The World Champion
No, we won’t be recounting Talbot’s history here again – you can find that here. The same goes for Sunbeam (though we’ve never actually covered that one). And for Lotus, of course – its story isn’t quite as long, but it’s all the more fascinating for it. But what’s equally fascinating is how these three great names came together to create a single car. The not-so-short short version: from 1958 onwards, the American Chrysler Group began buying up shares in the French manufacturer Simca; in 1967, Chrysler also took over the British Rootes Group (Hillman, Humber, Sunbeam, etc.); this resulted in the formation of Chrysler Europe. In the mid-1970s, this peculiar conglomerate – there were vehicles bearing ‘Chrysler’ at the front but ‘Simca’ at the rear – developed the Chrysler Sunbeam with generous financial support from the British government, to be produced in Linwood, Scotland. The vehicle, code R424, was based on the Hillman Avenger, designed by Roy Axe and made ready for production within just 18 months. However, by then Chrysler had already run out of money; Peugeot took over in 1978, revived the Talbot name – which had not been used since 1959 – and just like that we had two-thirds of the name sorted.
The basic version of the Chrysler/Talbot Sunbeam had to make do with a 0.9-litre four-cylinder engine producing a mere 42 hp. Yet even whilst still under Chrysler Europe, the idea arose to bring the once-great Sunbeam name back to where it belonged: the racetracks. They approached Lotus, where Colin Chapman had just lost the contract for the Jensen-Healey but already had a new version of the 907 four-cylinder engine with a 2.2-litre displacement and a four-valve design up his sleeve, designated the 911. This delivered 150 hp at 5,750 rpm and a maximum torque of 203 Nm at 4,500 rpm; power was transmitted via a ZF 5-speed gearbox. Naturally, it was rear-wheel drive only, as there was, of course, a (cheap) rigid rear axle.
The Talbot Sunbeam Lotus was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in 1979 – and was hailed by the press. The usually rather reserved Automobil Revue wrote: ‘On a flat road, the Sunbeam Lotus initially exhibits understeer in corners, but as speed increases, it gradually transitions to oversteer, which can, however, be easily kept under control by turning the steering wheel back slightly. Skilled drivers can effortlessly induce a dramatic breakaway of the rear end in tight bends by applying power, and maintain this driving condition right through to the exit of the bend by carefully modulating the accelerator and countersteering with the delightfully precise and quite direct steering (3 2/3 turns from lock to lock). This decidedly sporty driving style is facilitated by the well-spaced ZF five-speed gearbox, which – once you have got used to the unusual shift pattern with first gear at the rear left – shifts with lightning speed and precision.
At the end of 1980, Toivonen/White won the RAC Rally in a Talbot Sunbeam Lotus, their team-mates finishing third and fourth as well. But things really took off for the Talbot Sunbeam Lotus in the 1981 season, when the ‘French’ team clinched the Constructors’ title. One must be clear about this: it was the final season before Group B; Audi was already competing with the Quattro (Mikkola, Mouton), Renault had the R5 Turbo on the grid (Ragnotti), Toyota the Celica (Waldegard), Ford the ever-present Escort (Vatanen, Airikkala, Wilson), Fiat still the 131 Abarth (Alen, Bettaga), and Lancia fielded the Stratos one last time (Darniche). But Talbot countered with Fréquelin, Toivonen and Blomqvist; although they won only in Argentina (Fréquelin), they still comfortably claimed the world championship, partly because their rivals were tearing each other apart.
2,308 Talbot Sunbeam Lotuses were built, 1,184 of them right-hand drive and sold in England. Of these (i.e. the right-hand drives), only 80 are said to remain – an incredible decline. We do not know whether there are any more left-hand drives. But generally speaking, until recently they were still available for four-figure sums – though people have since realised that a Talbot? Sunbeam? Lotus? 1981 World Rally Champion? is actually very, very cool.
We have more cool cars in the archive.
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