The official IMP Automobile Thread - 1979 GSX V8
Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 10:17 am
Hello.
I am not the greatest of car designers, at least not in Automation. My Company primarily defines itself by building excellent engines which are freely available to every car company that can afford such unnecessarily complex german engineering. However every once in a while my magnificent engineers also give birth to some truly outstanding cars as well, and this is where some of them might be presented to the world.
Unlike most german car manufacturers, IMP does not use an alphanumeric naming scheme on 95% of our designs, we just use what ever we like at a given point in time.
However there IS one particular series of cars that has been around since the very beginning.
This model range is the L-Series of high quality luxury cars in its many shapes and forms. This illustrious model line was the very first IMP Automobile, ever, if you discount medium- and heavy-duty trucks. It's origin was the 1927 IMP L6, of which only 38 were ever made until production was abruptly halted in 1929 due to the economic crisis. As a matter of fact IMP would not restart production of passenger cars until 1932. However the foundations of IMP as a car manufacturer were set.
The L-Series would be relaunched in 1936, with the very progressive L8 and the L12 of 1937. As the names suggest, the cars of the L-Series were always denoted by the cylinder count of their engines. The L8 and L12 already used an early form of modular engine design, which enabled them to share components such as pistons, connecting rods and parts of the valvetrain. The respective engines were a 4.4L SOHC V8 for the L8 and a 6.6L SOHC V12 for the L12. The cars themselves were identical apart from the L12s longer wheelbase. Once again neither the L8 nor the L12 could become a financial success due to the outbreak of WW2 which once again put passenger car production to a full stop. Only 106 L8 and 67 L12 were built, and it is not known if any of them have survived to present day, however two examples of the L8 engine DID survive as well as a blueprint of the L12 Limousine. Before WW2 engineers were working on a smaller, more affordable entry level luxury car once again powered by an inline six engine based on the L8 and L12 architecture to supplement the larger and more expensive cars. Parts of the stillborn design carried over to IMPs first "luxury" car after the war, the 1952 L6. It was powered by a heavily simplified and enlargened version of the Inline six originally devised in the pre-war days called the "A-type" (engine has already been featured in the IMP engine thread). This was the first time the L-Series was actually given time to compete and establish itself in the car market, though greatly outsold by the Opel Kapitän and the Mercedes-Benz 220. The first completely new L-Series since 1936 was launched in 1956. And IMP was determined to finally prove their true capabilities to the world, developing a car like nothing before it from scratch in just 4 years. This Halo car was to be called L12.
This special machine was to be propelled by the next generation of V12 engines, an ultra-modern powerplant with an aluminium alloy Overhead Camshaft cylinder head fed by a multitude of two-barrel carburettors. Two versions were developed, a 6.3L with three carburettors and 318hp for the L12 Emperor Royale, and 7.3L with six carburettors and 379hp for the L12 Emperor Royale Ultima. Both cars used a highly advanced monocoque chassis with fully independent double-wishbone suspension and hydraulically assisted large drum brakes on all four wheels. This car was so good it actually broke Automation:
I am not the greatest of car designers, at least not in Automation. My Company primarily defines itself by building excellent engines which are freely available to every car company that can afford such unnecessarily complex german engineering. However every once in a while my magnificent engineers also give birth to some truly outstanding cars as well, and this is where some of them might be presented to the world.
Unlike most german car manufacturers, IMP does not use an alphanumeric naming scheme on 95% of our designs, we just use what ever we like at a given point in time.
However there IS one particular series of cars that has been around since the very beginning.
This model range is the L-Series of high quality luxury cars in its many shapes and forms. This illustrious model line was the very first IMP Automobile, ever, if you discount medium- and heavy-duty trucks. It's origin was the 1927 IMP L6, of which only 38 were ever made until production was abruptly halted in 1929 due to the economic crisis. As a matter of fact IMP would not restart production of passenger cars until 1932. However the foundations of IMP as a car manufacturer were set.
The L-Series would be relaunched in 1936, with the very progressive L8 and the L12 of 1937. As the names suggest, the cars of the L-Series were always denoted by the cylinder count of their engines. The L8 and L12 already used an early form of modular engine design, which enabled them to share components such as pistons, connecting rods and parts of the valvetrain. The respective engines were a 4.4L SOHC V8 for the L8 and a 6.6L SOHC V12 for the L12. The cars themselves were identical apart from the L12s longer wheelbase. Once again neither the L8 nor the L12 could become a financial success due to the outbreak of WW2 which once again put passenger car production to a full stop. Only 106 L8 and 67 L12 were built, and it is not known if any of them have survived to present day, however two examples of the L8 engine DID survive as well as a blueprint of the L12 Limousine. Before WW2 engineers were working on a smaller, more affordable entry level luxury car once again powered by an inline six engine based on the L8 and L12 architecture to supplement the larger and more expensive cars. Parts of the stillborn design carried over to IMPs first "luxury" car after the war, the 1952 L6. It was powered by a heavily simplified and enlargened version of the Inline six originally devised in the pre-war days called the "A-type" (engine has already been featured in the IMP engine thread). This was the first time the L-Series was actually given time to compete and establish itself in the car market, though greatly outsold by the Opel Kapitän and the Mercedes-Benz 220. The first completely new L-Series since 1936 was launched in 1956. And IMP was determined to finally prove their true capabilities to the world, developing a car like nothing before it from scratch in just 4 years. This Halo car was to be called L12.
This special machine was to be propelled by the next generation of V12 engines, an ultra-modern powerplant with an aluminium alloy Overhead Camshaft cylinder head fed by a multitude of two-barrel carburettors. Two versions were developed, a 6.3L with three carburettors and 318hp for the L12 Emperor Royale, and 7.3L with six carburettors and 379hp for the L12 Emperor Royale Ultima. Both cars used a highly advanced monocoque chassis with fully independent double-wishbone suspension and hydraulically assisted large drum brakes on all four wheels. This car was so good it actually broke Automation: