Talbot lotus sunbeam
Discussion
2172cc said:
And just to add a bit more interest, the unregistered car that Arbury car kept back was sold recently in a private sale for an undisclosed price to an unnamed buyer!
Speculation on how much it was sold for still going on!
Interesting.Speculation on how much it was sold for still going on!
I first heard about this car (and the other delivery mileage cars the family had kept, from the decades being a Rootes dealership, incl a Sunbeam Tiger) when I had a meeting with Leon at Arbury Service Station back in November 1989.
It had been the original intention to put DAC 1Y number plate on the unregistered car......
A993LAD said:
They were the best Group A 1600cc class rally car for years up the end of their homologation at the end of 1985.Unusual to see a LHD Simca badged version in UK though.
I had a Series 2 Ti (with a Group A spec engine) for a couple years in the mid 80's....great fun.
aeropilot said:
john2443 said:
And here it is almost 34 years ago, way, way back in Sept 1988 at North Weald airfield 
s m said:
A993LAD said:
They used to be quite popular A couple of friends had Tis before Escorts
Don’t remember them being damp either!
I ran a few as rally cars, from 2.0 'Brazillian' engined to Vauxhall Redtops and atmo cosworth powered ones.
s m said:
2172cc said:
Very conservative with the acceleration claim in that ad! An RS2000 was in the 8s - a Lotus Sunbeam was a different level in my experience - high 6s/low 7s
2.8/3-litre Capris couldn’t keep up - at least up to 3digit speeds
Some of you will know I owned this from new from Jan 82 to sometime in 83. Quick rack, Billies, LSD and a Dave Smith head conversion so around 200bhp, cracking little car which I always regretted selling.
Forward to August this year, I get an email from a chap who now owns GCR who found me through my postings here. Long story short after around a month I go to see GCR with dosh and trailer as the LS interest was now burning strong after I had just sold my Mk1 RS2 to a good friend of mine [we are still friends]
GCR was in good original condition, no real rot to speak of, still with all the good mods plus a few other tasty parts, interior trim a bit sad but nothing a re-trim and dam good tidy up would not cure plus stripes! The original service book still had me in it!
Test drive, all was fine, apart from a rather important part, the engine. Won’t bore you all with what we think it was but in retrospect I believe it was down on compression on one cylinder. Chap would not budge enough to cover the cost of sorting that out, so I came home waving goodbye to GRC.
Anyway, the LS bug was now VERY strong so I joined the SLOC club being recommended to do so by Aero among others. Now, I have never really been a car club type of chap, But I have to say, the SLOC are a revelation, incredibly helpful and Very friendly. I posted on there FB page that I was looking for a modded road car [there was B-all advertised elsewhere].
I had 3 offers of cars within a day, all nice-looking cars and all modded road spec.
One [JLU] however stood out as apart from it being a series 1 which I prefer, I spoke to the Very nice chap who restored it showing me pics of it in bare metal on a spit etc he has done a great job on the body work as I can’t abide rust and as we know, removing rust is incredibly expensive to do properly not to mention time consuming.
He had when building, purchased a rally spec LS with a Seaman 220 spec engine, direct top ZF, billies front, Gaz adjustable rear, rear disc conversion, LSD, quick rack and Huge Ap brakes on the front and put then all on JLU along with a nice interior with some matching grey leather multi adjustable front seats from an Alfa, which look the part and are Very comfy. He sold it beginning of this year to a nice chap in Welsh Wales.
So, I go down to view, again with trailer and dosh. Car is Very nice, however it had a nasty AP paddle clutch and a 4.4 CWP so rally car gearing along with the direct top ZF spoilt it totally as a road car. After some haggling, we agree a reduced price and I bring JLU home.
Now, 6 weeks later I have changed the 4.4 back to a 3.89 cwp, fitted a new AP and Helix combo clutch [ along with numerous other smaller jobs for my own personal taste including changing the front discs] which is lovely and now the car drives Really well albeit ideally an overdrive top would be better but at least it stops me cruising too fast.
The ZF has very rare “safari” ratio’s with a low 3.6 1st, better that the 2.31 1st for sure and an 1” 14 spine input shaft. As the engine loves to rev, safe to 8 apparently, it actually works well on the road.
70mph is now 4000 instead of 5 in top!
Next job is to add the LS silver stripes, some better tyres,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, then stop spending money
Forward to August this year, I get an email from a chap who now owns GCR who found me through my postings here. Long story short after around a month I go to see GCR with dosh and trailer as the LS interest was now burning strong after I had just sold my Mk1 RS2 to a good friend of mine [we are still friends]
GCR was in good original condition, no real rot to speak of, still with all the good mods plus a few other tasty parts, interior trim a bit sad but nothing a re-trim and dam good tidy up would not cure plus stripes! The original service book still had me in it!
Test drive, all was fine, apart from a rather important part, the engine. Won’t bore you all with what we think it was but in retrospect I believe it was down on compression on one cylinder. Chap would not budge enough to cover the cost of sorting that out, so I came home waving goodbye to GRC.
Anyway, the LS bug was now VERY strong so I joined the SLOC club being recommended to do so by Aero among others. Now, I have never really been a car club type of chap, But I have to say, the SLOC are a revelation, incredibly helpful and Very friendly. I posted on there FB page that I was looking for a modded road car [there was B-all advertised elsewhere].
I had 3 offers of cars within a day, all nice-looking cars and all modded road spec.
One [JLU] however stood out as apart from it being a series 1 which I prefer, I spoke to the Very nice chap who restored it showing me pics of it in bare metal on a spit etc he has done a great job on the body work as I can’t abide rust and as we know, removing rust is incredibly expensive to do properly not to mention time consuming.
He had when building, purchased a rally spec LS with a Seaman 220 spec engine, direct top ZF, billies front, Gaz adjustable rear, rear disc conversion, LSD, quick rack and Huge Ap brakes on the front and put then all on JLU along with a nice interior with some matching grey leather multi adjustable front seats from an Alfa, which look the part and are Very comfy. He sold it beginning of this year to a nice chap in Welsh Wales.
So, I go down to view, again with trailer and dosh. Car is Very nice, however it had a nasty AP paddle clutch and a 4.4 CWP so rally car gearing along with the direct top ZF spoilt it totally as a road car. After some haggling, we agree a reduced price and I bring JLU home.
Now, 6 weeks later I have changed the 4.4 back to a 3.89 cwp, fitted a new AP and Helix combo clutch [ along with numerous other smaller jobs for my own personal taste including changing the front discs] which is lovely and now the car drives Really well albeit ideally an overdrive top would be better but at least it stops me cruising too fast.
The ZF has very rare “safari” ratio’s with a low 3.6 1st, better that the 2.31 1st for sure and an 1” 14 spine input shaft. As the engine loves to rev, safe to 8 apparently, it actually works well on the road.
70mph is now 4000 instead of 5 in top!
Next job is to add the LS silver stripes, some better tyres,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, then stop spending money
Gassing Station | Classic Cars and Yesterday's Heroes | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff