Chrysler Sunbeam car review | Retro Cars | Drive in | 1977 

The car became interesting with a 2.2 litre Lotus engine under the bonnet.

I remember the advert "Put a Chrysler Sunbeam in your life" Good memories,,, Thanx for another great vid,,,

Just been doing my Christmas shopping with my 1972 Hillman Avenger. Still a practical, reliable car with great handling and a willing 1500 engine (the 1600 came along later). All the Avenger and Sunbeam really cried out for was a 5th gear. Oh and some rust protection, but all cars of the time had that problem, many of them much worse than the Avenger.

I had a 71 1.3 Avenger which was great - a colleague bought a one litre Sunbeam and loved it

Love the Thames opening!!!!!

Created from scratch, he says, using the chassis, transmission and engines from the Avenger. And doors. And headlights.

Wow! This was one of the half dozen or so used cars I ran in the first few years after passing my driving test in the late 1980's :)A 1979 'T' plate in blue, although it was badged as a 'Talbot'. Wasn't a bad little car, only cost about £500, came with 12mths MOT and ran fine for the 8mths or so I had it, and got me 30-35mpg. £3000 in 1977, that's roughly £18,000 in today's money!!!

I wish these clips were longer.

I learnt to drive in one of these in 1980 but learnt to reverse in me Dad's Peugeot 504 ! Learnt at The old Dunstonian School of Driving in Petts Wood, Kent, UK which at the time was a major Peugeot Talbot dealership by the railway station in Station Square, Petts Wood, Orpington. Sadly no longer there now yet another development Flats. Happy days.

I want that bloody jacket!!! #retro

VDU 112S - lasted a good 14/15 years - was on the road until 1992.

Fantastic! When he got out of the car, i nearly fell off me chair with laughter! How did anyone breed looking like that in the 70`s? Great video though, please keep them coming!

Love that jacket!

It had a 1.6GL, DJA222T. Bought it at about 18 months old. Not a bad little car for its day.

No wonder this car looked so familiar! Over here in The States, it was known as either the Dodge Omni or the Plymouth Horizon. Sadly, we never got this specific hatchback version; instead, we got the not-so-surprisingly more ‘Americanized’ 024/Charger (Dodge) and TC3/Turismo Duster (Plymouth) variants. As a kid back in the ‘70s and ‘80s, I always envied you good folks in the UK because your domestic cars always looked cooler and more interesting than ours…

I had one in the 80s. It was a few years old by then but without doubt one of the best cars I have owned. Reliable, comfortable, economical.

2021 and still driving around in my 1979 Talbot sunbeam s .......underrated cars from a great car manufacturer.

Love the quilted rallye jacket. My dad had one, black with yellow stripes down the arms and Shell badge on the front.

I’m a Yank and have never seen one of these cars; but I wanted a Sunbeam Alpine when I was younger and so I clicked on this video. Well.....this is no Alpine!

My Mum had one of these in orange when I was born. Had it for ages, in to the late 80s. They sold it to a guy who randomly made an offer for it while out shopping.

he gives it a harsh review, they were good cars, a lot of fun, I had 3

The 1ltr imp powered one was light and well balanced and would do 95mph, if it had another gear it would have done more.

This was my second car in this very colour! 1.6S. As with most cars from the Rootes stable - it rusted! I bought it the day The Falklands War kicked off big time! It served me well for the 2 1/2 years I kept it!

Very popular car when I was a kid in the early 80s

Crikey I had forgotten these ever existed ! Drove a friends Avenger a few times though and thought it was pretty good by the standards of the time.

I remember the jingle, "Put a Chrysler Sunbeam in your life... it'll put a smile on your face" from being a little kid in England. 30-odd years later, and a continent apart, I still know it like it was yesterday. That makes the slogan a really great piece of advertising (or as many sources seem to say, the slogan lasted way longer than the cars did).

my first car was a Sunbeam 1.6 Ti greatwee car apart from the rampant rust, way better to drive than its fwd xr3 competition

Awesome !! 😊👍

This takes me back to passing my driving test. My parents had the 930cc Hillman Imp model and learning clutch control on a hill was a steep learning with hardly any power in that engine. I stalled it over and over again. Eventually passed my test in it though and went on to buy a few of them, though with the 1.6 engine.

People loved this car

Never understood why they ran these in the range at the same time as the Horizon, they were very similar looking IMO, even though the Horizon was FWD, had a proper tailgate & was a different car under the skin.

Rootes had the five marques Hillman (basic), Singer (upmarket), Humber (luxurious), Commer (commercial) and Sunbeam (sporting), now Sunbeam became a model name in 1977 with this new Avenger based car. The Chrysler Sunbeam had no tailgate, it was only the rear window that opened. Also being a rear wheel drive hatchback like the Vauxhall Chevette, but the Ford Fiesta, Renault 5, and Fiat 127 were front wheel drive.

