My old man worked at Linwood in Scotland making the Hillman Imp. Or rather, he spent almost all his night-shift sleeping in a hammock.

As a Yank I greatly appreciate your content. It is very informative and interesting to learn about the aspects related to UK history that you tend to cover, albeit somewhat depressing at times.

I had a red Sunbeam Ti in the mid 80’s! I remember well driving it to the scrapyard having failed it’s MOT with unbelievable rust!! From memory it was 6 years old (V reg). I was gutted at the time so went and brought a Mk1 XR2!

That is what we need now, not crazy expensive EVs but a small light simple hatchback that is easy to maintain and economical with modern turbocharged engines.

Would *love* to see your insights on the Horizon itself. Its career in America was actually quite interesting. The Dodge Omni (and rebadged stablemate, the Plymouth Horizon) were part of Chrysler's American recovery. Credit generally goes to the K-cars for the recovery, but the Horizon platform (named "L-Body" in America) played a large part, as well, and carried on through the 1990 model year. It also spawned sport coupes (including a revival of the Charger name), a pickup, and many of the L-body models got performance versions with the branding of Carroll Shelby.

All hail the Talbot Sunbeam, especially the Lotus version! And let's not forget its predecessor the Hillman Avenger - both proven rally winners and featured very prominently on the EA Sports WRC game.

My first car was a red Sunbeam 1.6 GL, I loved that thing to bits. Endless hours of fun sliding it around the muddy lanes of North Yorkshire on its skinny tyres. Had a cardboard box in the boot to collect the many trim pieces that fell off, but never quite got around to sticking them back on again. Ah, memories!

My father almost bought Talbot Sunbeam but then (luckily) opted for Lancia Delta .BTW: RIP Henri Toivonen

I passed the test in a Sunbeam in 1982. Great rear visibility. Fond memories!

In 1987 I had a sunbeam lotus, I was 22 years old and a lot of older guys were blatantly jealous that a young pup could own such a beast. It cost a fortune to run but I didn't care, I could afford it at the time. I used to take it to a local guy every few weeks to keep on top of the tuning because they go off really quickly. After collecting it from him one Friday afternoon I was driving to work that night and it just seemed "flat", I wasn't unduly concerned I told myself that I'd take it back Saturday morning. On the way home at around 3.00am the roads were obviously quiet so I put my foot down, it took ages to get up to a ton and within seconds of hitting triple numbers it clattered then there was a dull thud then nothing as I ground to a halt. It didn't take long for a lorry to pick me up and Saturday morning I got it trailered back to the garage that did the work. Turned out it had put a rod through the block! Later that day I got a call from the guy telling me how sorry he was but it seemed that his dad, himself a brilliant mechanic, had worked on it and unable to find the correct settings for my lotus he'd set it up as a 1.6Ti. I was less than chuffed but to be fair he didn't have to tell me that it wasn't my fault and he said he would put it right. After a month he said he couldn't find a decent engine so he would buy the car from me a retail price, the problem with that was that I knew that he intended to borrow the money to pay me because my sister in law worked in his bank and I didn't want to kick the guy while he was down, we all make mistakes, so I went to see him to see what we could sort out. He'd recently bought and repaired an accident damaged stunning RS turbo which didn't owe him anywhere near what he wanted to give me for my lotus so I ended up with that instead and if I'm honest it was a much better car anyway.

My very first car was a Talbot Horizon, that had a 1100cc engine. I bought it from a car auction in 1988 for £800. Owned it for 3 years, but I could never get rid of all that tappit clatter from the engine.

I remember the TV adverts with Cleo Laine imploring is to put one in our life.

My family owned three Simcas, two 1965 1000s and a 1969 1118! They were good cars, believe it or not. I’d love to have one now. They’re very rare in the USA now.

Imo one of the most based little car from UK

And the original advert featured petula Clarke I think warbling ‘put a Chrysler sunbeam in your life’ and no idea why I still remember it 😂

I met Henri Toivonen and his Sunbeam Lotus when they visited Kitchings in Otley. It was where my father worked, so I was really rather lucky. It was some kind of promotional tour. Apart from Toivonen and the car, the rest of the evening pretty much went over my head as an 11/12 year old. 😊😊😊❤❤❤😊😊😊

Always loved the Lotus Sunbeam

In the late 80s I owned two sunbeams and I modified both of them to use for driving around the local forestry in Wales and I loved them, the only thing I didn't like was the gearboxes as they were extremely fragile but with a stronger replacement it was superb, many a happy time in them.

Another great start for a Saturday morning, thank you.

Had 2 Chrysler Sunbeams, loved them both.

