
produced along with the existing Prinz 4. The new unitary body shell was
also in the Chevrolet Corvair style as the Prinz 4.With a Transversely
mounted air-cooled inline four-cylinder engine of 996cc with a chain driven
single overhead camshaft. Later developments were the TT and 1100 models
with a 1085cc engine and the TTS and 1200 with a1177cc engine produced
from 1965 to 1973, production of all versions was over half a million units.
NSU
Prinz 1000
A Simple
History of the Rear Engined Passenger car. links
Super
Seven Clones.
Index
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