My first car, as it happens: FSU 160T. A brown one, I think the 930cc model. Eventually rust claimed it IIRC.

Ooooo - I could see RHE was struggling with that briefcase there.

My mate had silver one in the early 90’s the engine made a curious ticking sound. Good car!

I never knew that there was a 930cc version of the Sunbeam. This model didn't have a long life cycle as it was replaced by the 'Samba' in the early 1980s (badge engineered 3 door Peugeot 104/Citroen LNA)

Many new models in the 70s were just old models with new bodies. I remember the Morris Ital was just a Morris Marina, With many interchangeable parts. If I'm not mistaken you could put a Morris Minor engine in one.

Very "rummy" indeed. Love all these clips!

The Lotus version was an amazing driver's car. Really quick hot hatch.

I have always dreamt of a car with double the fan belt adjustment time period.

I remember our local police using these as panda cars. They were okay when new but depreciated in value very quickly.

I had the same Datsun cheery in blue the engine was reliable but the body rusted away

My first car was a Talbot Sunbeam

Those clothes! Why didn't they ever film from inside the car? Why don't we ever get to see the opening sequence or hear the theme tune to "Drive - In?"

In 2 years time, it would be the Talbot Sunbeam.

Small rear wheel drive cars, do they do those anymore? Have driven a Avenger as my brother used to have one, remember it being functional and reliable.

My friend successfully inserted a Rover V8 into a Sunbeam. I wonder what happened to that car....

I remeber wanting a Lotus Sunbeam back in the day !!! But things have moved on drastically for the better 🎅

The 70s are best forgotten.

Nice selling point a hatchback Avenger!

My first car was a 79 Sunbeam on a V plate, paid 100 quid for it, smoking, accidents, overloading, kissin n cuddlin, road trips.... The old girl could tell a few stories if she was still about lol

Strong competition for Dwayne Dibley in the fashion stakes .

That jacket is the dogs!

The Sunbeam was much better than the Imp it replaced - if it had come out 5 years earlier and been given a Hillman name, who knows what sort of market share Chrysler might have got from this little rust bucket.

I had two 127s in my time 😝😝

My pal had one and blew the engine by going from 3rd gear back into 2nd gear instead of 4th. Lol. I think his was a 1 litre engine and a Hillman Imp engine fits straight in. The Imp engine was a 1600cc and it made it a very nippy car with the original gearbox etc that was in the Sunbeam.

I learnt to drive in early 1982 in a Sunbeam 1.3 LS with Godiva School of Motoring in Coventry. It was not a bad little car and deserved to have sold better, it is a shame I think they shortened the wheelbase from the Avenger, not only did it share the Avenger underpinnings and oily bits but doors, facia, front bulkhead and windowscreen were carried over ,instead had it had those few extra inches been retained, it would have been a genuine Chevette competitor and also sad the Avenger saloon and Estate did not get a similar refresh as it was a lot more modern in 77 than the coke bottle styled Avenger. But sadly in late 70s Britain it was the story at BL and Chrysler of just doing enough to keep the factories open, so both existed as zombie businesses.

I bet if you told him that Chrysler will be owned by Fiat, he'd have laughed, today however............ :P

"Not front wheel drive" ... as in, rear wheel drive? lol

I bought a 1.3 LS new in 1980 after trying out a friends model. It was reliable and comfortable, but badly let down by the appalling building quality from the nitwits in Scotland and the equally appalling aftercare service by Tom Garner Motors in Manchester.

Strong competition from the Fiat 127 and Datsun 100A

20% discount at BP petrol stations & Rupert Bear clothing outlets.

Was he moonlighting as a clown with those trousers?

Avengers assemble! As a Chrysler Sunbeam it would seem

With the hi revs . I thought the fly wheel would come strait threw the bonnet. God help the ones who bough the imp engine in it

why oh why are they testing these old cars you can no longer buy ?

Who cares about the car, just look at at the jacket in combination with the pants.

Terrible for loading the boot.

Was this re-badged as a Talbot?

needs GRP 4 arches and a pinto!

Is there any relation to Dodge Omni? The body looks like its close but the hood looks longer.

I assume this is the direct predecessor to the Dodge Omni? Crazy how it doesn't even have a 1L engine!

Is it me or does it sound like he's revving the arse out of it ?

Apart from the Lotus version, these really were crap!

Jesus H , what is he wearing?😂

This man had weak arms. Always moaning about having to lift stuff into a car boot. I also note on I think the FIAT 131 the bonnet catch was "hidden away on the passengers side " - when the thing is in the same place in this UK made car there no comment.....hmm...bias...?

Dodge omni was A front wheel drive POS I like the European version better.

Ha ha, those trousers! 70s bad taste at it's best.

It was later rebadged Horizon?

His jacket is worse than the car!!!!!

It was all going swimmingly and then................ he gets out of the car! WTF is that attire? even for 1977, that is just not on!