Can't remember the last time I saw a non-Lotus version of the Chrysler/Talbot Sunbeam, but from 1979-1990 KGO386T, a Chrysler badged automatic 1.3GL in Bark Metallic was my mum's car. Electronic ignition was a standout standard feature of the era. I learned some bodywork skills as a teenager on that car, with filling and spraying rusty wings and some mechanical basics, until it failed it's MOT on steering rack play. I was still just 15 and it was sent for scrap, though DVLA records suggest it lived on for another 2 years.

My brother had one, lovely little car.

I remember seeing a car park full of Lotus Sunbeams next to Humber Rd Coventry in late 79, Chrysler's Stoke Plant (not on Trent, Cov!) closer to the city centre than the relatively new Ryton plant. Long gone, now totally replaced by housing and opther dev I believe. Anyways, it was amazing how a fairly humdrum hatch could be transformed into something desirable with the Lotus badge and engineering, and silver on black banding. If you ever run out of cars or UK manufacturers to cover, maybe do histories of plants themselves. Still in Cov, Jag's late 50s move to Browns Lane would be fasinating (to me)

My Uncle had that car and he really liked it when it first came out and he said that it was very reliable and useful.

I find amusement in your comment about being sold in America as the Dodge Omni where the pictures used are of a Plymouth Horizon which was basically the same car as the Omni. Otherwise a good and informing video and I thank you.

Well done and interesting as always, thank you again.

Another brilliant documentary, stirring old memories. I had not realized that the Peugeot 106 was the Talbot sunbeam, I can see it now, but not at the time with that big Peugeot badge and strong marketing. I was going to buy a GLX which had a CD multi player, but some one at the dealer had removed it and the dealer insisted that the GLX did not have one. Needless to say, the purchase fell through, but the dealer did not care.

Had a Sunbeam Trio 1.3 - great car to drive and surprisingly practical. Absolute rustbucket, and I was constantly fixing things, but it was fun. Gearbox oil seal blew on the M1, and by the time I turned off for the A38, the thing was welded in 4th. Somehow got it home to Brum.

And yet............ The Sunbeam was a cracking little car. I had a 1 litre, gutsy little bugger that hardly ever seen a petrol pump (Used to travel 30 miles round journey per day and never missed a beat). I ended up with a 1.6 and it was far better than the Ford Escort Mk3 that replaced it

Keep it simple, stupid… often that works. It wasn’t a bad car as it came out when the motor industry was dying. Even the Japanese cars were simple but reliable… it’s scary how long ago that was I remember these cars!

Sunbeam used to be a marque name of Rootes, with Hillman, Singer, Humber and Sunbeam, but now it was a model name, this car based on the Hillman Avenger, now the facelifted Chrysler Avenger. The Sunbeam has no tailgate, it is the rear window that opens.

Best car I ever had the Ti. Had a GLS 1.6 and a 1 litre, later fitted with a pinto 2.0 and 5 speed box.

Keep them coming Ruairidh. You really pack so much interesting info in to a short video.👍

Absolutely brilliant as usual!

Love the videos, but Toivonen won the 1980 R.A.C Rally, and Talbot won the 1981 World Rally Championship for Makes.

The last ever Sunbeam is in the Glasgow Museum of Transport

Great content!

There is still an advertising banner for these in paisley

I wish there were more small, RWD hatchbacks today. I love my wee BMW 125i, but I can't think of anything similar to replace it. Better keep on top of maintenance!

Nice to see your own video work included.

I had two of these, a 1.3 and another 1.3 that I fitted the 1.6 engine to. The difference in the car was pronounced with that extra few hp. I also had a crate full of bits to build a Ti engine up, but it never came to pass, having to move house and a storm blew the roof off the garage the engine bits were stored in, resulting in their loss. It was dead easy and cheap back then to build something interesting, not now, though.

The rear hatch was intended to be a frameless glass panel but it was cheaper to put those scruffy tin trims around it than to polish the edges of the glass.

Closest we've got yet to a Ruairidh face reveal at 11:51 and 13:49 😉

commanding good prices those lotus 1s now

Mate had a used one of these in the late 1980s and it was a major improvement over the Austin Marina he first had. Tinny clang when you shut the doors and the engine was noisy under load but the front windscreen didn't require someone to mop up the leaks when it rained.

Good stuff

I have a Sunbeam Lotus, 1981 june. LHD. I like this car very much and especially its marvellous Lotus engine. It is black Embassy with the famous silver stripes. The brakes are poor, unfortunally. the ZF gearbox is good, bullet proof. I have this car since 2003. At its wheel I feel like Dr Jekill and M. Hyde (I am french) 388 Sunbeam Lotus were sold in France during three years (79,80, 81) 1981 (not 1980) : world championship (Toivonen, Fréquelin/Todt)

The Talbot Sunbeam at 6:00 is the same colour as my Uncles Chrysler Avenger.

