Talbot Sunbeam: the Avenger-based hatchback and Sunbeam Lotus

The Talbot Sunbeam was the Chrysler Sunbeam under the Talbot name, a three-door supermini built at the former Rootes factory in Linwood, Scotland, from 1977 to 1981. Its Sunbeam Lotus version won the World Rally Championship manufacturers’ title for Talbot in 1981.

Talbot Sunbeam at a glance

based on one source (English Wikipedia).

History of the Talbot Sunbeam

In the mid-1970s Chrysler UK, formerly the Rootes Group, was in financial trouble and its Linwood factory was making losses. When the Ryder Report effectively nationalised British Leyland in 1975, Chrysler pressed the government for aid and threatened to close its UK operations; the government agreed to a grant reported at £55 million to fund a small car to be developed in Britain and built at Linwood.

Development started in January 1976 as project R424. The engineering was done at Ryton and the styling at Chrysler’s Whitley studio under Roy Axe, who left for the United States before the launch. A tight schedule, a small budget and the need to use British components led Chrysler to base the car on the rear-wheel-drive Hillman Avenger rather than the front-wheel drive favoured by Simca. The Avenger’s wheelbase was shortened by 3 inches (76 mm) and modified to take the 928 cc Coventry Climax-derived engine, an enlarged version of the 875 cc unit from the Hillman Imp. The steering wheel and instrument pod came from the Simca 1307/Chrysler Alpine.

Apart from the doors, shared with the two-door Avenger, the R424 had an all-new body in Chrysler’s angular “international” style. Because the Horizon’s headlamps were not ready in time, the smaller car used the pre-facelift Avenger lamps, mounted in a characteristic recess in the front fascia. The Sunbeam was offered only as a three-door hatchback with a single-piece glass hatch in the style of the Hillman Imp, which needed a high rear sill: good for rigidity, less good for access. The car was launched on 23 July 1977 after a development period of only 19 months, in 0.9, 1.3 and 1.6-litre forms and LS, GL and S trim. To avoid in-house competition, the more basic two-door Avengers were dropped in Britain and the Horizon was kept to five doors.

By 1978 Chrysler was still losing money, and in 1979 it sold its European operations to PSA, which announced that all former Chrysler Europe products would become Talbots. From August 1979 the Sunbeam carried Talbot badging, though it kept a Chrysler Pentastar logo until 1981. To boost its image, a hot hatch called the Sunbeam Ti was shown at the 1978 British International Motor Show and went on sale in Britain in June 1979 at £3,779, with a 1,598 cc twin-Weber engine giving 100 bhp, two-tone paint, a body kit and less equipment. The Sunbeam Lotus went further: it won the World Rally Championship manufacturers’ title for Talbot in 1981, the year the Linwood-built car went out of production.

Design and features

• Avenger foundations: rear-wheel drive and a shortened Avenger floorpan.
• Three-door only: a single hatchback body with a high rear sill for rigidity.
• Sunbeam Ti: a 100 bhp twin-carburettor hot hatch from 1979.
• Rally winner: the Sunbeam Lotus took the 1981 WRC manufacturers’ title.
• Chrysler engineering: developed in Britain as project R424 before the Talbot rebadging.

Talbot Sunbeam versions

• Chrysler Sunbeam: the 1977–1979 version with Chrysler badging.
• Talbot Sunbeam: Talbot badging from August 1979, with the Pentastar retained until 1981.
• Sunbeam Ti: 1.6-litre twin-Weber engine with 100 bhp.
• Sunbeam Lotus: the rally homologation model that won the 1981 title.
• LS, GL and S: the three trim levels at launch.

The Sunbeam was based on the Talbot Avenger and sold beside the Talbot Horizon. More cars are in the Talbot collection.

Sources

• Chrysler Sunbeam, English Wikipedia: development, engines, models, Talbot rebadging, rallying