The JoLon Imp - an incredible man with an even more incredible story
Imagine taking a road trip. All the excitement, planning, route stops, and all the things you might see next to the road. Now take that image, extend the trips range to over 14,000 Kilometers in a car that is almost 50 years old and had a reputation as being very unreliable.
That car would be the Hillman Imp, a direct competitor for the Mini, built during 1963 to 1976, and it had some great technology, considering you almost never heard of it. It was the first car to be mass produced which featured an engine block and cylinder head cast in aluminium, it had a space saving rear engine, rear drive layout, also making it the first British car to be produced with its engine at the back. It was also the first car to use a diaphragm spring clutch. I think you get the picture.
This then is the perfect underdog car for a journey of this magnitude. The most unreliable car in Britton, two friends, three continents, and 14,000 kilometers. Yes, you read right. In March 2013, Terence Tracey and friend, Geoff Biermann, set off on an amazing journey to celebrate the 50 year anniversary, and raise money for charity by driving from Johannesburg all the way to Coventry, England. They were two normal men, with no real mechanical experience, a passion, and a bucket load of determinacy, luck, and hard work.
I have had the fortune of meeting Terence, and took the liberty of swamping him with a few questions. In all honesty, when meeting this man, you cannot help but feel inspired and motivated to do something with your life.
TT: I belong to The Imp Club and a few years before the car turned 50 the committee asked if any members had ideas as to what we could do to celebrate such a milestone. I piped up that I would drive an African Imp from Joburg to the meeting in Coventry in the UK.
JOC: What modifications were made to the car?
TT: On the sage advice of my good friend who owns EmGee Workshop in Randburg and who has cover numerous transcontinental journeys in various old cars I fitted bakkie tyres due to their stronger tyre walls, this was a massive bonus as we got not one puncture during the entire trip. WE fitted slightly longer springs and the appropriately longer shocks. We removed the rear seats to allow us to carry our spares and personal items and our food etc. we added a solar panel to run a fan in the car for cooling. Mounted a radiator up front instead of the normal rear mounted one. Added to this set up was an electric water pump. Due to the intolerable heat build-up in the cabin we raised up the back of the bonnet when we stopped in Lusaka, this improved the cabin comfort considerably thereafter. We mounted a second fuel tank for a longer range. We also fitted an aluminium skid plate to protect the underside of the car.
JOC: How was this project funded?
TT: Trip was funded from personal funds that was complimented by a fundraising auction dinner held at Scrooge Diner where friends and family contributed various items of interest and value. Further due to running low on funds while still in Egypt, friends and family assisted by contributing to our account while we were still en route. We were also gifted with a miracle donation by a complete stranger in Sudan.
JOC: Any problems along the way?
TT: We had quite a few problems ranging from fuses blowing which rendered our car totally powerless to having to replace a clutch and pressure plate. Driveshaft couplings had to be replaced and a front end steering rebuild more than once. Engine detonation due to poor quality fuel in Egypt caused a problem that would eventually result in a hole in piston 4 on the car’s return to South Africa by ship.
We also had to contend with pretty poor road surface in various African countries but the worst by a country mile (’scuse the pun) was the 500 kilo stretch of gravel road in north Kenya. This in the dry is God awful, but in the rainy season….. impassable, we traversed it in Kenya’s highest rainfall in recorded history.
Non car related; we had to deal with delays in obtaining our visas for Sudan, transport t Egypt form Sudan insofar as the ferry and barge arrangements that we had had in place fell by the wayside due to our forced delays in Kenya and to find new passage was nigh impossible with the ferry being already overbooked for two weeks on our arrival in the tiny desert village of Wadi Halfa.
JOC: Most memorable moment?
TT: When looking down the barrel of a complete banking shutout where we could not access our cash that we needed to pay the ferryman to get us out of Sudan; (it is not possible to draw cash in a Sudanese bank or through their ATM network with Visa or Master cards due to the American sanction against that country.) with the result that a complete stranger learning of our predicament simply and graciously donated us 300 US Dollars to help us make the trip.
JOC: Worst moment?
TT: On learning that we had replaced the engine clutch and pressure plate but had omitted to tighten the bolts on the pressure plate, so after spend an exhausting day removing and repairing our clutch problem, we had to forgo on dinner and repeat the engine removal exercise.
JOC: I see you regularly give to the society for the blind, and this is a just cause, what do you want to say on this?
TT: Since my youth I have carried a handicap; I am totally blind in my left eye; however, in spite of this I have lived a regular life where I can fend for myself, in fact more than a regular life, I have lived a truly gifted life with zero regrets.
JOC: You told me a story of being short funded, and almost out of time, what gave you the ambition to push on?
TT: I always had the end in mind from the very inception stage of the trek and when the going went from tough to impossible my travel pal Geoff both invented trouble bursting solutions and simultaneously offered morale support to my flagging spirit.
JOC: Any advice for someone who wants to do the same?
TT: Plan well, believe it can be achieved and ignore people who offer negativity. Most importantly, have a happy and non-confrontational attitude towards officials.
JOC: Tell us a bit more about your book, and how we can get it?
TT: Book will be ready to go to print about September; anyone interested in gripping a copy can contact me by email and will be supplied. I will also have them on sale at various car shows etc.
I would be super grateful if you could spread the request that I have running at the minute with Indiegogo in an effort to raise the necessary funds to print my book, the link follows;
JOC: Is there any plans for a future endeavour like this?
TT: I intend to take an easy drive around the Aussie coast with the same car when I can next afford the trip.
JOC: What will happen to the Imp?
TT: I will freshen it up a little but maintain its battle scars to retain its character and completely rebuild it mechanically.
Be sure to follow Terence on his blog, https://jolonimp.wordpress.com, or support him by funding his book at
And, at last, have a look at some of these amazing pictures taken during the trip.
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