My first car back in 1993 was a 1982 Sunbeam Ti. Was great wee thing with the twin 40's but it rusted to death in no time.😢

An excellent video. Linwood is in Central Scotland not Southern Scotland

Bring back RWD hatchbacks !

Always fond of the Sunbeam

I used to keep getting confused between the Sunbeam and the Horizon, and at one point I actually thought they were the same car with different styling. Which they obviously are not.

I passed my driving test (first time) in a red sunbeam. 1979😊

Ironically, the Chrysler/Plymouth Horizon would form the basis for the slightly larger K Car in the US that would end up saving Chrysler from bankruptcy.

Lucky enough my friend had the sunbeam TI you didn’t see many mainly because it was a 1600cc with twin 40 carbs it went very well but drank like a fish.

Car was styled and engineered at Whitley, Ryton was production only.

We rallied a Sunbeam 1.6GLS for a couple of years, it was a great little car...until I piled it into the scenery and bent the front chassis rails 😢

I liked the Sunbeam a lot - in fact I very nearly bought a pea-green example for my first car. In hindsight I wished I’d bought that instead of the ropey Renault 5 I ended up with.

The Sunbeam ti was to Talbot what the Escort RS2000 was to Ford whereas the Sunbeam Lotus was to Talbot what the BDA 16 valve engined Escort RS1800 was to Ford but the Sunbeam Lotus was faster overall.

I passed my driving test in a Talbot Sunbeam, painted in Post Office red 😎

Put a [Petula Clark Chrysler] Sunbeam in your life. 🎵🎵🎵

Mt first car in 87 was a T reg Red 1l

I still wonder if I should have bought the one I found in 1998 with only delivery miles on the clock after it had been lost in the stock car park. Bought a fabulous Rover 213 instead…

Many things missed in this but by short answered

You could buy shoes in the 1970’s with better rust protection than cars.

It looks very much like the Plymouth Horizon.

You should also do Escort xr3i, Sierra xr4i, Capri 280, Cortina, Renult 5 gt turbo, rs turbo and cosworth

Is the Whitley technical centre you mention on the same site as the JLR technical in Coventry?

And meanwhile Chrysler and Peugeot are back under one roof (Stellantis).

You’re pronunciation of Finnish rally legend Henri Toivonen is quite funny. For a second I was asking myself ‘does he think Henri Toivonen is French?’ 😀

Colin Mcrae rallied one

I remember the Talbot Sunbeam/Horizon having a really rattly engine ,even when new.

Did it have the handbrake on the right side of the drivers seat in the same way the Hunter did? It was a strange place to locate it.

Fun fact: -the Chrysler management used to deliberately provoke strikes so as to reduce production without incurring costs to themselves.

Did I see a price tag of £27000+.

Talbot sunbeam, a peugeot 205 for 3 grand less.

Put a Chrysler Sumbeam in your life…..😂

Reliable and lotus used in the same sentence 😂 not a criticism, just funny!

I'd like to get 10$ for each "however"

1975? "Terrible Union Relations"? Don't you mean a complete failure, by British Leyland management, to treat the workers as important cogs in the company structure? Don't you mean a management structure that failed to rationalise, to improve, and bring on-stream NEW MODELS? A management with such a short-term view, of an industry that needed 7 years for a completely new model, and they couldn't understand anything that was more than 3 years away? What about the management? Were they not the CAUSE of the industrial stalemate? Edwards was so far up his own rear end, that he was incapable of seeing the workers as assets, preferring the Victorian and Edwardian methods of ignoring, and belittling, the people who earned the money, for the company, and placed more of their time at the disposal of the company.

In the 1970s the Japanese were starting to take over this segment but just kept growing why they were more reliable and this why the British car industry died this was especially reverent in Australia were they started selling well in the 1970s l had a had a Hillman Minx and two Gazzells but they all went and bought Japanese and now own a 1997 Toyota yes Toyota Hilux and a Suzuki Baleno very good vehicles much much better than any British vehicle a question you can ask your self can you walk into Sunbeam dealership and buy a new Sunbeam Rapier no but l can go to Toyota dealership and buy a new Hilux yes you get my point because the Japanese cars are so reliable

Why this intrusive, frantic voice and style at every presentation .. ? I simply can not understand ..

Using 10 year old parts to save money is the first indication that it is time to wrap up this business. Also, not attaching the rear window on all sides, only the top, is not a hatch back. That is just lazy shoddy workmanship.

Cars built to European taste not British taste is not a European problem, it is solely a British problem. Your own nose is closest to your own face. Besides, now that Britain has ZERO car industry, what are you driving. See what I mean. Adapt or disappear.