THE
WONDERFUL
IMPERIAL OF
OZ

The Roads & Traffic Authority here in New South Wales I felt was going to be the biggest stumbling block -- I was wrong. Just have a look at the following list of people I had to do business with in some form. Who said all you had to do was buy the car and stick it on a boat.

Some of the Government departments and Private Companies I had to deal with include;

In Australia

• RTA (Road and Traffic Authority)
• Australian Quarantine
• Australian Customs
• Australian Tax Office
• Sydney Ports Authority
• Auto Freight Brokers Melbourne and Sydney
• A.F.B Forwarding
• Westpak bank
• ANZ Bank
• St George Bank
• Combined Towing
• Hobb’s Bros Cargo Handlers Sydney
• Sovereign Forwarding
• Australian National Line

In the U.S.

• Sterling’s Detailing -- Ellensburg, Washington
• Dean’s Towing -- Vantage, Washington
• Coker Tyres Chattanooga, Tennessee
• Bank of San Francisco
• U.S. Customs
• Bank of America
• Seattle Ports
• Millenium Marine Corp -- New Jersey and Seattle
• U.S Treasury Service
• American Presidents Lines
• Notary Public

And of course I can’t leave out Mike Sutton who drove up from Yakima to check out the Imp for me in Ellensburg. The call went out for someone who was available to check out the Imp for a guy from down under. Thanks again Mikey. Here he is in the picture to the right. Hey Mikey, what’s your left hand doing with that fin?

I had made arrangements to fly to Washington State and see the Imp for myself however, my mother became very ill necessitating an operation so I had to cancel the trip. Mike was good enough to take a look for me and email a short report.

Following is Mike’s report on the Imp which he emailed me.

Gidday Larry

The car is great. You will have some amount of restorative and decorative work ahead of you, but mechanically you are in good shape overall. The fact that you have all the hard to find trim and chrome and options and odds and ends is only in your favor. I would say that as far as the parts go, you have 98 percent of it, 99 .....I didn’t see much that will be a problem in that respect.

Brian seemed to be very upfront, honest and genuinely enthusiastic about you getting a good car and that the car will be going to a good home. He’s certainly not just a commodity seller in used cars or anything like that. You can sense his personal interest in what is going on here.

OK, now from a purely objective stance as I have no financial interest here and no personal interest in the vehicle other than seeing it survive, I can give you my own subjective ( based on what I would do if it were mine ) perspective on what is ahead of you.

The rear window plug is starting to go where the lead filler is around the periphery of it. A common problem in older cars with leaded seams, as the lead and the steel are dissimilar metals and corrode differently. I am not a body expert, I have heard that the only good cure is new lead after removing all the old, I have heard that you cant always get all the old out so you have to isolate it and use modern materials over it. I know that I would consult several GOOD body shops about their approach to it and see what the consensus is, its not a common problem on new cars so a specialty shop may have to give you the best answer.

The brakes...plan on replacing all the cylinders, rubber parts, hoses, etc.....the steel lines are probably ok. The moisture in the air has probably already contaminated the fluid and if its not leaking somewhere, it will be when you use it. Stopping a 3 ton car with a single cylinder system is one thing, stopping it with no brake pressure is another...been there and you don’t want to. I would do the DOT 5 Silicone fluid and be done with it. I don’t know about the booster obviously, since it didn’t run.....they’re not easy to get new but they are out there.

Trans...you wont know till you try and drive it, I would do a flush and fill and filter change and double check all the adjustments. Anything else will have to wait till you fire it up....a period of idling in neutral to fill up all the various passages and get some lubrication into it is all you can do initially anyway.

Suspension, steering, drive train....seemed to have the right stance, no sagging corners or funky wheel angles. Again, lube it all up, and watch for any play in the steering or clunks in the drive train. Very straightforward to work on, and the parts are not impossible to find.

Body...very very good! Doors shut like new, the door checks ( straps that hold the doors open and are notorious for being broken or missing ) are intact!!! I wanted to steal a couple of them for mine :) hehehehe. I was amazed at how evenly and solidly they operated, wish we would have had power for the windows and locks, but a good cleaning and some tlc may be all you need. Glass seemed very good too, I was amazed at the chrome and stainless condition...some minor pits here and there, nothing to indicate the car is 43 years old though. One little piece of chrome missing over the right front fender brow, but probably readily available. Major score on this stuff.

Engine and engine bay....engine turned over with relative ease. You may be able to do the cheap oil flush out, prime well and start it. If it does smoke, it may be just for the first few times and that may be all, if the rings or walls have any rust then it may be re ring time, if that’s the case then I would do a re ring, re bearing, timing chain and gears and oil pump. The crank, rods, pistons, heads etc are probably fine as long as they don’t start dry. The engine bay is all there, figure the hoses and belts are going to be replaced just from age....very very complete.

I will stop here, there are some things I would consider before having it shipped, but its just personal opinion and since I have never imported a car, you may have already considered them

Take care...glad I could do this for ya!

Mike Sutton