Talbot 180: the Chrysler 160/180 in Talbot colours

The Talbot 180 belongs to the family of executive cars that Chrysler Europe launched in 1970 as the Chrysler 160, 160 GT and 180. Sold as Chrysler-Simca 1609/1610/2 litres in continental Europe from 1977, the range was renamed Talbot for 1979 and 1980, and it lasted longest in Spain, where a diesel model was built until 1982.

Talbot 180 at a glance

The Talbot 180 and 160 are the Chrysler 160/180 sold under the Talbot name; based on one source (English Wikipedia).

History of the Talbot 180

The car came out of two separate development programmes. In Britain, the Rootes Group began its “C Car” in 1966 under design chief Roy Axe, as a replacement for the Humber Hawk; it was to be sold as a Hillman, a Sunbeam 2000 and a Humber, and Rootes also worked on a new V6 engine. In France at the same time, Simca was working on Projet 929, its first large car since the Vedette, with three styling proposals: Simca’s own 929 XA, a rounded Bertone 929 XB and a very American 929 XC from Chrysler’s Detroit studio.

In early 1969 Chrysler realised it had two competing cars in development and had both propositions presented to the management of Chrysler Europe. The decision was to go ahead with the British C Car but to develop versions for both the British and French sides. Chrysler funded a new plant and development centre at Whitley in Coventry, where the work continued, and Roy Axe brought in the former Chrysler USA designer Curt Gwinn. In 1970, however, the programme was reviewed again and trimmed to a single version, to be built in Simca’s Poissy factory for all markets.

Responsibility passed to Simca, where the car was known internally as the “Simca 1800”. Simca gave it a different front end with rectangular single headlamps and stripped out some of the Rootes features, such as genuine wood and leather and air conditioning. The V6 was scrapped in favour of conventional four-cylinder engines, and the production cars received a coil-sprung rear live axle, MacPherson struts at the front and a four-speed manual gearbox, with a three-speed automatic as an option.

The range was launched in 1970 as the Chrysler 160, 160 GT and 180, with a slogan calling it “An American from Paris”; the 160 had a 1,632 cc engine and 80 PS, while the 160 GT and 180 used the 1,812 cc unit with 97 PS. The British launch followed in 1971. From 1977 the cars were sold in France and continental Europe as the Chrysler-Simca 1609/1610/2 litres. After PSA took over Chrysler Europe they were renamed Talbot 1610 and 2 litres for the 1979 and 1980 model years, and the model was then dropped in Europe apart from Spain, where a diesel version continued until 1982. The large, American-inspired car sold poorly in the main European markets, and its replacement, developed as the C9, arrived as the Talbot Tagora.

Design and features

• Anglo-French engineering: Rootes chassis work combined with Simca production in Poissy.
• Four-cylinder range: 1.6- and 1.8-litre engines after the planned V6 was cancelled.
• Conventional chassis: MacPherson struts, a coil-sprung live axle and rear-wheel drive.
• Long Spanish life: a diesel model stayed on sale in Spain until 1982.

Talbot 180 versions

• Chrysler 160: 1,632 cc engine with 80 PS.
• Chrysler 160 GT: the larger 1,812 cc engine in the cheaper trim.
• Chrysler 180: the 1,812 cc model with 97 PS.
• Chrysler-Simca 1609/1610/2 litres: the continental names from 1977.
• Talbot 1610 and 2 litres: the Talbot-badged versions for 1979–1980.

The 180 was replaced by the Talbot Tagora, and its smaller stablemate was the Talbot Avenger. More cars are in the Talbot collection.

Sources

• Chrysler 180, English Wikipedia: development, models, engines, Talbot renaming