Famous Impers

Peter Gabriel

Phil Collins has a sort of blog on The Official Phil Collins Web Site. On October 31, 2006 he added a long post, and he mentions a Hillman Imp on the subject of 'Drinking on a gig day':

It's difficult to imagine but the Genesis with Pete, used to drive to gigs in his Hillman Imp... 5 of us... drove us crazy. He'd often forget, while he was talking and the poor car would be straining in 3rd gear at 90mph !!
Then when that packed up, we used Mikes Mini Estate. Every time we went through bad rain, the engine would stall as the plugs would get wet. One day the windscreen smashed and we did a couple of hundred miles with the wind roaring round our heads. The almost final straw came when we broke down 3 times on the way to Aberystwyth and 2 times on the way back, having arrived too late to play anyway...

Anthony Perkins

Photo supplied by Jaap ten Hoeve

To escape typecasting, Perkins left America after playing Norman Bates in Hitchcock's 'Psycho' (1960). See his filmography: during 1962-1967 he played in european movies.

Supposedly, this was just a publicity photo for the Imp, at the Rootes dealer (in London ?). Although he would have fitted ;-), make no mistake. And as an American, he was irregular enough to may have liked an Imp (as opposed to Detroit cars).