An iconic road going rally car from the early '80s - as the name suggests, the Lotus 2.2 litre 4-cylinder engine was employed.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a123/jinxvrs/Talbot/21030917.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a123/jinxvrs/Talbot/21030918.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a123/jinxvrs/Talbot/21030919.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a123/jinxvrs/Talbot/21030920.jpg

Cheers,

Steve

Steve, I dig the very fine detail of the defroster grid in the rear window. Look at the decals glowing on the dash...very cool! Thanks for the pics.

Thanks Ward - for a partwork car on sale at newsstands for a few Euros - it cost me a bit more as I had to buy it from a Spanish seller - the finish & detailing is excellent. It also helps, that it is one of my favourite "hot hatches".

This car is not one I have ever seen. It looks suspiciously like the crummy Chryslers we had in the early '80s - the Dodge Omni and the Plymouth Horizon. However those were four door cars; this one has just two. The front fenders and hood (and maybe the hatch and roof) look like they could be the exact same stamping as used on the Chrysler twins. I wonder if the cars are somehow related? - ranchero -

Makes sense because Chrytsler owned Sumbean, write?

This car is not one I have ever seen. It looks suspiciously like the crummy Chryslers we had in the early '80s - the Dodge Omni and the Plymouth Horizon. However those were four door cars; this one has just two. The front fenders and hood (and maybe the hatch and roof) look like they could be the exact same stamping as used on the Chrysler twins. I wonder if the cars are somehow related? - ranchero -

Sort of - although the Omni / Horizon were fwd - the Talbot (nee Chrysler)Sunbeam is rwd, using a slightly cut down Hillman Avenger (aka Plymouth Cricket) chassis - the styling was a family thing, no panels were actually shared.

The Sunbeam Lotus was an homologation special - the WRC was where it was usually found. It won the Rally Championsip for Makes in 1981.

Makes sense because Chrytsler owned Sumbean, write?

From my post on the Simca 1100 Ti

When Chrysler expanded into Europe in the '60s, it bought the Rootes Group in the UK & Simca in France. The Rootes company included old British marques like Hillman, Humber, Singer & Sunbeam. The cars were rebadged as Chryslers, although, some Simcas remained as such.

In the late '70s, Chrysler needed, in the UK, a replacement for the Hillman Imp which had been around since 1963. When naming the new car, one of the old Rootes marque names was used & so was born the Chrysler Sunbeam.

Unfortunately, Chrysler ran into financial difficulties & sold out to Peugeot (PSA), who subsequently renamed both the UK & French made cars as Talbots, itself an historic marque name, which came as part of the package. Strangely, Talbot could be construed as both Rootes owned & Simca owned.

In the 1930s, The Anglo-French combine Sunbeam-Talbot-Darracq was split, with Rootes buying the British arm & then selling Sunbeam-Talbots based on contemporary Hillmans. Meanwhile, the French arm was taken over by Anthony Lago, who sold his cars as Talbot-Lagos. Talbot-Lago was absorbed by Simca in 1959. So, it could be said, that the UK & French Talbots were reunited......confused?

Steve

... crummy Chryslers we had in the early '80s - the Dodge Omni and the Plymouth Horizon. ... - ranchero
See wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Horizon). ;)

Looks like a Plymouth Whore-izon that backed into a Ford Fiesta with Mercedes 123-body tailights. ;)

As far as I remember, the Talbot factory only made the Lotus versions in black & silver,no other colour choices. I didnt know about the rwd-fwd difference but seeing a lot of these on the streets of London in the late 1970s and early 1980s always assumed (perhaps wrongly) that the Horizon was the 4 doors version of the Sunbeam.The Avenger/Cricket is now a classic car with its own UK based owners club - and the stationwagon is particularly good.....Vanguards make a superb 1/43 Avenger with suspension & the correct wheel trims