I have come to conclusion that there are three stages of classic car ownership. The first one is when you buy a car under the heading of ‘my dad had one of these’, followed uncomfortably swiftly by ‘I used to have one of these’. Then the last stage (which I have sadly now reached), is being able to say ‘I bought one of these new’.

When I started my motoring days the Rootes group was already a fading glory. Avengers (Confusingly badged as Hillman, Chrylser and Talbot, depending on when they were produced), Talbot Sunbeam hatchbacks and the last of the Hunters (now wearing a Chrysler badge) were used cars about halfway back from the front of every used car lot. While if you searched diligently, you could still find cheap Imps wearing a range of badges and front ends, and the last of the fastback Sunbeam Rapiers. It was upon these cars my passion for their now sadly forgotten products was formed.

Forgotten Rootes
The 2.2-litre Lotus twin-cam engine produced a reliable 150 horsepower in road-going
form, 200 horsepower with light tuning and 250 in works tune. Slightly canted over for
clearance to fit under the bonnet line, it featured Dellorto DHLA rather than Webber DCOE carburettors in standard form. (Forgotten Rootes, Amberley Publishing)

Why did these cars attract me? Alongside their more expensive brethren from the likes of Ford, they were sumptuously equipped with luxurious seats and a dashboard covered in dials. To quote a road test for the Sunbeam Rapier H120 fastback, it featured ‘a dashboard like an aircraft cockpit’. This made them all glorious things to sit inside and drive.

While owning my first Avenger I found an article in a faded magazine detailing their racing and rallying exploits and learned about the bright yellow Avenger Tigers and side stripped Lotus hatchbacks. My interest was piqued, and I soon accumulated a huge stash of research material, much of which has found its way into this book.

Quite why the Rootes group performance cars have dropped so far off the classic car radar who can say. Certainly, their values continue to lag well behind those of the Ford Escort family, yet as road vehicles they were often superior. In common with the views of many road tests, I found my Avengers more accomplished and comfortable than their Escort and Cortina counterparts.

The Sunbeam name (albeit sometimes reduced to being badge engineered and tuned versions of other Rootes products) harked back to the earliest days of performance motoring and it upheld their sporting credentials right up to the point the name was discontinued as a marque name in 1976. Thankfully the name itself went out in style, if only as a model name on the then Talbot badged Sunbeam Lotus hatchback. Powered by a fire breathing 2.2 litre Lotus engine that offered a level of road going performance that would still make it a car to be reckoned with today.

Forgotten Rootes
The Sunbeam Tiger arrived in 1964 and shared the bodyshell of the Sunbeam Alpine series four/five with the smaller rear wings. Only discrete badges and a chrome strip along the side of the body set it apart from the less powerful model. The original would have had a similar pattern but wider wheels to the Alpine, while this example wears nonstandard wheels. (Forgotten Rootes, Amberley Publishing)

The advanced Imp engine still excites tuners to this day. At a closely fought sprint in the wet recently the author saw a modified Imp, a Davrian and a Ginetta fighting closely for theirclass title. All powered by what was basically an uprated fire pump engine launched into the motoring world in 1963 and which shows no sign yet of being abandoned as a popular competition engine. The combination of a lightweight aluminium engine producing upwards of a hundred horsepower in small or lightweight fibreglass bodied cars remains a combination to be reckoned with.

Before these came years of rally successes for the Sunbeam Alpines and Rapiers, the Alpine itself being named after the successes of Rootes group team cars in the Alpine rally. Model developments were often driven by the ongoing desire for rallying success. The Sunbeam Rapier ‘Rallymaster’ engine being a case in point. It did not offer any huge performance boost to customers, but it was a sturdier design far more likely to survive the rigours of professional rally driving.

Just occasionally the designers at Rootes would produce cars that stood out from the crowd for incredible reasons. One was the aforementioned Sunbeam Lotus, made great by the unexpected adoption of the very latest Lotus engine in a tiny hatchback to create one of the most successful rally cars of the early 1980s.

Forgotten Rootes
A rare beast. A genuine Talbot Avenger GLS, which actually has a ‘T’ Talbot grille rather than still displaying the Chrysler Pentastar symbol. (Forgotten Rootes, Amberley Publishing)

Another was the Sunbeam Tiger sports car. Faced with a lack of performance when rated against the vehicles of their competitors they removed the British four-cylinder engine and shoe-horned in an American Ford V8 engine of well over double the cubic capacity of the original. The performance increase and glorious noise it made were both phenomenal and it made friends all over the motoring world.

Viewed today as a glorious mistake, it was popular enough in the day to be the regular transport of television spy spoof Maxwell Smart in his show ‘Get Smart’ and featured in the opening titles for two seasons. It would also shine on American racetracks as the Ford engine could be modified to produce incredible amounts of power in what was a small car.

I thoroughly enjoyed finally collating all my research and putting together this book on the forgotten cars of the Rootes group. My photography and research projects took me to some interesting places, and I was privileged to meet some very enthusiastic people. People who regard themselves as guardians of these very special and frequently now rare cars for the next generation of classic car enthusiasts. I hope you enjoy reading about them, and maybe you too will be inspired to purchase or rebuild one of your own. 

Forgotten Rootes by Michael Burgess is available for purchase now.