Hustler

Arawak Motors in Antigua, West Indies, started making Hustlers in 1978. They purchased Imp chassis and mechanicals from the Chrysler Corporation or one of its agents. They moulded glass fibre bodies, assembled the cars (aluminium engine in the rear end) and sold them locally. A wild guess is that no more than 200/300 were ever made.

It lasted for a couple of years only. The company is no longer in existence. Peter does not know when it folded, but he remembers that their later models used a different engine.

Peter Hart (1919) has since 1979 owned one of the first, a 1978 Hustler. It was brought from Antigua to Nevis on the deck of a 60 ft. island trader. At that time (1978/79) a mercantile house on St. Kitts imported perhaps two dozen to St. Kitts and Nevis. He never saw any on islands other than those three.

He believes it was put together in 1979, the second year of production. The body is an assembly of seven parts of polyester resin and glass cloth. It was a good (heavy gage) quality fibreglass. Peter does not know for sure if the chassis were Imp or whether they made them up in Antigua. He believes all mechanical components are Imp, dash cluster and steering assembly, too. All electric systems are Imp. A Chrysler Imp Owner's Handbook came with it.
The only chassis number on the car is 78023. The first two digits are the year and the last is the sequential number of item manufactured.
The only number on the block is 875. Whether it is a standard or a Sport engine is unknown.

The photo was taken in March 2002. It still has the original side curtains - the only Hustler with sidecurtains that he knows of.

He stripped down the body of one made and delivered in 78. The body is in pretty good shape, but it was gutted for parts.

Peter has the last operative model on Nevis, West Indies. It is garaged in Nevis, he himself lives in Maryland at the moment.

"I have had cooling problems over the years but nothing that can't be handled by keeping the system clean and unleaking with a good water pump. The engine seized up once but not bad enough to damage the piston sleeves."

"A patient native mechanic has helped me over the years. Very resourceful guy who rebuilt the engine with a set of wrenches, screw driver, needle nosed pliers and emery cloth. He has gotten to be a good friend.
Problem is, he has a sleeping sickness and if he gets on his back underneath the car, it takes a lot to wake him. Fortunatly, he doesn't forget what he's doing while asleep."

Peter Hart, Nevis, West Indies. - Impressions Feb. 1994 and e-mail messages april 2002

I am looking for

• a water pump. For ID I have an old one here in Maryland with a number on one of the castings 77050206. I cannot find this number in the old Chrysler parts book. Rather think it is a sub-assembly number not the number of the pump assembly.
• both clutch and brake master cylinder repair kits. The numbers seems to be (both) 5042678 from the same old Chrysler Parts Book.

Patrick Neckles sent me a message on 20 May 2002 saying he too owns a Hustler. He and it are on Grenada.
And he knows of a Nymph on Grenada which is owned by one Sean Charles.

hus-tle   vb hus-tled; hus-tling 1: jostle, shove   2: hasten, hurry   3: to work energetically
hus-tler n 1: somebody too busy   2: whore