Today, another contemporary of the recently featured Renault Caravelle and Simca Aronde Plein Ciel in the form of the British Rootes group’s Sunbeam Alpine. I saw these three examples at the Practical Classics resto show last March. Although it is a lower and sportier design, its look is not dissimilar to that of the Aronde but both cars predate the later Rootes/Simca merger under Chrysler Europe in the 1960s.
In 1970, the Hillman Imp (featured yesterday) gained a Rootes/Chrysler stablemate in the form of the well regarded Hillman Avenger, a competitor for British Leyland’s Marina. The Avenger was a bigger car than the rear-engined Imp, with a conventional front-engine/RWD layout, but the Imp and Avenger branches of the Rootes family tree would later unite in a single model. More on that tomorrow. Pic: #GreatBritishCarJourney, Derbyshire.
#Hillman #Chrysler #Rootes #WeirdCarMastodon #davidsdailycar
Factoid: What was the last Humber to be launched?
You might be tempted to say the Hunter-based Sceptre & you’d be half right.
Actually it’s the estate version which arrived remarkably late into the car’s run in October 1974.
This February 1975 Motor road test noted it wasn’t quite as luxurious as the outside chrome-cladded exterior suggested…
#weirdcarmastodon #rootes #Chrysler
Factoid Extra: When Ford launched the Capri in Feb 1969 it made much of the car’s attractive starting price & Rootes clearly was taking notes as that’s how they promoted the Sunbeam Alpine (the cheaper version of the Rapier) when it appeared in Oct that year.
Of course, that attractive price was the base one which meant in the Alpine’s case those wing mirrors & over-riders were firmly on the options list…
#weirdcarmastodon #rootes #sunbeam #Ford
Factoid Extra: Less car ad, more scene from an ITC adventure series…
David Wilkins
Autocade
Tim 🏳️🌈
thecarfactoids